Skip to content
cyan · cool

#abc9d6

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Glacier

RGB
171, 201, 214
HSL
198°, 34%, 76%
CMYK
20, 6, 0, 16
Luminance
0.5529

#abc9d6 is a light soft cyan, 198° on the wheel and 94/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.06:1). As text it scores 1.74:1 on white — use #477B92 instead. Nearest name is Light Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(198 34% 76%)rgb(171 201 214)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #abc9d6 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#abc9d6
Hue
198°
cyan
Saturation
34%
soft
Lightness
76%
light
Brightness
84%
HSV value
Perceived
76%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5529
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
94/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
12.06:1
Closest name
Light Blue
ΔE2000 4.5
Chroma
12.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.818
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 15.3
Web-safe
#99CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue198° of 360°
Saturation34%
Lightness76%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #abc9d6.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool94% 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
Red16%
Green76%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#abc9d6
HEX (8-digit)#abc9d6ff
RGBrgb(171, 201, 214)
RGBArgba(171, 201, 214, 1)
HSLhsl(198, 34%, 76%)
HSV / HSBhsv(198, 20%, 84%)
HWBhwb(198 67% 16%)
CMYKcmyk(20%, 6%, 0%, 16%)
LABlab(79.2 -7.2 -9.8)
LCHlch(79.2 12.2 233.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.818 0.037 225.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(49.82, 55.28, 71.65)
Decimal11258326
Display P3color(display-p3 0.671 0.788 0.839)
Web-safe#99CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #abc9d6;
background-color: #abc9d6;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #abc9d6;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#abc9d6] bg-[#abc9d6]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #abc9d6;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.671, green: 0.788, blue: 0.839)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.671, green: 0.788, blue: 0.839, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#ABC9D6</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFABC9D6)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFABC9D6)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(214, 201, 171)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(171, 201, 214)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(171, 201, 214)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 171, 201, 214)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6706f, 0.7882f, 0.8392f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{171,201,214}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #abc9d6 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #abc9d6 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#2A4856, #D6E5EB);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #abc9d6 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: #F5F8F9;
  --brand-100: #ECF1F4;
  --brand-200: #D4E2E8;
  --brand-300: #abc9d6;
  --brand-400: #8EB6C8;
  --brand-500: #689EB5;
  --brand-600: #508BA5;
  --brand-700: #437489;
  --brand-800: #365D6E;
  --brand-900: #2A4551;
  --brand-950: #1A2B32;
  --brand: #abc9d6;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C8DCE4;
  --brand-hover: #93BACA;
  --brand-pressed: #7BAABF;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141F24;
    --brand-ink: #D6E5EB;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F8F9',
        100: '#ECF1F4',
        200: '#D4E2E8',
        300: '#abc9d6',
        400: '#8EB6C8',
        500: '#689EB5',
        600: '#508BA5',
        700: '#437489',
        800: '#365D6E',
        900: '#2A4551',
        950: '#1A2B32',
        DEFAULT: '#abc9d6',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F8F9,
  '100': #ECF1F4,
  '200': #D4E2E8,
  '300': #abc9d6,
  '400': #8EB6C8,
  '500': #689EB5,
  '600': #508BA5,
  '700': #437489,
  '800': #365D6E,
  '900': #2A4551,
  '950': #1A2B32,
);
$brand-base: #abc9d6;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F8F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#ECF1F4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D4E2E8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#abc9d6", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#8EB6C8", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#689EB5", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#508BA5", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#437489", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#365D6E", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2A4551", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1A2B32", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #abc9d6 · 12.06:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.74:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.06:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #abc9d6 as text scores 1.74:1 on white and 12.06:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #2A4856 at 5.58:1.

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
#477B92 · 4.65:1
AA on white−33% L
#477B92
The quick fox
#365E6F · 7.03:1
AAA on white−43% L
#365E6F
The quick fox
#abc9d6 · 12.06:1
AA on blackalready passes
#abc9d6
The quick fox
#abc9d6 · 12.06:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#abc9d6

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #639BB3 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
#abc9d6 on white: 1.74:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#abc9d6 on black: 12.06:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #abc9d6 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #abc9d6.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.74:1AaAa
Slate 501.66:1AaAa
Slate 1001.59:1AaAa
Slate 2001.41:1AaAa
Slate 3001.17:1AaAa
Slate 4001.47:1AaAa
Slate 5002.73:1AaAa
Slate 6004.35:1AaAa
Slate 7005.95:1AaAa
Slate 8008.40:1AaAa
Slate 90010.25:1AaAa
Black12.06:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C2C7D7
deuteranopia · #BBC2D6
tritanopia · #9FCDCD

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. #abc9d6 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.

