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cyan · cool

#adcfda

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Teal

RGB
173, 207, 218
HSL
195°, 38%, 77%
CMYK
21, 5, 0, 15
Luminance
0.5857

#adcfda is a light soft cyan, 195° on the wheel and 94/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.71:1). As text it scores 1.65:1 on white — use #417C8F instead. Nearest name is Light Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(195 38% 77%)rgb(173 207 218)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

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

Hex
#adcfda
Hue
195°
cyan
Saturation
38%
soft
Lightness
77%
light
Brightness
85%
HSV value
Perceived
78%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5857
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
94/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
12.71:1
Closest name
Light Blue
ΔE2000 2.8
Chroma
12.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.833
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 15.4
Web-safe
#99CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue195° of 360°
Saturation38%
Lightness77%
Saturation × lightness field

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

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
Red15%
Green76%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#adcfda
HEX (8-digit)#adcfdaff
RGBrgb(173, 207, 218)
RGBArgba(173, 207, 218, 1)
HSLhsl(195, 38%, 77%)
HSV / HSBhsv(195, 21%, 85%)
HWBhwb(195 68% 15%)
CMYKcmyk(21%, 5%, 0%, 15%)
LABlab(81.0 -8.9 -9.2)
LCHlch(81.0 12.8 226.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.833 0.039 219.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(52.20, 58.57, 74.87)
Decimal11390938
Display P3color(display-p3 0.678 0.812 0.855)
Web-safe#99CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #adcfda;
background-color: #adcfda;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #adcfda;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#adcfda] bg-[#adcfda]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #adcfda;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.678, green: 0.812, blue: 0.855)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.678, green: 0.812, blue: 0.855, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#ADCFDA</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFADCFDA)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFADCFDA)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(218, 207, 173)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(173, 207, 218)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(173, 207, 218)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 173, 207, 218)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6784f, 0.8118f, 0.8549f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{173,207,218}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #adcfda 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #adcfda 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#284C58, #D5E6EC);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #adcfda 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: #F5F9FA;
  --brand-100: #EBF2F4;
  --brand-200: #D3E3E9;
  --brand-300: #adcfda;
  --brand-400: #8BBBCB;
  --brand-500: #64A4B9;
  --brand-600: #4C92A9;
  --brand-700: #3F7A8D;
  --brand-800: #336170;
  --brand-900: #284852;
  --brand-950: #192D34;
  --brand: #adcfda;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F9FA;
  --brand-border: #C7DEE6;
  --brand-hover: #95C1CF;
  --brand-pressed: #7CB2C4;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142024;
    --brand-ink: #D5E6EC;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F9FA',
        100: '#EBF2F4',
        200: '#D3E3E9',
        300: '#adcfda',
        400: '#8BBBCB',
        500: '#64A4B9',
        600: '#4C92A9',
        700: '#3F7A8D',
        800: '#336170',
        900: '#284852',
        950: '#192D34',
        DEFAULT: '#adcfda',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F9FA,
  '100': #EBF2F4,
  '200': #D3E3E9,
  '300': #adcfda,
  '400': #8BBBCB,
  '500': #64A4B9,
  '600': #4C92A9,
  '700': #3F7A8D,
  '800': #336170,
  '900': #284852,
  '950': #192D34,
);
$brand-base: #adcfda;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F9FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EBF2F4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D3E3E9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#adcfda", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#8BBBCB", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#64A4B9", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#4C92A9", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#3F7A8D", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#336170", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#284852", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#192D34", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #adcfda · 12.71:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.65:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.71:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #adcfda as text scores 1.65:1 on white and 12.71:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #284C58 at 5.61:1.

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
#417C8F · 4.66:1
AA on white−36% L
#417C8F
The quick fox
#315D6C · 7.21:1
AAA on white−46% L
#315D6C
The quick fox
#adcfda · 12.71:1
AA on blackalready passes
#adcfda
The quick fox
#adcfda · 12.71:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#adcfda

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #599EB4 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
#adcfda on white: 1.65:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#adcfda on black: 12.71:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.65:1AaAa
Slate 501.58:1AaAa
Slate 1001.51:1AaAa
Slate 2001.34:1AaAa
Slate 3001.11:1AaAa
Slate 4001.55:1AaAa
Slate 5002.88:1AaAa
Slate 6004.59:1AaAa
Slate 7006.27:1AaAa
Slate 8008.86:1AaAa
Slate 90010.81:1AaAa
Black12.71:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C8CDDB
deuteranopia · #C1C7DA
tritanopia · #A0D3D2

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. #adcfda 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.

