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cyan · cool

#a1dfdc

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

Token name suggestion: Morning Teal

RGB
161, 223, 220
HSL
177°, 49%, 75%
CMYK
28, 0, 1, 13
Luminance
0.6552

#a1dfdc is a light vivid cyan, 177° on the wheel and 86/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (14.10:1). As text it scores 1.49:1 on white — use #2C827E instead. Nearest name is Pale Turquoise, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(177 49% 75%)rgb(161 223 220)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #a1dfdc is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#a1dfdc
Hue
177°
cyan
Saturation
49%
vivid
Lightness
75%
light
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
81%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6552
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
86/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
14.10:1
Closest name
Pale Turquoise
ΔE2000 3.6
Chroma
20.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.861
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 16
Web-safe
#99CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue177° of 360°
Saturation49%
Lightness75%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #a1dfdc.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool86% 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
Red12%
Green81%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#a1dfdc
HEX (8-digit)#a1dfdcff
RGBrgb(161, 223, 220)
RGBArgba(161, 223, 220, 1)
HSLhsl(177, 49%, 75%)
HSV / HSBhsv(177, 28%, 87%)
HWBhwb(177 63% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(28%, 0%, 1%, 13%)
LABlab(84.8 -20.1 -4.9)
LCHlch(84.8 20.7 193.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.861 0.063 192.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(54.00, 65.52, 77.50)
Decimal10608604
Display P3color(display-p3 0.631 0.875 0.863)
Web-safe#99CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #a1dfdc;
background-color: #a1dfdc;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #a1dfdc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#a1dfdc] bg-[#a1dfdc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #a1dfdc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.631, green: 0.875, blue: 0.863)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.631, green: 0.875, blue: 0.863, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#A1DFDC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFA1DFDC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFA1DFDC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(220, 223, 161)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(161, 223, 220)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(161, 223, 220)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 161, 223, 220)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6314f, 0.8745f, 0.8627f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{161,223,220}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #a1dfdc 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #a1dfdc 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#205F5C, #D3EEED);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #a1dfdc 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: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-100: #EAF6F5;
  --brand-200: #CFECEB;
  --brand-300: #a1dfdc;
  --brand-400: #81D4D0;
  --brand-500: #58C6C1;
  --brand-600: #3EB7B1;
  --brand-700: #349893;
  --brand-800: #297A76;
  --brand-900: #215956;
  --brand-950: #153836;
  --brand: #a1dfdc;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C2EAE8;
  --brand-hover: #86D6D2;
  --brand-pressed: #6CCDC8;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142424;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEED;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4FAFA',
        100: '#EAF6F5',
        200: '#CFECEB',
        300: '#a1dfdc',
        400: '#81D4D0',
        500: '#58C6C1',
        600: '#3EB7B1',
        700: '#349893',
        800: '#297A76',
        900: '#215956',
        950: '#153836',
        DEFAULT: '#a1dfdc',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4FAFA,
  '100': #EAF6F5,
  '200': #CFECEB,
  '300': #a1dfdc,
  '400': #81D4D0,
  '500': #58C6C1,
  '600': #3EB7B1,
  '700': #349893,
  '800': #297A76,
  '900': #215956,
  '950': #153836,
);
$brand-base: #a1dfdc;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4FAFA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EAF6F5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CFECEB", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#a1dfdc", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#81D4D0", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#58C6C1", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#3EB7B1", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#349893", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#297A76", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#215956", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#153836", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #a1dfdc · 14.10:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.49:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 14.10:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #a1dfdc as text scores 1.49:1 on white and 14.10:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #205F5C at 4.94:1.

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
#2C827E · 4.56:1
AA on white−41% L
#2C827E
The quick fox
#21605D · 7.25:1
AAA on white−50% L
#21605D
The quick fox
#a1dfdc · 14.10:1
AA on blackalready passes
#a1dfdc
The quick fox
#a1dfdc · 14.10:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#a1dfdc

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #37A19C 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
#a1dfdc on white: 1.49:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#a1dfdc on black: 14.10:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #a1dfdc as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #a1dfdc.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.49:1AaAa
Slate 501.42:1AaAa
Slate 1001.36:1AaAa
Slate 2001.21:1AaAa
Slate 3001.00:1AaAa
Slate 4001.72:1AaAa
Slate 5003.20:1AaAa
Slate 6005.09:1AaAa
Slate 7006.95:1AaAa
Slate 8009.82:1AaAa
Slate 90011.99:1AaAa
Black14.10:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D8D9DC
deuteranopia · #CCD0DD
tritanopia · #8CE3DE

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. #a1dfdc 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.

