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cyan · cool

#b5ecda

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Lagoon

RGB
181, 236, 218
HSL
160°, 59%, 82%
CMYK
23, 0, 8, 8
Luminance
0.7488

#b5ecda is a light vivid cyan, 160° on the wheel and 79/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (15.98:1). As text it scores 1.31:1 on white — use #228565 instead. Nearest name is Pale Turquoise, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(160 59% 82%)rgb(181 236 218)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #b5ecda is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#b5ecda
Hue
160°
cyan
Saturation
59%
vivid
Lightness
82%
light
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
86%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.7488
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
79/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
15.98:1
Closest name
Pale Turquoise
ΔE2000 7
Chroma
21.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.900
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 18.1
Web-safe
#CCFFCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue160° of 360°
Saturation59%
Lightness82%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #b5ecda.

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
Red13%
Green80%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#b5ecda
HEX (8-digit)#b5ecdaff
RGBrgb(181, 236, 218)
RGBArgba(181, 236, 218, 1)
HSLhsl(160, 59%, 82%)
HSV / HSBhsv(160, 23%, 93%)
HWBhwb(160 71% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(23%, 0%, 8%, 8%)
LABlab(89.3 -21.1 3.0)
LCHlch(89.3 21.3 171.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.900 0.061 172.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(61.70, 74.87, 77.52)
Decimal11922650
Display P3color(display-p3 0.710 0.925 0.855)
Web-safe#CCFFCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #b5ecda;
background-color: #b5ecda;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #b5ecda;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#b5ecda] bg-[#b5ecda]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #b5ecda;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.710, green: 0.925, blue: 0.855)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.710, green: 0.925, blue: 0.855, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#B5ECDA</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFB5ECDA)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFB5ECDA)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(218, 236, 181)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(181, 236, 218)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(181, 236, 218)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 181, 236, 218)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7098f, 0.9255f, 0.8549f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{181,236,218}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #b5ecda 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #b5ecda 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#1A654D, #D3EEE5);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #b5ecda 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: #F4FBF9;
  --brand-100: #E9F7F2;
  --brand-200: #CDEFE4;
  --brand-300: #b5ecda;
  --brand-400: #79DDBC;
  --brand-500: #4CD1A6;
  --brand-600: #32C393;
  --brand-700: #2AA27B;
  --brand-800: #218262;
  --brand-900: #1C5E49;
  --brand-950: #113B2D;
  --brand: #b5ecda;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAF8;
  --brand-border: #C0EDDE;
  --brand-hover: #99E5CC;
  --brand-pressed: #7CDDBE;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #14241F;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEE5;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4FBF9',
        100: '#E9F7F2',
        200: '#CDEFE4',
        300: '#b5ecda',
        400: '#79DDBC',
        500: '#4CD1A6',
        600: '#32C393',
        700: '#2AA27B',
        800: '#218262',
        900: '#1C5E49',
        950: '#113B2D',
        DEFAULT: '#b5ecda',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4FBF9,
  '100': #E9F7F2,
  '200': #CDEFE4,
  '300': #b5ecda,
  '400': #79DDBC,
  '500': #4CD1A6,
  '600': #32C393,
  '700': #2AA27B,
  '800': #218262,
  '900': #1C5E49,
  '950': #113B2D,
);
$brand-base: #b5ecda;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4FBF9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E9F7F2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CDEFE4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#b5ecda", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#79DDBC", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#4CD1A6", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#32C393", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#2AA27B", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#218262", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#1C5E49", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#113B2D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #b5ecda · 15.98:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.31:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 15.98:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #b5ecda as text scores 1.31:1 on white and 15.98:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #1A654D at 5.30:1.

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
#228565 · 4.55:1
AA on white−49% L
#228565
The quick fox
#196149 · 7.38:1
AAA on white−58% L
#196149
The quick fox
#b5ecda · 15.98:1
AA on blackalready passes
#b5ecda
The quick fox
#b5ecda · 15.98:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#b5ecda

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #2BA67D 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
#b5ecda on white: 1.31:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#b5ecda on black: 15.98:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #b5ecda as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #b5ecda.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.31:1AaAa
Slate 501.26:1AaAa
Slate 1001.20:1AaAa
Slate 2001.07:1AaAa
Slate 3001.13:1AaAa
Slate 4001.95:1AaAa
Slate 5003.62:1AaAa
Slate 6005.76:1AaAa
Slate 7007.88:1AaAa
Slate 80011.13:1AaAa
Slate 90013.58:1AaAa
Black15.98:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #E8E5D9
deuteranopia · #DEDEDB
tritanopia · #A8EDE6

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. #b5ecda 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.

