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cyan · cool

#bce9df

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Glacier

RGB
188, 233, 223
HSL
167°, 51%, 83%
CMYK
19, 0, 4, 9
Luminance
0.7430

#bce9df is a light vivid cyan, 167° on the wheel and 82/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (15.86:1). As text it scores 1.32:1 on white — use #2B8471 instead. Nearest name is Pale Turquoise, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(167 51% 83%)rgb(188 233 223)Base step 200AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bce9df is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bce9df
Hue
167°
cyan
Saturation
51%
vivid
Lightness
83%
light
Brightness
91%
HSV value
Perceived
86%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.7430
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
82/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
15.86:1
Closest name
Pale Turquoise
ΔE2000 5
Chroma
16.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.900
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 19.1
Web-safe
#CCFFCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue167° of 360°
Saturation51%
Lightness83%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bce9df.

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#bce9df
HEX (8-digit)#bce9dfff
RGBrgb(188, 233, 223)
RGBArgba(188, 233, 223, 1)
HSLhsl(167, 51%, 83%)
HSV / HSBhsv(167, 19%, 91%)
HWBhwb(167 74% 9%)
CMYKcmyk(19%, 0%, 4%, 9%)
LABlab(89.1 -16.5 0.1)
LCHlch(89.1 16.5 179.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.900 0.049 180.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(63.19, 74.29, 80.81)
Decimal12380639
Display P3color(display-p3 0.737 0.914 0.875)
Web-safe#CCFFCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bce9df;
background-color: #bce9df;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bce9df;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bce9df] bg-[#bce9df]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bce9df;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.737, green: 0.914, blue: 0.875)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.737, green: 0.914, blue: 0.875, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BCE9DF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBCE9DF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBCE9DF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(223, 233, 188)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(188, 233, 223)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(188, 233, 223)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 188, 233, 223)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7373f, 0.9137f, 0.8745f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{188,233,223}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bce9df 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bce9df 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#1F6052, #D3EEE8);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bce9df 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: #F4FAF9;
  --brand-100: #EAF6F3;
  --brand-200: #bce9df;
  --brand-300: #ABE3D7;
  --brand-400: #80D5C3;
  --brand-500: #56C8AE;
  --brand-600: #3CB89D;
  --brand-700: #329A83;
  --brand-800: #287B69;
  --brand-900: #215A4D;
  --brand-950: #143830;
  --brand: #bce9df;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAF9;
  --brand-border: #C2EBE2;
  --brand-hover: #A1E0D2;
  --brand-pressed: #86D7C5;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142421;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEE8;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4FAF9',
        100: '#EAF6F3',
        200: '#bce9df',
        300: '#ABE3D7',
        400: '#80D5C3',
        500: '#56C8AE',
        600: '#3CB89D',
        700: '#329A83',
        800: '#287B69',
        900: '#215A4D',
        950: '#143830',
        DEFAULT: '#bce9df',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4FAF9,
  '100': #EAF6F3,
  '200': #bce9df,
  '300': #ABE3D7,
  '400': #80D5C3,
  '500': #56C8AE,
  '600': #3CB89D,
  '700': #329A83,
  '800': #287B69,
  '900': #215A4D,
  '950': #143830,
);
$brand-base: #bce9df;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4FAF9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EAF6F3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#bce9df", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#ABE3D7", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#80D5C3", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#56C8AE", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#3CB89D", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#329A83", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#287B69", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#215A4D", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#143830", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bce9df · 15.86:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.32:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 15.86:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bce9df as text scores 1.32:1 on white and 15.86:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #1F6052 at 5.56:1.

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
#2B8471 · 4.52:1
AA on white−48% L
#2B8471
The quick fox
#206253 · 7.16:1
AAA on white−57% L
#206253
The quick fox
#bce9df · 15.86:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bce9df
The quick fox
#bce9df · 15.86:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bce9df

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #36A38B 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
#bce9df on white: 1.32:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bce9df on black: 15.86:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bce9df as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bce9df.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.32:1AaAa
Slate 501.27:1AaAa
Slate 1001.21:1AaAa
Slate 2001.07:1AaAa
Slate 3001.12:1AaAa
Slate 4001.94:1AaAa
Slate 5003.59:1AaAa
Slate 6005.72:1AaAa
Slate 7007.82:1AaAa
Slate 80011.05:1AaAa
Slate 90013.48:1AaAa
Black15.86:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #E5E3DF
deuteranopia · #DCDDE0
tritanopia · #B1EBE6

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. #bce9df 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.

