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cyan · cool

#80cabf

a balanced, soft cyan · cool · closest name: Medium Turquoise

Token name suggestion: Atlas Reef

RGB
128, 202, 191
HSL
171°, 41%, 65%
CMYK
37, 0, 5, 21
Luminance
0.5059

#80cabf is a balanced soft cyan, 171° on the wheel and 84/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.12:1). As text it scores 1.89:1 on white — use #368075 instead. Nearest name is Medium Turquoise, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(171 41% 65%)rgb(128 202 191)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

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

Hex
#80cabf
Hue
171°
cyan
Saturation
41%
soft
Lightness
65%
balanced
Brightness
79%
HSV value
Perceived
71%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5059
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
84/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
11.12:1
Closest name
Medium Turquoise
ΔE2000 6.2
Chroma
25.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.787
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 9.5
Web-safe
#99CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue171° of 360°
Saturation41%
Lightness65%
Saturation × lightness field

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

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool84% 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%
Green83%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#80cabf
HEX (8-digit)#80cabfff
RGBrgb(128, 202, 191)
RGBArgba(128, 202, 191, 1)
HSLhsl(171, 41%, 65%)
HSV / HSBhsv(171, 37%, 79%)
HWBhwb(171 50% 21%)
CMYKcmyk(37%, 0%, 5%, 21%)
LABlab(76.4 -25.5 -1.8)
LCHlch(76.4 25.6 184.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.787 0.076 184.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(39.42, 50.59, 56.97)
Decimal8440511
Display P3color(display-p3 0.502 0.792 0.749)
Web-safe#99CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #80cabf;
background-color: #80cabf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #80cabf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#80cabf] bg-[#80cabf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #80cabf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.502, green: 0.792, blue: 0.749)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.502, green: 0.792, blue: 0.749, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#80CABF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF80CABF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF80CABF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(191, 202, 128)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(128, 202, 191)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(128, 202, 191)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 128, 202, 191)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5020f, 0.7922f, 0.7490f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{128,202,191}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #80cabf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #80cabf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#265A52, #D4EDE9);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #80cabf 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: #F5FAF9;
  --brand-100: #EBF5F3;
  --brand-200: #D2EAE6;
  --brand-300: #B0DED7;
  --brand-400: #80cabf;
  --brand-500: #61BDAF;
  --brand-600: #48AD9E;
  --brand-700: #3C9083;
  --brand-800: #307369;
  --brand-900: #26544D;
  --brand-950: #183530;
  --brand: #80cabf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C5E7E2;
  --brand-hover: #67BFB2;
  --brand-pressed: #4EB5A6;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142422;
    --brand-ink: #D4EDE9;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5FAF9',
        100: '#EBF5F3',
        200: '#D2EAE6',
        300: '#B0DED7',
        400: '#80cabf',
        500: '#61BDAF',
        600: '#48AD9E',
        700: '#3C9083',
        800: '#307369',
        900: '#26544D',
        950: '#183530',
        DEFAULT: '#80cabf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5FAF9,
  '100': #EBF5F3,
  '200': #D2EAE6,
  '300': #B0DED7,
  '400': #80cabf,
  '500': #61BDAF,
  '600': #48AD9E,
  '700': #3C9083,
  '800': #307369,
  '900': #26544D,
  '950': #183530,
);
$brand-base: #80cabf;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5FAF9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EBF5F3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D2EAE6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B0DED7", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#80cabf", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#61BDAF", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#48AD9E", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#3C9083", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#307369", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#26544D", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#183530", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #80cabf · 11.12:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.89:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.12:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #80cabf as text scores 1.89:1 on white and 11.12:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #265A52 at 4.17:1.

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
#368075 · 4.67:1
AA on white−29% L
#368075
The quick fox
#286058 · 7.23:1
AAA on white−38% L
#286058
The quick fox
#80cabf · 11.12:1
AA on blackalready passes
#80cabf
The quick fox
#80cabf · 11.12:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#80cabf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #45A496 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
#80cabf on white: 1.89:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#80cabf on black: 11.12:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.89:1AaAa
Slate 501.81:1AaAa
Slate 1001.72:1AaAa
Slate 2001.53:1AaAa
Slate 3001.27:1AaAa
Slate 4001.36:1AaAa
Slate 5002.52:1AaAa
Slate 6004.01:1AaAa
Slate 7005.48:1AaAa
Slate 8007.75:1AaAa
Slate 9009.45:1AaAa
Black11.12:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C3C2BF
deuteranopia · #B6B9C0
tritanopia · #66CDC6

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. #80cabf 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.