#F4FBF9
#E9F7F2
#CDEFE4
#b5ecda
#79DDBC
#4CD1A6
#32C393
#2AA27B
#218262
#1C5E49
#113B2D
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F4FBF9Darkest = 950 · #113B2DText 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 0.015 172.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.025 172.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.037 172.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.048 172.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.056 172.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.061 172.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.061 172.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.058 172.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.051 172.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.043 172.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.034 172.8);
}

Colors that work with #b5ecda

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#F4FAF8
Tinted page background
Border#C0EDDE
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B81
Captions on the surface
Accent#A72570
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#1A654D
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EBFAF5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#14241F
Dark-mode background
Hover#99E5CC
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7CDDBE
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F7F6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C2F4E3
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 #b5ecda

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 #1A654D
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #2BA67D

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
  • Weight18/100
  • 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#ECB5C7
Analogous left#B5ECBF
Analogous right#B5E3EC
Split-complement 1#ECB5E3
Split-complement 2#ECBFB5
Triadic 1#DAB5EC
Triadic 2#ECDAB5
Tetradic#BFB5EC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°160°

#b5ecda sits at 160°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red71.0%
Green92.5%
Blue85.5%
R · 0–255
181
0xb5
G · 0–255
236
0xec
B · 0–255
218
0xda

CMYK percentages

Cyan23.3%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow7.6%
Key (black)7.5%

Total ink coverage is 38%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#b5ecda text on a black background

contrast 15.98:1

Card sample

#b5ecda text on a white background

contrast 1.31:1

Card sample

#b5ecda on grey

1.20:1

#b5ecda on its own surface

1.24:1

#b5ecda on its dark surface

12.27:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #b5ecda;
Background color
Panel with #b5ecda background
background-color: #b5ecda;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #b5ecda;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(181, 236, 218, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(181, 236, 218, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #b5ecda;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #b5ecda, #B5D9EC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #b5ecda, #B5CCEC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #b5ecda;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #b5ecda;
caret-color: #b5ecda;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #b5ecda;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EBFAF5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #b5ecda;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#b5ecda 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #b5ecda 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(181, 236, 218, 0.5)
rgb(181 236 218 / 50%)
#b5ecda80
hsl(160 59% 82% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #b5ecda 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#b5ecda1a#F8FDFB
20%#b5ecda33#F0FBF8
40%#b5ecda66#E1F7F0
60%#b5ecda99#D3F4E9
80%#b5ecdacc#C4F0E1

Gradients from #b5ecda

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, #E6F9F2, #b5ecda 45%, #1A654D);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #b5ecda, #9DC7E6);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #b5ecda, #ECB5C7);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F3FCF9 0%, #b5ecda 45%, #1A654D 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4FAF8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #DEF6E0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #CEE9F2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #1A654D 0%, transparent 65%), #b5ecda;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #b5ecda

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.

#b5ecda 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 15.98:1.

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.

#b5ecda, answered

What color is #b5ecda?

#b5ecda is a light vivid cyan, closest to Pale Turquoise (ΔE2000 7). It sits at 160° on the hue wheel with 59% saturation and 82% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #b5ecda?

rgb(181, 236, 218) — 181 red, 236 green and 218 blue out of 255, or 71% / 92.5% / 85.5% by channel.

What is #b5ecda in HSL and HSV?

hsl(160, 59%, 82%) and hsv(160, 23%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #b5ecda a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.7488 and perceived brightness is 86%, so black text on it reaches 15.98:1.

Should I use black or white text on #b5ecda?

Black. It scores 15.98:1 against #b5ecda, versus 1.31:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #b5ecda accessible on a white background?

#b5ecda on white scores 1.31:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #228565 to reach 4.5:1, or #196149 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #b5ecda?

#ECB5C7 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #ECB5E3 and #ECBFB5, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #b5ecda?

For interface work: #F4FAF8 as the surface, #C0EDDE for borders, #4B9B81 for secondary text, #A72570 as an accent and #1A654D for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #B5ECBF and #B5E3EC stays calm, while #ECB5C7 is the loudest partner.

What is #b5ecda in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(23%, 0%, 8%, 8%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #b5ecda 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 #B5ECC6; nudged cooler, #B4EBED.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #b5ecda?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 18.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #b5ecda as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #b5ecda in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#b5ecda] or text-[#b5ecda], 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 #b5ecda with 50% opacity?

rgba(181, 236, 218, 0.5), or #b5ecda80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DAF6ED; over black, #5B766D.

Is #b5ecda a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCFFCC, ΔE2000 10.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #b5ecda 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 #b5ecda?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E6F9F2, #b5ecda 45%, #1A654D). For more colour, a short hue run to #9DC7E6 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #b5ecda in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #b5ecda at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.