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cyan · cool

#badce4

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

Token name suggestion: Morning Lagoon

RGB
186, 220, 228
HSL
191°, 44%, 81%
CMYK
18, 4, 0, 11
Luminance
0.6723

#badce4 is a light soft cyan, 191° on the wheel and 92/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (14.45:1). As text it scores 1.45:1 on white — use #387F90 instead. Nearest name is Light Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(191 44% 81%)rgb(186 220 228)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #badce4 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#badce4
Hue
191°
cyan
Saturation
44%
soft
Lightness
81%
light
Brightness
89%
HSV value
Perceived
83%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6723
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
92/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
14.45:1
Closest name
Light Blue
ΔE2000 2.9
Chroma
12.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.872
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 17.6
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue191° of 360°
Saturation44%
Lightness81%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #badce4.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool92% 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#badce4
HEX (8-digit)#badce4ff
RGBrgb(186, 220, 228)
RGBArgba(186, 220, 228, 1)
HSLhsl(191, 44%, 81%)
HSV / HSBhsv(191, 18%, 89%)
HWBhwb(191 73% 11%)
CMYKcmyk(18%, 4%, 0%, 11%)
LABlab(85.6 -9.5 -7.7)
LCHlch(85.6 12.2 219.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.872 0.037 213.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(59.84, 67.23, 83.21)
Decimal12246244
Display P3color(display-p3 0.729 0.863 0.894)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #badce4;
background-color: #badce4;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #badce4;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#badce4] bg-[#badce4]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #badce4;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.729, green: 0.863, blue: 0.894)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.729, green: 0.863, blue: 0.894, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BADCE4</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBADCE4)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBADCE4)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(228, 220, 186)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(186, 220, 228)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(186, 220, 228)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 186, 220, 228)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7294f, 0.8627f, 0.8941f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{186,220,228}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #badce4 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #badce4 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#24515C, #D3E9EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #badce4 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: #F5F9FA;
  --brand-100: #EAF3F5;
  --brand-200: #D1E6EB;
  --brand-300: #badce4;
  --brand-400: #86C2D0;
  --brand-500: #5EADC0;
  --brand-600: #459CB0;
  --brand-700: #398293;
  --brand-800: #2E6875;
  --brand-900: #254C56;
  --brand-950: #173036;
  --brand: #badce4;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F9FA;
  --brand-border: #C4E1E8;
  --brand-hover: #A0CFDA;
  --brand-pressed: #87C2D0;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142124;
    --brand-ink: #D3E9EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F9FA',
        100: '#EAF3F5',
        200: '#D1E6EB',
        300: '#badce4',
        400: '#86C2D0',
        500: '#5EADC0',
        600: '#459CB0',
        700: '#398293',
        800: '#2E6875',
        900: '#254C56',
        950: '#173036',
        DEFAULT: '#badce4',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F9FA,
  '100': #EAF3F5,
  '200': #D1E6EB,
  '300': #badce4,
  '400': #86C2D0,
  '500': #5EADC0,
  '600': #459CB0,
  '700': #398293,
  '800': #2E6875,
  '900': #254C56,
  '950': #173036,
);
$brand-base: #badce4;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F9FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EAF3F5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D1E6EB", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#badce4", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#86C2D0", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#5EADC0", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#459CB0", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#398293", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#2E6875", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#254C56", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#173036", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #badce4 · 14.45:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.45:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 14.45:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #badce4 as text scores 1.45:1 on white and 14.45:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #24515C at 6.00:1.

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
#387F90 · 4.56:1
AA on white−42% L
#387F90
The quick fox
#2A5F6B · 7.12:1
AAA on white−52% L
#2A5F6B
The quick fox
#badce4 · 14.45:1
AA on blackalready passes
#badce4
The quick fox
#badce4 · 14.45:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#badce4

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #47A0B4 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
#badce4 on white: 1.45:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#badce4 on black: 14.45:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #badce4 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #badce4.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.45:1AaAa
Slate 501.39:1AaAa
Slate 1001.33:1AaAa
Slate 2001.18:1AaAa
Slate 3001.02:1AaAa
Slate 4001.76:1AaAa
Slate 5003.27:1AaAa
Slate 6005.21:1AaAa
Slate 7007.12:1AaAa
Slate 80010.06:1AaAa
Slate 90012.28:1AaAa
Black14.45:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D6D9E5
deuteranopia · #CED4E4
tritanopia · #AEE0DE

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. #badce4 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.

