Skip to content
cyan · cool

#809d9b

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

Token name suggestion: Atlas Glacier

RGB
128, 157, 155
HSL
176°, 13%, 56%
CMYK
19, 0, 1, 38
Luminance
0.3107

#809d9b is a balanced muted cyan, 176° on the wheel and 63/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.21:1). As text it scores 2.91:1 on white — use #5F7C7A instead. Nearest name is Cadet Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(176 13% 56%)rgb(128 157 155)Base step 500AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #809d9b is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#809d9b
Hue
176°
cyan
Saturation
13%
muted
Lightness
56%
balanced
Brightness
62%
HSV value
Perceived
58%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3107
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
63/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
7.21:1
Closest name
Cadet Blue
ΔE2000 7.2
Chroma
10.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.673
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 15.8
Web-safe
#999999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue176° of 360°
Saturation13%
Lightness56%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #809d9b.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool63% 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
Red15%
Green78%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#809d9b
HEX (8-digit)#809d9bff
RGBrgb(128, 157, 155)
RGBArgba(128, 157, 155, 1)
HSLhsl(176, 13%, 56%)
HSV / HSBhsv(176, 18%, 62%)
HWBhwb(176 50% 38%)
CMYKcmyk(19%, 0%, 1%, 38%)
LABlab(62.6 -10.5 -2.3)
LCHlch(62.6 10.7 192.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.673 0.033 191.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(26.87, 31.07, 35.58)
Decimal8428955
Display P3color(display-p3 0.502 0.616 0.608)
Web-safe#999999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #809d9b;
background-color: #809d9b;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #809d9b;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#809d9b] bg-[#809d9b]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #809d9b;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.502, green: 0.616, blue: 0.608)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.502, green: 0.616, blue: 0.608, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#809D9B</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF809D9B)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF809D9B)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(155, 157, 128)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(128, 157, 155)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(128, 157, 155)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 128, 157, 155)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5020f, 0.6157f, 0.6078f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{128,157,155}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #809d9b 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #809d9b 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#384847, #DCE4E4);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #809d9b 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: #F7F8F8;
  --brand-100: #EEF1F1;
  --brand-200: #DAE2E1;
  --brand-300: #C0CECD;
  --brand-400: #A0B6B4;
  --brand-500: #809d9b;
  --brand-600: #6B8A88;
  --brand-700: #597371;
  --brand-800: #475C5B;
  --brand-900: #364443;
  --brand-950: #222B2A;
  --brand: #809d9b;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F8F8;
  --brand-border: #D1DBDB;
  --brand-hover: #6D8D8B;
  --brand-pressed: #5D7977;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #18201F;
    --brand-ink: #DCE4E4;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F8F8',
        100: '#EEF1F1',
        200: '#DAE2E1',
        300: '#C0CECD',
        400: '#A0B6B4',
        500: '#809d9b',
        600: '#6B8A88',
        700: '#597371',
        800: '#475C5B',
        900: '#364443',
        950: '#222B2A',
        DEFAULT: '#809d9b',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F8F8,
  '100': #EEF1F1,
  '200': #DAE2E1,
  '300': #C0CECD,
  '400': #A0B6B4,
  '500': #809d9b,
  '600': #6B8A88,
  '700': #597371,
  '800': #475C5B,
  '900': #364443,
  '950': #222B2A,
);
$brand-base: #809d9b;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F8F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EEF1F1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DAE2E1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#C0CECD", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#A0B6B4", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#809d9b", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#6B8A88", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#597371", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#475C5B", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#364443", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#222B2A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #809d9b · 7.21:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.91:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.21:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #809d9b as text scores 2.91:1 on white and 7.21:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #384847 at 3.30:1.

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
#5F7C7A · 4.52:1
AA on white−13% L
#5F7C7A
The quick fox
#475C5A · 7.13:1
AAA on white−24% L
#475C5A
The quick fox
#809d9b · 7.21:1
AA on blackalready passes
#809d9b
The quick fox
#809d9b · 7.21:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#809d9b

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #7A9997 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
#809d9b on white: 2.91:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#809d9b on black: 7.21:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #809d9b as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #809d9b.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.91:1AaAa
Slate 502.78:1AaAa
Slate 1002.66:1AaAa
Slate 2002.36:1AaAa
Slate 3001.96:1AaAa
Slate 4001.14:1AaAa
Slate 5001.63:1AaAa
Slate 6002.60:1AaAa
Slate 7003.56:1AaAa
Slate 8005.03:1AaAa
Slate 9006.13:1AaAa
Black7.21:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #999A9B
deuteranopia · #94959B
tritanopia · #789F9C

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. #809d9b 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.

