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blue · cool

#76cdfd

a light, electric blue · cool · closest name: Light Sky Blue

Token name suggestion: Linen Cobalt

RGB
118, 205, 253
HSL
201°, 97%, 73%
CMYK
53, 19, 0, 1
Luminance
0.5461

#76cdfd is a light electric blue, 201° on the wheel and 96/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.92:1). As text it scores 1.76:1 on white — use #037BBD instead. Nearest name is Light Sky Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(201 97% 73%)rgb(118 205 253)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #76cdfd is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#76cdfd
Hue
201°
blue
Saturation
97%
electric
Lightness
73%
light
Brightness
99%
HSV value
Perceived
75%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5461
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
96/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
11.92:1
Closest name
Light Sky Blue
ΔE2000 1.9
Chroma
34.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.812
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 11.5
Web-safe
#66CCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue201° of 360°
Saturation97%
Lightness73%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #76cdfd.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool96% 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
Red7%
Green80%
Blue13%

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

Every format

HEX#76cdfd
HEX (8-digit)#76cdfdff
RGBrgb(118, 205, 253)
RGBArgba(118, 205, 253, 1)
HSLhsl(201, 97%, 73%)
HSV / HSBhsv(201, 53%, 99%)
HWBhwb(201 46% 1%)
CMYKcmyk(53%, 19%, 0%, 1%)
LABlab(78.8 -13.2 -31.6)
LCHlch(78.8 34.2 247.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.812 0.108 234.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(47.03, 54.60, 100.97)
Decimal7785981
Display P3color(display-p3 0.463 0.804 0.992)
Web-safe#66CCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #76cdfd;
background-color: #76cdfd;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #76cdfd;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#76cdfd] bg-[#76cdfd]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #76cdfd;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.463, green: 0.804, blue: 0.992)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.463, green: 0.804, blue: 0.992, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#76CDFD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF76CDFD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF76CDFD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(253, 205, 118)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(118, 205, 253)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(118, 205, 253)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 118, 205, 253)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.4627f, 0.8039f, 0.9922f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{118,205,253}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #76cdfd 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #76cdfd 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#02527E, #D3E4EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #76cdfd 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: #F1F9FD;
  --brand-100: #E4F3FC;
  --brand-200: #C1E6FB;
  --brand-300: #76cdfd;
  --brand-400: #59C3FD;
  --brand-500: #22AEFC;
  --brand-600: #049DF1;
  --brand-700: #0383C9;
  --brand-800: #0269A1;
  --brand-900: #074D74;
  --brand-950: #043048;
  --brand: #76cdfd;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C0DDED;
  --brand-hover: #53C0FC;
  --brand-pressed: #2FB3FC;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141E24;
    --brand-ink: #D3E4EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F1F9FD',
        100: '#E4F3FC',
        200: '#C1E6FB',
        300: '#76cdfd',
        400: '#59C3FD',
        500: '#22AEFC',
        600: '#049DF1',
        700: '#0383C9',
        800: '#0269A1',
        900: '#074D74',
        950: '#043048',
        DEFAULT: '#76cdfd',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F1F9FD,
  '100': #E4F3FC,
  '200': #C1E6FB,
  '300': #76cdfd,
  '400': #59C3FD,
  '500': #22AEFC,
  '600': #049DF1,
  '700': #0383C9,
  '800': #0269A1,
  '900': #074D74,
  '950': #043048,
);
$brand-base: #76cdfd;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F1F9FD", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E4F3FC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C1E6FB", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#76cdfd", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#59C3FD", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#22AEFC", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#049DF1", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#0383C9", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#0269A1", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#074D74", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#043048", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #76cdfd · 11.92:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.76:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.92:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #76cdfd as text scores 1.76:1 on white and 11.92:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #02527E at 4.75:1.

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
#037BBD · 4.59:1
AA on white−35% L
#037BBD
The quick fox
#025B8B · 7.31:1
AAA on white−45% L
#025B8B
The quick fox
#76cdfd · 11.92:1
AA on blackalready passes
#76cdfd
The quick fox
#76cdfd · 11.92:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#76cdfd

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #0399EB 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
#76cdfd on white: 1.76:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#76cdfd on black: 11.92:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #76cdfd as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #76cdfd.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.76:1AaAa
Slate 501.68:1AaAa
Slate 1001.61:1AaAa
Slate 2001.43:1AaAa
Slate 3001.19:1AaAa
Slate 4001.46:1AaAa
Slate 5002.70:1AaAa
Slate 6004.30:1AaAa
Slate 7005.88:1AaAa
Slate 8008.30:1AaAa
Slate 90010.13:1AaAa
Black11.92:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B6CBFF
deuteranopia · #A3BDFC
tritanopia · #10DADD

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. #76cdfd is pinned to step 300; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F1F9FD
#E4F3FC
#C1E6FB
#76cdfd
#59C3FD
#22AEFC
#049DF1
#0383C9
#0269A1
#074D74
#043048
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F1F9FDDarkest = 950 · #043048Text 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 0.027 234.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.043 234.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.065 234.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.084 234.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.099 234.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.108 234.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.108 234.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.102 234.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.091 234.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.076 234.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.059 234.4);
}

