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cyan · cool

#80c9cf

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Glacier

RGB
128, 201, 207
HSL
185°, 45%, 66%
CMYK
38, 3, 0, 19
Luminance
0.5087

#80c9cf is a light vivid cyan, 185° on the wheel and 89/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.17:1). As text it scores 1.88:1 on white — use #338188 instead. Nearest name is Medium Turquoise, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(185 45% 66%)rgb(128 201 207)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #80c9cf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#80c9cf
Hue
185°
cyan
Saturation
45%
vivid
Lightness
66%
light
Brightness
81%
HSV value
Perceived
72%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5087
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
89/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
11.17:1
Closest name
Medium Turquoise
ΔE2000 7.9
Chroma
23.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.790
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 10.4
Web-safe
#99CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue185° of 360°
Saturation45%
Lightness66%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #80c9cf.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool89% 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
Red9%
Green82%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#80c9cf
HEX (8-digit)#80c9cfff
RGBrgb(128, 201, 207)
RGBArgba(128, 201, 207, 1)
HSLhsl(185, 45%, 66%)
HSV / HSBhsv(185, 38%, 81%)
HWBhwb(185 50% 19%)
CMYKcmyk(38%, 3%, 0%, 19%)
LABlab(76.6 -21.2 -10.2)
LCHlch(76.6 23.5 205.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.790 0.073 202.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(41.05, 50.86, 66.67)
Decimal8440271
Display P3color(display-p3 0.502 0.788 0.812)
Web-safe#99CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #80c9cf;
background-color: #80c9cf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #80c9cf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#80c9cf] bg-[#80c9cf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #80c9cf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.502, green: 0.788, blue: 0.812)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.502, green: 0.788, blue: 0.812, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#80C9CF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF80C9CF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF80C9CF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(207, 201, 128)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(128, 201, 207)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(128, 201, 207)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 128, 201, 207)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5020f, 0.7882f, 0.8118f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{128,201,207}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #80c9cf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #80c9cf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#23585D, #D3ECEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #80c9cf 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: #F5FAFA;
  --brand-100: #EAF4F5;
  --brand-200: #D1E9EB;
  --brand-300: #AEDCE0;
  --brand-400: #80c9cf;
  --brand-500: #5CBAC1;
  --brand-600: #43A9B2;
  --brand-700: #388D94;
  --brand-800: #2D7176;
  --brand-900: #245357;
  --brand-950: #163436;
  --brand: #80c9cf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C4E6E9;
  --brand-hover: #66BEC5;
  --brand-pressed: #4CB3BB;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142324;
    --brand-ink: #D3ECEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5FAFA',
        100: '#EAF4F5',
        200: '#D1E9EB',
        300: '#AEDCE0',
        400: '#80c9cf',
        500: '#5CBAC1',
        600: '#43A9B2',
        700: '#388D94',
        800: '#2D7176',
        900: '#245357',
        950: '#163436',
        DEFAULT: '#80c9cf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5FAFA,
  '100': #EAF4F5,
  '200': #D1E9EB,
  '300': #AEDCE0,
  '400': #80c9cf,
  '500': #5CBAC1,
  '600': #43A9B2,
  '700': #388D94,
  '800': #2D7176,
  '900': #245357,
  '950': #163436,
);
$brand-base: #80c9cf;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5FAFA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EAF4F5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D1E9EB", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#AEDCE0", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#80c9cf", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#5CBAC1", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#43A9B2", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#388D94", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#2D7176", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#245357", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#163436", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #80c9cf · 11.17:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.88:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.17:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #80c9cf as text scores 1.88:1 on white and 11.17:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #23585D at 4.26:1.

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
#338188 · 4.53:1
AA on white−29% L
#338188
The quick fox
#255E63 · 7.34:1
AAA on white−39% L
#255E63
The quick fox
#80c9cf · 11.17:1
AA on blackalready passes
#80c9cf
The quick fox
#80c9cf · 11.17:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#80c9cf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #40A1A9 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
#80c9cf on white: 1.88:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#80c9cf on black: 11.17:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #80c9cf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #80c9cf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.88:1AaAa
Slate 501.80:1AaAa
Slate 1001.72:1AaAa
Slate 2001.52:1AaAa
Slate 3001.27:1AaAa
Slate 4001.36:1AaAa
Slate 5002.53:1AaAa
Slate 6004.03:1AaAa
Slate 7005.51:1AaAa
Slate 8007.78:1AaAa
Slate 9009.50:1AaAa
Black11.17:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #BFC3D0
deuteranopia · #B1B9CF
tritanopia · #5FCECB

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. #80c9cf 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.