#F7F8F8
#EEF1F1
#DAE2E1
#C0CECD
#A0B6B4
#809d9b
#6B8A88
#597371
#475C5B
#364443
#222B2A
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F7F8F8Darkest = 950 · #222B2AText 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 0.008 191.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.013 191.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.019 191.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.025 191.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.030 191.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.033 191.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.033 191.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.031 191.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.027 191.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.023 191.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.018 191.2);
}

Colors that work with #809d9b

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#F6F8F8
Tinted page background
Border#D1DBDB
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#648280
Captions on the surface
Accent#A27C88
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#384847
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F1F4F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#18201F
Dark-mode background
Hover#6D8D8B
One step down in lightness
Pressed#5D7977
Two steps down
Disabled#BFCECD
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#81B0AD
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 #809d9b

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Borders, dividers and quiet backgrounds
  • Long-form reading surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • 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 #384847
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #7A9997

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.

With almost no chroma left, the family association is barely present; treat it as a neutral that happens to lean this way. 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
  • EnergyLow
  • Weight44/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • ApproachabilityBalanced

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#9D8082
Analogous left#809D8D
Analogous right#80919D
Split-complement 1#9D8091
Split-complement 2#9D8D80
Triadic 1#9B809D
Triadic 2#9D9B80
Tetradic#8D809D
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°176°

#809d9b sits at 176°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red50.2%
Green61.6%
Blue60.8%
R · 0–255
128
0x80
G · 0–255
157
0x9d
B · 0–255
155
0x9b

CMYK percentages

Cyan18.5%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow1.3%
Key (black)38.4%

Total ink coverage is 58%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#809d9b text on a black background

contrast 7.21:1

Card sample

#809d9b text on a white background

contrast 2.91:1

Card sample

#809d9b on grey

2.66:1

#809d9b on its own surface

2.73:1

#809d9b on its dark surface

5.70:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #809d9b;
Background color
Panel with #809d9b background
background-color: #809d9b;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #809d9b;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(128, 157, 155, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(128, 157, 155, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #809d9b;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #809d9b, #808C9D);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #809d9b, #80849D);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #809d9b;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #809d9b;
caret-color: #809d9b;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #809d9b;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F1F4F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #809d9b;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#809d9b 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #809d9b 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(128, 157, 155, 0.5)
rgb(128 157 155 / 50%)
#809d9b80
hsl(176 13% 56% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #809d9b 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#809d9b1a#F2F5F5
20%#809d9b33#E6EBEB
40%#809d9b66#CCD8D7
60%#809d9b99#B3C4C3
80%#809d9bcc#99B1AF

Gradients from #809d9b

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, #A3B8B6, #809d9b 45%, #384847);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #809d9b, #6F7990);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #809d9b, #9D8082);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #B4C5C4 0%, #809d9b 45%, #384847 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F8F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #9DB3A5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #919DAA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #384847 0%, transparent 65%), #809d9b;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #809d9b

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.

#809d9b 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
BackgroundsBordersBody textDividers
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 7.21:1.

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.

#809d9b, answered

What color is #809d9b?

#809d9b is a balanced muted cyan, closest to Cadet Blue (ΔE2000 7.2). It sits at 176° on the hue wheel with 13% saturation and 56% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #809d9b?

rgb(128, 157, 155) — 128 red, 157 green and 155 blue out of 255, or 50.2% / 61.6% / 60.8% by channel.

What is #809d9b in HSL and HSV?

hsl(176, 13%, 56%) and hsv(176, 18%, 62%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #809d9b a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3107 and perceived brightness is 58%, so black text on it reaches 7.21:1.

Should I use black or white text on #809d9b?

Black. It scores 7.21:1 against #809d9b, versus 2.91:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #809d9b accessible on a white background?

#809d9b on white scores 2.91:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #5F7C7A to reach 4.5:1, or #475C5A for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #809d9b?

#9D8082 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #9D8091 and #9D8D80, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #809d9b?

For interface work: #F6F8F8 as the surface, #D1DBDB for borders, #648280 for secondary text, #A27C88 as an accent and #384847 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #809D8D and #80919D stays calm, while #9D8082 is the loudest partner.

What is #809d9b in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(19%, 0%, 1%, 38%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #809d9b warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 63 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #809D90; nudged cooler, #7E959F.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #809d9b?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 15.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #809d9b as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #809d9b in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#809d9b] or text-[#809d9b], 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 #809d9b with 50% opacity?

rgba(128, 157, 155, 0.5), or #809d9b80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C0CECD; over black, #404F4E.

Is #809d9b a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #999999, ΔE2000 11.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #809d9b mean?

As a cyan, it reads clean, technical, fresh. Cyan reads as water, air and infrastructure: cool, hygienic, engineered. At this low chroma the association is faint; it behaves more like a neutral.

What gradient works with #809d9b?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #A3B8B6, #809d9b 45%, #384847). For more colour, a short hue run to #6F7990 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #809d9b in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #809d9b at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.