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cyan · cool

#73dcdd

a light, vivid cyan · cool · closest name: Medium Turquoise

Token name suggestion: Linen Lagoon

RGB
115, 220, 221
HSL
181°, 61%, 66%
CMYK
48, 1, 0, 13
Luminance
0.6005

#73dcdd is a light vivid cyan, 181° on the wheel and 88/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (13.01:1). As text it scores 1.61:1 on white — use #208283 instead. Nearest name is Medium Turquoise, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(181 61% 66%)rgb(115 220 221)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #73dcdd is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#73dcdd
Hue
181°
cyan
Saturation
61%
vivid
Lightness
66%
light
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
76%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6005
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
88/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
13.01:1
Closest name
Medium Turquoise
ΔE2000 4.9
Chroma
31.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.832
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 13.1
Web-safe
#66CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue181° of 360°
Saturation61%
Lightness66%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #73dcdd.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool88% 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
Red6%
Green85%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#73dcdd
HEX (8-digit)#73dcddff
RGBrgb(115, 220, 221)
RGBArgba(115, 220, 221, 1)
HSLhsl(181, 61%, 66%)
HSV / HSBhsv(181, 48%, 87%)
HWBhwb(181 45% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(48%, 1%, 0%, 13%)
LABlab(81.9 -30.1 -9.9)
LCHlch(81.9 31.7 198.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.832 0.098 196.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(45.71, 60.05, 77.57)
Decimal7593181
Display P3color(display-p3 0.451 0.863 0.867)
Web-safe#66CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #73dcdd;
background-color: #73dcdd;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #73dcdd;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#73dcdd] bg-[#73dcdd]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #73dcdd;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.451, green: 0.863, blue: 0.867)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.451, green: 0.863, blue: 0.867, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#73DCDD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF73DCDD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF73DCDD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(221, 220, 115)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(115, 220, 221)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(115, 220, 221)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 115, 220, 221)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.4510f, 0.8627f, 0.8667f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{115,220,221}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #73dcdd 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #73dcdd 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#196667, #D3EEEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #73dcdd 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: #F4FBFB;
  --brand-100: #E8F7F7;
  --brand-200: #CCEFF0;
  --brand-300: #A5E8E9;
  --brand-400: #73dcdd;
  --brand-500: #4AD2D3;
  --brand-600: #30C3C5;
  --brand-700: #28A3A4;
  --brand-800: #208283;
  --brand-900: #1B5F5F;
  --brand-950: #113B3C;
  --brand: #73dcdd;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C0ECED;
  --brand-hover: #56D5D6;
  --brand-pressed: #3ACECF;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142424;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4FBFB',
        100: '#E8F7F7',
        200: '#CCEFF0',
        300: '#A5E8E9',
        400: '#73dcdd',
        500: '#4AD2D3',
        600: '#30C3C5',
        700: '#28A3A4',
        800: '#208283',
        900: '#1B5F5F',
        950: '#113B3C',
        DEFAULT: '#73dcdd',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4FBFB,
  '100': #E8F7F7,
  '200': #CCEFF0,
  '300': #A5E8E9,
  '400': #73dcdd,
  '500': #4AD2D3,
  '600': #30C3C5,
  '700': #28A3A4,
  '800': #208283,
  '900': #1B5F5F,
  '950': #113B3C,
);
$brand-base: #73dcdd;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4FBFB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E8F7F7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CCEFF0", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#A5E8E9", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#73dcdd", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#4AD2D3", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#30C3C5", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#28A3A4", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#208283", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#1B5F5F", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#113B3C", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #73dcdd · 13.01:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.61:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 13.01:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #73dcdd as text scores 1.61:1 on white and 13.01:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #196667 at 4.15:1.

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
#208283 · 4.58:1
AA on white−34% L
#208283
The quick fox
#186162 · 7.18:1
AAA on white−42% L
#186162
The quick fox
#73dcdd · 13.01:1
AA on blackalready passes
#73dcdd
The quick fox
#73dcdd · 13.01:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#73dcdd

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #28A2A4 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
#73dcdd on white: 1.61:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#73dcdd on black: 13.01:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #73dcdd as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #73dcdd.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.61:1AaAa
Slate 501.54:1AaAa
Slate 1001.47:1AaAa
Slate 2001.31:1AaAa
Slate 3001.09:1AaAa
Slate 4001.59:1AaAa
Slate 5002.95:1AaAa
Slate 6004.69:1AaAa
Slate 7006.42:1AaAa
Slate 8009.06:1AaAa
Slate 90011.06:1AaAa
Black13.01:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D0D3DD
deuteranopia · #BEC6DE
tritanopia · #31E2DC

