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cyan · cool

#addaf0

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

Token name suggestion: Morning Reef

RGB
173, 218, 240
HSL
200°, 69%, 81%
CMYK
28, 9, 0, 6
Luminance
0.6532

#addaf0 is a light vivid cyan, 200° on the wheel and 96/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (14.06:1). As text it scores 1.49:1 on white — use #207EAC instead. Nearest name is Light Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(200 69% 81%)rgb(173 218 240)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #addaf0 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#addaf0
Hue
200°
cyan
Saturation
69%
vivid
Lightness
81%
light
Brightness
94%
HSV value
Perceived
82%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6532
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
96/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
14.06:1
Closest name
Light Blue
ΔE2000 3
Chroma
18.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.864
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 15.5
Web-safe
#99CCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue200° of 360°
Saturation69%
Lightness81%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #addaf0.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool96% 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
Red14%
Green77%
Blue10%

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

Every format

HEX#addaf0
HEX (8-digit)#addaf0ff
RGBrgb(173, 218, 240)
RGBArgba(173, 218, 240, 1)
HSLhsl(200, 69%, 81%)
HSV / HSBhsv(200, 28%, 94%)
HWBhwb(200 68% 6%)
CMYKcmyk(28%, 9%, 0%, 6%)
LABlab(84.7 -9.7 -15.5)
LCHlch(84.7 18.3 238.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.864 0.056 229.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(58.03, 65.32, 91.97)
Decimal11393776
Display P3color(display-p3 0.678 0.855 0.941)
Web-safe#99CCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #addaf0;
background-color: #addaf0;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #addaf0;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#addaf0] bg-[#addaf0]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #addaf0;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.678, green: 0.855, blue: 0.941)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.678, green: 0.855, blue: 0.941, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#ADDAF0</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFADDAF0)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFADDAF0)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(240, 218, 173)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(173, 218, 240)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(173, 218, 240)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 173, 218, 240)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6784f, 0.8549f, 0.9412f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{173,218,240}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #addaf0 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #addaf0 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#144F6C, #D3E5EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #addaf0 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: #F3F9FB;
  --brand-100: #E7F3F8;
  --brand-200: #CAE5F2;
  --brand-300: #addaf0;
  --brand-400: #71BFE5;
  --brand-500: #41A9DC;
  --brand-600: #2697CF;
  --brand-700: #207EAC;
  --brand-800: #19658A;
  --brand-900: #164B64;
  --brand-950: #0E2F3F;
  --brand: #addaf0;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C0DEED;
  --brand-hover: #8FCCEB;
  --brand-pressed: #71BFE5;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141F24;
    --brand-ink: #D3E5EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3F9FB',
        100: '#E7F3F8',
        200: '#CAE5F2',
        300: '#addaf0',
        400: '#71BFE5',
        500: '#41A9DC',
        600: '#2697CF',
        700: '#207EAC',
        800: '#19658A',
        900: '#164B64',
        950: '#0E2F3F',
        DEFAULT: '#addaf0',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3F9FB,
  '100': #E7F3F8,
  '200': #CAE5F2,
  '300': #addaf0,
  '400': #71BFE5,
  '500': #41A9DC,
  '600': #2697CF,
  '700': #207EAC,
  '800': #19658A,
  '900': #164B64,
  '950': #0E2F3F,
);
$brand-base: #addaf0;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3F9FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E7F3F8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CAE5F2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#addaf0", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#71BFE5", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#41A9DC", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#2697CF", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#207EAC", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#19658A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#164B64", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0E2F3F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #addaf0 · 14.06:1
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 · 14.06:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #addaf0 as text scores 1.49:1 on white and 14.06:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #144F6C at 5.95:1.

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
#207EAC · 4.52:1
AA on white−41% L
#207EAC
The quick fox
#185F81 · 7.02:1
AAA on white−51% L
#185F81
The quick fox
#addaf0 · 14.06:1
AA on blackalready passes
#addaf0
The quick fox
#addaf0 · 14.06:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#addaf0

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #279ED8 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
#addaf0 on white: 1.49:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#addaf0 on black: 14.06:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #addaf0 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #addaf0.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.49:1AaAa
Slate 501.43:1AaAa
Slate 1001.36:1AaAa
Slate 2001.21:1AaAa
Slate 3001.01:1AaAa
Slate 4001.72:1AaAa
Slate 5003.19:1AaAa
Slate 6005.07:1AaAa
Slate 7006.93:1AaAa
Slate 8009.80:1AaAa
Slate 90011.96:1AaAa
Black14.06:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #CFD8F1
deuteranopia · #C5D0F0
tritanopia · #98E0E1

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. #addaf0 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.

