Skip to content
cyan · cool

#609fba

a balanced, soft cyan · cool · closest name: Cadet Blue

Token name suggestion: Signal Teal

RGB
96, 159, 186
HSL
198°, 40%, 55%
CMYK
48, 15, 0, 27
Luminance
0.3083

#609fba is a balanced soft cyan, 198° on the wheel and 95/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.17:1). As text it scores 2.93:1 on white — use #417D96 instead. Nearest name is Cadet Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(198 40% 55%)rgb(96 159 186)Base step 500AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #609fba is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#609fba
Hue
198°
cyan
Saturation
40%
soft
Lightness
55%
balanced
Brightness
73%
HSV value
Perceived
58%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3083
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
95/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
7.17:1
Closest name
Cadet Blue
ΔE2000 10.2
Chroma
24.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.670
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 9
Web-safe
#6699CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue198° of 360°
Saturation40%
Lightness55%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #609fba.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool95% cool

Reads cool. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Luminance by channel
Red8%
Green80%
Blue11%

Green carries most of what the eye calls brightness — that is why WCAG weights it 0.7152.

Every format

HEX#609fba
HEX (8-digit)#609fbaff
RGBrgb(96, 159, 186)
RGBArgba(96, 159, 186, 1)
HSLhsl(198, 40%, 55%)
HSV / HSBhsv(198, 48%, 73%)
HWBhwb(198 38% 27%)
CMYKcmyk(48%, 15%, 0%, 27%)
LABlab(62.4 -12.8 -20.2)
LCHlch(62.4 24.0 237.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.670 0.076 227.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(26.08, 30.83, 51.02)
Decimal6332346
Display P3color(display-p3 0.376 0.624 0.729)
Web-safe#6699CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #609fba;
background-color: #609fba;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #609fba;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#609fba] bg-[#609fba]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #609fba;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.376, green: 0.624, blue: 0.729)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.376, green: 0.624, blue: 0.729, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#609FBA</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF609FBA)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF609FBA)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(186, 159, 96)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(96, 159, 186)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(96, 159, 186)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 96, 159, 186)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.3765f, 0.6235f, 0.7294f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{96,159,186}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #609fba 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #609fba 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#274A59, #D4E5EC);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #609fba h s calc(l - 7));

Design tokens

The same ramp in the four formats a team actually needs. Paste one and the whole palette lands with it.

css custom propertiesclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: #F5F8FA;
  --brand-100: #EBF2F4;
  --brand-200: #D2E2E9;
  --brand-300: #B1D0DD;
  --brand-400: #8AB8CC;
  --brand-500: #609fba;
  --brand-600: #4A8EAB;
  --brand-700: #3E768E;
  --brand-800: #315E72;
  --brand-900: #274653;
  --brand-950: #182C34;
  --brand: #609fba;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F9FA;
  --brand-border: #C6DDE6;
  --brand-hover: #4B8FAC;
  --brand-pressed: #407A93;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141F24;
    --brand-ink: #D4E5EC;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F8FA',
        100: '#EBF2F4',
        200: '#D2E2E9',
        300: '#B1D0DD',
        400: '#8AB8CC',
        500: '#609fba',
        600: '#4A8EAB',
        700: '#3E768E',
        800: '#315E72',
        900: '#274653',
        950: '#182C34',
        DEFAULT: '#609fba',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F8FA,
  '100': #EBF2F4,
  '200': #D2E2E9,
  '300': #B1D0DD,
  '400': #8AB8CC,
  '500': #609fba,
  '600': #4A8EAB,
  '700': #3E768E,
  '800': #315E72,
  '900': #274653,
  '950': #182C34,
);
$brand-base: #609fba;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F8FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EBF2F4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D2E2E9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B1D0DD", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#8AB8CC", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#609fba", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#4A8EAB", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#3E768E", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#315E72", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#274653", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#182C34", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#000000", "$type": "color" }
  }
}

Best text color

Only one of black and white can be right. This is the one, with the number that proves it.

Readable at a glance#000000 on #609fba · 7.17:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.93:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.17:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #609fba as text scores 2.93:1 on white and 7.17:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #274A59 at 3.24:1.

Make it accessible

A contrast checker tells you that you failed. This tells you what to ship instead — same hue, same saturation, lightness moved only as far as WCAG demands.