#F5F9FA
#EAF3F5
#D1E6EB
#badce4
#86C2D0
#5EADC0
#459CB0
#398293
#2E6875
#254C56
#173036
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F5F9FADarkest = 950 · #173036Text 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 0.009 213.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.015 213.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.022 213.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.029 213.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.035 213.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.037 213.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.037 213.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.035 213.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.032 213.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.026 213.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.021 213.5);
}

Colors that work with #badce4

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#C4E1E8
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B8C9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#97353B
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#24515C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EDF6F8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142124
Dark-mode background
Hover#A0CFDA
One step down in lightness
Pressed#87C2D0
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F6F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C5E6EE
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 #badce4

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 #24515C
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #47A0B4

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
  • 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#E4C2BA
Analogous left#BAE4D7
Analogous right#BAC7E4
Split-complement 1#E4BAC7
Split-complement 2#E4D7BA
Triadic 1#E4BADC
Triadic 2#DCE4BA
Tetradic#D7BAE4
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°191°

#badce4 sits at 191°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red72.9%
Green86.3%
Blue89.4%
R · 0–255
186
0xba
G · 0–255
220
0xdc
B · 0–255
228
0xe4

CMYK percentages

Cyan18.4%
Magenta3.5%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)10.6%

Total ink coverage is 33%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#badce4 text on a black background

contrast 14.45:1

Card sample

#badce4 text on a white background

contrast 1.45:1

Card sample

#badce4 on grey

1.33:1

#badce4 on its own surface

1.37:1

#badce4 on its dark surface

11.35:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #badce4;
Background color
Panel with #badce4 background
background-color: #badce4;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #badce4;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(186, 220, 228, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(186, 220, 228, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #badce4;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #badce4, #BAC0E4);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #badce4, #BFBAE4);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #badce4;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #badce4;
caret-color: #badce4;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #badce4;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EDF6F8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #badce4;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#badce4 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #badce4 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(186, 220, 228, 0.5)
rgb(186 220 228 / 50%)
#badce480
hsl(191 44% 81% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #badce4 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#badce41a#F8FCFC
20%#badce433#F1F8FA
40%#badce466#E3F1F4
60%#badce499#D6EAEF
80%#badce4cc#C8E3E9

Gradients from #badce4

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, #E6F2F5, #badce4 45%, #24515C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #badce4, #A4A7DB);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #badce4, #E4C2BA);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F4F9FB 0%, #badce4 45%, #24515C 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%, #DFF2EB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D0D7ED 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #24515C 0%, transparent 65%), #badce4;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #badce4

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.

#badce4 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 14.45:1.

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.

#badce4, answered

What color is #badce4?

#badce4 is a light soft cyan, closest to Light Blue (ΔE2000 2.9). It sits at 191° on the hue wheel with 44% saturation and 81% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #badce4?

rgb(186, 220, 228) — 186 red, 220 green and 228 blue out of 255, or 72.9% / 86.3% / 89.4% by channel.

What is #badce4 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(191, 44%, 81%) and hsv(191, 18%, 89%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #badce4 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6723 and perceived brightness is 83%, so black text on it reaches 14.45:1.

Should I use black or white text on #badce4?

Black. It scores 14.45:1 against #badce4, versus 1.45:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #badce4 accessible on a white background?

#badce4 on white scores 1.45:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #387F90 to reach 4.5:1, or #2A5F6B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #badce4?

#E4C2BA sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #E4BAC7 and #E4D7BA, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #badce4?

For interface work: #F4F9FA as the surface, #C4E1E8 for borders, #4B8C9B for secondary text, #97353B as an accent and #24515C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BAE4D7 and #BAC7E4 stays calm, while #E4C2BA is the loudest partner.

What is #badce4 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(18%, 4%, 0%, 11%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #badce4 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 92 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #BAE4DD; nudged cooler, #B9D0E5.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #badce4?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 17.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #badce4 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #badce4 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#badce4] or text-[#badce4], 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 #badce4 with 50% opacity?

rgba(186, 220, 228, 0.5), or #badce480 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DDEEF2; over black, #5D6E72.

Is #badce4 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 12.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #badce4 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 #badce4?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E6F2F5, #badce4 45%, #24515C). For more colour, a short hue run to #A4A7DB keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #badce4 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #badce4 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.