#F5FAF9
#EBF5F3
#D2EAE6
#B0DED7
#80cabf
#61BDAF
#48AD9E
#3C9083
#307369
#26544D
#183530
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F5FAF9Darkest = 950 · #183530Text 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 0.019 184.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.030 184.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.045 184.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.059 184.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.070 184.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.076 184.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.076 184.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.071 184.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.064 184.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.053 184.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.042 184.0);
}

Colors that work with #80cabf

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#C5E7E2
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B8F
Captions on the surface
Accent#95375D
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#265A52
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EDF7F6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142422
Dark-mode background
Hover#67BFB2
One step down in lightness
Pressed#4EB5A6
Two steps down
Disabled#D6E5E2
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#86D8CC
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 #80cabf

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

Works well for
  • 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
  • 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 #265A52
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #45A496

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
  • Weight35/100
  • 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#CA808B
Analogous left#80CA9A
Analogous right#80B0CA
Split-complement 1#CA80B0
Split-complement 2#CA9A80
Triadic 1#BF80CA
Triadic 2#CABF80
Tetradic#9A80CA
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°171°

#80cabf sits at 171°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red50.2%
Green79.2%
Blue74.9%
R · 0–255
128
0x80
G · 0–255
202
0xca
B · 0–255
191
0xbf

CMYK percentages

Cyan36.6%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow5.4%
Key (black)20.8%

Total ink coverage is 63%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#80cabf text on a black background

contrast 11.12:1

Card sample

#80cabf text on a white background

contrast 1.89:1

Card sample

#80cabf on grey

1.72:1

#80cabf on its own surface

1.79:1

#80cabf on its dark surface

8.52:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(128, 202, 191, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(128, 202, 191, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #80cabf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #80cabf, #80A4CA);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #80cabf, #8091CA);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #80cabf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #80cabf;
caret-color: #80cabf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #80cabf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EDF7F6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #80cabf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#80cabf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #80cabf 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, 202, 191, 0.5)
rgb(128 202 191 / 50%)
#80cabf80
hsl(171 41% 65% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #80cabf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#80cabf1a#F2FAF9
20%#80cabf33#E6F4F2
40%#80cabf66#CCEAE5
60%#80cabf99#B3DFD9
80%#80cabfcc#99D5CC

Gradients from #80cabf

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, #ABDCD5, #80cabf 45%, #265A52);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #80cabf, #6A8DC1);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #80cabf, #CA808B);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #C1E5E0 0%, #80cabf 45%, #265A52 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%, #A4D9B2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #96B8D3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #265A52 0%, transparent 65%), #80cabf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #80cabf

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.

#80cabf 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 11.12:1.

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.

#80cabf, answered

What color is #80cabf?

#80cabf is a balanced soft cyan, closest to Medium Turquoise (ΔE2000 6.2). It sits at 171° on the hue wheel with 41% saturation and 65% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #80cabf?

rgb(128, 202, 191) — 128 red, 202 green and 191 blue out of 255, or 50.2% / 79.2% / 74.9% by channel.

What is #80cabf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(171, 41%, 65%) and hsv(171, 37%, 79%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #80cabf a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5059 and perceived brightness is 71%, so black text on it reaches 11.12:1.

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

Black. It scores 11.12:1 against #80cabf, versus 1.89:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #80cabf accessible on a white background?

#80cabf on white scores 1.89:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #368075 to reach 4.5:1, or #286058 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #80cabf?

#CA808B sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CA80B0 and #CA9A80, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #80cabf?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C5E7E2 for borders, #4B9B8F for secondary text, #95375D as an accent and #265A52 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #80CA9A and #80B0CA stays calm, while #CA808B is the loudest partner.

What is #80cabf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(37%, 0%, 5%, 21%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #80cabf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 84 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #80CAA4; nudged cooler, #7EBBCC.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #80cabf?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 9.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #80cabf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #80cabf in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(128, 202, 191, 0.5), or #80cabf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C0E5DF; over black, #406560.

Is #80cabf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCCC, ΔE2000 6.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #80cabf 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 #80cabf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #ABDCD5, #80cabf 45%, #265A52). For more colour, a short hue run to #6A8DC1 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #80cabf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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