Colors that work with #76cdfd

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#F4F8FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0DDED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B7E9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#CC1400
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#02527E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E6F6FF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141E24
Dark-mode background
Hover#53C0FC
One step down in lightness
Pressed#2FB3FC
Two steps down
Disabled#EFF2F4
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#88D5FF
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 #76cdfd

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
  • 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 #02527E
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #0399EB

Meaning and mood

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

trustedcalmcompetentcorporate

The default of institutions for a reason: blue is read as stable and safe across nearly every culture that has been surveyed.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. The lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

It is also the most crowded hue on the web. Distinctiveness has to come from your other choices.

Reads as
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight27/100
  • 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#FDA676
Analogous left#76FDE9
Analogous right#7689FD
Split-complement 1#FD7689
Split-complement 2#FDE976
Triadic 1#FD76CD
Triadic 2#CDFD76
Tetradic#E976FD
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°201°

#76cdfd sits at 201°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red46.3%
Green80.4%
Blue99.2%
R · 0–255
118
0x76
G · 0–255
205
0xcd
B · 0–255
253
0xfd

CMYK percentages

Cyan53.4%
Magenta19.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)0.8%

Total ink coverage is 73%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#76cdfd text on a black background

contrast 11.92:1

Card sample

#76cdfd text on a white background

contrast 1.76:1

Card sample

#76cdfd on grey

1.61:1

#76cdfd on its own surface

1.65:1

#76cdfd on its dark surface

9.61:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #76cdfd;
Background color
Panel with #76cdfd background
background-color: #76cdfd;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #76cdfd;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(118, 205, 253, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(118, 205, 253, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #76cdfd;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #76cdfd, #7976FD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #76cdfd, #9B76FD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #76cdfd;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #76cdfd;
caret-color: #76cdfd;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #76cdfd;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E6F6FF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #76cdfd;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#76cdfd 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #76cdfd 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(118, 205, 253, 0.5)
rgb(118 205 253 / 50%)
#76cdfd80
hsl(201 97% 73% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #76cdfd 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#76cdfd1a#F1FAFF
20%#76cdfd33#E4F5FF
40%#76cdfd66#C8EBFE
60%#76cdfd99#ADE1FE
80%#76cdfdcc#91D7FD

Gradients from #76cdfd

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, #B2E3FE, #76cdfd 45%, #02527E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #76cdfd, #6958FD);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #76cdfd, #FDA676);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D0EEFE 0%, #76cdfd 45%, #02527E 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F8FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #A8FEEA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #949AFD 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #02527E 0%, transparent 65%), #76cdfd;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #76cdfd

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.

#76cdfd in the real world

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

Industries
TechnologyFinanceHealthcareEnterprise SaaS
Common UI roles
SurfacesBadgesHighlightsEmpty states
Print note

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

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 11.92:1.

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.

#76cdfd, answered

What color is #76cdfd?

#76cdfd is a light electric blue, closest to Light Sky Blue (ΔE2000 1.9). It sits at 201° on the hue wheel with 97% saturation and 73% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #76cdfd?

rgb(118, 205, 253) — 118 red, 205 green and 253 blue out of 255, or 46.3% / 80.4% / 99.2% by channel.

What is #76cdfd in HSL and HSV?

hsl(201, 97%, 73%) and hsv(201, 53%, 99%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #76cdfd a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5461 and perceived brightness is 75%, so black text on it reaches 11.92:1.

Should I use black or white text on #76cdfd?

Black. It scores 11.92:1 against #76cdfd, versus 1.76:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #76cdfd accessible on a white background?

#76cdfd on white scores 1.76:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #037BBD to reach 4.5:1, or #025B8B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #76cdfd?

#FDA676 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #FD7689 and #FDE976, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #76cdfd?

For interface work: #F4F8FA as the surface, #C0DDED for borders, #4B7E9B for secondary text, #CC1400 as an accent and #02527E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #76FDE9 and #7689FD stays calm, while #FDA676 is the loudest partner.

What is #76cdfd in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(53%, 19%, 0%, 1%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #76cdfd warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 96 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #76FDFB; nudged cooler, #74BFFE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #76cdfd?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 11.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #76cdfd as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #76cdfd in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#76cdfd] or text-[#76cdfd], 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 #76cdfd with 50% opacity?

rgba(118, 205, 253, 0.5), or #76cdfd80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #BBE6FE; over black, #3B677F.

Is #76cdfd a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #66CCFF, ΔE2000 1.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #76cdfd mean?

As a blue, it reads trusted, calm, competent. The default of institutions for a reason: blue is read as stable and safe across nearly every culture that has been surveyed. At this chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #76cdfd?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #B2E3FE, #76cdfd 45%, #02527E). For more colour, a short hue run to #6958FD keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #76cdfd in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #76cdfd at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.