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cyan · cool

#97b2ae

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

Token name suggestion: Signal Reef

RGB
151, 178, 174
HSL
171°, 15%, 65%
CMYK
15, 0, 2, 30
Luminance
0.4148

#97b2ae is a balanced muted cyan, 171° on the wheel and 64/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.30:1). As text it scores 2.26:1 on white — use #5C7D78 instead. Nearest name is Cadet Blue, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(171 15% 65%)rgb(151 178 174)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #97b2ae is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#97b2ae
Hue
171°
cyan
Saturation
15%
muted
Lightness
65%
balanced
Brightness
70%
HSV value
Perceived
67%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4148
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
64/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
9.30:1
Closest name
Cadet Blue
ΔE2000 11
Chroma
10.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.742
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 15.7
Web-safe
#999999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue171° of 360°
Saturation15%
Lightness65%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #97b2ae.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool64% 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
Red16%
Green77%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#97b2ae
HEX (8-digit)#97b2aeff
RGBrgb(151, 178, 174)
RGBArgba(151, 178, 174, 1)
HSLhsl(171, 15%, 65%)
HSV / HSBhsv(171, 15%, 70%)
HWBhwb(171 59% 30%)
CMYKcmyk(15%, 0%, 2%, 30%)
LABlab(70.5 -10.0 -1.1)
LCHlch(70.5 10.1 186.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.742 0.030 185.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(36.32, 41.48, 46.13)
Decimal9941678
Display P3color(display-p3 0.592 0.698 0.682)
Web-safe#999999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #97b2ae;
background-color: #97b2ae;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #97b2ae;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#97b2ae] bg-[#97b2ae]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #97b2ae;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.592, green: 0.698, blue: 0.682)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.592, green: 0.698, blue: 0.682, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#97B2AE</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF97B2AE)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF97B2AE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(174, 178, 151)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(151, 178, 174)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(151, 178, 174)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 151, 178, 174)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5922f, 0.6980f, 0.6824f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{151,178,174}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #97b2ae 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #97b2ae 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#364946, #DCE5E4);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #97b2ae 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: #F6F8F8;
  --brand-100: #EEF1F1;
  --brand-200: #DAE2E1;
  --brand-300: #BFCFCD;
  --brand-400: #97b2ae;
  --brand-500: #7EA09B;
  --brand-600: #688D87;
  --brand-700: #577571;
  --brand-800: #455E5A;
  --brand-900: #354643;
  --brand-950: #212B2A;
  --brand: #97b2ae;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F8F8;
  --brand-border: #D0DCDA;
  --brand-hover: #82A39E;
  --brand-pressed: #6E948E;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #18201F;
    --brand-ink: #DCE5E4;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F8F8',
        100: '#EEF1F1',
        200: '#DAE2E1',
        300: '#BFCFCD',
        400: '#97b2ae',
        500: '#7EA09B',
        600: '#688D87',
        700: '#577571',
        800: '#455E5A',
        900: '#354643',
        950: '#212B2A',
        DEFAULT: '#97b2ae',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F8F8,
  '100': #EEF1F1,
  '200': #DAE2E1,
  '300': #BFCFCD,
  '400': #97b2ae,
  '500': #7EA09B,
  '600': #688D87,
  '700': #577571,
  '800': #455E5A,
  '900': #354643,
  '950': #212B2A,
);
$brand-base: #97b2ae;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F8F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EEF1F1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DAE2E1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#BFCFCD", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#97b2ae", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7EA09B", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#688D87", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#577571", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#455E5A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#354643", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#212B2A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #97b2ae · 9.30:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.26:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.30:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #97b2ae as text scores 2.26:1 on white and 9.30:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #364946 at 4.23:1.

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
#5C7D78 · 4.51:1
AA on white−22% L
#5C7D78
The quick fox
#445C59 · 7.19:1
AAA on white−33% L
#445C59
The quick fox
#97b2ae · 9.30:1
AA on blackalready passes
#97b2ae
The quick fox
#97b2ae · 9.30:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#97b2ae

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #779A95 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
#97b2ae on white: 2.26:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#97b2ae on black: 9.30:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #97b2ae as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #97b2ae.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.26:1AaAa
Slate 502.16:1AaAa
Slate 1002.06:1AaAa
Slate 2001.83:1AaAa
Slate 3001.52:1AaAa
Slate 4001.13:1AaAa
Slate 5002.11:1AaAa
Slate 6003.35:1AaAa
Slate 7004.58:1AaAa
Slate 8006.48:1AaAa
Slate 9007.90:1AaAa
Black9.30:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #AFAFAE
deuteranopia · #AAABAE
tritanopia · #90B3B1

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. #97b2ae 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.

