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cyan · cool

#81ccc7

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Lagoon

RGB
129, 204, 199
HSL
176°, 42%, 65%
CMYK
37, 0, 3, 20
Luminance
0.5198

#81ccc7 is a light soft cyan, 176° on the wheel and 86/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.40:1). As text it scores 1.84:1 on white — use #34807B instead. Nearest name is Medium Turquoise, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(176 42% 65%)rgb(129 204 199)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #81ccc7 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#81ccc7
Hue
176°
cyan
Saturation
42%
soft
Lightness
65%
light
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
72%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5198
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
86/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
11.40:1
Closest name
Medium Turquoise
ΔE2000 5.7
Chroma
24.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.795
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 10.8
Web-safe
#99CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue176° of 360°
Saturation42%
Lightness65%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #81ccc7.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool86% 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%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#81ccc7
HEX (8-digit)#81ccc7ff
RGBrgb(129, 204, 199)
RGBArgba(129, 204, 199, 1)
HSLhsl(176, 42%, 65%)
HSV / HSBhsv(176, 37%, 80%)
HWBhwb(176 51% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(37%, 0%, 3%, 20%)
LABlab(77.3 -24.4 -4.9)
LCHlch(77.3 24.8 191.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.795 0.075 190.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(40.95, 51.97, 61.90)
Decimal8506567
Display P3color(display-p3 0.506 0.800 0.780)
Web-safe#99CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #81ccc7;
background-color: #81ccc7;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #81ccc7;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#81ccc7] bg-[#81ccc7]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #81ccc7;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.506, green: 0.800, blue: 0.780)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.506, green: 0.800, blue: 0.780, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#81CCC7</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF81CCC7)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF81CCC7)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(199, 204, 129)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(129, 204, 199)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(129, 204, 199)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 129, 204, 199)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5059f, 0.8000f, 0.7804f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{129,204,199}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #81ccc7 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #81ccc7 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#255B57, #D3EDEC);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #81ccc7 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: #EBF5F4;
  --brand-200: #D1EAE9;
  --brand-300: #AFDFDC;
  --brand-400: #81ccc7;
  --brand-500: #5FBEB8;
  --brand-600: #47AEA7;
  --brand-700: #3B918B;
  --brand-800: #2F7470;
  --brand-900: #255552;
  --brand-950: #173533;
  --brand: #81ccc7;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C5E7E5;
  --brand-hover: #68C2BC;
  --brand-pressed: #4EB7B0;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142423;
    --brand-ink: #D3EDEC;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5FAFA',
        100: '#EBF5F4',
        200: '#D1EAE9',
        300: '#AFDFDC',
        400: '#81ccc7',
        500: '#5FBEB8',
        600: '#47AEA7',
        700: '#3B918B',
        800: '#2F7470',
        900: '#255552',
        950: '#173533',
        DEFAULT: '#81ccc7',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5FAFA,
  '100': #EBF5F4,
  '200': #D1EAE9,
  '300': #AFDFDC,
  '400': #81ccc7,
  '500': #5FBEB8,
  '600': #47AEA7,
  '700': #3B918B,
  '800': #2F7470,
  '900': #255552,
  '950': #173533,
);
$brand-base: #81ccc7;
$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": "#EBF5F4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D1EAE9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#AFDFDC", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#81ccc7", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#5FBEB8", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#47AEA7", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#3B918B", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#2F7470", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#255552", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#173533", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #81ccc7 · 11.40:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.84:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.40:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #81ccc7 as text scores 1.84:1 on white and 11.40:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #255B57 at 4.20:1.

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
#34807B · 4.65:1
AA on white−30% L
#34807B
The quick fox
#27605C · 7.21:1
AAA on white−39% L
#27605C
The quick fox
#81ccc7 · 11.40:1
AA on blackalready passes
#81ccc7
The quick fox
#81ccc7 · 11.40:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#81ccc7

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #41A19A 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
#81ccc7 on white: 1.84:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#81ccc7 on black: 11.40:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #81ccc7 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #81ccc7.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.84:1AaAa
Slate 501.76:1AaAa
Slate 1001.68:1AaAa
Slate 2001.49:1AaAa
Slate 3001.24:1AaAa
Slate 4001.39:1AaAa
Slate 5002.58:1AaAa
Slate 6004.11:1AaAa
Slate 7005.62:1AaAa
Slate 8007.94:1AaAa
Slate 9009.69:1AaAa
Black11.40:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C4C5C7
deuteranopia · #B6BBC8
tritanopia · #64D0CA

