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cyan · cool

#b9ebfa

a pale, electric cyan · cool · closest name: Light Blue

Token name suggestion: Chalk Teal

RGB
185, 235, 250
HSL
194°, 87%, 85%
CMYK
26, 6, 0, 2
Luminance
0.7663

#b9ebfa is a pale electric cyan, 194° on the wheel and 93/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (16.33:1). As text it scores 1.29:1 on white — use #0C80A3 instead. Nearest name is Light Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(194 87% 85%)rgb(185 235 250)Base step 200AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #b9ebfa is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#b9ebfa
Hue
194°
cyan
Saturation
87%
electric
Lightness
85%
pale
Brightness
98%
HSV value
Perceived
87%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.7663
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
93/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
16.33:1
Closest name
Light Blue
ΔE2000 4.3
Chroma
17.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.910
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 17.8
Web-safe
#CCFFFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue194° of 360°
Saturation87%
Lightness85%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #b9ebfa.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool93% 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%
Green78%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#b9ebfa
HEX (8-digit)#b9ebfaff
RGBrgb(185, 235, 250)
RGBArgba(185, 235, 250, 1)
HSLhsl(194, 87%, 85%)
HSV / HSBhsv(194, 26%, 98%)
HWBhwb(194 73% 2%)
CMYKcmyk(26%, 6%, 0%, 2%)
LABlab(90.2 -12.6 -12.5)
LCHlch(90.2 17.8 224.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.910 0.055 218.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(66.97, 76.63, 101.69)
Decimal12184570
Display P3color(display-p3 0.725 0.922 0.980)
Web-safe#CCFFFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #b9ebfa;
background-color: #b9ebfa;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #b9ebfa;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#b9ebfa] bg-[#b9ebfa]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #b9ebfa;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.725, green: 0.922, blue: 0.980)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.725, green: 0.922, blue: 0.980, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#B9EBFA</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFB9EBFA)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFB9EBFA)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(250, 235, 185)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(185, 235, 250)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(185, 235, 250)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 185, 235, 250)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7255f, 0.9216f, 0.9804f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{185,235,250}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #b9ebfa 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #b9ebfa 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#085E77, #D3E8EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #b9ebfa 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: #F2FAFD;
  --brand-100: #E5F5FA;
  --brand-200: #b9ebfa;
  --brand-300: #96E1F8;
  --brand-400: #62D2F4;
  --brand-500: #2EC3F0;
  --brand-600: #10B4E5;
  --brand-700: #0E96BE;
  --brand-800: #0B7898;
  --brand-900: #0C586E;
  --brand-950: #083745;
  --brand: #b9ebfa;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F9FA;
  --brand-border: #C0E2ED;
  --brand-hover: #98E2F8;
  --brand-pressed: #76D8F5;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142124;
    --brand-ink: #D3E8EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F2FAFD',
        100: '#E5F5FA',
        200: '#b9ebfa',
        300: '#96E1F8',
        400: '#62D2F4',
        500: '#2EC3F0',
        600: '#10B4E5',
        700: '#0E96BE',
        800: '#0B7898',
        900: '#0C586E',
        950: '#083745',
        DEFAULT: '#b9ebfa',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F2FAFD,
  '100': #E5F5FA,
  '200': #b9ebfa,
  '300': #96E1F8,
  '400': #62D2F4,
  '500': #2EC3F0,
  '600': #10B4E5,
  '700': #0E96BE,
  '800': #0B7898,
  '900': #0C586E,
  '950': #083745,
);
$brand-base: #b9ebfa;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F2FAFD", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E5F5FA", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#b9ebfa", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#96E1F8", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#62D2F4", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#2EC3F0", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#10B4E5", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#0E96BE", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#0B7898", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#0C586E", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#083745", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #b9ebfa · 16.33:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.29:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 16.33:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #b9ebfa as text scores 1.29:1 on white and 16.33:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #085E77 at 5.67:1.

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
#0C80A3 · 4.53:1
AA on white−51% L
#0C80A3
The quick fox
#095F78 · 7.19:1
AAA on white−60% L
#095F78
The quick fox
#b9ebfa · 16.33:1
AA on blackalready passes
#b9ebfa
The quick fox
#b9ebfa · 16.33:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#b9ebfa

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #0E9EC9 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
#b9ebfa on white: 1.29:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#b9ebfa on black: 16.33:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #b9ebfa as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #b9ebfa.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.29:1AaAa
Slate 501.23:1AaAa
Slate 1001.17:1AaAa
Slate 2001.04:1AaAa
Slate 3001.15:1AaAa
Slate 4001.99:1AaAa
Slate 5003.70:1AaAa
Slate 6005.89:1AaAa
Slate 7008.05:1AaAa
Slate 80011.37:1AaAa
Slate 90013.88:1AaAa
Black16.33:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #E1E8FB
deuteranopia · #D6DFFA
tritanopia · #A5F1EF