#F5FAFA
#EAF4F5
#D1E9EB
#AEDCE0
#80c9cf
#5CBAC1
#43A9B2
#388D94
#2D7176
#245357
#163436
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F5FAFADarkest = 950 · #163436Text 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 0.018 202.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.029 202.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.044 202.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.057 202.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.067 202.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.073 202.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.073 202.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.069 202.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.062 202.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.051 202.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.040 202.4);
}

Colors that work with #80c9cf

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#C4E6E9
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B959B
Captions on the surface
Accent#983445
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#23585D
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#ECF7F8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142324
Dark-mode background
Hover#66BEC5
One step down in lightness
Pressed#4CB3BB
Two steps down
Disabled#D9E5E7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#87D6DC
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 #80c9cf

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 #23585D
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #40A1A9

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#CF8680
Analogous left#80CFAE
Analogous right#80A1CF
Split-complement 1#CF80A1
Split-complement 2#CFAE80
Triadic 1#CF80C9
Triadic 2#C9CF80
Tetradic#AE80CF
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°185°

#80c9cf sits at 185°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red50.2%
Green78.8%
Blue81.2%
R · 0–255
128
0x80
G · 0–255
201
0xc9
B · 0–255
207
0xcf

CMYK percentages

Cyan38.2%
Magenta2.9%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)18.8%

Total ink coverage is 60%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#80c9cf text on a black background

contrast 11.17:1

Card sample

#80c9cf text on a white background

contrast 1.88:1

Card sample

#80c9cf on grey

1.72:1

#80c9cf on its own surface

1.78:1

#80c9cf on its dark surface

8.62:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #80c9cf;
Background color
Panel with #80c9cf background
background-color: #80c9cf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #80c9cf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(128, 201, 207, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(128, 201, 207, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #80c9cf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #80c9cf, #8094CF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #80c9cf, #8081CF);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #80c9cf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #80c9cf;
caret-color: #80c9cf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #80c9cf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #ECF7F8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #80c9cf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#80c9cf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #80c9cf 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, 201, 207, 0.5)
rgb(128 201 207 / 50%)
#80c9cf80
hsl(185 45% 66% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #80c9cf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#80c9cf1a#F2FAFA
20%#80c9cf33#E6F4F5
40%#80c9cf66#CCE9EC
60%#80c9cf99#B3DFE2
80%#80c9cfcc#99D4D9

Gradients from #80c9cf

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, #ACDCE0, #80c9cf 45%, #23585D);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #80c9cf, #6A7AC7);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #80c9cf, #CF8680);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #C3E5E8 0%, #80c9cf 45%, #23585D 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%, #A5DDC1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #96ACD7 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #23585D 0%, transparent 65%), #80c9cf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #80c9cf

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.

#80c9cf 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 11.17:1.

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.

#80c9cf, answered

What color is #80c9cf?

#80c9cf is a light vivid cyan, closest to Medium Turquoise (ΔE2000 7.9). It sits at 185° on the hue wheel with 45% saturation and 66% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #80c9cf?

rgb(128, 201, 207) — 128 red, 201 green and 207 blue out of 255, or 50.2% / 78.8% / 81.2% by channel.

What is #80c9cf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(185, 45%, 66%) and hsv(185, 38%, 81%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #80c9cf a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5087 and perceived brightness is 72%, so black text on it reaches 11.17:1.

Should I use black or white text on #80c9cf?

Black. It scores 11.17:1 against #80c9cf, versus 1.88:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #80c9cf accessible on a white background?

#80c9cf on white scores 1.88:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #338188 to reach 4.5:1, or #255E63 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #80c9cf?

#CF8680 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CF80A1 and #CFAE80, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #80c9cf?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C4E6E9 for borders, #4B959B for secondary text, #983445 as an accent and #23585D for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #80CFAE and #80A1CF stays calm, while #CF8680 is the loudest partner.

What is #80c9cf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(38%, 3%, 0%, 19%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #80c9cf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 89 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #80CFB8; nudged cooler, #7EB0D1.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #80c9cf?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 10.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #80c9cf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #80c9cf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#80c9cf] or text-[#80c9cf], 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 #80c9cf with 50% opacity?

rgba(128, 201, 207, 0.5), or #80c9cf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C0E4E7; over black, #406568.

Is #80c9cf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCCC, ΔE2000 4.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #80c9cf 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 #80c9cf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #ACDCE0, #80c9cf 45%, #23585D). For more colour, a short hue run to #6A7AC7 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #80c9cf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #80c9cf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.