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cyan · cool

#85afac

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

Token name suggestion: True Teal

RGB
133, 175, 172
HSL
176°, 21%, 60%
CMYK
24, 0, 2, 31
Luminance
0.3863

#85afac is a balanced soft cyan, 176° on the wheel and 71/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.73:1). As text it scores 2.41:1 on white — use #527C79 instead. Nearest name is Cadet Blue, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(176 21% 60%)rgb(133 175 172)Base step 500AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #85afac is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#85afac
Hue
176°
cyan
Saturation
21%
soft
Lightness
60%
balanced
Brightness
69%
HSV value
Perceived
64%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3863
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
71/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
8.73:1
Closest name
Cadet Blue
ΔE2000 7.4
Chroma
15.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.723
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 12.7
Web-safe
#999999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue176° of 360°
Saturation21%
Lightness60%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #85afac.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool71% 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#85afac
HEX (8-digit)#85afacff
RGBrgb(133, 175, 172)
RGBArgba(133, 175, 172, 1)
HSLhsl(176, 21%, 60%)
HSV / HSBhsv(176, 24%, 69%)
HWBhwb(176 52% 31%)
CMYKcmyk(24%, 0%, 2%, 31%)
LABlab(68.5 -14.7 -3.1)
LCHlch(68.5 15.0 191.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.723 0.045 190.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(32.45, 38.62, 44.77)
Decimal8761260
Display P3color(display-p3 0.522 0.686 0.675)
Web-safe#999999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #85afac;
background-color: #85afac;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #85afac;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#85afac] bg-[#85afac]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #85afac;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.522, green: 0.686, blue: 0.675)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.522, green: 0.686, blue: 0.675, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#85AFAC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF85AFAC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF85AFAC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(172, 175, 133)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(133, 175, 172)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(133, 175, 172)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 133, 175, 172)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5216f, 0.6863f, 0.6745f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{133,175,172}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #85afac 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #85afac 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#324D4B, #DAE7E6);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #85afac 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: #F6F9F8;
  --brand-100: #EDF2F2;
  --brand-200: #D8E4E3;
  --brand-300: #BBD3D1;
  --brand-400: #99BCBA;
  --brand-500: #85afac;
  --brand-600: #619490;
  --brand-700: #517B78;
  --brand-800: #416360;
  --brand-900: #314947;
  --brand-950: #1F2E2D;
  --brand: #85afac;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F9F9;
  --brand-border: #CEDFDD;
  --brand-hover: #6FA19D;
  --brand-pressed: #5E8F8B;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #162221;
    --brand-ink: #DAE7E6;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F9F8',
        100: '#EDF2F2',
        200: '#D8E4E3',
        300: '#BBD3D1',
        400: '#99BCBA',
        500: '#85afac',
        600: '#619490',
        700: '#517B78',
        800: '#416360',
        900: '#314947',
        950: '#1F2E2D',
        DEFAULT: '#85afac',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F9F8,
  '100': #EDF2F2,
  '200': #D8E4E3,
  '300': #BBD3D1,
  '400': #99BCBA,
  '500': #85afac,
  '600': #619490,
  '700': #517B78,
  '800': #416360,
  '900': #314947,
  '950': #1F2E2D,
);
$brand-base: #85afac;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F9F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EDF2F2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D8E4E3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#BBD3D1", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#99BCBA", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#85afac", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#619490", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#517B78", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#416360", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#314947", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1F2E2D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #85afac · 8.73:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.41:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.73:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #85afac as text scores 2.41:1 on white and 8.73:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #324D4B at 3.80:1.

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
#527C79 · 4.65:1
AA on white−20% L
#527C79
The quick fox
#3D5E5B · 7.12:1
AAA on white−30% L
#3D5E5B
The quick fox
#85afac · 8.73:1
AA on blackalready passes
#85afac
The quick fox
#85afac · 8.73:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#85afac

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #699D99 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
#85afac on white: 2.41:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#85afac on black: 8.73:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #85afac as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #85afac.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.41:1AaAa
Slate 502.30:1AaAa
Slate 1002.20:1AaAa
Slate 2001.95:1AaAa
Slate 3001.62:1AaAa
Slate 4001.07:1AaAa
Slate 5001.98:1AaAa
Slate 6003.15:1AaAa
Slate 7004.30:1AaAa
Slate 8006.08:1AaAa
Slate 9007.42:1AaAa
Black8.73:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #AAABAC
deuteranopia · #A2A4AD
tritanopia · #78B1AE

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. #85afac 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.

