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cyan · cool

#6898ac

a balanced, soft cyan · cool · closest name: Light Slate Gray

Token name suggestion: True Lagoon

RGB
104, 152, 172
HSL
198°, 29%, 54%
CMYK
40, 12, 0, 33
Luminance
0.2838

#6898ac is a balanced soft cyan, 198° on the wheel and 87/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (6.68:1). As text it scores 3.15:1 on white — large text only. Nearest name is Light Slate Gray, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(198 29% 54%)rgb(104 152 172)Base step 500AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #6898ac is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#6898ac
Hue
198°
cyan
Saturation
29%
soft
Lightness
54%
balanced
Brightness
67%
HSV value
Perceived
56%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.2838
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
87/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
6.68:1
Closest name
Light Slate Gray
ΔE2000 9.2
Chroma
19.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.653
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 11.4
Web-safe
#669999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue198° of 360°
Saturation29%
Lightness54%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #6898ac.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool87% 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
Red10%
Green79%
Blue10%

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

Every format

HEX#6898ac
HEX (8-digit)#6898acff
RGBrgb(104, 152, 172)
RGBArgba(104, 152, 172, 1)
HSLhsl(198, 29%, 54%)
HSV / HSBhsv(198, 40%, 67%)
HWBhwb(198 41% 33%)
CMYKcmyk(40%, 12%, 0%, 33%)
LABlab(60.2 -10.9 -15.6)
LCHlch(60.2 19.0 235.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.653 0.059 225.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(24.38, 28.38, 43.21)
Decimal6854828
Display P3color(display-p3 0.408 0.596 0.675)
Web-safe#669999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #6898ac;
background-color: #6898ac;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #6898ac;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#6898ac] bg-[#6898ac]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #6898ac;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.408, green: 0.596, blue: 0.675)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.408, green: 0.596, blue: 0.675, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#6898AC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF6898AC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF6898AC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(172, 152, 104)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(104, 152, 172)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(104, 152, 172)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 104, 152, 172)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.4078f, 0.5961f, 0.6745f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{104,152,172}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #6898ac 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #6898ac 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#2D4752, #D7E4E9);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #6898ac 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: #F6F8F9;
  --brand-100: #ECF1F3;
  --brand-200: #D5E1E6;
  --brand-300: #B7CED7;
  --brand-400: #92B5C3;
  --brand-500: #6898ac;
  --brand-600: #57899E;
  --brand-700: #487284;
  --brand-800: #3A5B69;
  --brand-900: #2D444E;
  --brand-950: #1C2A30;
  --brand: #6898ac;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5F8FA;
  --brand-border: #CADBE2;
  --brand-hover: #55879B;
  --brand-pressed: #487384;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141F24;
    --brand-ink: #D7E4E9;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F8F9',
        100: '#ECF1F3',
        200: '#D5E1E6',
        300: '#B7CED7',
        400: '#92B5C3',
        500: '#6898ac',
        600: '#57899E',
        700: '#487284',
        800: '#3A5B69',
        900: '#2D444E',
        950: '#1C2A30',
        DEFAULT: '#6898ac',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F8F9,
  '100': #ECF1F3,
  '200': #D5E1E6,
  '300': #B7CED7,
  '400': #92B5C3,
  '500': #6898ac,
  '600': #57899E,
  '700': #487284,
  '800': #3A5B69,
  '900': #2D444E,
  '950': #1C2A30,
);
$brand-base: #6898ac;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F8F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#ECF1F3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D5E1E6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B7CED7", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#92B5C3", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#6898ac", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#57899E", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#487284", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#3A5B69", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2D444E", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1C2A30", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #6898ac · 6.68:1
Use #000000AA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 3.15:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 6.68:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #6898ac as text scores 3.15:1 on white and 6.68:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #2D4752 at 3.13:1.

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
#4E7B8E · 4.62:1
AA on white−11% L
#4E7B8E
The quick fox
#3A5C6A · 7.19:1
AAA on white−22% L
#3A5C6A
The quick fox
#6898ac · 6.68:1
AA on blackalready passes
#6898ac
The quick fox
#6E9DB0 · 7.11:1
AAA on black+2% L
#6E9DB0

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #6898AC 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
#6898ac on white: 3.15:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#6898ac on black: 6.68:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #6898ac as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #6898ac.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White3.15:1AaAa
Slate 503.01:1AaAa
Slate 1002.87:1AaAa
Slate 2002.55:1AaAa
Slate 3002.12:1AaAa
Slate 4001.23:1AaAa
Slate 5001.51:1AaAa
Slate 6002.41:1AaAa
Slate 7003.29:1AaAa
Slate 8004.65:1AaAa
Slate 9005.68:1AaAa
Black6.68:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #8D96AD
deuteranopia · #838EAC
tritanopia · #4E9E9E

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. #6898ac 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.

