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cyan · cool

#9dbeb5

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

Token name suggestion: Linen Reef

RGB
157, 190, 181
HSL
164°, 20%, 68%
CMYK
17, 0, 5, 26
Luminance
0.4733

#9dbeb5 is a light soft cyan, 164° on the wheel and 68/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.47:1). As text it scores 2.01:1 on white — use #537E72 instead. Nearest name is Powder Blue, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(164 20% 68%)rgb(157 190 181)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #9dbeb5 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#9dbeb5
Hue
164°
cyan
Saturation
20%
soft
Lightness
68%
light
Brightness
75%
HSV value
Perceived
70%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4733
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
68/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
10.47:1
Closest name
Powder Blue
ΔE2000 10.6
Chroma
12.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.774
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 14.7
Web-safe
#99CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue164° of 360°
Saturation20%
Lightness68%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #9dbeb5.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool68% 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
Red15%
Green78%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#9dbeb5
HEX (8-digit)#9dbeb5ff
RGBrgb(157, 190, 181)
RGBArgba(157, 190, 181, 1)
HSLhsl(164, 20%, 68%)
HSV / HSBhsv(164, 17%, 75%)
HWBhwb(164 62% 25%)
CMYKcmyk(17%, 0%, 5%, 26%)
LABlab(74.4 -12.9 0.8)
LCHlch(74.4 12.9 176.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.774 0.038 176.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(40.66, 47.33, 50.70)
Decimal10337973
Display P3color(display-p3 0.616 0.745 0.710)
Web-safe#99CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #9dbeb5;
background-color: #9dbeb5;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #9dbeb5;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#9dbeb5] bg-[#9dbeb5]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #9dbeb5;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.616, green: 0.745, blue: 0.710)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.616, green: 0.745, blue: 0.710, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#9DBEB5</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF9DBEB5)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF9DBEB5)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(181, 190, 157)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(157, 190, 181)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(157, 190, 181)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 157, 190, 181)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6157f, 0.7451f, 0.7098f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{157,190,181}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #9dbeb5 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #9dbeb5 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#334D46, #DAE7E3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #9dbeb5 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: #F6F9F8;
  --brand-100: #EDF2F1;
  --brand-200: #D8E4E1;
  --brand-300: #BCD2CC;
  --brand-400: #9dbeb5;
  --brand-500: #78A599;
  --brand-600: #629386;
  --brand-700: #517B6F;
  --brand-800: #416259;
  --brand-900: #324942;
  --brand-950: #1F2D29;
  --brand: #9dbeb5;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F9F8;
  --brand-border: #CEDEDA;
  --brand-hover: #87B0A5;
  --brand-pressed: #72A194;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #16221F;
    --brand-ink: #DAE7E3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F9F8',
        100: '#EDF2F1',
        200: '#D8E4E1',
        300: '#BCD2CC',
        400: '#9dbeb5',
        500: '#78A599',
        600: '#629386',
        700: '#517B6F',
        800: '#416259',
        900: '#324942',
        950: '#1F2D29',
        DEFAULT: '#9dbeb5',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F9F8,
  '100': #EDF2F1,
  '200': #D8E4E1,
  '300': #BCD2CC,
  '400': #9dbeb5,
  '500': #78A599,
  '600': #629386,
  '700': #517B6F,
  '800': #416259,
  '900': #324942,
  '950': #1F2D29,
);
$brand-base: #9dbeb5;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F9F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EDF2F1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D8E4E1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#BCD2CC", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#9dbeb5", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#78A599", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#629386", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#517B6F", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#416259", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#324942", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1F2D29", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #9dbeb5 · 10.47:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.01:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.47:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #9dbeb5 as text scores 2.01:1 on white and 10.47:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #334D46 at 4.57:1.

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
#537E72 · 4.57:1
AA on white−27% L
#537E72
The quick fox
#3F5F56 · 7.04:1
AAA on white−37% L
#3F5F56
The quick fox
#9dbeb5 · 10.47:1
AA on blackalready passes
#9dbeb5
The quick fox
#9dbeb5 · 10.47:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#9dbeb5

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #6C9D90 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
#9dbeb5 on white: 2.01:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#9dbeb5 on black: 10.47:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #9dbeb5 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #9dbeb5.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.01:1AaAa
Slate 501.92:1AaAa
Slate 1001.83:1AaAa
Slate 2001.63:1AaAa
Slate 3001.35:1AaAa
Slate 4001.28:1AaAa
Slate 5002.37:1AaAa
Slate 6003.78:1AaAa
Slate 7005.16:1AaAa
Slate 8007.29:1AaAa
Slate 9008.90:1AaAa
Black10.47:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #BBBAB5
deuteranopia · #B5B5B6
tritanopia · #95BFBB

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. #9dbeb5 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.