#F5F8F9
#ECF1F4
#D4E2E8
#abc9d6
#8EB6C8
#689EB5
#508BA5
#437489
#365D6E
#2A4551
#1A2B32
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F5F8F9Darkest = 950 · #1A2B32Text 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 0.009 225.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.015 225.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.022 225.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.029 225.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.034 225.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.037 225.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.037 225.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.035 225.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.031 225.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.026 225.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.020 225.9);
}

Colors that work with #abc9d6

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#F5F8FA
Tinted page background
Border#C8DCE4
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B829A
Captions on the surface
Accent#8D423F
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#2A4856
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EEF4F7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141F24
Dark-mode background
Hover#93BACA
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7BAABF
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F6F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B4D4E2
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 #abc9d6

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 #2A4856
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #639BB3

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
  • 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#D6B8AB
Analogous left#ABD6CD
Analogous right#ABB4D6
Split-complement 1#D6ABB4
Split-complement 2#D6CDAB
Triadic 1#D6ABC9
Triadic 2#C9D6AB
Tetradic#CDABD6
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°198°

#abc9d6 sits at 198°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red67.1%
Green78.8%
Blue83.9%
R · 0–255
171
0xab
G · 0–255
201
0xc9
B · 0–255
214
0xd6

CMYK percentages

Cyan20.1%
Magenta6.1%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)16.1%

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

Color previews

#abc9d6 text on a black background

contrast 12.06:1

Card sample

#abc9d6 text on a white background

contrast 1.74:1

Card sample

#abc9d6 on grey

1.59:1

#abc9d6 on its own surface

1.63:1

#abc9d6 on its dark surface

9.64:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #abc9d6;
Background color
Panel with #abc9d6 background
background-color: #abc9d6;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #abc9d6;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(171, 201, 214, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(171, 201, 214, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #abc9d6;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #abc9d6, #ABACD6);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #abc9d6, #B4ABD6);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #abc9d6;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #abc9d6;
caret-color: #abc9d6;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #abc9d6;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EEF4F7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #abc9d6;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#abc9d6 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #abc9d6 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(171, 201, 214, 0.5)
rgb(171 201 214 / 50%)
#abc9d680
hsl(198 34% 76% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #abc9d6 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#abc9d61a#F7FAFB
20%#abc9d633#EEF4F7
40%#abc9d666#DDE9EF
60%#abc9d699#CDDFE6
80%#abc9d6cc#BCD4DE

Gradients from #abc9d6

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, #D4E3EA, #abc9d6 45%, #2A4856);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #abc9d6, #9996CC);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #abc9d6, #D6B8AB);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E9F1F4 0%, #abc9d6 45%, #2A4856 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5F8FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #CDE7E0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C0C3E0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #2A4856 0%, transparent 65%), #abc9d6;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #abc9d6

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.

#abc9d6 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 12.06:1.

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.

#abc9d6, answered

What color is #abc9d6?

#abc9d6 is a light soft cyan, closest to Light Blue (ΔE2000 4.5). It sits at 198° on the hue wheel with 34% saturation and 76% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #abc9d6?

rgb(171, 201, 214) — 171 red, 201 green and 214 blue out of 255, or 67.1% / 78.8% / 83.9% by channel.

What is #abc9d6 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(198, 34%, 76%) and hsv(198, 20%, 84%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #abc9d6 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5529 and perceived brightness is 76%, so black text on it reaches 12.06:1.

Should I use black or white text on #abc9d6?

Black. It scores 12.06:1 against #abc9d6, versus 1.74:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #abc9d6 accessible on a white background?

#abc9d6 on white scores 1.74:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #477B92 to reach 4.5:1, or #365E6F for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #abc9d6?

#D6B8AB sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #D6ABB4 and #D6CDAB, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #abc9d6?

For interface work: #F5F8FA as the surface, #C8DCE4 for borders, #4B829A for secondary text, #8D423F as an accent and #2A4856 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #ABD6CD and #ABB4D6 stays calm, while #D6B8AB is the loudest partner.

What is #abc9d6 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(20%, 6%, 0%, 16%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #abc9d6 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 94 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #ABD6D3; nudged cooler, #AAC1D7.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #abc9d6?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 15.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #abc9d6 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #abc9d6 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#abc9d6] or text-[#abc9d6], 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 #abc9d6 with 50% opacity?

rgba(171, 201, 214, 0.5), or #abc9d680 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D5E4EB; over black, #56656B.

Is #abc9d6 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCCC, ΔE2000 9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #abc9d6 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 #abc9d6?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D4E3EA, #abc9d6 45%, #2A4856). For more colour, a short hue run to #9996CC keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #abc9d6 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #abc9d6 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.