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cyan · cool

#83aeaf

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

Token name suggestion: Atlas Reef

RGB
131, 174, 175
HSL
181°, 22%, 60%
CMYK
25, 1, 0, 31
Luminance
0.3819

#83aeaf is a balanced soft cyan, 181° on the wheel and 74/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.64:1). As text it scores 2.43:1 on white — use #527E7F instead. Nearest name is Cadet Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(181 22% 60%)rgb(131 174 175)Base step 500AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #83aeaf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#83aeaf
Hue
181°
cyan
Saturation
22%
soft
Lightness
60%
balanced
Brightness
69%
HSV value
Perceived
64%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3819
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
74/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
8.64:1
Closest name
Cadet Blue
ΔE2000 6.9
Chroma
15.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.720
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 12.2
Web-safe
#999999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue181° of 360°
Saturation22%
Lightness60%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #83aeaf.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool74% 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
Red13%
Green79%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#83aeaf
HEX (8-digit)#83aeafff
RGBrgb(131, 174, 175)
RGBArgba(131, 174, 175, 1)
HSLhsl(181, 22%, 60%)
HSV / HSBhsv(181, 25%, 69%)
HWBhwb(181 51% 31%)
CMYKcmyk(25%, 1%, 0%, 31%)
LABlab(68.2 -14.1 -5.2)
LCHlch(68.2 15.0 200.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.720 0.046 198.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(32.23, 38.19, 46.22)
Decimal8629935
Display P3color(display-p3 0.514 0.682 0.686)
Web-safe#999999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #83aeaf;
background-color: #83aeaf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #83aeaf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#83aeaf] bg-[#83aeaf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #83aeaf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.514, green: 0.682, blue: 0.686)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.514, green: 0.682, blue: 0.686, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#83AEAF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF83AEAF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF83AEAF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(175, 174, 131)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(131, 174, 175)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(131, 174, 175)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 131, 174, 175)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5137f, 0.6824f, 0.6863f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{131,174,175}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #83aeaf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #83aeaf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#324D4E, #DAE7E7);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #83aeaf 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: #F6F9F9;
  --brand-100: #EDF2F2;
  --brand-200: #D8E4E4;
  --brand-300: #BBD2D3;
  --brand-400: #99BCBD;
  --brand-500: #83aeaf;
  --brand-600: #609495;
  --brand-700: #507B7C;
  --brand-800: #406263;
  --brand-900: #314949;
  --brand-950: #1F2D2E;
  --brand: #83aeaf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F9F9;
  --brand-border: #CDDFDF;
  --brand-hover: #6DA0A1;
  --brand-pressed: #5C8D8F;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #162222;
    --brand-ink: #DAE7E7;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F9F9',
        100: '#EDF2F2',
        200: '#D8E4E4',
        300: '#BBD2D3',
        400: '#99BCBD',
        500: '#83aeaf',
        600: '#609495',
        700: '#507B7C',
        800: '#406263',
        900: '#314949',
        950: '#1F2D2E',
        DEFAULT: '#83aeaf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F9F9,
  '100': #EDF2F2,
  '200': #D8E4E4,
  '300': #BBD2D3,
  '400': #99BCBD,
  '500': #83aeaf,
  '600': #609495,
  '700': #507B7C,
  '800': #406263,
  '900': #314949,
  '950': #1F2D2E,
);
$brand-base: #83aeaf;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F9F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EDF2F2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D8E4E4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#BBD2D3", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#99BCBD", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#83aeaf", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#609495", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#507B7C", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#406263", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#314949", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1F2D2E", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #83aeaf · 8.64:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.43:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.64:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #83aeaf as text scores 2.43:1 on white and 8.64:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #324D4E at 3.74:1.

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
#527E7F · 4.52:1
AA on white−19% L
#527E7F
The quick fox
#3C5C5D · 7.29:1
AAA on white−30% L
#3C5C5D
The quick fox
#83aeaf · 8.64:1
AA on blackalready passes
#83aeaf
The quick fox
#83aeaf · 8.64:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#83aeaf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #6A9E9F 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
#83aeaf on white: 2.43:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#83aeaf on black: 8.64:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #83aeaf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #83aeaf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.43:1AaAa
Slate 502.32:1AaAa
Slate 1002.22:1AaAa
Slate 2001.97:1AaAa
Slate 3001.64:1AaAa
Slate 4001.05:1AaAa
Slate 5001.96:1AaAa
Slate 6003.12:1AaAa
Slate 7004.26:1AaAa
Slate 8006.02:1AaAa
Slate 9007.34:1AaAa
Black8.64:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A8AAAF
deuteranopia · #A0A3AF
tritanopia · #74B1AE

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. #83aeaf 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.