#F5F9FA
#EBF2F4
#D3E3E9
#adcfda
#8BBBCB
#64A4B9
#4C92A9
#3F7A8D
#336170
#284852
#192D34
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F5F9FADarkest = 950 · #192D34Text 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 0.010 219.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.016 219.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.024 219.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.031 219.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.036 219.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.039 219.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.039 219.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.037 219.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.033 219.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.028 219.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.022 219.4);
}

Colors that work with #adcfda

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#F4F9FA
Tinted page background
Border#C7DEE6
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B879B
Captions on the surface
Accent#903C3C
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#284C58
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EDF5F7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142024
Dark-mode background
Hover#95C1CF
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7CB2C4
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F6F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B6DAE5
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 #adcfda

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 #284C58
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #599EB4

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
  • Weight23/100
  • 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#DAB8AD
Analogous left#ADDACF
Analogous right#ADB9DA
Split-complement 1#DAADB9
Split-complement 2#DACFAD
Triadic 1#DAADCF
Triadic 2#CFDAAD
Tetradic#CFADDA
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°195°

#adcfda sits at 195°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red67.8%
Green81.2%
Blue85.5%
R · 0–255
173
0xad
G · 0–255
207
0xcf
B · 0–255
218
0xda

CMYK percentages

Cyan20.6%
Magenta5.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)14.5%

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

Color previews

#adcfda text on a black background

contrast 12.71:1

Card sample

#adcfda text on a white background

contrast 1.65:1

Card sample

#adcfda on grey

1.51:1

#adcfda on its own surface

1.56:1

#adcfda on its dark surface

10.08:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(173, 207, 218, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(173, 207, 218, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #adcfda;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #adcfda, #ADB1DA);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #adcfda, #B4ADDA);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #adcfda;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #adcfda;
caret-color: #adcfda;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #adcfda;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EDF5F7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #adcfda;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#adcfda 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #adcfda 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(173, 207, 218, 0.5)
rgb(173 207 218 / 50%)
#adcfda80
hsl(195 38% 77% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #adcfda 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#adcfda1a#F7FAFB
20%#adcfda33#EFF5F8
40%#adcfda66#DEECF0
60%#adcfda99#CEE2E9
80%#adcfdacc#BDD9E1

Gradients from #adcfda

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, #D7E8ED, #adcfda 45%, #284C58);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #adcfda, #9898D1);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #adcfda, #DAB8AD);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #ECF4F7 0%, #adcfda 45%, #284C58 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F9FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #D0EAE1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C2C8E4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #284C58 0%, transparent 65%), #adcfda;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #adcfda

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.

#adcfda 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 12.71:1.

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.

#adcfda, answered

What color is #adcfda?

#adcfda is a light soft cyan, closest to Light Blue (ΔE2000 2.8). It sits at 195° on the hue wheel with 38% saturation and 77% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #adcfda?

rgb(173, 207, 218) — 173 red, 207 green and 218 blue out of 255, or 67.8% / 81.2% / 85.5% by channel.

What is #adcfda in HSL and HSV?

hsl(195, 38%, 77%) and hsv(195, 21%, 85%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #adcfda a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5857 and perceived brightness is 78%, so black text on it reaches 12.71:1.

Should I use black or white text on #adcfda?

Black. It scores 12.71:1 against #adcfda, versus 1.65:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #adcfda accessible on a white background?

#adcfda on white scores 1.65:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #417C8F to reach 4.5:1, or #315D6C for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #adcfda?

#DAB8AD sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DAADB9 and #DACFAD, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #adcfda?

For interface work: #F4F9FA as the surface, #C7DEE6 for borders, #4B879B for secondary text, #903C3C as an accent and #284C58 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #ADDACF and #ADB9DA stays calm, while #DAB8AD is the loudest partner.

What is #adcfda in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(21%, 5%, 0%, 15%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #adcfda 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 #ADDAD5; nudged cooler, #ACC5DB.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #adcfda?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 15.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #adcfda as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #adcfda in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(173, 207, 218, 0.5), or #adcfda80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D6E7ED; over black, #57686D.

Is #adcfda a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCCC, ΔE2000 7.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #adcfda 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 #adcfda?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D7E8ED, #adcfda 45%, #284C58). For more colour, a short hue run to #9898D1 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #adcfda in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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