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cyan · cool

#81deee

a light, electric cyan · cool · closest name: Powder Blue

Token name suggestion: Drift Reef

RGB
129, 222, 238
HSL
189°, 76%, 72%
CMYK
46, 7, 0, 7
Luminance
0.6308

#81deee is a light electric cyan, 189° on the wheel and 91/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (13.62:1). As text it scores 1.54:1 on white — use #148194 instead. Nearest name is Powder Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(189 76% 72%)rgb(129 222 238)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

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

Hex
#81deee
Hue
189°
cyan
Saturation
76%
electric
Lightness
72%
light
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
79%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6308
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
91/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
13.62:1
Closest name
Powder Blue
ΔE2000 6.9
Chroma
28.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.849
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 12
Web-safe
#99CCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue189° of 360°
Saturation76%
Lightness72%
Saturation × lightness field

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

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool91% 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%
Green83%
Blue10%

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

Every format

HEX#81deee
HEX (8-digit)#81deeeff
RGBrgb(129, 222, 238)
RGBArgba(129, 222, 238, 1)
HSLhsl(189, 76%, 72%)
HSV / HSBhsv(189, 46%, 93%)
HWBhwb(189 51% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(46%, 7%, 0%, 7%)
LABlab(83.5 -23.6 -16.4)
LCHlch(83.5 28.7 214.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.849 0.091 209.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(50.60, 63.08, 90.38)
Decimal8511214
Display P3color(display-p3 0.506 0.871 0.933)
Web-safe#99CCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #81deee;
background-color: #81deee;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #81deee;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#81deee] bg-[#81deee]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #81deee;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.506, green: 0.871, blue: 0.933)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.506, green: 0.871, blue: 0.933, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#81DEEE</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF81DEEE)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF81DEEE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(238, 222, 129)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(129, 222, 238)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(129, 222, 238)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 129, 222, 238)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5059f, 0.8706f, 0.9333f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{129,222,238}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #81deee 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #81deee 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#0F6270, #D3EAEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #81deee 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: #F3FBFC;
  --brand-100: #E7F6F9;
  --brand-200: #C8EEF4;
  --brand-300: #9CE5F2;
  --brand-400: #81deee;
  --brand-500: #39CBE4;
  --brand-600: #1DBCD8;
  --brand-700: #189DB4;
  --brand-800: #137E90;
  --brand-900: #125C68;
  --brand-950: #0B3941;
  --brand: #81deee;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C0E6ED;
  --brand-hover: #62D6EA;
  --brand-pressed: #42CEE6;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142224;
    --brand-ink: #D3EAEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3FBFC',
        100: '#E7F6F9',
        200: '#C8EEF4',
        300: '#9CE5F2',
        400: '#81deee',
        500: '#39CBE4',
        600: '#1DBCD8',
        700: '#189DB4',
        800: '#137E90',
        900: '#125C68',
        950: '#0B3941',
        DEFAULT: '#81deee',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3FBFC,
  '100': #E7F6F9,
  '200': #C8EEF4,
  '300': #9CE5F2,
  '400': #81deee,
  '500': #39CBE4,
  '600': #1DBCD8,
  '700': #189DB4,
  '800': #137E90,
  '900': #125C68,
  '950': #0B3941,
);
$brand-base: #81deee;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3FBFC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E7F6F9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C8EEF4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#9CE5F2", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#81deee", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#39CBE4", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#1DBCD8", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#189DB4", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#137E90", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#125C68", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0B3941", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #81deee · 13.62:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.54:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 13.62:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #81deee as text scores 1.54:1 on white and 13.62:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #0F6270 at 4.54:1.

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
#148194 · 4.57:1
AA on white−39% L
#148194
The quick fox
#0F6270 · 7.00:1
AAA on white−47% L
#0F6270
The quick fox
#81deee · 13.62:1
AA on blackalready passes
#81deee
The quick fox
#81deee · 13.62:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#81deee

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #19A1B8 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
#81deee on white: 1.54:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#81deee on black: 13.62:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.54:1AaAa
Slate 501.47:1AaAa
Slate 1001.41:1AaAa
Slate 2001.25:1AaAa
Slate 3001.04:1AaAa
Slate 4001.66:1AaAa
Slate 5003.09:1AaAa
Slate 6004.91:1AaAa
Slate 7006.71:1AaAa
Slate 8009.49:1AaAa
Slate 90011.58:1AaAa
Black13.62:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #CFD8EF
deuteranopia · #BECAEE
tritanopia · #49E6E3

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. #81deee 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.

