Skip to content
cyan · cool

#6f9b99

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

Token name suggestion: Studio Teal

RGB
111, 155, 153
HSL
177°, 18%, 52%
CMYK
28, 0, 1, 39
Luminance
0.2912

#6f9b99 is a balanced soft cyan, 177° on the wheel and 69/100 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(177 18% 52%)rgb(111 155 153)Base step 500AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #6f9b99 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#6f9b99
Hue
177°
cyan
Saturation
18%
soft
Lightness
52%
balanced
Brightness
61%
HSV value
Perceived
56%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.2912
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
69/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
6.82:1
Closest name
Cadet Blue
ΔE2000 3.6
Chroma
15.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.657
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 13.5
Web-safe
#669999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue177° of 360°
Saturation18%
Lightness52%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #6f9b99.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool69% 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
Red12%
Green80%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#6f9b99
HEX (8-digit)#6f9b99ff
RGBrgb(111, 155, 153)
RGBArgba(111, 155, 153, 1)
HSLhsl(177, 18%, 52%)
HSV / HSBhsv(177, 28%, 61%)
HWBhwb(177 44% 39%)
CMYKcmyk(28%, 0%, 1%, 39%)
LABlab(60.9 -15.3 -3.8)
LCHlch(60.9 15.7 193.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.657 0.048 192.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(24.02, 29.12, 34.49)
Decimal7314329
Display P3color(display-p3 0.435 0.608 0.600)
Web-safe#669999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #6f9b99;
background-color: #6f9b99;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #6f9b99;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#6f9b99] bg-[#6f9b99]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #6f9b99;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.435, green: 0.608, blue: 0.600)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.435, green: 0.608, blue: 0.600, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#6F9B99</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF6F9B99)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF6F9B99)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(153, 155, 111)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(111, 155, 153)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(111, 155, 153)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 111, 155, 153)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.4353f, 0.6078f, 0.6000f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{111,155,153}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #6f9b99 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #6f9b99 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#344B4A, #DBE6E5);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #6f9b99 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: #F6F8F8;
  --brand-100: #EEF2F2;
  --brand-200: #D9E3E3;
  --brand-300: #BDD1D0;
  --brand-400: #9CBAB9;
  --brand-500: #6f9b99;
  --brand-600: #64908E;
  --brand-700: #547877;
  --brand-800: #43605F;
  --brand-900: #334746;
  --brand-950: #202D2C;
  --brand: #6f9b99;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F9F9;
  --brand-border: #CFDEDD;
  --brand-hover: #5F8886;
  --brand-pressed: #507371;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #172121;
    --brand-ink: #DBE6E5;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F8F8',
        100: '#EEF2F2',
        200: '#D9E3E3',
        300: '#BDD1D0',
        400: '#9CBAB9',
        500: '#6f9b99',
        600: '#64908E',
        700: '#547877',
        800: '#43605F',
        900: '#334746',
        950: '#202D2C',
        DEFAULT: '#6f9b99',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F8F8,
  '100': #EEF2F2,
  '200': #D9E3E3,
  '300': #BDD1D0,
  '400': #9CBAB9,
  '500': #6f9b99,
  '600': #64908E,
  '700': #547877,
  '800': #43605F,
  '900': #334746,
  '950': #202D2C,
);
$brand-base: #6f9b99;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F8F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EEF2F2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D9E3E3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#BDD1D0", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#9CBAB9", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#6f9b99", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#64908E", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#547877", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#43605F", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#334746", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#202D2C", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #6f9b99 · 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: #6f9b99 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: #344B4A at 3.03:1.

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
#567C7A · 4.61:1
AA on white−11% L
#567C7A
The quick fox
#415E5D · 7.04:1
AAA on white−21% L
#415E5D
The quick fox
#6f9b99 · 6.82:1
AA on blackalready passes
#6f9b99
The quick fox
#729D9B · 7.01:1
AAA on black+1% L
#729D9B

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #6F9B99 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
#6f9b99 on white: 3.08:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#6f9b99 on black: 6.82:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #6f9b99 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #6f9b99.

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 7003.37:1AaAa
Slate 8004.75:1AaAa
Slate 9005.80:1AaAa
Black6.82:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #969799
deuteranopia · #8D9099
tritanopia · #609E9A

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. #6f9b99 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.

