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cyan · cool

#98cfdf

a light, vivid cyan · cool · closest name: Light Blue

Token name suggestion: Meadow Teal

RGB
152, 207, 223
HSL
194°, 53%, 74%
CMYK
32, 7, 0, 13
Luminance
0.5663

#98cfdf is a light vivid cyan, 194° on the wheel and 93/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.33:1). As text it scores 1.70:1 on white — use #2F7F96 instead. Nearest name is Light Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(194 53% 74%)rgb(152 207 223)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #98cfdf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#98cfdf
Hue
194°
cyan
Saturation
53%
vivid
Lightness
74%
light
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
76%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5663
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
93/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
12.33:1
Closest name
Light Blue
ΔE2000 3.5
Chroma
19.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.822
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 11.9
Web-safe
#99CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue194° of 360°
Saturation53%
Lightness74%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #98cfdf.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool93% 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
Red12%
Green79%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#98cfdf
HEX (8-digit)#98cfdfff
RGBrgb(152, 207, 223)
RGBArgba(152, 207, 223, 1)
HSLhsl(194, 53%, 74%)
HSV / HSBhsv(194, 32%, 87%)
HWBhwb(194 60% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(32%, 7%, 0%, 13%)
LABlab(80.0 -13.9 -13.6)
LCHlch(80.0 19.5 224.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.822 0.061 217.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(48.58, 56.63, 78.17)
Decimal10014687
Display P3color(display-p3 0.596 0.812 0.875)
Web-safe#99CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #98cfdf;
background-color: #98cfdf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #98cfdf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#98cfdf] bg-[#98cfdf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #98cfdf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.596, green: 0.812, blue: 0.875)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.596, green: 0.812, blue: 0.875, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#98CFDF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF98CFDF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF98CFDF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(223, 207, 152)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(152, 207, 223)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(152, 207, 223)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 152, 207, 223)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5961f, 0.8118f, 0.8745f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{152,207,223}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #98cfdf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #98cfdf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#1E5261, #D3E8EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #98cfdf 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: #F4F9FA;
  --brand-100: #E9F3F6;
  --brand-200: #CFE6ED;
  --brand-300: #98cfdf;
  --brand-400: #7FC3D7;
  --brand-500: #54AFCA;
  --brand-600: #3A9EBB;
  --brand-700: #30849C;
  --brand-800: #27697D;
  --brand-900: #204D5B;
  --brand-950: #143039;
  --brand: #98cfdf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F9FA;
  --brand-border: #C1E2EC;
  --brand-hover: #7DC2D7;
  --brand-pressed: #61B6CE;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142124;
    --brand-ink: #D3E8EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4F9FA',
        100: '#E9F3F6',
        200: '#CFE6ED',
        300: '#98cfdf',
        400: '#7FC3D7',
        500: '#54AFCA',
        600: '#3A9EBB',
        700: '#30849C',
        800: '#27697D',
        900: '#204D5B',
        950: '#143039',
        DEFAULT: '#98cfdf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4F9FA,
  '100': #E9F3F6,
  '200': #CFE6ED,
  '300': #98cfdf,
  '400': #7FC3D7,
  '500': #54AFCA,
  '600': #3A9EBB,
  '700': #30849C,
  '800': #27697D,
  '900': #204D5B,
  '950': #143039,
);
$brand-base: #98cfdf;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4F9FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E9F3F6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CFE6ED", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#98cfdf", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#7FC3D7", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#54AFCA", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#3A9EBB", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#30849C", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#27697D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#204D5B", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#143039", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #98cfdf · 12.33:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.70:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.33:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #98cfdf as text scores 1.70:1 on white and 12.33:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #1E5261 at 5.06:1.

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
#2F7F96 · 4.57:1
AA on white−35% L
#2F7F96
The quick fox
#225E6F · 7.24:1
AAA on white−45% L
#225E6F
The quick fox
#98cfdf · 12.33:1
AA on blackalready passes
#98cfdf
The quick fox
#98cfdf · 12.33:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#98cfdf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #3B9FBD 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
#98cfdf on white: 1.70:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#98cfdf on black: 12.33:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #98cfdf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #98cfdf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.70:1AaAa
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 6004.45:1AaAa
Slate 7006.08:1AaAa
Slate 8008.59:1AaAa
Slate 90010.48:1AaAa
Black12.33:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C4CBE0
deuteranopia · #B9C2DF
tritanopia · #80D5D4

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. #98cfdf 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.