#F6F8F9
#ECF1F3
#D5E1E6
#B7CED7
#92B5C3
#6898ac
#57899E
#487284
#3A5B69
#2D444E
#1C2A30
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F6F8F9Darkest = 950 · #1C2A30Text 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 0.015 225.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.024 225.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.036 225.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.046 225.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.055 225.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.059 225.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.059 225.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.056 225.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.050 225.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.042 225.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.033 225.9);
}

Colors that work with #6898ac

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#F5F8FA
Tinted page background
Border#CADBE2
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#518194
Captions on the surface
Accent#B16763
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#2D4752
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EFF4F6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141F24
Dark-mode background
Hover#55879B
One step down in lightness
Pressed#487384
Two steps down
Disabled#B5C8CF
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#6AA5BE
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 #6898ac

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

Works well for
  • Headings from 24px up on white
  • 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
  • Small text on white — under 4.5:1
  • Thin strokes and 1px borders — they disappear on light UI
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
24px / 18.66px bold
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #2D4752
Safe as a 1px border on white
Yes

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
  • Weight46/100
  • 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#AC7C68
Analogous left#68AC9E
Analogous right#6876AC
Split-complement 1#AC6876
Split-complement 2#AC9E68
Triadic 1#AC6898
Triadic 2#98AC68
Tetradic#9E68AC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°198°

#6898ac sits at 198°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red40.8%
Green59.6%
Blue67.5%
R · 0–255
104
0x68
G · 0–255
152
0x98
B · 0–255
172
0xac

CMYK percentages

Cyan39.5%
Magenta11.6%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)32.5%

Total ink coverage is 84%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#6898ac text on a black background

contrast 6.68:1

Card sample

#6898ac text on a white background

contrast 3.15:1

Card sample

#6898ac on grey

2.87:1

#6898ac on its own surface

2.95:1

#6898ac on its dark surface

5.34:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #6898ac;
Background color
Panel with #6898ac background
background-color: #6898ac;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #6898ac;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(104, 152, 172, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(104, 152, 172, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #6898ac;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #6898ac, #686BAC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #6898ac, #7668AC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #6898ac;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #6898ac;
caret-color: #6898ac;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #6898ac;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EFF4F6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #6898ac;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#6898ac 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #6898ac 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(104, 152, 172, 0.5)
rgb(104 152 172 / 50%)
#6898ac80
hsl(198 29% 54% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #6898ac 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#6898ac1a#F0F5F7
20%#6898ac33#E1EAEE
40%#6898ac66#C3D6DE
60%#6898ac99#A4C1CD
80%#6898accc#86ADBD

Gradients from #6898ac

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, #8FB3C2, #6898ac 45%, #2D4752);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #6898ac, #5A579E);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #6898ac, #AC7C68);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #A3C0CD 0%, #6898ac 45%, #2D4752 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5F8FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #89BEAF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #7C83B7 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #2D4752 0%, transparent 65%), #6898ac;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #6898ac

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.

#6898ac 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 6.68:1.

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.

#6898ac, answered

What color is #6898ac?

#6898ac is a balanced soft cyan, closest to Light Slate Gray (ΔE2000 9.2). It sits at 198° on the hue wheel with 29% saturation and 54% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #6898ac?

rgb(104, 152, 172) — 104 red, 152 green and 172 blue out of 255, or 40.8% / 59.6% / 67.5% by channel.

What is #6898ac in HSL and HSV?

hsl(198, 29%, 54%) and hsv(198, 40%, 67%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #6898ac a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.2838 and perceived brightness is 56%, so black text on it reaches 6.68:1.

Should I use black or white text on #6898ac?

Black. It scores 6.68:1 against #6898ac, versus 3.15:1 for white — AA at any size.

Is #6898ac accessible on a white background?

#6898ac on white scores 3.15:1, which only clears AA for large text — 18.66px bold or 24px regular and up. Darken it to #4E7B8E to reach 4.5:1, or #3A5C6A for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #6898ac?

#AC7C68 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #AC6876 and #AC9E68, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #6898ac?

For interface work: #F5F8FA as the surface, #CADBE2 for borders, #518194 for secondary text, #B16763 as an accent and #2D4752 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #68AC9E and #6876AC stays calm, while #AC7C68 is the loudest partner.

What is #6898ac in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(40%, 12%, 0%, 33%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #6898ac warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 87 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #68ACA7; nudged cooler, #668CAE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #6898ac?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 11.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #6898ac as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #6898ac in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#6898ac] or text-[#6898ac], 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 #6898ac with 50% opacity?

rgba(104, 152, 172, 0.5), or #6898ac80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #B4CCD6; over black, #344C56.

Is #6898ac a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #669999, ΔE2000 9.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #6898ac 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 #6898ac?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #8FB3C2, #6898ac 45%, #2D4752). For more colour, a short hue run to #5A579E keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #6898ac in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #6898ac at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.