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cyan · cool

#9cecda

a light, vivid cyan · cool · closest name: Pale Turquoise

Token name suggestion: Drift Lagoon

RGB
156, 236, 218
HSL
167°, 68%, 77%
CMYK
34, 0, 8, 8
Luminance
0.7212

#9cecda is a light vivid cyan, 167° on the wheel and 82/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (15.42:1). As text it scores 1.36:1 on white — use #19846C instead. Nearest name is Pale Turquoise, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(167 68% 77%)rgb(156 236 218)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

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

Hex
#9cecda
Hue
167°
cyan
Saturation
68%
vivid
Lightness
77%
light
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
84%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.7212
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
82/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
15.42:1
Closest name
Pale Turquoise
ΔE2000 7.4
Chroma
28.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.886
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 15.7
Web-safe
#99FFCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue167° of 360°
Saturation68%
Lightness77%
Saturation × lightness field

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

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool82% 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%
Green83%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#9cecda
HEX (8-digit)#9cecdaff
RGBrgb(156, 236, 218)
RGBArgba(156, 236, 218, 1)
HSLhsl(167, 68%, 77%)
HSV / HSBhsv(167, 34%, 93%)
HWBhwb(167 61% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(34%, 0%, 8%, 8%)
LABlab(88.0 -28.3 1.0)
LCHlch(88.0 28.4 178.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.886 0.083 178.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(56.36, 72.12, 77.27)
Decimal10284250
Display P3color(display-p3 0.612 0.925 0.855)
Web-safe#99FFCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #9cecda;
background-color: #9cecda;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #9cecda;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#9cecda] bg-[#9cecda]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #9cecda;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.612, green: 0.925, blue: 0.855)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.612, green: 0.925, blue: 0.855, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#9CECDA</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF9CECDA)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF9CECDA)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(218, 236, 156)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(156, 236, 218)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(156, 236, 218)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 156, 236, 218)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6118f, 0.9255f, 0.8549f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{156,236,218}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #9cecda 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #9cecda 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#156B58, #D3EEE8);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #9cecda 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: #F3FBFA;
  --brand-100: #E8F8F4;
  --brand-200: #CAF2E9;
  --brand-300: #9cecda;
  --brand-400: #72E4CA;
  --brand-500: #43DBB9;
  --brand-600: #27CDA8;
  --brand-700: #21AB8C;
  --brand-800: #1A8970;
  --brand-900: #176352;
  --brand-950: #0E3E33;
  --brand: #9cecda;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAF9;
  --brand-border: #C0EDE3;
  --brand-hover: #7EE6CF;
  --brand-pressed: #60E1C4;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142421;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEE8;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3FBFA',
        100: '#E8F8F4',
        200: '#CAF2E9',
        300: '#9cecda',
        400: '#72E4CA',
        500: '#43DBB9',
        600: '#27CDA8',
        700: '#21AB8C',
        800: '#1A8970',
        900: '#176352',
        950: '#0E3E33',
        DEFAULT: '#9cecda',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3FBFA,
  '100': #E8F8F4,
  '200': #CAF2E9,
  '300': #9cecda,
  '400': #72E4CA,
  '500': #43DBB9,
  '600': #27CDA8,
  '700': #21AB8C,
  '800': #1A8970,
  '900': #176352,
  '950': #0E3E33,
);
$brand-base: #9cecda;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3FBFA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E8F8F4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CAF2E9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#9cecda", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#72E4CA", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#43DBB9", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#27CDA8", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#21AB8C", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#1A8970", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#176352", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0E3E33", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #9cecda · 15.42:1
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 · 15.42:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #9cecda as text scores 1.36:1 on white and 15.42:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #156B58 at 4.71:1.

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
#19846C · 4.61:1
AA on white−46% L
#19846C
The quick fox
#136250 · 7.26:1
AAA on white−54% L
#136250
The quick fox
#9cecda · 15.42:1
AA on blackalready passes
#9cecda
The quick fox
#9cecda · 15.42:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#9cecda

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #20A688 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
#9cecda on white: 1.36:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#9cecda on black: 15.42:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.36:1AaAa
Slate 501.30:1AaAa
Slate 1001.24:1AaAa
Slate 2001.10:1AaAa
Slate 3001.09:1AaAa
Slate 4001.88:1AaAa
Slate 5003.50:1AaAa
Slate 6005.57:1AaAa
Slate 7007.61:1AaAa
Slate 80010.74:1AaAa
Slate 90013.11:1AaAa
Black15.42:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #E6E3D9
deuteranopia · #D8D9DB
tritanopia · #83EEE6

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. #9cecda 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.