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. #81ccc7 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
#EBF5F4
#D1EAE9
#AFDFDC
#81ccc7
#5FBEB8
#47AEA7
#3B918B
#2F7470
#255552
#173533
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F5FAFADarkest = 950 · #173533Text 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 0.019 190.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.030 190.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.045 190.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.059 190.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.069 190.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.075 190.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.075 190.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.071 190.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.063 190.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.053 190.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.041 190.4);
}

Colors that work with #81ccc7

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#C5E7E5
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B96
Captions on the surface
Accent#963654
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#255B57
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EDF8F7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142423
Dark-mode background
Hover#68C2BC
One step down in lightness
Pressed#4EB7B0
Two steps down
Disabled#D7E6E5
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#88DAD4
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 #81ccc7

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • 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 #255B57
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #41A19A

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 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
  • 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#CC8186
Analogous left#81CCA2
Analogous right#81ACCC
Split-complement 1#CC81AC
Split-complement 2#CCA281
Triadic 1#C781CC
Triadic 2#CCC781
Tetradic#A281CC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°176°

#81ccc7 sits at 176°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red50.6%
Green80.0%
Blue78.0%
R · 0–255
129
0x81
G · 0–255
204
0xcc
B · 0–255
199
0xc7

CMYK percentages

Cyan36.8%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow2.5%
Key (black)20.0%

Total ink coverage is 59%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#81ccc7 text on a black background

contrast 11.40:1

Card sample

#81ccc7 text on a white background

contrast 1.84:1

Card sample

#81ccc7 on grey

1.68:1

#81ccc7 on its own surface

1.75:1

#81ccc7 on its dark surface

8.72:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #81ccc7;
Background color
Panel with #81ccc7 background
background-color: #81ccc7;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #81ccc7;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(129, 204, 199, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(129, 204, 199, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #81ccc7;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #81ccc7, #819FCC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #81ccc7, #818CCC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #81ccc7;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #81ccc7;
caret-color: #81ccc7;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #81ccc7;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EDF8F7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #81ccc7;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#81ccc7 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #81ccc7 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(129, 204, 199, 0.5)
rgb(129 204 199 / 50%)
#81ccc780
hsl(176 42% 65% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #81ccc7 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#81ccc71a#F2FAF9
20%#81ccc733#E6F5F4
40%#81ccc766#CDEBE9
60%#81ccc799#B3E0DD
80%#81ccc7cc#9AD6D2

Gradients from #81ccc7

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, #ADDEDA, #81ccc7 45%, #255B57);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #81ccc7, #6B87C3);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #81ccc7, #CC8186);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #C2E6E4 0%, #81ccc7 45%, #255B57 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%, #A5DBB8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #97B5D5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #255B57 0%, transparent 65%), #81ccc7;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #81ccc7

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.

#81ccc7 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 11.40:1.

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.

#81ccc7, answered

What color is #81ccc7?

#81ccc7 is a light soft cyan, closest to Medium Turquoise (ΔE2000 5.7). It sits at 176° on the hue wheel with 42% saturation and 65% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #81ccc7?

rgb(129, 204, 199) — 129 red, 204 green and 199 blue out of 255, or 50.6% / 80% / 78% by channel.

What is #81ccc7 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(176, 42%, 65%) and hsv(176, 37%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #81ccc7 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5198 and perceived brightness is 72%, so black text on it reaches 11.40:1.

Should I use black or white text on #81ccc7?

Black. It scores 11.40:1 against #81ccc7, versus 1.84:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #81ccc7 accessible on a white background?

#81ccc7 on white scores 1.84:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #34807B to reach 4.5:1, or #27605C for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #81ccc7?

#CC8186 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CC81AC and #CCA281, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #81ccc7?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C5E7E5 for borders, #4B9B96 for secondary text, #963654 as an accent and #255B57 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #81CCA2 and #81ACCC stays calm, while #CC8186 is the loudest partner.

What is #81ccc7 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(37%, 0%, 3%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #81ccc7 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 86 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #81CCAC; nudged cooler, #7FB6CE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #81ccc7?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 10.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #81ccc7 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #81ccc7 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#81ccc7] or text-[#81ccc7], 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 #81ccc7 with 50% opacity?

rgba(129, 204, 199, 0.5), or #81ccc780 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C0E6E3; over black, #416664.

Is #81ccc7 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCCC, ΔE2000 4.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #81ccc7 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 #81ccc7?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #ADDEDA, #81ccc7 45%, #255B57). For more colour, a short hue run to #6B87C3 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #81ccc7 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #81ccc7 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.