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cyan · cool

#9ac7cf

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Teal

RGB
154, 199, 207
HSL
189°, 36%, 71%
CMYK
26, 4, 0, 19
Luminance
0.5222

#9ac7cf is a light soft cyan, 189° on the wheel and 91/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.44:1). As text it scores 1.83:1 on white — use #417F8A instead. Nearest name is Light Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(189 36% 71%)rgb(154 199 207)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #9ac7cf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#9ac7cf
Hue
189°
cyan
Saturation
36%
soft
Lightness
71%
light
Brightness
81%
HSV value
Perceived
74%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5222
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
91/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
11.44:1
Closest name
Light Blue
ΔE2000 5.2
Chroma
15.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.800
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 12.5
Web-safe
#99CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue189° of 360°
Saturation36%
Lightness71%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #9ac7cf.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool91% 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
Red13%
Green78%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#9ac7cf
HEX (8-digit)#9ac7cfff
RGBrgb(154, 199, 207)
RGBArgba(154, 199, 207, 1)
HSLhsl(189, 36%, 71%)
HSV / HSBhsv(189, 26%, 81%)
HWBhwb(189 60% 19%)
CMYKcmyk(26%, 4%, 0%, 19%)
LABlab(77.4 -12.9 -8.8)
LCHlch(77.4 15.7 214.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.800 0.049 209.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(45.01, 52.22, 66.73)
Decimal10143695
Display P3color(display-p3 0.604 0.780 0.812)
Web-safe#99CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #9ac7cf;
background-color: #9ac7cf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #9ac7cf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#9ac7cf] bg-[#9ac7cf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #9ac7cf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.604, green: 0.780, blue: 0.812)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.604, green: 0.780, blue: 0.812, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#9AC7CF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF9AC7CF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF9AC7CF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(207, 199, 154)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(154, 199, 207)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(154, 199, 207)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 154, 199, 207)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6039f, 0.7804f, 0.8118f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{154,199,207}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #9ac7cf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #9ac7cf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#295056, #D6E8EB);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #9ac7cf 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: #F5F9F9;
  --brand-100: #EBF3F4;
  --brand-200: #D3E5E8;
  --brand-300: #B3D5DB;
  --brand-400: #9ac7cf;
  --brand-500: #67ABB7;
  --brand-600: #4F99A6;
  --brand-700: #427F8A;
  --brand-800: #35666F;
  --brand-900: #294B51;
  --brand-950: #1A2F33;
  --brand: #9ac7cf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5F9FA;
  --brand-border: #C8E0E5;
  --brand-hover: #82BAC4;
  --brand-pressed: #6AACB8;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142224;
    --brand-ink: #D6E8EB;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F9F9',
        100: '#EBF3F4',
        200: '#D3E5E8',
        300: '#B3D5DB',
        400: '#9ac7cf',
        500: '#67ABB7',
        600: '#4F99A6',
        700: '#427F8A',
        800: '#35666F',
        900: '#294B51',
        950: '#1A2F33',
        DEFAULT: '#9ac7cf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F9F9,
  '100': #EBF3F4,
  '200': #D3E5E8,
  '300': #B3D5DB,
  '400': #9ac7cf,
  '500': #67ABB7,
  '600': #4F99A6,
  '700': #427F8A,
  '800': #35666F,
  '900': #294B51,
  '950': #1A2F33,
);
$brand-base: #9ac7cf;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F9F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EBF3F4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D3E5E8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B3D5DB", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#9ac7cf", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#67ABB7", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#4F99A6", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#427F8A", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#35666F", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#294B51", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1A2F33", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #9ac7cf · 11.44:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.83:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.44:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #9ac7cf as text scores 1.83:1 on white and 11.44:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #295056 at 4.82:1.

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
#417F8A · 4.54:1
AA on white−31% L
#417F8A
The quick fox
#315F67 · 7.09:1
AAA on white−41% L
#315F67
The quick fox
#9ac7cf · 11.44:1
AA on blackalready passes
#9ac7cf
The quick fox
#9ac7cf · 11.44:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#9ac7cf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #529EAC 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
#9ac7cf on white: 1.83:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#9ac7cf on black: 11.44:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #9ac7cf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #9ac7cf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.83:1AaAa
Slate 501.75:1AaAa
Slate 1001.67:1AaAa
Slate 2001.49:1AaAa
Slate 3001.24:1AaAa
Slate 4001.40:1AaAa
Slate 5002.59:1AaAa
Slate 6004.13:1AaAa
Slate 7005.64:1AaAa
Slate 8007.97:1AaAa
Slate 9009.73:1AaAa
Black11.44:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #BFC3D0
deuteranopia · #B6BCCF
tritanopia · #89CBC9

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. #9ac7cf 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.