The quick fox
#417D96 · 4.57:1
AA on white−13% L
#417D96
The quick fox
#305C6F · 7.28:1
AAA on white−24% L
#305C6F
The quick fox
#609fba · 7.17:1
AA on blackalready passes
#609fba
The quick fox
#609fba · 7.17:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#609fba

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #5C9DB8 is enough for headings on white. Non-text elements such as icons, chart strokes and focus rings also sit at 3:1 under WCAG 2.2 (1.4.11).

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

Aa
#609fba on white: 2.93:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#609fba on black: 7.17:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #609fba as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #609fba.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.93:1AaAa
Slate 502.80:1AaAa
Slate 1002.68:1AaAa
Slate 2002.38:1AaAa
Slate 3001.97:1AaAa
Slate 4001.14:1AaAa
Slate 5001.62:1AaAa
Slate 6002.59:1AaAa
Slate 7003.53:1AaAa
Slate 8004.99:1AaAa
Slate 9006.09:1AaAa
Black7.17:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #919CBB
deuteranopia · #8492BA
tritanopia · #32A7A8

Roughly one man in twelve has some form of colour vision deficiency. If any of the three panels above is hard to tell apart from a neighbouring colour in your palette, add a shape, an icon or a label so the meaning does not rest on hue alone.

Color scale — 50 to 950

A Tailwind-shaped ramp built around this exact hex. #609fba is pinned to step 500; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F5F8FA
#EBF2F4
#D2E2E9
#B1D0DD
#8AB8CC
#609fba
#4A8EAB
#3E768E
#315E72
#274653
#182C34
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F5F8FADarkest = 950 · #182C34Text step on white = 700
Perceptual ramp — OKLCH

The same eleven steps expressed in OKLCH, where equal lightness numbers actually look equally spaced. HSL ramps go muddy in the yellows and washed out in the blues; this one does not. Modern browsers render it natively — the hex ramp above is the fallback.

50100200300400500600700800900950
oklch tokensclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: oklch(0.97 0.019 227.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.030 227.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.046 227.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.059 227.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.070 227.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.076 227.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.076 227.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.072 227.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.064 227.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.053 227.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.042 227.4);
}

Colors that work with #609fba

Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.

Text on it#000000
Black wins here
Surface#F4F9FA
Tinted page background
Border#C6DDE6
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B839B
Captions on the surface
Accent#BF605B
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#274A59
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EDF4F7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141F24
Dark-mode background
Hover#4B8FAC
One step down in lightness
Pressed#407A93
Two steps down
Disabled#B8CAD2
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#64ACCB
Offset from the fill so it reads
Light mode
Everything in its place

Surface, border, heading and body all derive from this one hue, so the screen stays coherent without a second palette.

Primary actionSecondaryBadge
Dark mode
Same hue, inverted

Lightness flips, hue holds. The accent stays the anchor in both themes.

Primary actionSecondaryAccent

In real components

The same eight roles, wired into the interface patterns you will actually build with them. Every state below is a computed value, not a mock-up.

Buttons and states
Save changesHoverPressedDisabled
OutlineSubtleLinkFocused
Form field
you@company.com

Focus ring uses the light variant so the field still reads as one shape.

Send me product updates
Notice
Your export is ready

The file stays available for seven days. Download it before it expires.

NewBetaDraft
Data
Storage used68%
Acme LtdActive
NorthwindTrial
GlobexActive

How to use #609fba

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Thin strokes and 1px borders — they disappear on light UI
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
Not as text
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #274A59
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #5C9DB8

Meaning and mood

What a colour in this family tends to signal, and how this particular chroma and lightness change the reading.

cleantechnicalfreshclinical

Cyan reads as water, air and infrastructure: cool, hygienic, engineered.

The muted chroma softens the association — it reads considered rather than loud, which suits long-form and data-heavy screens. The mid lightness keeps it versatile in both themes.

Worth knowing

At high lightness it disappears into white surfaces and thin strokes vanish entirely.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight45/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • ApproachabilityReserved

Colour associations are cultural and vary by market. Treat these as a starting point for a conversation with your audience, not a finding about them.

Similar colors

One move away from this hex in each direction. Every swatch is its own page.

Color relationships

The wheel positions with their names attached, so you can grab the one you actually need.