#F3FBFA
#E8F8F4
#CAF2E9
#9cecda
#72E4CA
#43DBB9
#27CDA8
#21AB8C
#1A8970
#176352
#0E3E33
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F3FBFADarkest = 950 · #0E3E33Text 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 0.021 178.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.033 178.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.050 178.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.064 178.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.076 178.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.083 178.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.083 178.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.078 178.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.069 178.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.058 178.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.045 178.5);
}

Colors that work with #9cecda

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#F4FAF9
Tinted page background
Border#C0EDE3
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B89
Captions on the surface
Accent#AF1D63
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#156B58
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EAFBF7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142421
Dark-mode background
Hover#7EE6CF
One step down in lightness
Pressed#60E1C4
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F7F6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#A8F4E3
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 #9cecda

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 #156B58
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #20A688

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
  • Weight23/100
  • 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#EC9CAE
Analogous left#9CECB2
Analogous right#9CD6EC
Split-complement 1#EC9CD6
Split-complement 2#ECB29C
Triadic 1#DA9CEC
Triadic 2#ECDA9C
Tetradic#B29CEC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°167°

#9cecda sits at 167°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red61.2%
Green92.5%
Blue85.5%
R · 0–255
156
0x9c
G · 0–255
236
0xec
B · 0–255
218
0xda

CMYK percentages

Cyan33.9%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow7.6%
Key (black)7.5%

Total ink coverage is 49%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#9cecda text on a black background

contrast 15.42:1

Card sample

#9cecda text on a white background

contrast 1.36:1

Card sample

#9cecda on grey

1.24:1

#9cecda on its own surface

1.29:1

#9cecda on its dark surface

11.83:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(156, 236, 218, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(156, 236, 218, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #9cecda;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #9cecda, #9CC9EC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #9cecda, #9CB5EC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #9cecda;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #9cecda;
caret-color: #9cecda;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #9cecda;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EAFBF7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #9cecda;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#9cecda 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #9cecda 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(156, 236, 218, 0.5)
rgb(156 236 218 / 50%)
#9cecda80
hsl(167 68% 77% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #9cecda 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#9cecda1a#F5FDFB
20%#9cecda33#EBFBF8
40%#9cecda66#D7F7F0
60%#9cecda99#C4F4E9
80%#9cecdacc#B0F0E1

Gradients from #9cecda

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, #D0F6ED, #9cecda 45%, #156B58);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #9cecda, #82B2E7);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #9cecda, #EC9CAE);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E9FBF7 0%, #9cecda 45%, #156B58 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4FAF9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #C7F4D0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #B6DCF1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #156B58 0%, transparent 65%), #9cecda;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #9cecda

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.

#9cecda 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 15.42:1.

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.

#9cecda, answered

What color is #9cecda?

#9cecda is a light vivid cyan, closest to Pale Turquoise (ΔE2000 7.4). It sits at 167° on the hue wheel with 68% saturation and 77% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #9cecda?

rgb(156, 236, 218) — 156 red, 236 green and 218 blue out of 255, or 61.2% / 92.5% / 85.5% by channel.

What is #9cecda in HSL and HSV?

hsl(167, 68%, 77%) and hsv(167, 34%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #9cecda a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.7212 and perceived brightness is 84%, so black text on it reaches 15.42:1.

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

Black. It scores 15.42:1 against #9cecda, versus 1.36:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #9cecda accessible on a white background?

#9cecda on white scores 1.36:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #19846C to reach 4.5:1, or #136250 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #9cecda?

#EC9CAE sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #EC9CD6 and #ECB29C, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #9cecda?

For interface work: #F4FAF9 as the surface, #C0EDE3 for borders, #4B9B89 for secondary text, #AF1D63 as an accent and #156B58 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #9CECB2 and #9CD6EC stays calm, while #EC9CAE is the loudest partner.

What is #9cecda in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(34%, 0%, 8%, 8%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #9cecda warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 82 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #9CECBD; nudged cooler, #9BE2ED.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #9cecda?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 15.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #9cecda as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #9cecda in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(156, 236, 218, 0.5), or #9cecda80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #CEF6ED; over black, #4E766D.

Is #9cecda a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99FFCC, ΔE2000 9.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #9cecda 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 #9cecda?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D0F6ED, #9cecda 45%, #156B58). For more colour, a short hue run to #82B2E7 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #9cecda in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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