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cyan · cool

#699d8f

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

Token name suggestion: Atlas Glacier

RGB
105, 157, 143
HSL
164°, 21%, 51%
CMYK
33, 0, 9, 38
Luminance
0.2910

#699d8f is a balanced soft cyan, 164° on the wheel and 68/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (6.82:1). As text it scores 3.08:1 on white — large text only. Nearest name is Cadet Blue, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(164 21% 51%)rgb(105 157 143)Base step 600AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #699d8f is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#699d8f
Hue
164°
cyan
Saturation
21%
soft
Lightness
51%
balanced
Brightness
62%
HSV value
Perceived
56%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.2910
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
68/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
6.82:1
Closest name
Cadet Blue
ΔE2000 6.8
Chroma
20.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.655
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 10.9
Web-safe
#669999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue164° of 360°
Saturation21%
Lightness51%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #699d8f.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool68% 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%
Green83%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#699d8f
HEX (8-digit)#699d8fff
RGBrgb(105, 157, 143)
RGBArgba(105, 157, 143, 1)
HSLhsl(164, 21%, 51%)
HSV / HSBhsv(164, 33%, 62%)
HWBhwb(164 41% 38%)
CMYKcmyk(33%, 0%, 9%, 38%)
LABlab(60.9 -20.5 1.8)
LCHlch(60.9 20.6 174.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.655 0.059 175.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(22.84, 29.10, 30.39)
Decimal6921615
Display P3color(display-p3 0.412 0.616 0.561)
Web-safe#669999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #699d8f;
background-color: #699d8f;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #699d8f;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#699d8f] bg-[#699d8f]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #699d8f;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.412, green: 0.616, blue: 0.561)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.412, green: 0.616, blue: 0.561, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#699D8F</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF699D8F)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF699D8F)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(143, 157, 105)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(105, 157, 143)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(105, 157, 143)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 105, 157, 143)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.4118f, 0.6157f, 0.5608f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{105,157,143}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #699d8f 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #699d8f 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#324D46, #DAE7E3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #699d8f 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: #F6F9F8;
  --brand-100: #EDF2F1;
  --brand-200: #D8E4E1;
  --brand-300: #BBD3CC;
  --brand-400: #99BDB3;
  --brand-500: #77A69A;
  --brand-600: #699d8f;
  --brand-700: #517B70;
  --brand-800: #406359;
  --brand-900: #314943;
  --brand-950: #1F2E2A;
  --brand: #699d8f;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F9F8;
  --brand-border: #CEDFDA;
  --brand-hover: #59897C;
  --brand-pressed: #4B7369;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #16221F;
    --brand-ink: #DAE7E3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F9F8',
        100: '#EDF2F1',
        200: '#D8E4E1',
        300: '#BBD3CC',
        400: '#99BDB3',
        500: '#77A69A',
        600: '#699d8f',
        700: '#517B70',
        800: '#406359',
        900: '#314943',
        950: '#1F2E2A',
        DEFAULT: '#699d8f',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F9F8,
  '100': #EDF2F1,
  '200': #D8E4E1,
  '300': #BBD3CC,
  '400': #99BDB3,
  '500': #77A69A,
  '600': #699d8f,
  '700': #517B70,
  '800': #406359,
  '900': #314943,
  '950': #1F2E2A,
);
$brand-base: #699d8f;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F9F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EDF2F1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D8E4E1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#BBD3CC", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#99BDB3", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#77A69A", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#699d8f", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#517B70", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#406359", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#314943", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1F2E2A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #699d8f · 6.82:1
Use #000000AA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 3.08:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 6.82:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #699d8f as text scores 3.08:1 on white and 6.82:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #324D46 at 2.98:1.

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
#517D71 · 4.64:1
AA on white−11% L
#517D71
The quick fox
#3D5E55 · 7.17:1
AAA on white−21% L
#3D5E55
The quick fox
#699d8f · 6.82:1
AA on blackalready passes
#699d8f
The quick fox
#6C9F91 · 7.01:1
AAA on black+1% L
#6C9F91

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #699D8F 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
#699d8f on white: 3.08:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#699d8f on black: 6.82:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #699d8f as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #699d8f.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White3.08:1AaAa
Slate 502.94:1AaAa
Slate 1002.81:1AaAa
Slate 2002.50:1AaAa
Slate 3002.07:1AaAa
Slate 4001.20:1AaAa
Slate 5001.55:1AaAa
Slate 6002.46:1AaAa
Slate 7003.36:1AaAa
Slate 8004.75:1AaAa
Slate 9005.80:1AaAa
Black6.82:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #99978E
deuteranopia · #909090
tritanopia · #5A9E99