#F6F9F8
#EDF2F2
#D8E4E3
#BBD3D1
#99BCBA
#85afac
#619490
#517B78
#416360
#314947
#1F2E2D
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F6F9F8Darkest = 950 · #1F2E2DText 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 0.011 190.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.018 190.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.027 190.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.035 190.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.042 190.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.045 190.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.045 190.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.043 190.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.038 190.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.032 190.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.025 190.7);
}

Colors that work with #85afac

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#CEDFDD
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#5B8B87
Captions on the surface
Accent#B38191
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#324D4B
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F0F5F5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#162221
Dark-mode background
Hover#6FA19D
One step down in lightness
Pressed#5E8F8B
Two steps down
Disabled#C9DBDA
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#88C0BC
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 #85afac

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 #324D4B
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #699D99

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#AF8588
Analogous left#85AF97
Analogous right#859DAF
Split-complement 1#AF859D
Split-complement 2#AF9785
Triadic 1#AC85AF
Triadic 2#AFAC85
Tetradic#9785AF
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°176°

#85afac sits at 176°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red52.2%
Green68.6%
Blue67.5%
R · 0–255
133
0x85
G · 0–255
175
0xaf
B · 0–255
172
0xac

CMYK percentages

Cyan24.0%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow1.7%
Key (black)31.4%

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

Color previews

#85afac text on a black background

contrast 8.73:1

Card sample

#85afac text on a white background

contrast 2.41:1

Card sample

#85afac on grey

2.20:1

#85afac on its own surface

2.27:1

#85afac on its dark surface

6.79:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #85afac;
Background color
Panel with #85afac background
background-color: #85afac;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #85afac;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(133, 175, 172, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(133, 175, 172, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #85afac;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #85afac, #8596AF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #85afac, #858CAF);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #85afac;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #85afac;
caret-color: #85afac;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #85afac;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F0F5F5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #85afac;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#85afac 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #85afac 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(133, 175, 172, 0.5)
rgb(133 175 172 / 50%)
#85afac80
hsl(176 21% 60% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #85afac 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#85afac1a#F3F7F7
20%#85afac33#E7EFEE
40%#85afac66#CEDFDE
60%#85afac99#B6CFCD
80%#85afaccc#9DBFBD

Gradients from #85afac

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, #AAC7C5, #85afac 45%, #324D4B);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #85afac, #7382A3);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #85afac, #AF8588);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #BCD3D2 0%, #85afac 45%, #324D4B 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%, #A4C3AF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #97A9BB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #324D4B 0%, transparent 65%), #85afac;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #85afac

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.

#85afac 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 8.73:1.

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.

#85afac, answered

What color is #85afac?

#85afac is a balanced soft cyan, closest to Cadet Blue (ΔE2000 7.4). It sits at 176° on the hue wheel with 21% saturation and 60% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #85afac?

rgb(133, 175, 172) — 133 red, 175 green and 172 blue out of 255, or 52.2% / 68.6% / 67.5% by channel.

What is #85afac in HSL and HSV?

hsl(176, 21%, 60%) and hsv(176, 24%, 69%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #85afac a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3863 and perceived brightness is 64%, so black text on it reaches 8.73:1.

Should I use black or white text on #85afac?

Black. It scores 8.73:1 against #85afac, versus 2.41:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #85afac accessible on a white background?

#85afac on white scores 2.41:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #527C79 to reach 4.5:1, or #3D5E5B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #85afac?

#AF8588 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #AF859D and #AF9785, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #85afac?

For interface work: #F6F9F9 as the surface, #CEDFDD for borders, #5B8B87 for secondary text, #B38191 as an accent and #324D4B for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #85AF97 and #859DAF stays calm, while #AF8588 is the loudest partner.

What is #85afac in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(24%, 0%, 2%, 31%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #85afac warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 71 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #85AF9D; nudged cooler, #83A3B1.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #85afac?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 12.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #85afac as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #85afac in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#85afac] or text-[#85afac], 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 #85afac with 50% opacity?

rgba(133, 175, 172, 0.5), or #85afac80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C2D7D6; over black, #435856.

Is #85afac a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #999999, ΔE2000 15.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #85afac 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 #85afac?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #AAC7C5, #85afac 45%, #324D4B). For more colour, a short hue run to #7382A3 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #85afac in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #85afac at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.