#F3FBFC
#E7F6F9
#C8EEF4
#9CE5F2
#81deee
#39CBE4
#1DBCD8
#189DB4
#137E90
#125C68
#0B3941
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F3FBFCDarkest = 950 · #0B3941Text 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 0.023 209.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.037 209.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.055 209.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.071 209.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.084 209.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.091 209.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.091 209.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.086 209.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.077 209.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.064 209.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.050 209.8);
}

Colors that work with #81deee

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#C0E6ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B8F9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#B81425
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#0F6270
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E9F9FC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142224
Dark-mode background
Hover#62D6EA
One step down in lightness
Pressed#42CEE6
Two steps down
Disabled#ECF2F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#8DE7F7
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 #81deee

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 #0F6270
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #19A1B8

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.

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

At high lightness it disappears into white surfaces and thin strokes vanish entirely.

Reads as
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight28/100
  • 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#EE9181
Analogous left#81EEC8
Analogous right#81A8EE
Split-complement 1#EE81A8
Split-complement 2#EEC881
Triadic 1#EE81DE
Triadic 2#DEEE81
Tetradic#C881EE
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°189°

#81deee sits at 189°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red50.6%
Green87.1%
Blue93.3%
R · 0–255
129
0x81
G · 0–255
222
0xde
B · 0–255
238
0xee

CMYK percentages

Cyan45.8%
Magenta6.7%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)6.7%

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

Color previews

#81deee text on a black background

contrast 13.62:1

Card sample

#81deee text on a white background

contrast 1.54:1

Card sample

#81deee on grey

1.41:1

#81deee on its own surface

1.46:1

#81deee on its dark surface

10.60:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(129, 222, 238, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(129, 222, 238, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #81deee;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #81deee, #8196EE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #81deee, #8881EE);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #81deee;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #81deee;
caret-color: #81deee;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #81deee;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E9F9FC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #81deee;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#81deee 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #81deee 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, 222, 238, 0.5)
rgb(129 222 238 / 50%)
#81deee80
hsl(189 76% 72% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #81deee 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#81deee1a#F2FCFD
20%#81deee33#E6F8FC
40%#81deee66#CDF2F8
60%#81deee99#B3EBF5
80%#81deeecc#9AE5F1

Gradients from #81deee

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, #B7ECF5, #81deee 45%, #0F6270);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #81deee, #6674EA);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #81deee, #EE9181);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D2F3F9 0%, #81deee 45%, #0F6270 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%, #AEF4D6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #9CB3F2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #0F6270 0%, transparent 65%), #81deee;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #81deee

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.

#81deee 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

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 13.62:1.

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.

#81deee, answered

What color is #81deee?

#81deee is a light electric cyan, closest to Powder Blue (ΔE2000 6.9). It sits at 189° on the hue wheel with 76% saturation and 72% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #81deee?

rgb(129, 222, 238) — 129 red, 222 green and 238 blue out of 255, or 50.6% / 87.1% / 93.3% by channel.

What is #81deee in HSL and HSV?

hsl(189, 76%, 72%) and hsv(189, 46%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #81deee a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6308 and perceived brightness is 79%, so black text on it reaches 13.62:1.

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

Black. It scores 13.62:1 against #81deee, versus 1.54:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #81deee accessible on a white background?

#81deee on white scores 1.54:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #148194 to reach 4.5:1, or #0F6270 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #81deee?

#EE9181 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #EE81A8 and #EEC881, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #81deee?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C0E6ED for borders, #4B8F9B for secondary text, #B81425 as an accent and #0F6270 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #81EEC8 and #81A8EE stays calm, while #EE9181 is the loudest partner.

What is #81deee in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(46%, 7%, 0%, 7%). 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 #81deee warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 91 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #81EED6; nudged cooler, #80C4EF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #81deee?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 12 away. That is a visible difference, so define #81deee as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #81deee in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(129, 222, 238, 0.5), or #81deee80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C0EFF7; over black, #416F77.

Is #81deee a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCFF, ΔE2000 14.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #81deee 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 #81deee?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #B7ECF5, #81deee 45%, #0F6270). For more colour, a short hue run to #6674EA keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #81deee in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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