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cyan · cool

#9da8ad

a balanced, muted cyan · cool · closest name: Dark Gray

Token name suggestion: Studio Lagoon

RGB
157, 168, 173
HSL
199°, 9%, 65%
CMYK
9, 3, 0, 32
Luminance
0.3819

#9da8ad is a balanced muted cyan, 199° on the wheel and 62/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.64:1). As text it scores 2.43:1 on white — use #6A787F instead. Nearest name is Dark Gray, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(199 9% 65%)rgb(157 168 173)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #9da8ad is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#9da8ad
Hue
199°
cyan
Saturation
9%
muted
Lightness
65%
balanced
Brightness
68%
HSV value
Perceived
65%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3819
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
62/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
8.64:1
Closest name
Dark Gray
ΔE2000 5.2
Chroma
4.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.724
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 17.3
Web-safe
#999999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue199° of 360°
Saturation9%
Lightness65%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #9da8ad.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool62% 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
Red19%
Green73%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#9da8ad
HEX (8-digit)#9da8adff
RGBrgb(157, 168, 173)
RGBArgba(157, 168, 173, 1)
HSLhsl(199, 9%, 65%)
HSV / HSBhsv(199, 9%, 68%)
HWBhwb(199 62% 32%)
CMYKcmyk(9%, 3%, 0%, 32%)
LABlab(68.2 -2.9 -3.9)
LCHlch(68.2 4.8 233.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.724 0.014 226.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(35.45, 38.19, 45.03)
Decimal10332333
Display P3color(display-p3 0.616 0.659 0.678)
Web-safe#999999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #9da8ad;
background-color: #9da8ad;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #9da8ad;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#9da8ad] bg-[#9da8ad]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #9da8ad;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.616, green: 0.659, blue: 0.678)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.616, green: 0.659, blue: 0.678, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#9DA8AD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF9DA8AD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF9DA8AD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(173, 168, 157)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(157, 168, 173)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(157, 168, 173)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 157, 168, 173)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6157f, 0.6588f, 0.6784f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{157,168,173}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #9da8ad 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #9da8ad 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#3A4245, #DEE1E3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #9da8ad 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: #F7F8F8;
  --brand-100: #EFF0F1;
  --brand-200: #DBDFE0;
  --brand-300: #C2C9CC;
  --brand-400: #9da8ad;
  --brand-500: #859399;
  --brand-600: #707E85;
  --brand-700: #5D696F;
  --brand-800: #4A5459;
  --brand-900: #383F42;
  --brand-950: #232729;
  --brand: #9da8ad;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F7F8F8;
  --brand-border: #D3D8DA;
  --brand-hover: #8A979D;
  --brand-pressed: #76858C;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1A1D1F;
    --brand-ink: #DEE1E3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F8F8',
        100: '#EFF0F1',
        200: '#DBDFE0',
        300: '#C2C9CC',
        400: '#9da8ad',
        500: '#859399',
        600: '#707E85',
        700: '#5D696F',
        800: '#4A5459',
        900: '#383F42',
        950: '#232729',
        DEFAULT: '#9da8ad',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F8F8,
  '100': #EFF0F1,
  '200': #DBDFE0,
  '300': #C2C9CC,
  '400': #9da8ad,
  '500': #859399,
  '600': #707E85,
  '700': #5D696F,
  '800': #4A5459,
  '900': #383F42,
  '950': #232729,
);
$brand-base: #9da8ad;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F8F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EFF0F1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DBDFE0", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#C2C9CC", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#9da8ad", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#859399", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#707E85", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#5D696F", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#4A5459", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#383F42", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#232729", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #9da8ad · 8.64:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.43:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.64:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #9da8ad as text scores 2.43:1 on white and 8.64:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #3A4245 at 4.22:1.

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
#6A787F · 4.56:1
AA on white−19% L
#6A787F
The quick fox
#4E595E · 7.21:1
AAA on white−31% L
#4E595E
The quick fox
#9da8ad · 8.64:1
AA on blackalready passes
#9da8ad
The quick fox
#9da8ad · 8.64:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#9da8ad

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #8A979D 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
#9da8ad on white: 2.43:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#9da8ad on black: 8.64:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #9da8ad as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #9da8ad.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.43:1AaAa
Slate 502.32:1AaAa
Slate 1002.22:1AaAa
Slate 2001.97:1AaAa
Slate 3001.64:1AaAa
Slate 4001.05:1AaAa
Slate 5001.96:1AaAa
Slate 6003.12:1AaAa
Slate 7004.26:1AaAa
Slate 8006.02:1AaAa
Slate 9007.34:1AaAa
Black8.64:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A5A7AD
deuteranopia · #A3A5AD
tritanopia · #99AAA9

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. #9da8ad 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.