#F6F9F9
#EDF2F2
#D8E4E4
#BBD2D3
#99BCBD
#83aeaf
#609495
#507B7C
#406263
#314949
#1F2D2E
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F6F9F9Darkest = 950 · #1F2D2EText 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 0.012 198.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.018 198.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.028 198.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.036 198.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.042 198.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.046 198.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.046 198.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.043 198.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.039 198.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.032 198.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.025 198.0);
}

Colors that work with #83aeaf

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#F6F9F9
Tinted page background
Border#CDDFDF
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#5A8A8C
Captions on the surface
Accent#B37F8B
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#324D4E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EFF5F5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#162222
Dark-mode background
Hover#6DA0A1
One step down in lightness
Pressed#5C8D8F
Two steps down
Disabled#C7DBDB
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#86BFC0
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 #83aeaf

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 #324D4E
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #6A9E9F

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
  • Weight40/100
  • 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#AF8483
Analogous left#83AF9A
Analogous right#8398AF
Split-complement 1#AF8398
Split-complement 2#AF9A83
Triadic 1#AF83AE
Triadic 2#AEAF83
Tetradic#9A83AF
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°181°

#83aeaf sits at 181°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red51.4%
Green68.2%
Blue68.6%
R · 0–255
131
0x83
G · 0–255
174
0xae
B · 0–255
175
0xaf

CMYK percentages

Cyan25.1%
Magenta0.6%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)31.4%

Total ink coverage is 57%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#83aeaf text on a black background

contrast 8.64:1

Card sample

#83aeaf text on a white background

contrast 2.43:1

Card sample

#83aeaf on grey

2.22:1

#83aeaf on its own surface

2.30:1

#83aeaf on its dark surface

6.72:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #83aeaf;
Background color
Panel with #83aeaf background
background-color: #83aeaf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #83aeaf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(131, 174, 175, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(131, 174, 175, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #83aeaf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #83aeaf, #8391AF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #83aeaf, #8386AF);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #83aeaf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #83aeaf;
caret-color: #83aeaf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #83aeaf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EFF5F5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #83aeaf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#83aeaf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #83aeaf 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(131, 174, 175, 0.5)
rgb(131 174 175 / 50%)
#83aeaf80
hsl(181 22% 60% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #83aeaf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#83aeaf1a#F3F7F7
20%#83aeaf33#E6EFEF
40%#83aeaf66#CDDFDF
60%#83aeaf99#B5CECF
80%#83aeafcc#9CBEBF

Gradients from #83aeaf

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, #A8C6C7, #83aeaf 45%, #324D4E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #83aeaf, #707CA3);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #83aeaf, #AF8483);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #BBD2D3 0%, #83aeaf 45%, #324D4E 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F9F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #A2C3B1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #96A4BB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #324D4E 0%, transparent 65%), #83aeaf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #83aeaf

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.

#83aeaf 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 8.64:1.

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.

#83aeaf, answered

What color is #83aeaf?

#83aeaf is a balanced soft cyan, closest to Cadet Blue (ΔE2000 6.9). It sits at 181° on the hue wheel with 22% saturation and 60% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #83aeaf?

rgb(131, 174, 175) — 131 red, 174 green and 175 blue out of 255, or 51.4% / 68.2% / 68.6% by channel.

What is #83aeaf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(181, 22%, 60%) and hsv(181, 25%, 69%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #83aeaf a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3819 and perceived brightness is 64%, so black text on it reaches 8.64:1.

Should I use black or white text on #83aeaf?

Black. It scores 8.64:1 against #83aeaf, versus 2.43:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #83aeaf accessible on a white background?

#83aeaf on white scores 2.43:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #527E7F to reach 4.5:1, or #3C5C5D for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #83aeaf?

#AF8483 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #AF8398 and #AF9A83, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #83aeaf?

For interface work: #F6F9F9 as the surface, #CDDFDF for borders, #5A8A8C for secondary text, #B37F8B as an accent and #324D4E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #83AF9A and #8398AF stays calm, while #AF8483 is the loudest partner.

What is #83aeaf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(25%, 1%, 0%, 31%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #83aeaf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 74 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #83AFA0; nudged cooler, #819EB1.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #83aeaf?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 12.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #83aeaf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #83aeaf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#83aeaf] or text-[#83aeaf], 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 #83aeaf with 50% opacity?

rgba(131, 174, 175, 0.5), or #83aeaf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C1D7D7; over black, #425758.

Is #83aeaf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #999999, ΔE2000 15.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #83aeaf 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 #83aeaf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #A8C6C7, #83aeaf 45%, #324D4E). For more colour, a short hue run to #707CA3 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #83aeaf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #83aeaf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.