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. #b9ebfa is pinned to step 200; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F2FAFD
#E5F5FA
#b9ebfa
#96E1F8
#62D2F4
#2EC3F0
#10B4E5
#0E96BE
#0B7898
#0C586E
#083745
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F2FAFDDarkest = 950 · #083745Text 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 0.014 218.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.022 218.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.033 218.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.043 218.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.051 218.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.055 218.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.055 218.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.052 218.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.046 218.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.039 218.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.030 218.1);
}

Colors that work with #b9ebfa

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#C0E2ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B889B
Captions on the surface
Accent#C4080B
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#085E77
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E7F8FD
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142124
Dark-mode background
Hover#98E2F8
One step down in lightness
Pressed#76D8F5
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F6F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C9F2FE
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 #b9ebfa

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 #085E77
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #0E9EC9

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.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. The high lightness makes it recede — a surface colour rather than a statement.

Worth knowing

At high lightness it disappears into white surfaces and thin strokes vanish entirely.

Reads as
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight15/100
  • 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#FAC8B9
Analogous left#B9FAE8
Analogous right#B9CBFA
Split-complement 1#FAB9CB
Split-complement 2#FAE8B9
Triadic 1#FAB9EB
Triadic 2#EBFAB9
Tetradic#E8B9FA
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°194°

#b9ebfa sits at 194°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red72.5%
Green92.2%
Blue98.0%
R · 0–255
185
0xb9
G · 0–255
235
0xeb
B · 0–255
250
0xfa

CMYK percentages

Cyan26.0%
Magenta6.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)2.0%

Total ink coverage is 34%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#b9ebfa text on a black background

contrast 16.33:1

Card sample

#b9ebfa text on a white background

contrast 1.29:1

Card sample

#b9ebfa on grey

1.17:1

#b9ebfa on its own surface

1.21:1

#b9ebfa on its dark surface

12.83:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #b9ebfa;
Background color
Panel with #b9ebfa background
background-color: #b9ebfa;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #b9ebfa;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(185, 235, 250, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(185, 235, 250, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #b9ebfa;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #b9ebfa, #B9C0FA);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #b9ebfa, #C3B9FA);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #b9ebfa;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #b9ebfa;
caret-color: #b9ebfa;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #b9ebfa;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E7F8FD;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #b9ebfa;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#b9ebfa 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #b9ebfa 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(185, 235, 250, 0.5)
rgb(185 235 250 / 50%)
#b9ebfa80
hsl(194 87% 85% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #b9ebfa 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#b9ebfa1a#F8FDFF
20%#b9ebfa33#F1FBFE
40%#b9ebfa66#E3F7FD
60%#b9ebfa99#D5F3FC
80%#b9ebfacc#C7EFFB

Gradients from #b9ebfa

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, #ECFAFE, #b9ebfa 45%, #085E77);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #b9ebfa, #9C9EF8);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #b9ebfa, #FAC8B9);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F1FBFE 0%, #b9ebfa 45%, #085E77 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%, #E9FDF6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D6DDFC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #085E77 0%, transparent 65%), #b9ebfa;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #b9ebfa

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.

#b9ebfa 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

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

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 16.33:1.

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.

#b9ebfa, answered

What color is #b9ebfa?

#b9ebfa is a pale electric cyan, closest to Light Blue (ΔE2000 4.3). It sits at 194° on the hue wheel with 87% saturation and 85% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #b9ebfa?

rgb(185, 235, 250) — 185 red, 235 green and 250 blue out of 255, or 72.5% / 92.2% / 98% by channel.

What is #b9ebfa in HSL and HSV?

hsl(194, 87%, 85%) and hsv(194, 26%, 98%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #b9ebfa a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.7663 and perceived brightness is 87%, so black text on it reaches 16.33:1.

Should I use black or white text on #b9ebfa?

Black. It scores 16.33:1 against #b9ebfa, versus 1.29:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #b9ebfa accessible on a white background?

#b9ebfa on white scores 1.29:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #0C80A3 to reach 4.5:1, or #095F78 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #b9ebfa?

#FAC8B9 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #FAB9CB and #FAE8B9, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #b9ebfa?

For interface work: #F4F9FA as the surface, #C0E2ED for borders, #4B889B for secondary text, #C4080B as an accent and #085E77 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #B9FAE8 and #B9CBFA stays calm, while #FAC8B9 is the loudest partner.

What is #b9ebfa in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(26%, 6%, 0%, 2%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #b9ebfa warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 93 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #B9FAF1; nudged cooler, #B8DDFB.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #b9ebfa?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 17.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #b9ebfa as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #b9ebfa in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#b9ebfa] or text-[#b9ebfa], 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 #b9ebfa with 50% opacity?

rgba(185, 235, 250, 0.5), or #b9ebfa80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DCF5FD; over black, #5D767D.

Is #b9ebfa a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCFFFF, ΔE2000 7.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #b9ebfa 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 #b9ebfa?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #ECFAFE, #b9ebfa 45%, #085E77). For more colour, a short hue run to #9C9EF8 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #b9ebfa in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #b9ebfa at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.