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cyan · cool

#aecccf

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Lagoon

RGB
174, 204, 207
HSL
186°, 26%, 75%
CMYK
16, 1, 0, 19
Luminance
0.5669

#aecccf is a light soft cyan, 186° on the wheel and 79/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.34:1). As text it scores 1.70:1 on white — use #4D7D82 instead. Nearest name is Light Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(186 26% 75%)rgb(174 204 207)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

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

Hex
#aecccf
Hue
186°
cyan
Saturation
26%
soft
Lightness
75%
light
Brightness
81%
HSV value
Perceived
77%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5669
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
79/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
12.34:1
Closest name
Light Blue
ΔE2000 5.3
Chroma
10.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.824
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 16.4
Web-safe
#99CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue186° of 360°
Saturation26%
Lightness75%
Saturation × lightness field

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

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
Red16%
Green76%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#aecccf
HEX (8-digit)#aecccfff
RGBrgb(174, 204, 207)
RGBArgba(174, 204, 207, 1)
HSLhsl(186, 26%, 75%)
HSV / HSBhsv(185, 16%, 81%)
HWBhwb(186 68% 19%)
CMYKcmyk(16%, 1%, 0%, 19%)
LABlab(80.0 -9.4 -4.8)
LCHlch(80.0 10.5 207.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.824 0.032 203.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(50.31, 56.69, 67.31)
Decimal11455695
Display P3color(display-p3 0.682 0.800 0.812)
Web-safe#99CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #aecccf;
background-color: #aecccf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #aecccf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#aecccf] bg-[#aecccf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #aecccf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.682, green: 0.800, blue: 0.812)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.682, green: 0.800, blue: 0.812, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AECCCF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAECCCF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAECCCF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(207, 204, 174)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(174, 204, 207)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(174, 204, 207)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 174, 204, 207)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6824f, 0.8000f, 0.8118f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{174,204,207}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #aecccf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #aecccf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#2F4D50, #D9E7E8);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #aecccf 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: #F6F9F9;
  --brand-100: #EDF2F3;
  --brand-200: #D6E4E5;
  --brand-300: #aecccf;
  --brand-400: #95BCC0;
  --brand-500: #72A6AC;
  --brand-600: #5B949A;
  --brand-700: #4C7B80;
  --brand-800: #3D6366;
  --brand-900: #2F494C;
  --brand-950: #1D2E2F;
  --brand: #aecccf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5F9F9;
  --brand-border: #CCDFE1;
  --brand-hover: #98BEC2;
  --brand-pressed: #81B0B4;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #152223;
    --brand-ink: #D9E7E8;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F9F9',
        100: '#EDF2F3',
        200: '#D6E4E5',
        300: '#aecccf',
        400: '#95BCC0',
        500: '#72A6AC',
        600: '#5B949A',
        700: '#4C7B80',
        800: '#3D6366',
        900: '#2F494C',
        950: '#1D2E2F',
        DEFAULT: '#aecccf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F9F9,
  '100': #EDF2F3,
  '200': #D6E4E5,
  '300': #aecccf,
  '400': #95BCC0,
  '500': #72A6AC,
  '600': #5B949A,
  '700': #4C7B80,
  '800': #3D6366,
  '900': #2F494C,
  '950': #1D2E2F,
);
$brand-base: #aecccf;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F9F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EDF2F3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D6E4E5", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#aecccf", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#95BCC0", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#72A6AC", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#5B949A", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#4C7B80", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#3D6366", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2F494C", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1D2E2F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #aecccf · 12.34:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.70:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.34:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #aecccf as text scores 1.70:1 on white and 12.34:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #2F4D50 at 5.37:1.

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
#4D7D82 · 4.59:1
AA on white−34% L
#4D7D82
The quick fox
#3A5F62 · 7.02:1
AAA on white−44% L
#3A5F62
The quick fox
#aecccf · 12.34:1
AA on blackalready passes
#aecccf
The quick fox
#aecccf · 12.34:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#aecccf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #649EA3 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
#aecccf on white: 1.70:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#aecccf on black: 12.34:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.70:1AaAa
Slate 501.63:1AaAa
Slate 1001.55:1AaAa
Slate 2001.38:1AaAa
Slate 3001.15:1AaAa
Slate 4001.51:1AaAa
Slate 5002.80:1AaAa
Slate 6004.45:1AaAa
Slate 7006.08:1AaAa
Slate 8008.59:1AaAa
Slate 90010.49:1AaAa
Black12.34:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C7C9CF
deuteranopia · #C1C4CF
tritanopia · #A4CFCD

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. #aecccf 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.

