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cyan · cool

#8badba

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

Token name suggestion: Signal Glacier

RGB
139, 173, 186
HSL
197°, 25%, 64%
CMYK
25, 7, 0, 27
Luminance
0.3892

#8badba is a balanced soft cyan, 197° on the wheel and 82/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.78:1). As text it scores 2.39:1 on white — use #537C8C instead. Nearest name is Sky Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(197 25% 64%)rgb(139 173 186)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #8badba is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#8badba
Hue
197°
cyan
Saturation
25%
soft
Lightness
64%
balanced
Brightness
73%
HSV value
Perceived
65%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3892
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
82/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
8.78:1
Closest name
Sky Blue
ΔE2000 10.4
Chroma
13.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.727
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 12
Web-safe
#9999CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue197° of 360°
Saturation25%
Lightness64%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #8badba.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool82% 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
Red14%
Green77%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#8badba
HEX (8-digit)#8badbaff
RGBrgb(139, 173, 186)
RGBArgba(139, 173, 186, 1)
HSLhsl(197, 25%, 64%)
HSV / HSBhsv(197, 25%, 73%)
HWBhwb(197 55% 27%)
CMYKcmyk(25%, 7%, 0%, 27%)
LABlab(68.7 -8.6 -10.4)
LCHlch(68.7 13.5 230.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.727 0.042 223.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(34.45, 38.92, 52.14)
Decimal9153978
Display P3color(display-p3 0.545 0.678 0.729)
Web-safe#9999CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #8badba;
background-color: #8badba;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #8badba;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#8badba] bg-[#8badba]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #8badba;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.545, green: 0.678, blue: 0.729)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.545, green: 0.678, blue: 0.729, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#8BADBA</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF8BADBA)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF8BADBA)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(186, 173, 139)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(139, 173, 186)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(139, 173, 186)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 139, 173, 186)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5451f, 0.6784f, 0.7294f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{139,173,186}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #8badba 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #8badba 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#304750, #D9E4E8);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #8badba 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: #F6F8F9;
  --brand-100: #EDF1F3;
  --brand-200: #D6E1E5;
  --brand-300: #B9CDD5;
  --brand-400: #8badba;
  --brand-500: #729CAB;
  --brand-600: #5B8899;
  --brand-700: #4C7280;
  --brand-800: #3D5B66;
  --brand-900: #2F444C;
  --brand-950: #1D2A2F;
  --brand: #8badba;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5F8F9;
  --brand-border: #CCDBE1;
  --brand-hover: #759DAD;
  --brand-pressed: #5F8D9F;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #151F23;
    --brand-ink: #D9E4E8;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F8F9',
        100: '#EDF1F3',
        200: '#D6E1E5',
        300: '#B9CDD5',
        400: '#8badba',
        500: '#729CAB',
        600: '#5B8899',
        700: '#4C7280',
        800: '#3D5B66',
        900: '#2F444C',
        950: '#1D2A2F',
        DEFAULT: '#8badba',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F8F9,
  '100': #EDF1F3,
  '200': #D6E1E5,
  '300': #B9CDD5,
  '400': #8badba,
  '500': #729CAB,
  '600': #5B8899,
  '700': #4C7280,
  '800': #3D5B66,
  '900': #2F444C,
  '950': #1D2A2F,
);
$brand-base: #8badba;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F8F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EDF1F3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D6E1E5", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B9CDD5", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#8badba", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#729CAB", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#5B8899", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#4C7280", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#3D5B66", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2F444C", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1D2A2F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #8badba · 8.78:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.39:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.78:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #8badba as text scores 2.39:1 on white and 8.78:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #304750 at 4.10:1.

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
#537C8C · 4.54:1
AA on white−20% L
#537C8C
The quick fox
#3E5D69 · 7.06:1
AAA on white−31% L
#3E5D69
The quick fox
#8badba · 8.78:1
AA on blackalready passes
#8badba
The quick fox
#8badba · 8.78:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#8badba

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #719BAB 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
#8badba on white: 2.39:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#8badba on black: 8.78:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #8badba as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #8badba.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.39:1AaAa
Slate 502.28:1AaAa
Slate 1002.18:1AaAa
Slate 2001.94:1AaAa
Slate 3001.61:1AaAa
Slate 4001.07:1AaAa
Slate 5001.99:1AaAa
Slate 6003.17:1AaAa
Slate 7004.33:1AaAa
Slate 8006.12:1AaAa
Slate 9007.47:1AaAa
Black8.78:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A5ABBB
deuteranopia · #9EA5BA
tritanopia · #7DB1B1

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. #8badba 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.