#F4FAFA
#EAF6F5
#CFECEB
#a1dfdc
#81D4D0
#58C6C1
#3EB7B1
#349893
#297A76
#215956
#153836
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F4FAFADarkest = 950 · #153836Text step on white = 800
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 0.016 192.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.025 192.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.038 192.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.049 192.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.058 192.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.063 192.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.063 192.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.059 192.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.053 192.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.044 192.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.035 192.3);
}

Colors that work with #a1dfdc

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#C2EAE8
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B97
Captions on the surface
Accent#9D2F50
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#205F5C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#ECF9F8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142424
Dark-mode background
Hover#86D6D2
One step down in lightness
Pressed#6CCDC8
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F7F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#ABE9E6
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 #a1dfdc

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 #205F5C
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #37A19C

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
  • Weight25/100
  • 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#DFA1A4
Analogous left#A1DFBD
Analogous right#A1C3DF
Split-complement 1#DFA1C3
Split-complement 2#DFBDA1
Triadic 1#DCA1DF
Triadic 2#DFDCA1
Tetradic#BDA1DF
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°177°

#a1dfdc sits at 177°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red63.1%
Green87.5%
Blue86.3%
R · 0–255
161
0xa1
G · 0–255
223
0xdf
B · 0–255
220
0xdc

CMYK percentages

Cyan27.8%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow1.3%
Key (black)12.5%

Total ink coverage is 42%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#a1dfdc text on a black background

contrast 14.10:1

Card sample

#a1dfdc text on a white background

contrast 1.49:1

Card sample

#a1dfdc on grey

1.36:1

#a1dfdc on its own surface

1.41:1

#a1dfdc on its dark surface

10.79:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #a1dfdc;
Background color
Panel with #a1dfdc background
background-color: #a1dfdc;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #a1dfdc;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(161, 223, 220, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(161, 223, 220, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #a1dfdc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #a1dfdc, #A1B9DF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #a1dfdc, #A1A9DF);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #a1dfdc;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #a1dfdc;
caret-color: #a1dfdc;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #a1dfdc;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #ECF9F8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #a1dfdc;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#a1dfdc 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #a1dfdc 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(161, 223, 220, 0.5)
rgb(161 223 220 / 50%)
#a1dfdc80
hsl(177 49% 75% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #a1dfdc 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#a1dfdc1a#F6FCFC
20%#a1dfdc33#ECF9F8
40%#a1dfdc66#D9F2F1
60%#a1dfdc99#C7ECEA
80%#a1dfdccc#B4E5E3

Gradients from #a1dfdc

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, #CFEFED, #a1dfdc 45%, #205F5C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #a1dfdc, #8AA1D7);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #a1dfdc, #DFA1A4);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E6F6F6 0%, #a1dfdc 45%, #205F5C 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4FAFA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #C7ECD5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #B8CEE7 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #205F5C 0%, transparent 65%), #a1dfdc;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #a1dfdc

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.

#a1dfdc 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 14.10:1.

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.

#a1dfdc, answered

What color is #a1dfdc?

#a1dfdc is a light vivid cyan, closest to Pale Turquoise (ΔE2000 3.6). It sits at 177° on the hue wheel with 49% saturation and 75% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #a1dfdc?

rgb(161, 223, 220) — 161 red, 223 green and 220 blue out of 255, or 63.1% / 87.5% / 86.3% by channel.

What is #a1dfdc in HSL and HSV?

hsl(177, 49%, 75%) and hsv(177, 28%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #a1dfdc a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6552 and perceived brightness is 81%, so black text on it reaches 14.10:1.

Should I use black or white text on #a1dfdc?

Black. It scores 14.10:1 against #a1dfdc, versus 1.49:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #a1dfdc accessible on a white background?

#a1dfdc on white scores 1.49:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #2C827E to reach 4.5:1, or #21605D for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #a1dfdc?

#DFA1A4 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DFA1C3 and #DFBDA1, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #a1dfdc?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C2EAE8 for borders, #4B9B97 for secondary text, #9D2F50 as an accent and #205F5C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #A1DFBD and #A1C3DF stays calm, while #DFA1A4 is the loudest partner.

What is #a1dfdc in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(28%, 0%, 1%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #a1dfdc warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 86 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #A1DFC5; nudged cooler, #A0CCE0.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #a1dfdc?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 16 away. That is a visible difference, so define #a1dfdc as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #a1dfdc in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#a1dfdc] or text-[#a1dfdc], 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 #a1dfdc with 50% opacity?

rgba(161, 223, 220, 0.5), or #a1dfdc80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D0EFEE; over black, #51706E.

Is #a1dfdc a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCCC, ΔE2000 4.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #a1dfdc 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 #a1dfdc?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #CFEFED, #a1dfdc 45%, #205F5C). For more colour, a short hue run to #8AA1D7 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #a1dfdc in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #a1dfdc at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.