#F5F9F9
#EBF3F4
#D3E5E8
#B3D5DB
#9ac7cf
#67ABB7
#4F99A6
#427F8A
#35666F
#294B51
#1A2F33
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F5F9F9Darkest = 950 · #1A2F33Text 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 0.012 209.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.019 209.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.029 209.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.038 209.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.045 209.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.049 209.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.049 209.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.046 209.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.041 209.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.034 209.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.027 209.6);
}

Colors that work with #9ac7cf

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#F5F9FA
Tinted page background
Border#C8E0E5
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B8F9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#8E3E46
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#295056
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EEF5F7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142224
Dark-mode background
Hover#82BAC4
One step down in lightness
Pressed#6AACB8
Two steps down
Disabled#E9EFF1
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#A1D3DC
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 #9ac7cf

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • 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 #295056
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #529EAC

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 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
  • Weight29/100
  • 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#CFA29A
Analogous left#9ACFBD
Analogous right#9AACCF
Split-complement 1#CF9AAC
Split-complement 2#CFBD9A
Triadic 1#CF9AC7
Triadic 2#C7CF9A
Tetradic#BD9ACF
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°189°

#9ac7cf sits at 189°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red60.4%
Green78.0%
Blue81.2%
R · 0–255
154
0x9a
G · 0–255
199
0xc7
B · 0–255
207
0xcf

CMYK percentages

Cyan25.6%
Magenta3.9%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)18.8%

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

Color previews

#9ac7cf text on a black background

contrast 11.44:1

Card sample

#9ac7cf text on a white background

contrast 1.83:1

Card sample

#9ac7cf on grey

1.67:1

#9ac7cf on its own surface

1.73:1

#9ac7cf on its dark surface

8.91:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #9ac7cf;
Background color
Panel with #9ac7cf background
background-color: #9ac7cf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #9ac7cf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(154, 199, 207, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(154, 199, 207, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #9ac7cf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #9ac7cf, #9AA4CF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #9ac7cf, #9E9ACF);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #9ac7cf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #9ac7cf;
caret-color: #9ac7cf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #9ac7cf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EEF5F7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #9ac7cf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#9ac7cf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #9ac7cf 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(154, 199, 207, 0.5)
rgb(154 199 207 / 50%)
#9ac7cf80
hsl(189 36% 71% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #9ac7cf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#9ac7cf1a#F5F9FA
20%#9ac7cf33#EBF4F5
40%#9ac7cf66#D7E9EC
60%#9ac7cf99#C2DDE2
80%#9ac7cfcc#AED2D9

Gradients from #9ac7cf

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, #C4DEE3, #9ac7cf 45%, #295056);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #9ac7cf, #858CC5);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #9ac7cf, #CFA29A);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D8EAED 0%, #9ac7cf 45%, #295056 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5F9FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #BDDFD0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #AFBAD9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #295056 0%, transparent 65%), #9ac7cf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #9ac7cf

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.

#9ac7cf 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 11.44:1.

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.

#9ac7cf, answered

What color is #9ac7cf?

#9ac7cf is a light soft cyan, closest to Light Blue (ΔE2000 5.2). It sits at 189° on the hue wheel with 36% saturation and 71% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #9ac7cf?

rgb(154, 199, 207) — 154 red, 199 green and 207 blue out of 255, or 60.4% / 78% / 81.2% by channel.

What is #9ac7cf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(189, 36%, 71%) and hsv(189, 26%, 81%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #9ac7cf a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5222 and perceived brightness is 74%, so black text on it reaches 11.44:1.

Should I use black or white text on #9ac7cf?

Black. It scores 11.44:1 against #9ac7cf, versus 1.83:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #9ac7cf accessible on a white background?

#9ac7cf on white scores 1.83:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #417F8A to reach 4.5:1, or #315F67 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #9ac7cf?

#CFA29A sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CF9AAC and #CFBD9A, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #9ac7cf?

For interface work: #F5F9FA as the surface, #C8E0E5 for borders, #4B8F9B for secondary text, #8E3E46 as an accent and #295056 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #9ACFBD and #9AACCF stays calm, while #CFA29A is the loudest partner.

What is #9ac7cf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(26%, 4%, 0%, 19%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #9ac7cf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 91 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #9ACFC4; nudged cooler, #99B8D1.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #9ac7cf?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 12.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #9ac7cf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #9ac7cf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#9ac7cf] or text-[#9ac7cf], 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 #9ac7cf with 50% opacity?

rgba(154, 199, 207, 0.5), or #9ac7cf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #CDE3E7; over black, #4D6468.

Is #9ac7cf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCCC, ΔE2000 4.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #9ac7cf 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 #9ac7cf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C4DEE3, #9ac7cf 45%, #295056). For more colour, a short hue run to #858CC5 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #9ac7cf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #9ac7cf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.