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cyan · cool

#afd9cf

a light, soft cyan · cool · closest name: Pale Turquoise

Token name suggestion: Meadow Glacier

RGB
175, 217, 207
HSL
166°, 36%, 77%
CMYK
19, 0, 5, 15
Luminance
0.6324

#afd9cf is a light soft cyan, 166° on the wheel and 82/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (13.65:1). As text it scores 1.54:1 on white — use #3D8070 instead. Nearest name is Pale Turquoise, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(166 36% 77%)rgb(175 217 207)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #afd9cf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#afd9cf
Hue
166°
cyan
Saturation
36%
soft
Lightness
77%
light
Brightness
85%
HSV value
Perceived
80%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6324
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
82/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
13.65:1
Closest name
Pale Turquoise
ΔE2000 6.8
Chroma
15.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.853
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 16.7
Web-safe
#99CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue166° of 360°
Saturation36%
Lightness77%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #afd9cf.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool82% 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%
Green78%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#afd9cf
HEX (8-digit)#afd9cfff
RGBrgb(175, 217, 207)
RGBArgba(175, 217, 207, 1)
HSLhsl(166, 36%, 77%)
HSV / HSBhsv(166, 19%, 85%)
HWBhwb(166 69% 15%)
CMYKcmyk(19%, 0%, 5%, 15%)
LABlab(83.6 -15.7 0.4)
LCHlch(83.6 15.7 178.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.853 0.046 179.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(53.75, 63.24, 68.39)
Decimal11524559
Display P3color(display-p3 0.686 0.851 0.812)
Web-safe#99CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #afd9cf;
background-color: #afd9cf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #afd9cf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#afd9cf] bg-[#afd9cf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #afd9cf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.686, green: 0.851, blue: 0.812)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.686, green: 0.851, blue: 0.812, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AFD9CF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAFD9CF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAFD9CF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(207, 217, 175)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(175, 217, 207)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(175, 217, 207)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 175, 217, 207)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6863f, 0.8510f, 0.8118f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{175,217,207}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #afd9cf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #afd9cf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#29564C, #D6EBE6);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #afd9cf 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: #EBF4F2;
  --brand-200: #D3E8E3;
  --brand-300: #afd9cf;
  --brand-400: #8DC9BB;
  --brand-500: #67B7A4;
  --brand-600: #4FA691;
  --brand-700: #428A79;
  --brand-800: #356F61;
  --brand-900: #295148;
  --brand-950: #1A332D;
  --brand: #afd9cf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5FAF9;
  --brand-border: #C8E5DE;
  --brand-hover: #97CEC1;
  --brand-pressed: #7FC2B2;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142420;
    --brand-ink: #D6EBE6;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F9F8',
        100: '#EBF4F2',
        200: '#D3E8E3',
        300: '#afd9cf',
        400: '#8DC9BB',
        500: '#67B7A4',
        600: '#4FA691',
        700: '#428A79',
        800: '#356F61',
        900: '#295148',
        950: '#1A332D',
        DEFAULT: '#afd9cf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F9F8,
  '100': #EBF4F2,
  '200': #D3E8E3,
  '300': #afd9cf,
  '400': #8DC9BB,
  '500': #67B7A4,
  '600': #4FA691,
  '700': #428A79,
  '800': #356F61,
  '900': #295148,
  '950': #1A332D,
);
$brand-base: #afd9cf;
$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": "#EBF4F2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D3E8E3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#afd9cf", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#8DC9BB", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#67B7A4", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#4FA691", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#428A79", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#356F61", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#295148", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1A332D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #afd9cf · 13.65:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.54:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 13.65:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #afd9cf as text scores 1.54:1 on white and 13.65:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #29564C at 5.40:1.

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
#3D8070 · 4.65:1
AA on white−40% L
#3D8070
The quick fox
#2E6054 · 7.20:1
AAA on white−49% L
#2E6054
The quick fox
#afd9cf · 13.65:1
AA on blackalready passes
#afd9cf
The quick fox
#afd9cf · 13.65:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#afd9cf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #4DA28E 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
#afd9cf on white: 1.54:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#afd9cf on black: 13.65:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #afd9cf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #afd9cf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.54:1AaAa
Slate 501.47:1AaAa
Slate 1001.40:1AaAa
Slate 2001.25:1AaAa
Slate 3001.04:1AaAa
Slate 4001.67:1AaAa
Slate 5003.09:1AaAa
Slate 6004.93:1AaAa
Slate 7006.73:1AaAa
Slate 8009.51:1AaAa
Slate 90011.60:1AaAa
Black13.65:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D5D4CF
deuteranopia · #CDCED0
tritanopia · #A4DAD6