#F6F8F9
#EDF1F3
#D6E1E5
#B9CDD5
#8badba
#729CAB
#5B8899
#4C7280
#3D5B66
#2F444C
#1D2A2F
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F6F8F9Darkest = 950 · #1D2A2FText 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 0.010 223.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.017 223.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.025 223.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.032 223.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.038 223.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.042 223.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.042 223.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.039 223.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.035 223.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.029 223.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.023 223.1);
}

Colors that work with #8badba

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#F5F8F9
Tinted page background
Border#CCDBE1
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#568090
Captions on the surface
Accent#844A48
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#304750
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EFF4F5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#151F23
Dark-mode background
Hover#759DAD
One step down in lightness
Pressed#5F8D9F
Two steps down
Disabled#D3DEE3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#8FBACA
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 #8badba

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 #304750
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #719BAB

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
  • Weight36/100
  • 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#BA988B
Analogous left#8BBAAF
Analogous right#8B95BA
Split-complement 1#BA8B95
Split-complement 2#BAAF8B
Triadic 1#BA8BAD
Triadic 2#ADBA8B
Tetradic#AF8BBA
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°197°

#8badba sits at 197°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red54.5%
Green67.8%
Blue72.9%
R · 0–255
139
0x8b
G · 0–255
173
0xad
B · 0–255
186
0xba

CMYK percentages

Cyan25.3%
Magenta7.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)27.1%

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

Color previews

#8badba text on a black background

contrast 8.78:1

Card sample

#8badba text on a white background

contrast 2.39:1

Card sample

#8badba on grey

2.18:1

#8badba on its own surface

2.24:1

#8badba on its dark surface

7.02:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #8badba;
Background color
Panel with #8badba background
background-color: #8badba;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(139, 173, 186, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(139, 173, 186, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #8badba;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #8badba, #8B8EBA);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #8badba, #948BBA);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #8badba;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #8badba;
caret-color: #8badba;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #8badba;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EFF4F5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #8badba;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#8badba 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #8badba 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(139, 173, 186, 0.5)
rgb(139 173 186 / 50%)
#8badba80
hsl(197 25% 64% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #8badba 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#8badba1a#F3F7F8
20%#8badba33#E8EFF1
40%#8badba66#D1DEE3
60%#8badba99#B9CED6
80%#8badbacc#A2BDC8

Gradients from #8badba

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, #B1C8D1, #8badba 45%, #304750);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #8badba, #7978AF);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #8badba, #BA988B);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #C4D6DC 0%, #8badba 45%, #304750 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5F8F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #ABCDC3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #9EA4C5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #304750 0%, transparent 65%), #8badba;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #8badba

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.

#8badba 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 8.78:1.

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.

#8badba, answered

What color is #8badba?

#8badba is a balanced soft cyan, closest to Sky Blue (ΔE2000 10.4). It sits at 197° on the hue wheel with 25% saturation and 64% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #8badba?

rgb(139, 173, 186) — 139 red, 173 green and 186 blue out of 255, or 54.5% / 67.8% / 72.9% by channel.

What is #8badba in HSL and HSV?

hsl(197, 25%, 64%) and hsv(197, 25%, 73%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #8badba a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3892 and perceived brightness is 65%, so black text on it reaches 8.78:1.

Should I use black or white text on #8badba?

Black. It scores 8.78:1 against #8badba, versus 2.39:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #8badba accessible on a white background?

#8badba on white scores 2.39:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #537C8C to reach 4.5:1, or #3E5D69 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #8badba?

#BA988B sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BA8B95 and #BAAF8B, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #8badba?

For interface work: #F5F8F9 as the surface, #CCDBE1 for borders, #568090 for secondary text, #844A48 as an accent and #304750 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #8BBAAF and #8B95BA stays calm, while #BA988B is the loudest partner.

What is #8badba in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(25%, 7%, 0%, 27%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #8badba warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 82 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #8BBAB6; nudged cooler, #89A3BC.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #8badba?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 12 away. That is a visible difference, so define #8badba as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #8badba in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#8badba] or text-[#8badba], 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 #8badba with 50% opacity?

rgba(139, 173, 186, 0.5), or #8badba80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C5D6DD; over black, #46575D.

Is #8badba a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999CC, ΔE2000 17.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #8badba 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 #8badba?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #B1C8D1, #8badba 45%, #304750). For more colour, a short hue run to #7978AF keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #8badba in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #8badba at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.