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cyan · cool

#8dcfef

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Teal

RGB
141, 207, 239
HSL
200°, 75%, 75%
CMYK
41, 13, 0, 6
Luminance
0.5652

#8dcfef is a light electric cyan, 200° on the wheel and 96/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.30:1). As text it scores 1.71:1 on white — use #187CAC instead. Nearest name is Sky Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(200 75% 75%)rgb(141 207 239)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

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

Hex
#8dcfef
Hue
200°
cyan
Saturation
75%
electric
Lightness
75%
light
Brightness
94%
HSV value
Perceived
76%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5652
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
96/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
12.30:1
Closest name
Sky Blue
ΔE2000 1.6
Chroma
25.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.822
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 11.5
Web-safe
#99CCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue200° of 360°
Saturation75%
Lightness75%
Saturation × lightness field

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

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool96% 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
Red10%
Green79%
Blue11%

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

Every format

HEX#8dcfef
HEX (8-digit)#8dcfefff
RGBrgb(141, 207, 239)
RGBArgba(141, 207, 239, 1)
HSLhsl(200, 75%, 75%)
HSV / HSBhsv(200, 41%, 94%)
HWBhwb(200 55% 6%)
CMYKcmyk(41%, 13%, 0%, 6%)
LABlab(79.9 -12.8 -22.3)
LCHlch(79.9 25.7 240.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.822 0.081 229.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(48.87, 56.52, 89.98)
Decimal9293807
Display P3color(display-p3 0.553 0.812 0.937)
Web-safe#99CCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #8dcfef;
background-color: #8dcfef;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #8dcfef;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#8dcfef] bg-[#8dcfef]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #8dcfef;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.553, green: 0.812, blue: 0.937)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.553, green: 0.812, blue: 0.937, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#8DCFEF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF8DCFEF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF8DCFEF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(239, 207, 141)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(141, 207, 239)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(141, 207, 239)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 141, 207, 239)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5529f, 0.8118f, 0.9373f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{141,207,239}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #8dcfef 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #8dcfef 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#105070, #D3E5EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #8dcfef 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: #F3F9FC;
  --brand-100: #E7F3F9;
  --brand-200: #C8E5F4;
  --brand-300: #8dcfef;
  --brand-400: #6BC1EA;
  --brand-500: #3AACE3;
  --brand-600: #1E9AD7;
  --brand-700: #1981B3;
  --brand-800: #14678F;
  --brand-900: #134C68;
  --brand-950: #0C2F41;
  --brand: #8dcfef;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C0DEED;
  --brand-hover: #6EC2EB;
  --brand-pressed: #4EB5E6;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141F24;
    --brand-ink: #D3E5EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3F9FC',
        100: '#E7F3F9',
        200: '#C8E5F4',
        300: '#8dcfef',
        400: '#6BC1EA',
        500: '#3AACE3',
        600: '#1E9AD7',
        700: '#1981B3',
        800: '#14678F',
        900: '#134C68',
        950: '#0C2F41',
        DEFAULT: '#8dcfef',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3F9FC,
  '100': #E7F3F9,
  '200': #C8E5F4,
  '300': #8dcfef,
  '400': #6BC1EA,
  '500': #3AACE3,
  '600': #1E9AD7,
  '700': #1981B3,
  '800': #14678F,
  '900': #134C68,
  '950': #0C2F41,
);
$brand-base: #8dcfef;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3F9FC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E7F3F9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C8E5F4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#8dcfef", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#6BC1EA", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#3AACE3", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#1E9AD7", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#1981B3", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#14678F", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#134C68", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0C2F41", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #8dcfef · 12.30:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.71:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.30:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #8dcfef as text scores 1.71:1 on white and 12.30:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #105070 at 5.12:1.

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
#187CAC · 4.65:1
AA on white−36% L
#187CAC
The quick fox
#135F84 · 7.01:1
AAA on white−45% L
#135F84
The quick fox
#8dcfef · 12.30:1
AA on blackalready passes
#8dcfef
The quick fox
#8dcfef · 12.30:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#8dcfef

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #1E9CD9 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
#8dcfef on white: 1.71:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#8dcfef on black: 12.30:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.71:1AaAa
Slate 501.63:1AaAa
Slate 1001.56:1AaAa
Slate 2001.38:1AaAa
Slate 3001.15:1AaAa
Slate 4001.50:1AaAa
Slate 5002.79:1AaAa
Slate 6004.44:1AaAa
Slate 7006.07:1AaAa
Slate 8008.57:1AaAa
Slate 90010.46:1AaAa
Black12.30:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #BFCCF1
deuteranopia · #B1C1EF
tritanopia · #66D8D9