#F6F8F8
#EEF2F2
#D9E3E3
#BDD1D0
#9CBAB9
#6f9b99
#64908E
#547877
#43605F
#334746
#202D2C
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F6F8F8Darkest = 950 · #202D2CText 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 0.012 192.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.019 192.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.029 192.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.037 192.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.044 192.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.048 192.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.048 192.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.045 192.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.040 192.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.033 192.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.026 192.5);
}

Colors that work with #6f9b99

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#F6F9F9
Tinted page background
Border#CFDEDD
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#5E8786
Captions on the surface
Accent#A06A7A
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#344B4A
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F0F5F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#172121
Dark-mode background
Hover#5F8886
One step down in lightness
Pressed#507371
Two steps down
Disabled#B1C9C8
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#70AFAC
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 #6f9b99

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 #344B4A
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
  • Weight48/100
  • 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#9B6F71
Analogous left#6F9B83
Analogous right#6F879B
Split-complement 1#9B6F87
Split-complement 2#9B836F
Triadic 1#996F9B
Triadic 2#9B996F
Tetradic#836F9B
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°177°

#6f9b99 sits at 177°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red43.5%
Green60.8%
Blue60.0%
R · 0–255
111
0x6f
G · 0–255
155
0x9b
B · 0–255
153
0x99

CMYK percentages

Cyan28.4%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow1.3%
Key (black)39.2%

Total ink coverage is 69%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#6f9b99 text on a black background

contrast 6.82:1

Card sample

#6f9b99 text on a white background

contrast 3.08:1

Card sample

#6f9b99 on grey

2.81:1

#6f9b99 on its own surface

2.91:1

#6f9b99 on its dark surface

5.35:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #6f9b99;
Background color
Panel with #6f9b99 background
background-color: #6f9b99;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #6f9b99;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(111, 155, 153, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(111, 155, 153, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #6f9b99;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #6f9b99, #6F809B);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #6f9b99, #6F759B);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #6f9b99;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #6f9b99;
caret-color: #6f9b99;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #6f9b99;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F0F5F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #6f9b99;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#6f9b99 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #6f9b99 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(111, 155, 153, 0.5)
rgb(111 155 153 / 50%)
#6f9b9980
hsl(177 18% 52% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #6f9b99 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#6f9b991a#F1F5F5
20%#6f9b9933#E2EBEB
40%#6f9b9966#C5D7D6
60%#6f9b9999#A9C3C2
80%#6f9b99cc#8CAFAD

Gradients from #6f9b99

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, #93B4B3, #6f9b99 45%, #344B4A);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #6f9b99, #616D8B);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #6f9b99, #9B6F71);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #A5C1BF 0%, #6f9b99 45%, #344B4A 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F9F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #8DB09A 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #8193A8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #344B4A 0%, transparent 65%), #6f9b99;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #6f9b99

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.

#6f9b99 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.

#6f9b99, answered

What color is #6f9b99?

#6f9b99 is a balanced soft cyan, closest to Cadet Blue (ΔE2000 3.6). It sits at 177° on the hue wheel with 18% saturation and 52% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #6f9b99?

rgb(111, 155, 153) — 111 red, 155 green and 153 blue out of 255, or 43.5% / 60.8% / 60% by channel.

What is #6f9b99 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(177, 18%, 52%) and hsv(177, 28%, 61%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #6f9b99 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.2912 and perceived brightness is 56%, so black text on it reaches 6.82:1.

Should I use black or white text on #6f9b99?

Black. It scores 6.82:1 against #6f9b99, versus 3.08:1 for white — AA at any size.

Is #6f9b99 accessible on a white background?

#6f9b99 on white scores 3.08:1, which only clears AA for large text — 18.66px bold or 24px regular and up. Darken it to #567C7A to reach 4.5:1, or #415E5D for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #6f9b99?

#9B6F71 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #9B6F87 and #9B836F, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #6f9b99?

For interface work: #F6F9F9 as the surface, #CFDEDD for borders, #5E8786 for secondary text, #A06A7A as an accent and #344B4A for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #6F9B83 and #6F879B stays calm, while #9B6F71 is the loudest partner.

What is #6f9b99 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(28%, 0%, 1%, 39%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #6f9b99 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 69 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #6F9B89; nudged cooler, #6D8E9D.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #6f9b99?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 13.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #6f9b99 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #6f9b99 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#6f9b99] or text-[#6f9b99], 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 #6f9b99 with 50% opacity?

rgba(111, 155, 153, 0.5), or #6f9b9980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #B7CDCC; over black, #384E4D.

Is #6f9b99 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #669999, ΔE2000 1.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #6f9b99 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 #6f9b99?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #93B4B3, #6f9b99 45%, #344B4A). For more colour, a short hue run to #616D8B keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #6f9b99 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #6f9b99 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.