#F7F8F8
#EFF0F1
#DBDFE0
#C2C9CC
#9da8ad
#859399
#707E85
#5D696F
#4A5459
#383F42
#232729
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F7F8F8Darkest = 950 · #232729Text 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 0.004 226.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.006 226.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.009 226.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.011 226.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.013 226.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.014 226.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.014 226.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.014 226.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.012 226.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.010 226.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.008 226.6);
}

Colors that work with #9da8ad

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#F7F8F8
Tinted page background
Border#D3D8DA
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#69777D
Captions on the surface
Accent#745B58
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#3A4245
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F1F3F3
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1A1D1F
Dark-mode background
Hover#8A979D
One step down in lightness
Pressed#76858C
Two steps down
Disabled#DADEE0
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#A0B5BE
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 #9da8ad

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 #3A4245
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #8A979D

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
  • Weight35/100
  • 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#ADA29D
Analogous left#9DADAA
Analogous right#9DA0AD
Split-complement 1#AD9DA0
Split-complement 2#ADAA9D
Triadic 1#AD9DA8
Triadic 2#A8AD9D
Tetradic#AA9DAD
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°199°

#9da8ad sits at 199°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red61.6%
Green65.9%
Blue67.8%
R · 0–255
157
0x9d
G · 0–255
168
0xa8
B · 0–255
173
0xad

CMYK percentages

Cyan9.2%
Magenta2.9%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)32.2%

Total ink coverage is 44%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#9da8ad text on a black background

contrast 8.64:1

Card sample

#9da8ad text on a white background

contrast 2.43:1

Card sample

#9da8ad on grey

2.22:1

#9da8ad on its own surface

2.28:1

#9da8ad on its dark surface

6.97:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #9da8ad;
Background color
Panel with #9da8ad background
background-color: #9da8ad;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #9da8ad;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(157, 168, 173, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(157, 168, 173, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #9da8ad;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #9da8ad, #9D9DAD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #9da8ad, #A19DAD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #9da8ad;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #9da8ad;
caret-color: #9da8ad;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #9da8ad;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F1F3F3;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #9da8ad;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#9da8ad 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #9da8ad 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(157, 168, 173, 0.5)
rgb(157 168 173 / 50%)
#9da8ad80
hsl(199 9% 65% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #9da8ad 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#9da8ad1a#F5F6F7
20%#9da8ad33#EBEEEF
40%#9da8ad66#D8DCDE
60%#9da8ad99#C4CBCE
80%#9da8adcc#B1B9BD

Gradients from #9da8ad

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, #BEC6C9, #9da8ad 45%, #3A4245);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #9da8ad, #8D8C9F);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #9da8ad, #ADA29D);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #CFD4D7 0%, #9da8ad 45%, #3A4245 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F7F8F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #B9C4C1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #AEAFBB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #3A4245 0%, transparent 65%), #9da8ad;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #9da8ad

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.

#9da8ad 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 8.64:1.

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.

#9da8ad, answered

What color is #9da8ad?

#9da8ad is a balanced muted cyan, closest to Dark Gray (ΔE2000 5.2). It sits at 199° on the hue wheel with 9% saturation and 65% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #9da8ad?

rgb(157, 168, 173) — 157 red, 168 green and 173 blue out of 255, or 61.6% / 65.9% / 67.8% by channel.

What is #9da8ad in HSL and HSV?

hsl(199, 9%, 65%) and hsv(199, 9%, 68%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #9da8ad a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3819 and perceived brightness is 65%, so black text on it reaches 8.64:1.

Should I use black or white text on #9da8ad?

Black. It scores 8.64:1 against #9da8ad, versus 2.43:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #9da8ad accessible on a white background?

#9da8ad on white scores 2.43:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #6A787F to reach 4.5:1, or #4E595E for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #9da8ad?

#ADA29D sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #AD9DA0 and #ADAA9D, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #9da8ad?

For interface work: #F7F8F8 as the surface, #D3D8DA for borders, #69777D for secondary text, #745B58 as an accent and #3A4245 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #9DADAA and #9DA0AD stays calm, while #ADA29D is the loudest partner.

What is #9da8ad in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(9%, 3%, 0%, 32%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #9da8ad warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 62 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #B6A89E; nudged cooler, #939FAD.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #9da8ad?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 17.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #9da8ad as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #9da8ad in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#9da8ad] or text-[#9da8ad], 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 #9da8ad with 50% opacity?

rgba(157, 168, 173, 0.5), or #9da8ad80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #CED4D6; over black, #4F5457.

Is #9da8ad a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #999999, ΔE2000 6.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #9da8ad 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 #9da8ad?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #BEC6C9, #9da8ad 45%, #3A4245). For more colour, a short hue run to #8D8C9F keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #9da8ad in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #9da8ad at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.