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. #afd9cf 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
#EBF4F2
#D3E8E3
#afd9cf
#8DC9BB
#67B7A4
#4FA691
#428A79
#356F61
#295148
#1A332D
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F5F9F8Darkest = 950 · #1A332DText 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 0.012 179.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.018 179.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.028 179.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.036 179.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.042 179.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.046 179.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.046 179.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.043 179.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.039 179.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.032 179.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.025 179.0);
}

Colors that work with #afd9cf

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#C8E5DE
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B88
Captions on the surface
Accent#8E3E66
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#29564C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EEF7F5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142420
Dark-mode background
Hover#97CEC1
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7FC2B2
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F7F6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B8E5DA
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 #afd9cf

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 #29564C
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #4DA28E

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#D9AFB9
Analogous left#AFD9BA
Analogous right#AFCED9
Split-complement 1#D9AFCE
Split-complement 2#D9BAAF
Triadic 1#CFAFD9
Triadic 2#D9CFAF
Tetradic#BAAFD9
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°166°

#afd9cf sits at 166°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red68.6%
Green85.1%
Blue81.2%
R · 0–255
175
0xaf
G · 0–255
217
0xd9
B · 0–255
207
0xcf

CMYK percentages

Cyan19.4%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow4.6%
Key (black)14.9%

Total ink coverage is 39%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#afd9cf text on a black background

contrast 13.65:1

Card sample

#afd9cf text on a white background

contrast 1.54:1

Card sample

#afd9cf on grey

1.40:1

#afd9cf on its own surface

1.46:1

#afd9cf on its dark surface

10.48:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #afd9cf;
Background color
Panel with #afd9cf background
background-color: #afd9cf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #afd9cf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(175, 217, 207, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(175, 217, 207, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #afd9cf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #afd9cf, #AFC7D9);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #afd9cf, #AFBDD9);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #afd9cf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #afd9cf;
caret-color: #afd9cf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #afd9cf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EEF7F5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #afd9cf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#afd9cf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #afd9cf 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(175, 217, 207, 0.5)
rgb(175 217 207 / 50%)
#afd9cf80
hsl(166 36% 77% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #afd9cf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#afd9cf1a#F7FBFA
20%#afd9cf33#EFF7F5
40%#afd9cf66#DFF0EC
60%#afd9cf99#CFE8E2
80%#afd9cfcc#BFE1D9

Gradients from #afd9cf

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, #D9EDE8, #afd9cf 45%, #29564C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #afd9cf, #9AB4CF);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #afd9cf, #D9AFB9);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EDF7F4 0%, #afd9cf 45%, #29564C 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%, #D2E9D6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C4D8E3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #29564C 0%, transparent 65%), #afd9cf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #afd9cf

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.

#afd9cf 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 13.65:1.

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.

#afd9cf, answered

What color is #afd9cf?

#afd9cf is a light soft cyan, closest to Pale Turquoise (ΔE2000 6.8). It sits at 166° on the hue wheel with 36% saturation and 77% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #afd9cf?

rgb(175, 217, 207) — 175 red, 217 green and 207 blue out of 255, or 68.6% / 85.1% / 81.2% by channel.

What is #afd9cf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(166, 36%, 77%) and hsv(166, 19%, 85%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #afd9cf a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6324 and perceived brightness is 80%, so black text on it reaches 13.65:1.

Should I use black or white text on #afd9cf?

Black. It scores 13.65:1 against #afd9cf, versus 1.54:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #afd9cf accessible on a white background?

#afd9cf on white scores 1.54:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #3D8070 to reach 4.5:1, or #2E6054 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #afd9cf?

#D9AFB9 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #D9AFCE and #D9BAAF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #afd9cf?

For interface work: #F5FAF9 as the surface, #C8E5DE for borders, #4B9B88 for secondary text, #8E3E66 as an accent and #29564C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AFD9BA and #AFCED9 stays calm, while #D9AFB9 is the loudest partner.

What is #afd9cf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(19%, 0%, 5%, 15%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #afd9cf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 82 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #AFD9C0; nudged cooler, #AED5DA.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #afd9cf?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 16.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #afd9cf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #afd9cf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#afd9cf] or text-[#afd9cf], 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 #afd9cf with 50% opacity?

rgba(175, 217, 207, 0.5), or #afd9cf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D7ECE7; over black, #586D68.

Is #afd9cf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCCC, ΔE2000 5.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #afd9cf 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 #afd9cf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D9EDE8, #afd9cf 45%, #29564C). For more colour, a short hue run to #9AB4CF keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #afd9cf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #afd9cf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.