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cyan · cool

#90ebfd

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

Token name suggestion: Linen Teal

RGB
144, 235, 253
HSL
190°, 97%, 78%
CMYK
43, 7, 0, 1
Luminance
0.7244

#90ebfd is a light electric cyan, 190° on the wheel and 92/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (15.49:1). As text it scores 1.36:1 on white — use #03819A instead. Nearest name is Powder Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(190 97% 78%)rgb(144 235 253)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #90ebfd is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#90ebfd
Hue
190°
cyan
Saturation
97%
electric
Lightness
78%
light
Brightness
99%
HSV value
Perceived
84%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.7244
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
92/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
15.49:1
Closest name
Powder Blue
ΔE2000 6.8
Chroma
28.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.889
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 14.7
Web-safe
#99FFFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue190° of 360°
Saturation97%
Lightness78%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #90ebfd.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool92% 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%
Green82%
Blue10%

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

Every format

HEX#90ebfd
HEX (8-digit)#90ebfdff
RGBrgb(144, 235, 253)
RGBArgba(144, 235, 253, 1)
HSLhsl(190, 97%, 78%)
HSV / HSBhsv(190, 43%, 99%)
HWBhwb(190 56% 1%)
CMYKcmyk(43%, 7%, 0%, 1%)
LABlab(88.2 -22.7 -17.2)
LCHlch(88.2 28.5 217.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.889 0.090 211.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(58.93, 72.43, 103.78)
Decimal9497597
Display P3color(display-p3 0.565 0.922 0.992)
Web-safe#99FFFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #90ebfd;
background-color: #90ebfd;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #90ebfd;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#90ebfd] bg-[#90ebfd]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #90ebfd;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.565, green: 0.922, blue: 0.992)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.565, green: 0.922, blue: 0.992, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#90EBFD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF90EBFD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF90EBFD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(253, 235, 144)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(144, 235, 253)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(144, 235, 253)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 144, 235, 253)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5647f, 0.9216f, 0.9922f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{144,235,253}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #90ebfd 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #90ebfd 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#02697D, #D3EAEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #90ebfd 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: #F1FBFD;
  --brand-100: #E4F8FC;
  --brand-200: #C1F1FB;
  --brand-300: #90ebfd;
  --brand-400: #5AE1FC;
  --brand-500: #23D7FB;
  --brand-600: #04CAF1;
  --brand-700: #04A8C8;
  --brand-800: #0386A0;
  --brand-900: #076274;
  --brand-950: #043D48;
  --brand: #90ebfd;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F9FA;
  --brand-border: #C0E5ED;
  --brand-hover: #6DE5FC;
  --brand-pressed: #4ADEFC;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142224;
    --brand-ink: #D3EAEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F1FBFD',
        100: '#E4F8FC',
        200: '#C1F1FB',
        300: '#90ebfd',
        400: '#5AE1FC',
        500: '#23D7FB',
        600: '#04CAF1',
        700: '#04A8C8',
        800: '#0386A0',
        900: '#076274',
        950: '#043D48',
        DEFAULT: '#90ebfd',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F1FBFD,
  '100': #E4F8FC,
  '200': #C1F1FB,
  '300': #90ebfd,
  '400': #5AE1FC,
  '500': #23D7FB,
  '600': #04CAF1,
  '700': #04A8C8,
  '800': #0386A0,
  '900': #076274,
  '950': #043D48,
);
$brand-base: #90ebfd;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F1FBFD", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E4F8FC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C1F1FB", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#90ebfd", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#5AE1FC", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#23D7FB", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#04CAF1", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#04A8C8", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#0386A0", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#076274", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#043D48", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #90ebfd · 15.49:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.36:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 15.49:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #90ebfd as text scores 1.36:1 on white and 15.49:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #02697D at 4.67:1.

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
#03819A · 4.55:1
AA on white−47% L
#03819A
The quick fox
#026072 · 7.19:1
AAA on white−55% L
#026072
The quick fox
#90ebfd · 15.49:1
AA on blackalready passes
#90ebfd
The quick fox
#90ebfd · 15.49:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#90ebfd

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #039FBD 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
#90ebfd on white: 1.36:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#90ebfd on black: 15.49:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #90ebfd as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #90ebfd.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.36:1AaAa
Slate 501.30:1AaAa
Slate 1001.24:1AaAa
Slate 2001.10:1AaAa
Slate 3001.09:1AaAa
Slate 4001.89:1AaAa
Slate 5003.51:1AaAa
Slate 6005.59:1AaAa
Slate 7007.64:1AaAa
Slate 80010.79:1AaAa
Slate 90013.17:1AaAa
Black15.49:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #DCE5FE
deuteranopia · #CAD8FD
tritanopia · #5EF3F0

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. #90ebfd 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.