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. #73dcdd is pinned to step 400; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F4FBFB
#E8F7F7
#CCEFF0
#A5E8E9
#73dcdd
#4AD2D3
#30C3C5
#28A3A4
#208283
#1B5F5F
#113B3C
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F4FBFBDarkest = 950 · #113B3CText step on white = 800
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 0.024 196.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.039 196.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.059 196.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.076 196.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.090 196.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.098 196.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.098 196.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.092 196.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.082 196.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.068 196.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.054 196.3);
}

Colors that work with #73dcdd

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#F4FAFA
Tinted page background
Border#C0ECED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9A9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#A82444
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#196667
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EAFAFA
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142424
Dark-mode background
Hover#56D5D6
One step down in lightness
Pressed#3ACECF
Two steps down
Disabled#D9E7E7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#7CE8E9
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 #73dcdd

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • White text placed on it
  • 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 #196667
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #28A2A4

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.

This is a confident chroma: strong enough to lead a brand, restrained enough to live in an interface all day. The lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

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

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight34/100
  • 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#DD7473
Analogous left#73DDA9
Analogous right#73A7DD
Split-complement 1#DD73A7
Split-complement 2#DDA973
Triadic 1#DD73DC
Triadic 2#DCDD73
Tetradic#A973DD
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°181°

#73dcdd sits at 181°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red45.1%
Green86.3%
Blue86.7%
R · 0–255
115
0x73
G · 0–255
220
0xdc
B · 0–255
221
0xdd

CMYK percentages

Cyan48.0%
Magenta0.5%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)13.3%

Total ink coverage is 62%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#73dcdd text on a black background

contrast 13.01:1

Card sample

#73dcdd text on a white background

contrast 1.61:1

Card sample

#73dcdd on grey

1.47:1

#73dcdd on its own surface

1.53:1

#73dcdd on its dark surface

9.95:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #73dcdd;
Background color
Panel with #73dcdd background
background-color: #73dcdd;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #73dcdd;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(115, 220, 221, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(115, 220, 221, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #73dcdd;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #73dcdd, #7395DD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #73dcdd, #737BDD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #73dcdd;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #73dcdd;
caret-color: #73dcdd;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #73dcdd;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EAFAFA;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #73dcdd;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#73dcdd 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #73dcdd 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(115, 220, 221, 0.5)
rgb(115 220 221 / 50%)
#73dcdd80
hsl(181 61% 66% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #73dcdd 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#73dcdd1a#F1FCFC
20%#73dcdd33#E3F8F8
40%#73dcdd66#C7F1F1
60%#73dcdd99#ABEAEB
80%#73dcddcc#8FE3E4

Gradients from #73dcdd

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, #A4E8E9, #73dcdd 45%, #196667);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #73dcdd, #5A78D7);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #73dcdd, #DD7473);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #BDEEEF 0%, #73dcdd 45%, #196667 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4FAFA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #9CE7BC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #8CAFE3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #196667 0%, transparent 65%), #73dcdd;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #73dcdd

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.

#73dcdd 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
SurfacesBadgesHighlightsEmpty states
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 13.01:1.

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.

#73dcdd, answered

What color is #73dcdd?

#73dcdd is a light vivid cyan, closest to Medium Turquoise (ΔE2000 4.9). It sits at 181° on the hue wheel with 61% saturation and 66% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #73dcdd?

rgb(115, 220, 221) — 115 red, 220 green and 221 blue out of 255, or 45.1% / 86.3% / 86.7% by channel.

What is #73dcdd in HSL and HSV?

hsl(181, 61%, 66%) and hsv(181, 48%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #73dcdd a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6005 and perceived brightness is 76%, so black text on it reaches 13.01:1.

Should I use black or white text on #73dcdd?

Black. It scores 13.01:1 against #73dcdd, versus 1.61:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #73dcdd accessible on a white background?

#73dcdd on white scores 1.61:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #208283 to reach 4.5:1, or #186162 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #73dcdd?

#DD7473 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DD73A7 and #DDA973, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #73dcdd?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C0ECED for borders, #4B9A9B for secondary text, #A82444 as an accent and #196667 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #73DDA9 and #73A7DD stays calm, while #DD7473 is the loudest partner.

What is #73dcdd in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(48%, 1%, 0%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #73dcdd warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 88 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #73DDB7; nudged cooler, #71B9DF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #73dcdd?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 13.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #73dcdd as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #73dcdd in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#73dcdd] or text-[#73dcdd], 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 #73dcdd with 50% opacity?

rgba(115, 220, 221, 0.5), or #73dcdd80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #B9EEEE; over black, #3A6E6F.

Is #73dcdd a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #66CCCC, ΔE2000 3.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #73dcdd mean?

As a cyan, it reads clean, technical, fresh. Cyan reads as water, air and infrastructure: cool, hygienic, engineered. At this chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #73dcdd?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #A4E8E9, #73dcdd 45%, #196667). For more colour, a short hue run to #5A78D7 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #73dcdd in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #73dcdd at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.