Skip to content

#9ffdfe

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

RGB
159, 253, 254
HSL
181°, 98%, 81%
CMYK
37, 0, 0, 0
Luminance
0.8478

At a glance

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

Hex
#9ffdfe
Hue
181°
cyan
Saturation
98%
electric
Lightness
81%
light
Brightness
100%
HSV value
Perceived
90%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.8478
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
88/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
17.96:1
Closest name
Pale Turquoise
ΔE2000 4.8
Where it sits
Hue181° of 360°
Saturation98%
Lightness81%
Temperature
Warm ← → Cool88% cool

Reads cool. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Every format

HEX#9ffdfe
RGBrgb(159, 253, 254)
HSLhsl(181, 98%, 81%)
CMYKcmyk(37%, 0%, 0%, 0%)
LABlab(93.8 -27.6 -9.3)
LCHlch(93.8 29.1 198.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.936 0.089 196.6)
Decimal10485246
Display P3color(display-p3 0.624 0.992 0.996)

Copy-ready code

/* CSS */
color: #9ffdfe;
background-color: #9ffdfe;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#9ffdfe] bg-[#9ffdfe]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #9ffdfe;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.624, green: 0.992, blue: 0.996)
/* Android */
Color.parseColor("#9ffdfe")
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF9FFDFE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(254, 253, 159)

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 #9ffdfe · 17.96:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
White text · 1.17:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 17.96:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #9ffdfe as text scores 1.17:1 on white and 17.96:1 on black.

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

Aa
#9ffdfe on white: 1.17:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#9ffdfe on black: 17.96:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
true color
protanopia · #F1F5FE
deuteranopia · #E0E8FF
tritanopia · #76FFFD

Color scale — 50 to 950

A Tailwind-shaped ramp built around this exact hex. #9ffdfe 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.

#F1FDFD
#E3FCFC
#C1FAFB
#9ffdfe
#58FCFD
#21FAFD
#03F0F2
#02C8CA
#02A0A1
#067374
#044849
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F1FDFDDarkest = 950 · #044849
:root {
  --brand-50: #F1FDFD;
  --brand-100: #E3FCFC;
  --brand-200: #C1FAFB;
  --brand-300: #9ffdfe;
  --brand-400: #58FCFD;
  --brand-500: #21FAFD;
  --brand-600: #03F0F2;
  --brand-700: #02C8CA;
  --brand-800: #02A0A1;
  --brand-900: #067374;
  --brand-950: #044849;
  --brand: #9ffdfe;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
}

Colors that work with #9ffdfe

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#F4FAFA
Tinted page background
Border#C0ECED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9A9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#CC0030
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#017D7E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E6FEFF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142424
Dark-mode background
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

How to use #9ffdfe

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

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#FEA09F
Analogous left#9FFECF
Analogous right#9FCEFE
Split-complement 1#FE9FCE
Split-complement 2#FECF9F
Triadic 1#FE9FFD
Triadic 2#FDFE9F
Tetradic#CF9FFE

RGB percentages

Red62.4%
Green99.2%
Blue99.6%

CMYK percentages

Cyan37.4%
Magenta0.4%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)0.4%

Color previews

#9ffdfe text on a black background

contrast 17.96:1

Card sample

#9ffdfe text on a white background

contrast 1.17:1

Card sample

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(159, 253, 254, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(159, 253, 254, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #9ffdfe;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #9ffdfe, #9FBEFE);

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #9ffdfe

Shades — darker

Tints — lighter

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.

#9ffdfe 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

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

#9ffdfe, answered

What color is #9ffdfe?

#9ffdfe is a light electric cyan, closest to Pale Turquoise (ΔE2000 4.8). It sits at 181° on the hue wheel with 98% saturation and 81% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #9ffdfe?

rgb(159, 253, 254) — 159 red, 253 green and 254 blue out of 255, or 62.4% / 99.2% / 99.6% by channel.

Is #9ffdfe a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.8478 and perceived brightness is 90%, so black text on it reaches 17.96:1.

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

Black. It scores 17.96:1 against #9ffdfe, versus 1.17:1 for white — AAA at any size.

What is the complementary color of #9ffdfe?

#FEA09F sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #FE9FCE and #FECF9F, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #9ffdfe?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C0ECED for borders, #4B9A9B for secondary text, #CC0030 as an accent and #017D7E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #9FFECF and #9FCEFE stays calm, while #FEA09F is the loudest partner.

What is #9ffdfe in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(37%, 0%, 0%, 0%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #9ffdfe warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 88 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #9FFEDC; nudged cooler, #9EDCFF.

Work with #9ffdfe in the Color Lab