#F4FAF9
#EAF6F3
#bce9df
#ABE3D7
#80D5C3
#56C8AE
#3CB89D
#329A83
#287B69
#215A4D
#143830
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F4FAF9Darkest = 950 · #143830Text 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 0.012 180.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.019 180.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.029 180.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.038 180.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.045 180.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.049 180.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.049 180.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.046 180.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.041 180.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.034 180.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.027 180.1);
}

Colors that work with #bce9df

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#F4FAF9
Tinted page background
Border#C2EBE2
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B89
Captions on the surface
Accent#9E2E63
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#1F6052
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#ECF9F6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142421
Dark-mode background
Hover#A1E0D2
One step down in lightness
Pressed#86D7C5
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F7F6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C8F1E8
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 #bce9df

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 #1F6052
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #36A38B

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#E9BCC6
Analogous left#BCE9C8
Analogous right#BCDCE9
Split-complement 1#E9BCDC
Split-complement 2#E9C8BC
Triadic 1#DFBCE9
Triadic 2#E9DFBC
Tetradic#C8BCE9
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°167°

#bce9df sits at 167°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red73.7%
Green91.4%
Blue87.5%
R · 0–255
188
0xbc
G · 0–255
233
0xe9
B · 0–255
223
0xdf

CMYK percentages

Cyan19.3%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow4.3%
Key (black)8.6%

Total ink coverage is 32%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bce9df text on a black background

contrast 15.86:1

Card sample

#bce9df text on a white background

contrast 1.32:1

Card sample

#bce9df on grey

1.21:1

#bce9df on its own surface

1.25:1

#bce9df on its dark surface

12.16:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bce9df;
Background color
Panel with #bce9df background
background-color: #bce9df;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bce9df;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(188, 233, 223, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(188, 233, 223, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bce9df;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bce9df, #BCD5E9);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bce9df, #BCCAE9);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bce9df;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bce9df;
caret-color: #bce9df;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bce9df;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #ECF9F6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bce9df;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bce9df 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bce9df 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(188, 233, 223, 0.5)
rgb(188 233 223 / 50%)
#bce9df80
hsl(167 51% 83% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bce9df 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bce9df1a#F8FDFC
20%#bce9df33#F2FBF9
40%#bce9df66#E4F6F2
60%#bce9df99#D7F2EC
80%#bce9dfcc#C9EDE5

Gradients from #bce9df

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, #EAF8F5, #bce9df 45%, #1F6052);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bce9df, #A5C1E1);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bce9df, #E9BCC6);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F3FBFA 0%, #bce9df 45%, #1F6052 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4FAF9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #E2F6E6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D3E6F1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #1F6052 0%, transparent 65%), #bce9df;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bce9df

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.

#bce9df 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 15.86:1.

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.

#bce9df, answered

What color is #bce9df?

#bce9df is a light vivid cyan, closest to Pale Turquoise (ΔE2000 5). It sits at 167° on the hue wheel with 51% saturation and 83% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #bce9df?

rgb(188, 233, 223) — 188 red, 233 green and 223 blue out of 255, or 73.7% / 91.4% / 87.5% by channel.

What is #bce9df in HSL and HSV?

hsl(167, 51%, 83%) and hsv(167, 19%, 91%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bce9df a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.7430 and perceived brightness is 86%, so black text on it reaches 15.86:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bce9df?

Black. It scores 15.86:1 against #bce9df, versus 1.32:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bce9df accessible on a white background?

#bce9df on white scores 1.32:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #2B8471 to reach 4.5:1, or #206253 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bce9df?

#E9BCC6 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #E9BCDC and #E9C8BC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bce9df?

For interface work: #F4FAF9 as the surface, #C2EBE2 for borders, #4B9B89 for secondary text, #9E2E63 as an accent and #1F6052 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BCE9C8 and #BCDCE9 stays calm, while #E9BCC6 is the loudest partner.

What is #bce9df in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(19%, 0%, 4%, 9%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bce9df 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 #BCE9CE; nudged cooler, #BBE3EA.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bce9df?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 19.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bce9df as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bce9df in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bce9df] or text-[#bce9df], 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 #bce9df with 50% opacity?

rgba(188, 233, 223, 0.5), or #bce9df80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DEF4EF; over black, #5E7570.

Is #bce9df a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCFFCC, ΔE2000 12.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bce9df 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 #bce9df?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #EAF8F5, #bce9df 45%, #1F6052). For more colour, a short hue run to #A5C1E1 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bce9df in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bce9df at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.