#F4F9FA
#E9F3F6
#CFE6ED
#98cfdf
#7FC3D7
#54AFCA
#3A9EBB
#30849C
#27697D
#204D5B
#143039
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F4F9FADarkest = 950 · #143039Text 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 0.015 217.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.024 217.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.037 217.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.048 217.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.056 217.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.061 217.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.061 217.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.057 217.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.051 217.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.043 217.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.033 217.7);
}

Colors that work with #98cfdf

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#C1E2EC
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B899B
Captions on the surface
Accent#A02C2F
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#1E5261
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#ECF6F9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142124
Dark-mode background
Hover#7DC2D7
One step down in lightness
Pressed#61B6CE
Two steps down
Disabled#F1F5F6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#A2D9EA
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 #98cfdf

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 #1E5261
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #3B9FBD

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.

This is a confident chroma: strong enough to lead a brand, restrained enough to live in an interface all day. The lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

At high lightness it disappears into white surfaces and thin strokes vanish entirely.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight27/100
  • 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#DFA898
Analogous left#98DFCB
Analogous right#98ABDF
Split-complement 1#DF98AB
Split-complement 2#DFCB98
Triadic 1#DF98CF
Triadic 2#CFDF98
Tetradic#CB98DF
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°194°

#98cfdf sits at 194°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red59.6%
Green81.2%
Blue87.5%
R · 0–255
152
0x98
G · 0–255
207
0xcf
B · 0–255
223
0xdf

CMYK percentages

Cyan31.8%
Magenta7.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)12.5%

Total ink coverage is 52%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#98cfdf text on a black background

contrast 12.33:1

Card sample

#98cfdf text on a white background

contrast 1.70:1

Card sample

#98cfdf on grey

1.56:1

#98cfdf on its own surface

1.60:1

#98cfdf on its dark surface

9.68:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #98cfdf;
Background color
Panel with #98cfdf background
background-color: #98cfdf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #98cfdf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(152, 207, 223, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(152, 207, 223, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #98cfdf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #98cfdf, #98A0DF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #98cfdf, #A298DF);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #98cfdf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #98cfdf;
caret-color: #98cfdf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #98cfdf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #ECF6F9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #98cfdf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#98cfdf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #98cfdf 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(152, 207, 223, 0.5)
rgb(152 207 223 / 50%)
#98cfdf80
hsl(194 53% 74% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #98cfdf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#98cfdf1a#F5FAFC
20%#98cfdf33#EAF5F9
40%#98cfdf66#D6ECF2
60%#98cfdf99#C1E2EC
80%#98cfdfcc#ADD9E5

Gradients from #98cfdf

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, #C7E5ED, #98cfdf 45%, #1E5261);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #98cfdf, #8183D8);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #98cfdf, #DFA898);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #DEF0F5 0%, #98cfdf 45%, #1E5261 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%, #BFEBDB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #AFBAE6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #1E5261 0%, transparent 65%), #98cfdf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #98cfdf

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.

#98cfdf 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

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 12.33:1.

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.

#98cfdf, answered

What color is #98cfdf?

#98cfdf is a light vivid cyan, closest to Light Blue (ΔE2000 3.5). It sits at 194° on the hue wheel with 53% saturation and 74% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #98cfdf?

rgb(152, 207, 223) — 152 red, 207 green and 223 blue out of 255, or 59.6% / 81.2% / 87.5% by channel.

What is #98cfdf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(194, 53%, 74%) and hsv(194, 32%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #98cfdf a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5663 and perceived brightness is 76%, so black text on it reaches 12.33:1.

Should I use black or white text on #98cfdf?

Black. It scores 12.33:1 against #98cfdf, versus 1.70:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #98cfdf accessible on a white background?

#98cfdf on white scores 1.70:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #2F7F96 to reach 4.5:1, or #225E6F for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #98cfdf?

#DFA898 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DF98AB and #DFCB98, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #98cfdf?

For interface work: #F4F9FA as the surface, #C1E2EC for borders, #4B899B for secondary text, #A02C2F as an accent and #1E5261 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #98DFCB and #98ABDF stays calm, while #DFA898 is the loudest partner.

What is #98cfdf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(32%, 7%, 0%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #98cfdf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 93 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #98DFD5; nudged cooler, #97BFE0.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #98cfdf?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 11.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #98cfdf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #98cfdf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#98cfdf] or text-[#98cfdf], 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 #98cfdf with 50% opacity?

rgba(152, 207, 223, 0.5), or #98cfdf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #CCE7EF; over black, #4C6870.

Is #98cfdf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCCC, ΔE2000 6.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #98cfdf 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 #98cfdf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C7E5ED, #98cfdf 45%, #1E5261). For more colour, a short hue run to #8183D8 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #98cfdf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #98cfdf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.