#F6F8F8
#EEF1F1
#DAE2E1
#BFCFCD
#97b2ae
#7EA09B
#688D87
#577571
#455E5A
#354643
#212B2A
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F6F8F8Darkest = 950 · #212B2AText 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 0.008 185.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.012 185.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.018 185.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.024 185.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.028 185.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.030 185.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.030 185.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.028 185.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.025 185.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.021 185.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.017 185.7);
}

Colors that work with #97b2ae

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#F6F8F8
Tinted page background
Border#D0DCDA
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#62847F
Captions on the surface
Accent#7A5262
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#364946
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F0F4F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#18201F
Dark-mode background
Hover#82A39E
One step down in lightness
Pressed#6E948E
Two steps down
Disabled#D7E2E0
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#9BC3BD
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 #97b2ae

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Borders, dividers and quiet backgrounds
  • Long-form reading surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
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 #364946
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #779A95

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.

With almost no chroma left, the family association is barely present; treat it as a neutral that happens to lean this way. 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
  • EnergyLow
  • Weight36/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • ApproachabilityBalanced

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#B2979B
Analogous left#97B2A0
Analogous right#97A8B2
Split-complement 1#B297A8
Split-complement 2#B2A097
Triadic 1#AE97B2
Triadic 2#B2AE97
Tetradic#A097B2
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°171°

#97b2ae sits at 171°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red59.2%
Green69.8%
Blue68.2%
R · 0–255
151
0x97
G · 0–255
178
0xb2
B · 0–255
174
0xae

CMYK percentages

Cyan15.2%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow2.2%
Key (black)30.2%

Total ink coverage is 48%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#97b2ae text on a black background

contrast 9.30:1

Card sample

#97b2ae text on a white background

contrast 2.26:1

Card sample

#97b2ae on grey

2.06:1

#97b2ae on its own surface

2.12:1

#97b2ae on its dark surface

7.35:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #97b2ae;
Background color
Panel with #97b2ae background
background-color: #97b2ae;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #97b2ae;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(151, 178, 174, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(151, 178, 174, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #97b2ae;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #97b2ae, #97A4B2);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #97b2ae, #979DB2);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #97b2ae;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #97b2ae;
caret-color: #97b2ae;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #97b2ae;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F0F4F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #97b2ae;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#97b2ae 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #97b2ae 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(151, 178, 174, 0.5)
rgb(151 178 174 / 50%)
#97b2ae80
hsl(171 15% 65% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #97b2ae 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#97b2ae1a#F5F7F7
20%#97b2ae33#EAF0EF
40%#97b2ae66#D5E0DF
60%#97b2ae99#C1D1CE
80%#97b2aecc#ACC1BE

Gradients from #97b2ae

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, #BACCC9, #97b2ae 45%, #364946);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #97b2ae, #8592A5);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #97b2ae, #B2979B);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #CCD9D7 0%, #97b2ae 45%, #364946 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F8F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #B4C8B9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #A9B5BF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #364946 0%, transparent 65%), #97b2ae;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #97b2ae

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.

#97b2ae 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
BackgroundsBordersBody textDividers
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 9.30:1.

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.

#97b2ae, answered

What color is #97b2ae?

#97b2ae is a balanced muted cyan, closest to Cadet Blue (ΔE2000 11). It sits at 171° on the hue wheel with 15% saturation and 65% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #97b2ae?

rgb(151, 178, 174) — 151 red, 178 green and 174 blue out of 255, or 59.2% / 69.8% / 68.2% by channel.

What is #97b2ae in HSL and HSV?

hsl(171, 15%, 65%) and hsv(171, 15%, 70%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #97b2ae a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4148 and perceived brightness is 67%, so black text on it reaches 9.30:1.

Should I use black or white text on #97b2ae?

Black. It scores 9.30:1 against #97b2ae, versus 2.26:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #97b2ae accessible on a white background?

#97b2ae on white scores 2.26:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #5C7D78 to reach 4.5:1, or #445C59 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #97b2ae?

#B2979B sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #B297A8 and #B2A097, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #97b2ae?

For interface work: #F6F8F8 as the surface, #D0DCDA for borders, #62847F for secondary text, #7A5262 as an accent and #364946 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #97B2A0 and #97A8B2 stays calm, while #B2979B is the loudest partner.

What is #97b2ae in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(15%, 0%, 2%, 30%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #97b2ae warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 64 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #97B2A4; nudged cooler, #95ADB4.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #97b2ae?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 15.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #97b2ae as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #97b2ae in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#97b2ae] or text-[#97b2ae], 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 #97b2ae with 50% opacity?

rgba(151, 178, 174, 0.5), or #97b2ae80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #CBD9D7; over black, #4C5957.

Is #97b2ae a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #999999, ΔE2000 12.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #97b2ae mean?

As a cyan, it reads clean, technical, fresh. Cyan reads as water, air and infrastructure: cool, hygienic, engineered. At this low chroma the association is faint; it behaves more like a neutral.

What gradient works with #97b2ae?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #BACCC9, #97b2ae 45%, #364946). For more colour, a short hue run to #8592A5 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #97b2ae in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #97b2ae at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.