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. #699d8f is pinned to step 600; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F6F9F8
#EDF2F1
#D8E4E1
#BBD3CC
#99BDB3
#77A69A
#699d8f
#517B70
#406359
#314943
#1F2E2A
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F6F9F8Darkest = 950 · #1F2E2AText 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 0.015 175.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.024 175.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.036 175.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.046 175.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.055 175.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.059 175.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.059 175.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.056 175.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.050 175.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.042 175.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.033 175.6);
}

Colors that work with #699d8f

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#F6F9F8
Tinted page background
Border#CEDFDA
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#5B8B7E
Captions on the surface
Accent#A26484
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#324D46
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F0F5F3
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#16221F
Dark-mode background
Hover#59897C
One step down in lightness
Pressed#4B7369
Two steps down
Disabled#ADC9C2
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#6AB19D
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 #699d8f

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 #324D46
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
  • Weight49/100
  • 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#9D6977
Analogous left#699D75
Analogous right#69919D
Split-complement 1#9D6991
Split-complement 2#9D7569
Triadic 1#8F699D
Triadic 2#9D8F69
Tetradic#75699D
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°164°

#699d8f sits at 164°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red41.2%
Green61.6%
Blue56.1%
R · 0–255
105
0x69
G · 0–255
157
0x9d
B · 0–255
143
0x8f

CMYK percentages

Cyan33.1%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow8.9%
Key (black)38.4%

Total ink coverage is 80%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#699d8f text on a black background

contrast 6.82:1

Card sample

#699d8f text on a white background

contrast 3.08:1

Card sample

#699d8f on grey

2.81:1

#699d8f on its own surface

2.91:1

#699d8f on its dark surface

5.32:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #699d8f;
Background color
Panel with #699d8f background
background-color: #699d8f;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #699d8f;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(105, 157, 143, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(105, 157, 143, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #699d8f;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #699d8f, #69889D);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #699d8f, #697B9D);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #699d8f;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #699d8f;
caret-color: #699d8f;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #699d8f;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F0F5F3;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #699d8f;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#699d8f 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #699d8f 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(105, 157, 143, 0.5)
rgb(105 157 143 / 50%)
#699d8f80
hsl(164 21% 51% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #699d8f 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#699d8f1a#F0F5F4
20%#699d8f33#E1EBE9
40%#699d8f66#C3D8D2
60%#699d8f99#A5C4BC
80%#699d8fcc#87B1A5

Gradients from #699d8f

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, #8EB5AB, #699d8f 45%, #324D46);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #699d8f, #5B758C);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #699d8f, #9D6977);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #A1C1B9 0%, #699d8f 45%, #324D46 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F9F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #88B18E 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #7C9BA9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #324D46 0%, transparent 65%), #699d8f;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #699d8f

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.

#699d8f 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 6.82:1.

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.

#699d8f, answered

What color is #699d8f?

#699d8f is a balanced soft cyan, closest to Cadet Blue (ΔE2000 6.8). It sits at 164° on the hue wheel with 21% saturation and 51% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #699d8f?

rgb(105, 157, 143) — 105 red, 157 green and 143 blue out of 255, or 41.2% / 61.6% / 56.1% by channel.

What is #699d8f in HSL and HSV?

hsl(164, 21%, 51%) and hsv(164, 33%, 62%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #699d8f a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.2910 and perceived brightness is 56%, so black text on it reaches 6.82:1.

Should I use black or white text on #699d8f?

Black. It scores 6.82:1 against #699d8f, versus 3.08:1 for white — AA at any size.

Is #699d8f accessible on a white background?

#699d8f on white scores 3.08:1, which only clears AA for large text — 18.66px bold or 24px regular and up. Darken it to #517D71 to reach 4.5:1, or #3D5E55 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #699d8f?

#9D6977 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #9D6991 and #9D7569, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #699d8f?

For interface work: #F6F9F8 as the surface, #CEDFDA for borders, #5B8B7E for secondary text, #A26484 as an accent and #324D46 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #699D75 and #69919D stays calm, while #9D6977 is the loudest partner.

What is #699d8f in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(33%, 0%, 9%, 38%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #699d8f warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 68 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #699D7C; nudged cooler, #679AA0.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #699d8f?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 10.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #699d8f as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #699d8f in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#699d8f] or text-[#699d8f], 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 #699d8f with 50% opacity?

rgba(105, 157, 143, 0.5), or #699d8f80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #B4CEC7; over black, #354F48.

Is #699d8f a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #669999, ΔE2000 6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #699d8f 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 #699d8f?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #8EB5AB, #699d8f 45%, #324D46). For more colour, a short hue run to #5B758C keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #699d8f in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #699d8f at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.