#F3F9FB
#E7F3F8
#CAE5F2
#addaf0
#71BFE5
#41A9DC
#2697CF
#207EAC
#19658A
#164B64
#0E2F3F
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F3F9FBDarkest = 950 · #0E2F3FText 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 0.014 229.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.022 229.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.034 229.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.044 229.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.052 229.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.056 229.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.056 229.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.053 229.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.047 229.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.039 229.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.031 229.2);
}

Colors that work with #addaf0

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#F4F8FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0DEED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B819B
Captions on the surface
Accent#B1281B
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#144F6C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E9F5FB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141F24
Dark-mode background
Hover#8FCCEB
One step down in lightness
Pressed#71BFE5
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F6F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#BAE3F7
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 #addaf0

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 #144F6C
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #279ED8

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
  • Weight19/100
  • 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#F0C3AD
Analogous left#ADF0E5
Analogous right#ADB9F0
Split-complement 1#F0ADB9
Split-complement 2#F0E5AD
Triadic 1#F0ADDA
Triadic 2#DAF0AD
Tetradic#E5ADF0
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°200°

#addaf0 sits at 200°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red67.8%
Green85.5%
Blue94.1%
R · 0–255
173
0xad
G · 0–255
218
0xda
B · 0–255
240
0xf0

CMYK percentages

Cyan27.9%
Magenta9.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)5.9%

Total ink coverage is 43%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#addaf0 text on a black background

contrast 14.06:1

Card sample

#addaf0 text on a white background

contrast 1.49:1

Card sample

#addaf0 on grey

1.36:1

#addaf0 on its own surface

1.40:1

#addaf0 on its dark surface

11.24:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #addaf0;
Background color
Panel with #addaf0 background
background-color: #addaf0;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #addaf0;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(173, 218, 240, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(173, 218, 240, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #addaf0;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #addaf0, #ADADF0);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #addaf0, #BDADF0);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #addaf0;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #addaf0;
caret-color: #addaf0;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #addaf0;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E9F5FB;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #addaf0;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#addaf0 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #addaf0 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, 218, 240, 0.5)
rgb(173 218 240 / 50%)
#addaf080
hsl(200 69% 81% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #addaf0 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#addaf01a#F7FBFE
20%#addaf033#EFF8FC
40%#addaf066#DEF0F9
60%#addaf099#CEE9F6
80%#addaf0cc#BDE1F3

Gradients from #addaf0

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, #E1F1F9, #addaf0 45%, #144F6C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #addaf0, #9A93EB);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #addaf0, #F0C3AD);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F2F9FD 0%, #addaf0 45%, #144F6C 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F8FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #D8F8F0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C7CBF5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #144F6C 0%, transparent 65%), #addaf0;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #addaf0

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.

#addaf0 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 14.06:1.

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.

#addaf0, answered

What color is #addaf0?

#addaf0 is a light vivid cyan, closest to Light Blue (ΔE2000 3). It sits at 200° on the hue wheel with 69% saturation and 81% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #addaf0?

rgb(173, 218, 240) — 173 red, 218 green and 240 blue out of 255, or 67.8% / 85.5% / 94.1% by channel.

What is #addaf0 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(200, 69%, 81%) and hsv(200, 28%, 94%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #addaf0 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6532 and perceived brightness is 82%, so black text on it reaches 14.06:1.

Should I use black or white text on #addaf0?

Black. It scores 14.06:1 against #addaf0, versus 1.49:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #addaf0 accessible on a white background?

#addaf0 on white scores 1.49:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #207EAC to reach 4.5:1, or #185F81 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #addaf0?

#F0C3AD sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #F0ADB9 and #F0E5AD, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #addaf0?

For interface work: #F4F8FA as the surface, #C0DEED for borders, #4B819B for secondary text, #B1281B as an accent and #144F6C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #ADF0E5 and #ADB9F0 stays calm, while #F0C3AD is the loudest partner.

What is #addaf0 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(28%, 9%, 0%, 6%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #addaf0 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 96 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #ADF0ED; nudged cooler, #ACD0F1.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #addaf0?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 15.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #addaf0 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #addaf0 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#addaf0] or text-[#addaf0], 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 #addaf0 with 50% opacity?

rgba(173, 218, 240, 0.5), or #addaf080 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D6EDF8; over black, #576D78.

Is #addaf0 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCFF, ΔE2000 8.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #addaf0 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 #addaf0?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E1F1F9, #addaf0 45%, #144F6C). For more colour, a short hue run to #9A93EB keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #addaf0 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #addaf0 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.