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cyan · cool

#baedf4

a light, vivid cyan · cool · closest name: Powder Blue

Token name suggestion: Morning Glacier

RGB
186, 237, 244
HSL
187°, 73%, 84%
CMYK
24, 3, 0, 4
Luminance
0.7754

#baedf4 is a light vivid cyan, 187° on the wheel and 91/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (16.51:1). As text it scores 1.27:1 on white — use #17808E instead. Nearest name is Powder Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(187 73% 84%)rgb(186 237 244)Base step 200AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #baedf4 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#baedf4
Hue
187°
cyan
Saturation
73%
vivid
Lightness
84%
light
Brightness
96%
HSV value
Perceived
88%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.7754
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
91/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
16.51:1
Closest name
Powder Blue
ΔE2000 2.9
Chroma
17.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.913
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 18.5
Web-safe
#CCFFFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue187° of 360°
Saturation73%
Lightness84%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #baedf4.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool91% 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%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#baedf4
HEX (8-digit)#baedf4ff
RGBrgb(186, 237, 244)
RGBArgba(186, 237, 244, 1)
HSLhsl(187, 73%, 84%)
HSV / HSBhsv(187, 24%, 96%)
HWBhwb(187 73% 4%)
CMYKcmyk(24%, 3%, 0%, 4%)
LABlab(90.6 -14.7 -8.7)
LCHlch(90.6 17.1 210.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.913 0.053 206.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(66.86, 77.54, 97.01)
Decimal12250612
Display P3color(display-p3 0.729 0.929 0.957)
Web-safe#CCFFFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #baedf4;
background-color: #baedf4;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #baedf4;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#baedf4] bg-[#baedf4]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #baedf4;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.729, green: 0.929, blue: 0.957)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.729, green: 0.929, blue: 0.957, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BAEDF4</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBAEDF4)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBAEDF4)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(244, 237, 186)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(186, 237, 244)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(186, 237, 244)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 186, 237, 244)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7294f, 0.9294f, 0.9569f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{186,237,244}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #baedf4 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #baedf4 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#12636E, #D3EBEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #baedf4 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: #F3FBFC;
  --brand-100: #E7F6F8;
  --brand-200: #baedf4;
  --brand-300: #9EE6F0;
  --brand-400: #6ED9E8;
  --brand-500: #3DCDE0;
  --brand-600: #22BED3;
  --brand-700: #1C9EB0;
  --brand-800: #167F8D;
  --brand-900: #145C66;
  --brand-950: #0D3A40;
  --brand: #baedf4;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C0E7ED;
  --brand-hover: #9BE5EF;
  --brand-pressed: #7CDDEA;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142224;
    --brand-ink: #D3EBEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3FBFC',
        100: '#E7F6F8',
        200: '#baedf4',
        300: '#9EE6F0',
        400: '#6ED9E8',
        500: '#3DCDE0',
        600: '#22BED3',
        700: '#1C9EB0',
        800: '#167F8D',
        900: '#145C66',
        950: '#0D3A40',
        DEFAULT: '#baedf4',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3FBFC,
  '100': #E7F6F8,
  '200': #baedf4,
  '300': #9EE6F0,
  '400': #6ED9E8,
  '500': #3DCDE0,
  '600': #22BED3,
  '700': #1C9EB0,
  '800': #167F8D,
  '900': #145C66,
  '950': #0D3A40,
);
$brand-base: #baedf4;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3FBFC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E7F6F8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#baedf4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#9EE6F0", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#6ED9E8", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#3DCDE0", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#22BED3", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#1C9EB0", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#167F8D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#145C66", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0D3A40", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #baedf4 · 16.51:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.27:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 16.51:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #baedf4 as text scores 1.27:1 on white and 16.51:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #12636E at 5.44:1.

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
#17808E · 4.65:1
AA on white−52% L
#17808E
The quick fox
#11606B · 7.22:1
AAA on white−60% L
#11606B
The quick fox
#baedf4 · 16.51:1
AA on blackalready passes
#baedf4
The quick fox
#baedf4 · 16.51:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#baedf4

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #1DA3B6 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
#baedf4 on white: 1.27:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#baedf4 on black: 16.51:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #baedf4 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #baedf4.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.27:1AaAa
Slate 501.22:1AaAa
Slate 1001.16:1AaAa
Slate 2001.03:1AaAa
Slate 3001.17:1AaAa
Slate 4002.02:1AaAa
Slate 5003.74:1AaAa
Slate 6005.96:1AaAa
Slate 7008.14:1AaAa
Slate 80011.50:1AaAa
Slate 90014.03:1AaAa
Black16.51:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #E5E9F5
deuteranopia · #DAE1F4
tritanopia · #A8F1EF

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. #baedf4 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.

