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cyan · cool

#acd4cc

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

Token name suggestion: Morning Lagoon

RGB
172, 212, 204
HSL
168°, 32%, 75%
CMYK
19, 0, 4, 17
Luminance
0.6022

#acd4cc is a light soft cyan, 168° on the wheel and 79/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (13.04:1). As text it scores 1.61:1 on white — use #438174 instead. Nearest name is Powder Blue, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(168 32% 75%)rgb(172 212 204)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #acd4cc is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#acd4cc
Hue
168°
cyan
Saturation
32%
soft
Lightness
75%
light
Brightness
83%
HSV value
Perceived
78%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6022
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
79/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
13.04:1
Closest name
Powder Blue
ΔE2000 6.5
Chroma
14.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.839
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 16.4
Web-safe
#99CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue168° of 360°
Saturation32%
Lightness75%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #acd4cc.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool79% 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#acd4cc
HEX (8-digit)#acd4ccff
RGBrgb(172, 212, 204)
RGBArgba(172, 212, 204, 1)
HSLhsl(168, 32%, 75%)
HSV / HSBhsv(168, 19%, 83%)
HWBhwb(168 67% 17%)
CMYKcmyk(19%, 0%, 4%, 17%)
LABlab(82.0 -14.7 -0.4)
LCHlch(82.0 14.7 181.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.839 0.044 181.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(51.45, 60.22, 66.03)
Decimal11326668
Display P3color(display-p3 0.675 0.831 0.800)
Web-safe#99CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #acd4cc;
background-color: #acd4cc;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #acd4cc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#acd4cc] bg-[#acd4cc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #acd4cc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.675, green: 0.831, blue: 0.800)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.675, green: 0.831, blue: 0.800, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#ACD4CC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFACD4CC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFACD4CC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(204, 212, 172)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(172, 212, 204)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(172, 212, 204)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 172, 212, 204)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6745f, 0.8314f, 0.8000f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{172,212,204}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #acd4cc 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #acd4cc 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#2C544C, #D7EAE6);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #acd4cc 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: #F5F9F8;
  --brand-100: #ECF3F2;
  --brand-200: #D5E7E3;
  --brand-300: #acd4cc;
  --brand-400: #90C6BB;
  --brand-500: #6BB2A4;
  --brand-600: #54A192;
  --brand-700: #468679;
  --brand-800: #386B61;
  --brand-900: #2B4F48;
  --brand-950: #1B312D;
  --brand: #acd4cc;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5FAF9;
  --brand-border: #C9E3DE;
  --brand-hover: #95C8BE;
  --brand-pressed: #7DBCAF;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142421;
    --brand-ink: #D7EAE6;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F9F8',
        100: '#ECF3F2',
        200: '#D5E7E3',
        300: '#acd4cc',
        400: '#90C6BB',
        500: '#6BB2A4',
        600: '#54A192',
        700: '#468679',
        800: '#386B61',
        900: '#2B4F48',
        950: '#1B312D',
        DEFAULT: '#acd4cc',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F9F8,
  '100': #ECF3F2,
  '200': #D5E7E3,
  '300': #acd4cc,
  '400': #90C6BB,
  '500': #6BB2A4,
  '600': #54A192,
  '700': #468679,
  '800': #386B61,
  '900': #2B4F48,
  '950': #1B312D,
);
$brand-base: #acd4cc;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F9F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#ECF3F2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D5E7E3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#acd4cc", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#90C6BB", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#6BB2A4", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#54A192", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#468679", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#386B61", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2B4F48", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1B312D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #acd4cc · 13.04:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.61:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 13.04:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #acd4cc as text scores 1.61:1 on white and 13.04:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #2C544C at 5.26:1.

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
#438174 · 4.53:1
AA on white−37% L
#438174
The quick fox
#315F56 · 7.24:1
AAA on white−47% L
#315F56
The quick fox
#acd4cc · 13.04:1
AA on blackalready passes
#acd4cc
The quick fox
#acd4cc · 13.04:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#acd4cc

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #54A293 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
#acd4cc on white: 1.61:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#acd4cc on black: 13.04:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #acd4cc as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #acd4cc.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.61:1AaAa
Slate 501.54:1AaAa
Slate 1001.47:1AaAa
Slate 2001.31:1AaAa
Slate 3001.08:1AaAa
Slate 4001.59:1AaAa
Slate 5002.96:1AaAa
Slate 6004.71:1AaAa
Slate 7006.43:1AaAa
Slate 8009.09:1AaAa
Slate 90011.09:1AaAa
Black13.04:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D0CFCC
deuteranopia · #C8C9CD
tritanopia · #A2D6D1

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. #acd4cc 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.