Complementary#BA7B60
Analogous left#60BAA8
Analogous right#6072BA
Split-complement 1#BA6072
Split-complement 2#BAA860
Triadic 1#BA609F
Triadic 2#9FBA60
Tetradic#A860BA
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°198°

#609fba sits at 198°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red37.6%
Green62.4%
Blue72.9%
R · 0–255
96
0x60
G · 0–255
159
0x9f
B · 0–255
186
0xba

CMYK percentages

Cyan48.4%
Magenta14.5%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)27.1%

Total ink coverage is 90%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#609fba text on a black background

contrast 7.17:1

Card sample

#609fba text on a white background

contrast 2.93:1

Card sample

#609fba on grey

2.68:1

#609fba on its own surface

2.76:1

#609fba on its dark surface

5.73:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #609fba;
Background color
Panel with #609fba background
background-color: #609fba;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #609fba;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(96, 159, 186, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(96, 159, 186, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #609fba;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #609fba, #6063BA);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #609fba, #7460BA);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #609fba;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #609fba;
caret-color: #609fba;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #609fba;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EDF4F7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #609fba;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#609fba 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #609fba over white; the bottom row is the same alpha over a checkerboard, so you can see what survives on a photo or a video.

Bottom row of hexes is the flattened result over white — use those when a design tool refuses transparency, or when you need a solid fallback.

alpha in every syntaxclick to select
rgba(96, 159, 186, 0.5)
rgb(96 159 186 / 50%)
#609fba80
hsl(198 40% 55% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #609fba 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#609fba1a#EFF5F8
20%#609fba33#DFECF1
40%#609fba66#BFD9E3
60%#609fba99#A0C5D6
80%#609fbacc#80B2C8

Gradients from #609fba

Six recipes, each built from this hex and shown with the exact CSS that produced it.

Elevation
Same hue, three lightnesses — safe anywhere
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #8BB9CD, #609fba 45%, #274A59);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #609fba, #514CAF);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #609fba, #BA7B60);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #A0C6D6 0%, #609fba 45%, #274A59 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F9FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #84C9B6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #757EC3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #274A59 0%, transparent 65%), #609fba;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #609fba

Shades — darker

Tints — lighter

Tones — desaturated

Color harmonies

Nearest named colors

Ranked with CIEDE2000 across all 139 CSS keywords. Under ΔE 2 the eye stops telling them apart; over ΔE 10 they are plainly different colors.

#609fba in the real world

Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.

Industries
TechnologyTravelHealthcareMedia
Common UI roles
ButtonsLinksFocus statesCharts
Print note

Converts to four-color process without much drama. Proof it anyway.

On screens

Holds up across typical panel gamma. Still worth checking on an uncalibrated laptop, where mid-tones shift most.

In dark mode

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 7.17:1.

Explore nearby colors

Small, deliberate steps away from this hex — useful when you are hunting for the version of a colour that finally feels right.

#609fba, answered

What color is #609fba?

#609fba is a balanced soft cyan, closest to Cadet Blue (ΔE2000 10.2). It sits at 198° on the hue wheel with 40% saturation and 55% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #609fba?

rgb(96, 159, 186) — 96 red, 159 green and 186 blue out of 255, or 37.6% / 62.4% / 72.9% by channel.

What is #609fba in HSL and HSV?

hsl(198, 40%, 55%) and hsv(198, 48%, 73%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #609fba a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3083 and perceived brightness is 58%, so black text on it reaches 7.17:1.

Should I use black or white text on #609fba?

Black. It scores 7.17:1 against #609fba, versus 2.93:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #609fba accessible on a white background?

#609fba on white scores 2.93:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #417D96 to reach 4.5:1, or #305C6F for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #609fba?

#BA7B60 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BA6072 and #BAA860, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #609fba?

For interface work: #F4F9FA as the surface, #C6DDE6 for borders, #4B839B for secondary text, #BF605B as an accent and #274A59 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #60BAA8 and #6072BA stays calm, while #BA7B60 is the loudest partner.

What is #609fba in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(48%, 15%, 0%, 27%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #609fba warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 95 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #60BAB4; nudged cooler, #5E91BC.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #609fba?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #609fba as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #609fba in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#609fba] or text-[#609fba], or register the whole ramp under theme.extend.colors.brand so you get bg-brand-500 and friends. The generated 50–950 scale on this page is ready to paste into your config.

What is #609fba with 50% opacity?

rgba(96, 159, 186, 0.5), or #609fba80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #B0CFDD; over black, #30505D.

Is #609fba a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #6699CC, ΔE2000 8.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #609fba mean?

As a cyan, it reads clean, technical, fresh. Cyan reads as water, air and infrastructure: cool, hygienic, engineered. At this moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #609fba?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #8BB9CD, #609fba 45%, #274A59). For more colour, a short hue run to #514CAF keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #609fba in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #609fba at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.