#F3FBFC
#E7F6F8
#baedf4
#9EE6F0
#6ED9E8
#3DCDE0
#22BED3
#1C9EB0
#167F8D
#145C66
#0D3A40
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F3FBFCDarkest = 950 · #0D3A40Text 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 0.013 206.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.021 206.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.032 206.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.041 206.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.049 206.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.053 206.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.053 206.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.050 206.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.044 206.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.037 206.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.029 206.6);
}

Colors that work with #baedf4

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#F4FAFA
Tinted page background
Border#C0E7ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B919B
Captions on the surface
Accent#B5172B
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#12636E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E9F9FB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142224
Dark-mode background
Hover#9BE5EF
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7CDDEA
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F7F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C9F4FA
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 #baedf4

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 #12636E
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #1DA3B6

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
  • Weight16/100
  • 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#F4C1BA
Analogous left#BAF4DE
Analogous right#BAD0F4
Split-complement 1#F4BAD0
Split-complement 2#F4DEBA
Triadic 1#F4BAED
Triadic 2#EDF4BA
Tetradic#DEBAF4
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°187°

#baedf4 sits at 187°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red72.9%
Green92.9%
Blue95.7%
R · 0–255
186
0xba
G · 0–255
237
0xed
B · 0–255
244
0xf4

CMYK percentages

Cyan23.8%
Magenta2.9%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)4.3%

Total ink coverage is 31%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#baedf4 text on a black background

contrast 16.51:1

Card sample

#baedf4 text on a white background

contrast 1.27:1

Card sample

#baedf4 on grey

1.16:1

#baedf4 on its own surface

1.21:1

#baedf4 on its dark surface

12.86:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #baedf4;
Background color
Panel with #baedf4 background
background-color: #baedf4;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #baedf4;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(186, 237, 244, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(186, 237, 244, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #baedf4;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #baedf4, #BAC6F4);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #baedf4, #BCBAF4);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #baedf4;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #baedf4;
caret-color: #baedf4;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #baedf4;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E9F9FB;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #baedf4;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#baedf4 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #baedf4 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, 237, 244, 0.5)
rgb(186 237 244 / 50%)
#baedf480
hsl(187 73% 84% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #baedf4 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#baedf41a#F8FDFE
20%#baedf433#F1FBFD
40%#baedf466#E3F8FB
60%#baedf499#D6F4F8
80%#baedf4cc#C8F1F6

Gradients from #baedf4

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, #EDFAFC, #baedf4 45%, #12636E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #baedf4, #A0AAF0);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #baedf4, #F4C1BA);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F2FCFD 0%, #baedf4 45%, #12636E 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4FAFA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #E6FBF1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D4DFF8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #12636E 0%, transparent 65%), #baedf4;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #baedf4

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.

#baedf4 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 16.51:1.

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.

#baedf4, answered

What color is #baedf4?

#baedf4 is a light vivid cyan, closest to Powder Blue (ΔE2000 2.9). It sits at 187° on the hue wheel with 73% saturation and 84% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #baedf4?

rgb(186, 237, 244) — 186 red, 237 green and 244 blue out of 255, or 72.9% / 92.9% / 95.7% by channel.

What is #baedf4 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(187, 73%, 84%) and hsv(187, 24%, 96%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #baedf4 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.7754 and perceived brightness is 88%, so black text on it reaches 16.51:1.

Should I use black or white text on #baedf4?

Black. It scores 16.51:1 against #baedf4, versus 1.27:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #baedf4 accessible on a white background?

#baedf4 on white scores 1.27:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #17808E to reach 4.5:1, or #11606B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #baedf4?

#F4C1BA sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #F4BAD0 and #F4DEBA, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #baedf4?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C0E7ED for borders, #4B919B for secondary text, #B5172B as an accent and #12636E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BAF4DE and #BAD0F4 stays calm, while #F4C1BA is the loudest partner.

What is #baedf4 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(24%, 3%, 0%, 4%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #baedf4 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 91 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #BAF4E6; nudged cooler, #B9DBF5.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #baedf4?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 18.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #baedf4 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #baedf4 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#baedf4] or text-[#baedf4], 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 #baedf4 with 50% opacity?

rgba(186, 237, 244, 0.5), or #baedf480 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DDF6FA; over black, #5D777A.

Is #baedf4 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCFFFF, ΔE2000 4.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #baedf4 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 #baedf4?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #EDFAFC, #baedf4 45%, #12636E). For more colour, a short hue run to #A0AAF0 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #baedf4 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #baedf4 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.