#F1FBFD
#E4F8FC
#C1F1FB
#90ebfd
#5AE1FC
#23D7FB
#04CAF1
#04A8C8
#0386A0
#076274
#043D48
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F1FBFDDarkest = 950 · #043D48Text step on white = 900
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 0.023 211.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.036 211.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.054 211.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.071 211.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.083 211.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.090 211.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.090 211.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.085 211.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.076 211.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.063 211.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.050 211.6);
}

Colors that work with #90ebfd

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#F4F9FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0E5ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B8E9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#CC0010
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#02697D
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E6FAFF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142224
Dark-mode background
Hover#6DE5FC
One step down in lightness
Pressed#4ADEFC
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F6F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#A2F0FF
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 #90ebfd

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 #02697D
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #039FBD

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
  • Weight22/100
  • 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#FDA290
Analogous left#90FDD8
Analogous right#90B4FD
Split-complement 1#FD90B4
Split-complement 2#FDD890
Triadic 1#FD90EB
Triadic 2#EBFD90
Tetradic#D890FD
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°190°

#90ebfd sits at 190°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red56.5%
Green92.2%
Blue99.2%
R · 0–255
144
0x90
G · 0–255
235
0xeb
B · 0–255
253
0xfd

CMYK percentages

Cyan43.1%
Magenta7.1%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)0.8%

Total ink coverage is 51%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#90ebfd text on a black background

contrast 15.49:1

Card sample

#90ebfd text on a white background

contrast 1.36:1

Card sample

#90ebfd on grey

1.24:1

#90ebfd on its own surface

1.28:1

#90ebfd on its dark surface

12.06:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #90ebfd;
Background color
Panel with #90ebfd background
background-color: #90ebfd;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #90ebfd;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(144, 235, 253, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(144, 235, 253, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #90ebfd;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #90ebfd, #90A2FD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #90ebfd, #9990FD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #90ebfd;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #90ebfd;
caret-color: #90ebfd;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #90ebfd;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E6FAFF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #90ebfd;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#90ebfd 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #90ebfd 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(144, 235, 253, 0.5)
rgb(144 235 253 / 50%)
#90ebfd80
hsl(190 97% 78% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #90ebfd 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#90ebfd1a#F4FDFF
20%#90ebfd33#E9FBFF
40%#90ebfd66#D3F7FE
60%#90ebfd99#BCF3FE
80%#90ebfdcc#A6EFFD

Gradients from #90ebfd

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, #CCF6FE, #90ebfd 45%, #02697D);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #90ebfd, #727DFC);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #90ebfd, #FDA290);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EAFBFF 0%, #90ebfd 45%, #02697D 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F9FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #C2FEE5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #AEC2FE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #02697D 0%, transparent 65%), #90ebfd;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #90ebfd

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.

#90ebfd 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 15.49:1.

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.

#90ebfd, answered

What color is #90ebfd?

#90ebfd is a light electric cyan, closest to Powder Blue (ΔE2000 6.8). It sits at 190° on the hue wheel with 97% saturation and 78% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #90ebfd?

rgb(144, 235, 253) — 144 red, 235 green and 253 blue out of 255, or 56.5% / 92.2% / 99.2% by channel.

What is #90ebfd in HSL and HSV?

hsl(190, 97%, 78%) and hsv(190, 43%, 99%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #90ebfd a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.7244 and perceived brightness is 84%, so black text on it reaches 15.49:1.

Should I use black or white text on #90ebfd?

Black. It scores 15.49:1 against #90ebfd, versus 1.36:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #90ebfd accessible on a white background?

#90ebfd on white scores 1.36:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #03819A to reach 4.5:1, or #026072 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #90ebfd?

#FDA290 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #FD90B4 and #FDD890, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #90ebfd?

For interface work: #F4F9FA as the surface, #C0E5ED for borders, #4B8E9B for secondary text, #CC0010 as an accent and #02697D for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #90FDD8 and #90B4FD stays calm, while #FDA290 is the loudest partner.

What is #90ebfd in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(43%, 7%, 0%, 1%). 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 #90ebfd warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 92 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #90FDE7; nudged cooler, #8FD2FE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #90ebfd?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 14.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #90ebfd as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #90ebfd in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#90ebfd] or text-[#90ebfd], 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 #90ebfd with 50% opacity?

rgba(144, 235, 253, 0.5), or #90ebfd80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C8F5FE; over black, #48767F.

Is #90ebfd a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99FFFF, ΔE2000 7.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #90ebfd 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 #90ebfd?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #CCF6FE, #90ebfd 45%, #02697D). For more colour, a short hue run to #727DFC keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #90ebfd in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #90ebfd at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.