#F6F9F9
#EDF2F3
#D6E4E5
#aecccf
#95BCC0
#72A6AC
#5B949A
#4C7B80
#3D6366
#2F494C
#1D2E2F
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F6F9F9Darkest = 950 · #1D2E2FText 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 0.008 203.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.013 203.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.019 203.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.025 203.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.030 203.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.032 203.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.032 203.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.030 203.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.027 203.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.023 203.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.018 203.9);
}

Colors that work with #aecccf

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#F5F9F9
Tinted page background
Border#CCDFE1
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#558B90
Captions on the surface
Accent#854751
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#2F4D50
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EFF5F6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#152223
Dark-mode background
Hover#98BEC2
One step down in lightness
Pressed#81B0B4
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F7F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B5D8DC
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 #aecccf

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 #2F4D50
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #649EA3

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#CFB1AE
Analogous left#AECFC2
Analogous right#AEBBCF
Split-complement 1#CFAEBB
Split-complement 2#CFC2AE
Triadic 1#CFAECC
Triadic 2#CCCFAE
Tetradic#C2AECF
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°186°

#aecccf sits at 186°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red68.2%
Green80.0%
Blue81.2%
R · 0–255
174
0xae
G · 0–255
204
0xcc
B · 0–255
207
0xcf

CMYK percentages

Cyan15.9%
Magenta1.4%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)18.8%

Total ink coverage is 36%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#aecccf text on a black background

contrast 12.34:1

Card sample

#aecccf text on a white background

contrast 1.70:1

Card sample

#aecccf on grey

1.55:1

#aecccf on its own surface

1.60:1

#aecccf on its dark surface

9.60:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(174, 204, 207, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(174, 204, 207, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #aecccf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #aecccf, #AEB6CF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

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

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #aecccf;
caret-color: #aecccf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #aecccf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EFF5F6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #aecccf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#aecccf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #aecccf 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(174, 204, 207, 0.5)
rgb(174 204 207 / 50%)
#aecccf80
hsl(186 26% 75% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #aecccf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#aecccf1a#F7FAFA
20%#aecccf33#EFF5F5
40%#aecccf66#DFEBEC
60%#aecccf99#CEE0E2
80%#aecccfcc#BED6D9

Gradients from #aecccf

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, #D4E4E6, #aecccf 45%, #2F4D50);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #aecccf, #9BA1C4);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #aecccf, #CFB1AE);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E8F0F1 0%, #aecccf 45%, #2F4D50 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5F9F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #CEE2D8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C1C9DA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #2F4D50 0%, transparent 65%), #aecccf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #aecccf

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.

#aecccf 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 12.34:1.

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.

#aecccf, answered

What color is #aecccf?

#aecccf is a light soft cyan, closest to Light Blue (ΔE2000 5.3). It sits at 186° on the hue wheel with 26% saturation and 75% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #aecccf?

rgb(174, 204, 207) — 174 red, 204 green and 207 blue out of 255, or 68.2% / 80% / 81.2% by channel.

What is #aecccf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(186, 26%, 75%) and hsv(185, 16%, 81%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #aecccf a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5669 and perceived brightness is 77%, so black text on it reaches 12.34:1.

Should I use black or white text on #aecccf?

Black. It scores 12.34:1 against #aecccf, versus 1.70:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #aecccf accessible on a white background?

#aecccf on white scores 1.70:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #4D7D82 to reach 4.5:1, or #3A5F62 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #aecccf?

#CFB1AE sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CFAEBB and #CFC2AE, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #aecccf?

For interface work: #F5F9F9 as the surface, #CCDFE1 for borders, #558B90 for secondary text, #854751 as an accent and #2F4D50 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AECFC2 and #AEBBCF stays calm, while #CFB1AE is the loudest partner.

What is #aecccf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(16%, 1%, 0%, 19%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #aecccf 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 #AECFC6; nudged cooler, #ADC0D0.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #aecccf?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 16.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #aecccf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #aecccf in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(174, 204, 207, 0.5), or #aecccf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D7E6E7; over black, #576668.

Is #aecccf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCCC, ΔE2000 5.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #aecccf 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 #aecccf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D4E4E6, #aecccf 45%, #2F4D50). For more colour, a short hue run to #9BA1C4 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #aecccf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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