#F5F9F8
#ECF3F2
#D5E7E3
#acd4cc
#90C6BB
#6BB2A4
#54A192
#468679
#386B61
#2B4F48
#1B312D
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F5F9F8Darkest = 950 · #1B312DText 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 0.011 181.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.017 181.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.026 181.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.034 181.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.040 181.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.044 181.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.044 181.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.041 181.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.037 181.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.031 181.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.024 181.7);
}

Colors that work with #acd4cc

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#F5FAF9
Tinted page background
Border#C9E3DE
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4E9789
Captions on the surface
Accent#8B4162
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#2C544C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EEF6F5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142421
Dark-mode background
Hover#95C8BE
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7DBCAF
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F7F6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B4E0D7
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 #acd4cc

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 #2C544C
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #54A293

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#D4ACB4
Analogous left#ACD4B8
Analogous right#ACC8D4
Split-complement 1#D4ACC8
Split-complement 2#D4B8AC
Triadic 1#CCACD4
Triadic 2#D4CCAC
Tetradic#B8ACD4
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°168°

#acd4cc sits at 168°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red67.5%
Green83.1%
Blue80.0%
R · 0–255
172
0xac
G · 0–255
212
0xd4
B · 0–255
204
0xcc

CMYK percentages

Cyan18.9%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow3.8%
Key (black)16.9%

Total ink coverage is 40%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#acd4cc text on a black background

contrast 13.04:1

Card sample

#acd4cc text on a white background

contrast 1.61:1

Card sample

#acd4cc on grey

1.47:1

#acd4cc on its own surface

1.53:1

#acd4cc on its dark surface

10.00:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #acd4cc;
Background color
Panel with #acd4cc background
background-color: #acd4cc;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #acd4cc;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(172, 212, 204, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(172, 212, 204, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #acd4cc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #acd4cc, #ACC1D4);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #acd4cc, #ACB7D4);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #acd4cc;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #acd4cc;
caret-color: #acd4cc;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #acd4cc;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EEF6F5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #acd4cc;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#acd4cc 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #acd4cc 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(172, 212, 204, 0.5)
rgb(172 212 204 / 50%)
#acd4cc80
hsl(168 32% 75% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #acd4cc 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#acd4cc1a#F7FBFA
20%#acd4cc33#EEF6F5
40%#acd4cc66#DEEEEB
60%#acd4cc99#CDE5E0
80%#acd4cccc#BDDDD6

Gradients from #acd4cc

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, #D4E9E5, #acd4cc 45%, #2C544C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #acd4cc, #98AECA);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #acd4cc, #D4ACB4);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E8F3F1 0%, #acd4cc 45%, #2C544C 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5FAF9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #CEE5D3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C0D3DE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #2C544C 0%, transparent 65%), #acd4cc;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #acd4cc

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.

#acd4cc 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 13.04:1.

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.

#acd4cc, answered

What color is #acd4cc?

#acd4cc is a light soft cyan, closest to Powder Blue (ΔE2000 6.5). It sits at 168° on the hue wheel with 32% saturation and 75% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #acd4cc?

rgb(172, 212, 204) — 172 red, 212 green and 204 blue out of 255, or 67.5% / 83.1% / 80% by channel.

What is #acd4cc in HSL and HSV?

hsl(168, 32%, 75%) and hsv(168, 19%, 83%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #acd4cc a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6022 and perceived brightness is 78%, so black text on it reaches 13.04:1.

Should I use black or white text on #acd4cc?

Black. It scores 13.04:1 against #acd4cc, versus 1.61:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #acd4cc accessible on a white background?

#acd4cc on white scores 1.61:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #438174 to reach 4.5:1, or #315F56 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #acd4cc?

#D4ACB4 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #D4ACC8 and #D4B8AC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #acd4cc?

For interface work: #F5FAF9 as the surface, #C9E3DE for borders, #4E9789 for secondary text, #8B4162 as an accent and #2C544C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #ACD4B8 and #ACC8D4 stays calm, while #D4ACB4 is the loudest partner.

What is #acd4cc in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(19%, 0%, 4%, 17%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #acd4cc warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 79 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #ACD4BD; nudged cooler, #ABCED5.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #acd4cc?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 16.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #acd4cc as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #acd4cc in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#acd4cc] or text-[#acd4cc], 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 #acd4cc with 50% opacity?

rgba(172, 212, 204, 0.5), or #acd4cc80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D6EAE6; over black, #566A66.

Is #acd4cc a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCCC, ΔE2000 4.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #acd4cc 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 #acd4cc?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D4E9E5, #acd4cc 45%, #2C544C). For more colour, a short hue run to #98AECA keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #acd4cc in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #acd4cc at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.