#F6F9F8
#EDF2F1
#D8E4E1
#BCD2CC
#9dbeb5
#78A599
#629386
#517B6F
#416259
#324942
#1F2D29
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F6F9F8Darkest = 950 · #1F2D29Text 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 0.009 176.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.015 176.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.023 176.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.029 176.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.035 176.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.038 176.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.038 176.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.036 176.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.032 176.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.026 176.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.021 176.9);
}

Colors that work with #9dbeb5

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#F6F9F8
Tinted page background
Border#CEDEDA
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#5C8A7D
Captions on the surface
Accent#7E4E67
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#334D46
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F0F5F3
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#16221F
Dark-mode background
Hover#87B0A5
One step down in lightness
Pressed#72A194
Two steps down
Disabled#E0EBE8
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#A2CDC1
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 #9dbeb5

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 #334D46
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #6C9D90

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
  • Weight32/100
  • 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#BE9DA6
Analogous left#9DBEA4
Analogous right#9DB6BE
Split-complement 1#BE9DB6
Split-complement 2#BEA49D
Triadic 1#B59DBE
Triadic 2#BEB59D
Tetradic#A49DBE
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°164°

#9dbeb5 sits at 164°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red61.6%
Green74.5%
Blue71.0%
R · 0–255
157
0x9d
G · 0–255
190
0xbe
B · 0–255
181
0xb5

CMYK percentages

Cyan17.4%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow4.7%
Key (black)25.5%

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

Color previews

#9dbeb5 text on a black background

contrast 10.47:1

Card sample

#9dbeb5 text on a white background

contrast 2.01:1

Card sample

#9dbeb5 on grey

1.83:1

#9dbeb5 on its own surface

1.89:1

#9dbeb5 on its dark surface

8.16:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #9dbeb5;
Background color
Panel with #9dbeb5 background
background-color: #9dbeb5;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #9dbeb5;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(157, 190, 181, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(157, 190, 181, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #9dbeb5;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #9dbeb5, #9DB1BE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #9dbeb5, #9DA9BE);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #9dbeb5;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #9dbeb5;
caret-color: #9dbeb5;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #9dbeb5;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F0F5F3;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #9dbeb5;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#9dbeb5 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #9dbeb5 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, 190, 181, 0.5)
rgb(157 190 181 / 50%)
#9dbeb580
hsl(164 20% 68% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #9dbeb5 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#9dbeb51a#F5F9F8
20%#9dbeb533#EBF2F0
40%#9dbeb566#D8E5E1
60%#9dbeb599#C4D8D3
80%#9dbeb5cc#B1CBC4

Gradients from #9dbeb5

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, #C2D6D1, #9dbeb5 45%, #334D46);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #9dbeb5, #8B9FB2);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #9dbeb5, #BE9DA6);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D4E3DF 0%, #9dbeb5 45%, #334D46 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F9F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #BCD2BF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #AFC2CA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #334D46 0%, transparent 65%), #9dbeb5;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #9dbeb5

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.

#9dbeb5 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 10.47:1.

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.

#9dbeb5, answered

What color is #9dbeb5?

#9dbeb5 is a light soft cyan, closest to Powder Blue (ΔE2000 10.6). It sits at 164° on the hue wheel with 20% saturation and 68% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #9dbeb5?

rgb(157, 190, 181) — 157 red, 190 green and 181 blue out of 255, or 61.6% / 74.5% / 71% by channel.

What is #9dbeb5 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(164, 20%, 68%) and hsv(164, 17%, 75%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #9dbeb5 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4733 and perceived brightness is 70%, so black text on it reaches 10.47:1.

Should I use black or white text on #9dbeb5?

Black. It scores 10.47:1 against #9dbeb5, versus 2.01:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #9dbeb5 accessible on a white background?

#9dbeb5 on white scores 2.01:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #537E72 to reach 4.5:1, or #3F5F56 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #9dbeb5?

#BE9DA6 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BE9DB6 and #BEA49D, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #9dbeb5?

For interface work: #F6F9F8 as the surface, #CEDEDA for borders, #5C8A7D for secondary text, #7E4E67 as an accent and #334D46 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #9DBEA4 and #9DB6BE stays calm, while #BE9DA6 is the loudest partner.

What is #9dbeb5 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(17%, 0%, 5%, 26%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #9dbeb5 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 68 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #9DBEA9; nudged cooler, #9BBCC0.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #9dbeb5?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 14.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #9dbeb5 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #9dbeb5 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#9dbeb5] or text-[#9dbeb5], 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 #9dbeb5 with 50% opacity?

rgba(157, 190, 181, 0.5), or #9dbeb580 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #CEDFDA; over black, #4F5F5B.

Is #9dbeb5 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCCC, ΔE2000 6.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #9dbeb5 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 #9dbeb5?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C2D6D1, #9dbeb5 45%, #334D46). For more colour, a short hue run to #8B9FB2 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #9dbeb5 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #9dbeb5 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.