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cyan · cool

#83dcea

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Lagoon

RGB
131, 220, 234
HSL
188°, 71%, 72%
CMYK
44, 6, 0, 8
Luminance
0.6195

#83dcea is a light vivid cyan, 188° on the wheel and 91/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (13.39:1). As text it scores 1.57:1 on white — use #198293 instead. Nearest name is Powder Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(188 71% 72%)rgb(131 220 234)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

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

Hex
#83dcea
Hue
188°
cyan
Saturation
71%
vivid
Lightness
72%
light
Brightness
92%
HSV value
Perceived
78%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6195
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
91/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
13.39:1
Closest name
Powder Blue
ΔE2000 6.6
Chroma
27.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.844
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 11.9
Web-safe
#99CCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue188° of 360°
Saturation71%
Lightness72%
Saturation × lightness field

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

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
Red8%
Green83%
Blue10%

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

Every format

HEX#83dcea
HEX (8-digit)#83dceaff
RGBrgb(131, 220, 234)
RGBArgba(131, 220, 234, 1)
HSLhsl(188, 71%, 72%)
HSV / HSBhsv(188, 44%, 92%)
HWBhwb(188 51% 8%)
CMYKcmyk(44%, 6%, 0%, 8%)
LABlab(82.9 -23.1 -15.2)
LCHlch(82.9 27.7 213.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.844 0.088 208.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(49.80, 61.95, 87.16)
Decimal8641770
Display P3color(display-p3 0.514 0.863 0.918)
Web-safe#99CCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #83dcea;
background-color: #83dcea;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #83dcea;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#83dcea] bg-[#83dcea]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #83dcea;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.514, green: 0.863, blue: 0.918)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.514, green: 0.863, blue: 0.918, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#83DCEA</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF83DCEA)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF83DCEA)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(234, 220, 131)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(131, 220, 234)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(131, 220, 234)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 131, 220, 234)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5137f, 0.8627f, 0.9176f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{131,220,234}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #83dcea 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #83dcea 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#12616D, #D3EAEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #83dcea 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: #F3FAFC;
  --brand-100: #E7F6F8;
  --brand-200: #C9EDF3;
  --brand-300: #9FE4EF;
  --brand-400: #83dcea;
  --brand-500: #3FC9DE;
  --brand-600: #23BAD1;
  --brand-700: #1E9BAE;
  --brand-800: #187C8C;
  --brand-900: #155A65;
  --brand-950: #0D383F;
  --brand: #83dcea;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C0E7ED;
  --brand-hover: #65D3E5;
  --brand-pressed: #46CBE0;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142224;
    --brand-ink: #D3EAEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3FAFC',
        100: '#E7F6F8',
        200: '#C9EDF3',
        300: '#9FE4EF',
        400: '#83dcea',
        500: '#3FC9DE',
        600: '#23BAD1',
        700: '#1E9BAE',
        800: '#187C8C',
        900: '#155A65',
        950: '#0D383F',
        DEFAULT: '#83dcea',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3FAFC,
  '100': #E7F6F8,
  '200': #C9EDF3,
  '300': #9FE4EF,
  '400': #83dcea,
  '500': #3FC9DE,
  '600': #23BAD1,
  '700': #1E9BAE,
  '800': #187C8C,
  '900': #155A65,
  '950': #0D383F,
);
$brand-base: #83dcea;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3FAFC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E7F6F8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C9EDF3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#9FE4EF", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#83dcea", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#3FC9DE", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#23BAD1", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#1E9BAE", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#187C8C", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#155A65", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0D383F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #83dcea · 13.39:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.57:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 13.39:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #83dcea as text scores 1.57:1 on white and 13.39:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #12616D at 4.53:1.

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
#198293 · 4.51:1
AA on white−38% L
#198293
The quick fox
#125F6B · 7.30:1
AAA on white−47% L
#125F6B
The quick fox
#83dcea · 13.39:1
AA on blackalready passes
#83dcea
The quick fox
#83dcea · 13.39:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#83dcea

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #1FA1B5 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
#83dcea on white: 1.57:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#83dcea on black: 13.39:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.57:1AaAa
Slate 501.50:1AaAa
Slate 1001.43:1AaAa
Slate 2001.27:1AaAa
Slate 3001.06:1AaAa
Slate 4001.63:1AaAa
Slate 5003.03:1AaAa
Slate 6004.83:1AaAa
Slate 7006.60:1AaAa
Slate 8009.33:1AaAa
Slate 90011.38:1AaAa
Black13.39:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #CED6EB
deuteranopia · #BDC9EA
tritanopia · #51E3E0

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. #83dcea 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.