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. #8dcfef is pinned to step 300; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F3F9FC
#E7F3F9
#C8E5F4
#8dcfef
#6BC1EA
#3AACE3
#1E9AD7
#1981B3
#14678F
#134C68
#0C2F41
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F3F9FCDarkest = 950 · #0C2F41Text 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 0.020 229.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.032 229.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.048 229.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.063 229.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.074 229.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.081 229.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.081 229.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.076 229.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.068 229.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.056 229.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.044 229.9);
}

Colors that work with #8dcfef

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#F4F8FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0DEED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B819B
Captions on the surface
Accent#B82114
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#105070
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E9F6FC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141F24
Dark-mode background
Hover#6EC2EB
One step down in lightness
Pressed#4EB5E6
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F6F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#99D8F7
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 #8dcfef

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 #105070
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #1E9CD9

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
  • Weight26/100
  • 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#EFAD8D
Analogous left#8DEFDE
Analogous right#8D9EEF
Split-complement 1#EF8D9E
Split-complement 2#EFDE8D
Triadic 1#EF8DCF
Triadic 2#CFEF8D
Tetradic#DE8DEF
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°200°

#8dcfef sits at 200°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red55.3%
Green81.2%
Blue93.7%
R · 0–255
141
0x8d
G · 0–255
207
0xcf
B · 0–255
239
0xef

CMYK percentages

Cyan41.0%
Magenta13.4%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)6.3%

Total ink coverage is 61%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#8dcfef text on a black background

contrast 12.30:1

Card sample

#8dcfef text on a white background

contrast 1.71:1

Card sample

#8dcfef on grey

1.56:1

#8dcfef on its own surface

1.60:1

#8dcfef on its dark surface

9.83:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(141, 207, 239, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(141, 207, 239, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #8dcfef;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #8dcfef, #8D8EEF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #8dcfef, #A58DEF);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #8dcfef;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #8dcfef;
caret-color: #8dcfef;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #8dcfef;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E9F6FC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #8dcfef;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#8dcfef 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #8dcfef 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(141, 207, 239, 0.5)
rgb(141 207 239 / 50%)
#8dcfef80
hsl(200 75% 75% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #8dcfef 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#8dcfef1a#F4FAFD
20%#8dcfef33#E8F5FC
40%#8dcfef66#D1ECF9
60%#8dcfef99#BBE2F5
80%#8dcfefcc#A4D9F2

Gradients from #8dcfef

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, #C3E6F7, #8dcfef 45%, #105070);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #8dcfef, #7B72EB);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #8dcfef, #EFAD8D);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #DDF1FA 0%, #8dcfef 45%, #105070 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F8FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #BAF5E6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #A8AFF3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #105070 0%, transparent 65%), #8dcfef;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #8dcfef

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.

#8dcfef 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 12.30:1.

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.

#8dcfef, answered

What color is #8dcfef?

#8dcfef is a light electric cyan, closest to Sky Blue (ΔE2000 1.6). It sits at 200° on the hue wheel with 75% saturation and 75% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #8dcfef?

rgb(141, 207, 239) — 141 red, 207 green and 239 blue out of 255, or 55.3% / 81.2% / 93.7% by channel.

What is #8dcfef in HSL and HSV?

hsl(200, 75%, 75%) and hsv(200, 41%, 94%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #8dcfef a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5652 and perceived brightness is 76%, so black text on it reaches 12.30:1.

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

Black. It scores 12.30:1 against #8dcfef, versus 1.71:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #8dcfef accessible on a white background?

#8dcfef on white scores 1.71:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #187CAC to reach 4.5:1, or #135F84 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #8dcfef?

#EFAD8D sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #EF8D9E and #EFDE8D, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #8dcfef?

For interface work: #F4F8FA as the surface, #C0DEED for borders, #4B819B for secondary text, #B82114 as an accent and #105070 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #8DEFDE and #8D9EEF stays calm, while #EFAD8D is the loudest partner.

What is #8dcfef in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(41%, 13%, 0%, 6%). 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 #8dcfef warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 96 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #8DEFEB; nudged cooler, #8CC2F0.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #8dcfef?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 11.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #8dcfef as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #8dcfef in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(141, 207, 239, 0.5), or #8dcfef80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C6E7F7; over black, #476878.

Is #8dcfef a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCFF, ΔE2000 7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #8dcfef 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 #8dcfef?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C3E6F7, #8dcfef 45%, #105070). For more colour, a short hue run to #7B72EB keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #8dcfef in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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