#F3FAFC
#E7F6F8
#C9EDF3
#9FE4EF
#83dcea
#3FC9DE
#23BAD1
#1E9BAE
#187C8C
#155A65
#0D383F
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F3FAFCDarkest = 950 · #0D383FText 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 0.022 208.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.035 208.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.053 208.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.068 208.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.081 208.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.088 208.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.088 208.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.082 208.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.074 208.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.061 208.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.048 208.5);
}

Colors that work with #83dcea

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#C0E7ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B909B
Captions on the surface
Accent#B3192C
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#12616D
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E9F9FB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142224
Dark-mode background
Hover#65D3E5
One step down in lightness
Pressed#46CBE0
Two steps down
Disabled#EBF1F2
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#8EE5F3
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 #83dcea

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 #12616D
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #1FA1B5

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
  • 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#EA9183
Analogous left#83EAC5
Analogous right#83A9EA
Split-complement 1#EA83A9
Split-complement 2#EAC583
Triadic 1#EA83DC
Triadic 2#DCEA83
Tetradic#C583EA
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°188°

#83dcea sits at 188°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red51.4%
Green86.3%
Blue91.8%
R · 0–255
131
0x83
G · 0–255
220
0xdc
B · 0–255
234
0xea

CMYK percentages

Cyan44.0%
Magenta6.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)8.2%

Total ink coverage is 58%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#83dcea text on a black background

contrast 13.39:1

Card sample

#83dcea text on a white background

contrast 1.57:1

Card sample

#83dcea on grey

1.43:1

#83dcea on its own surface

1.49:1

#83dcea on its dark surface

10.43:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(131, 220, 234, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(131, 220, 234, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #83dcea;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #83dcea, #8397EA);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #83dcea, #8983EA);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #83dcea;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #83dcea;
caret-color: #83dcea;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #83dcea;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E9F9FB;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #83dcea;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#83dcea 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #83dcea 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, 220, 234, 0.5)
rgb(131 220 234 / 50%)
#83dcea80
hsl(188 71% 72% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #83dcea 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#83dcea1a#F3FCFD
20%#83dcea33#E6F8FB
40%#83dcea66#CDF1F7
60%#83dcea99#B5EAF2
80%#83dceacc#9CE3EE

Gradients from #83dcea

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, #B7EBF3, #83dcea 45%, #12616D);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #83dcea, #6977E6);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #83dcea, #EA9183);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D2F2F7 0%, #83dcea 45%, #12616D 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%, #AFF1D4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #9DB4EE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #12616D 0%, transparent 65%), #83dcea;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #83dcea

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.

#83dcea 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 13.39:1.

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.

#83dcea, answered

What color is #83dcea?

#83dcea is a light vivid cyan, closest to Powder Blue (ΔE2000 6.6). It sits at 188° on the hue wheel with 71% saturation and 72% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #83dcea?

rgb(131, 220, 234) — 131 red, 220 green and 234 blue out of 255, or 51.4% / 86.3% / 91.8% by channel.

What is #83dcea in HSL and HSV?

hsl(188, 71%, 72%) and hsv(188, 44%, 92%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #83dcea a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6195 and perceived brightness is 78%, so black text on it reaches 13.39:1.

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

Black. It scores 13.39:1 against #83dcea, versus 1.57:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #83dcea accessible on a white background?

#83dcea on white scores 1.57:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #198293 to reach 4.5:1, or #125F6B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #83dcea?

#EA9183 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #EA83A9 and #EAC583, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #83dcea?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C0E7ED for borders, #4B909B for secondary text, #B3192C as an accent and #12616D for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #83EAC5 and #83A9EA stays calm, while #EA9183 is the loudest partner.

What is #83dcea in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(44%, 6%, 0%, 8%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #83dcea 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 #83EAD2; nudged cooler, #82C2EB.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #83dcea?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 11.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #83dcea as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #83dcea in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(131, 220, 234, 0.5), or #83dcea80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C1EEF5; over black, #426E75.

Is #83dcea a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCFF, ΔE2000 15 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #83dcea 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 #83dcea?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #B7EBF3, #83dcea 45%, #12616D). For more colour, a short hue run to #6977E6 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #83dcea in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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