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cyan · cool

#bdcacd

a light, muted cyan · cool · closest name: Silver

Token name suggestion: Linen Reef

RGB
189, 202, 205
HSL
191°, 14%, 77%
CMYK
8, 2, 0, 20
Luminance
0.5747

#bdcacd is a light muted cyan, 191° on the wheel and 67/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.49:1). As text it scores 1.68:1 on white — use #617B81 instead. Nearest name is Silver, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(191 14% 77%)rgb(189 202 205)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

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

Hex
#bdcacd
Hue
191°
cyan
Saturation
14%
muted
Lightness
77%
light
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
78%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5747
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
67/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
12.49:1
Closest name
Silver
ΔE2000 6
Chroma
4.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.830
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 20
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue191° of 360°
Saturation14%
Lightness77%
Saturation × lightness field

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

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool67% 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
Red19%
Green74%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#bdcacd
HEX (8-digit)#bdcacdff
RGBrgb(189, 202, 205)
RGBArgba(189, 202, 205, 1)
HSLhsl(191, 14%, 77%)
HSV / HSBhsv(191, 8%, 80%)
HWBhwb(191 74% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(8%, 2%, 0%, 20%)
LABlab(80.4 -3.8 -3.0)
LCHlch(80.4 4.9 218.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.830 0.015 213.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(53.12, 57.47, 66.04)
Decimal12438221
Display P3color(display-p3 0.741 0.792 0.804)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bdcacd;
background-color: #bdcacd;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bdcacd;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bdcacd] bg-[#bdcacd]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bdcacd;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.741, green: 0.792, blue: 0.804)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.741, green: 0.792, blue: 0.804, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BDCACD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBDCACD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBDCACD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(205, 202, 189)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(189, 202, 205)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(189, 202, 205)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 189, 202, 205)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7412f, 0.7922f, 0.8039f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{189,202,205}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bdcacd 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bdcacd 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#374549, #DCE3E5);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bdcacd 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: #F7F8F8;
  --brand-100: #EEF1F1;
  --brand-200: #DAE0E2;
  --brand-300: #bdcacd;
  --brand-400: #9FB2B6;
  --brand-500: #7F989E;
  --brand-600: #6A858B;
  --brand-700: #586F74;
  --brand-800: #46595D;
  --brand-900: #354245;
  --brand-950: #21292B;
  --brand: #bdcacd;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F8F8;
  --brand-border: #D1DADC;
  --brand-hover: #A9BABE;
  --brand-pressed: #95A9AE;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #181E20;
    --brand-ink: #DCE3E5;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F8F8',
        100: '#EEF1F1',
        200: '#DAE0E2',
        300: '#bdcacd',
        400: '#9FB2B6',
        500: '#7F989E',
        600: '#6A858B',
        700: '#586F74',
        800: '#46595D',
        900: '#354245',
        950: '#21292B',
        DEFAULT: '#bdcacd',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F8F8,
  '100': #EEF1F1,
  '200': #DAE0E2,
  '300': #bdcacd,
  '400': #9FB2B6,
  '500': #7F989E,
  '600': #6A858B,
  '700': #586F74,
  '800': #46595D,
  '900': #354245,
  '950': #21292B,
);
$brand-base: #bdcacd;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F8F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EEF1F1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DAE0E2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#bdcacd", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#9FB2B6", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7F989E", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#6A858B", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#586F74", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#46595D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#354245", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#21292B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bdcacd · 12.49:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.68:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.49:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bdcacd as text scores 1.68:1 on white and 12.49:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #374549 at 5.92:1.

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
#617B81 · 4.51:1
AA on white−33% L
#617B81
The quick fox
#495C61 · 7.03:1
AAA on white−44% L
#495C61
The quick fox
#bdcacd · 12.49:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bdcacd
The quick fox
#bdcacd · 12.49:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bdcacd

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #80999F 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
#bdcacd on white: 1.68:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bdcacd on black: 12.49:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.68:1AaAa
Slate 501.61:1AaAa
Slate 1001.53:1AaAa
Slate 2001.36:1AaAa
Slate 3001.13:1AaAa
Slate 4001.53:1AaAa
Slate 5002.83:1AaAa
Slate 6004.51:1AaAa
Slate 7006.16:1AaAa
Slate 8008.70:1AaAa
Slate 90010.62:1AaAa
Black12.49:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C7C9CD
deuteranopia · #C5C7CD
tritanopia · #B9CBCB

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. #bdcacd 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.

#F7F8F8
#EEF1F1
#DAE0E2
#bdcacd
#9FB2B6
#7F989E
#6A858B
#586F74
#46595D
#354245
#21292B
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F7F8F8Darkest = 950 · #21292BText step on white = 700
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 0.004 213.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.006 213.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.009 213.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.012 213.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.014 213.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.015 213.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.015 213.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.014 213.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.013 213.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.010 213.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.008 213.1);
}

Colors that work with #bdcacd

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#F6F8F8
Tinted page background
Border#D1DADC
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#637D83
Captions on the surface
Accent#785456
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#374549
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F0F3F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#181E20
Dark-mode background
Hover#A9BABE
One step down in lightness
Pressed#95A9AE
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F6F6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C4D6DB
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 #bdcacd

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Borders, dividers and quiet backgrounds
  • Long-form reading 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 #374549
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #80999F

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.

With almost no chroma left, the family association is barely present; treat it as a neutral that happens to lean this way. 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
  • EnergyLow
  • Weight23/100
  • 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#CDC0BD
Analogous left#BDCDC8
Analogous right#BDC2CD
Split-complement 1#CDBDC2
Split-complement 2#CDC8BD
Triadic 1#CDBDCA
Triadic 2#CACDBD
Tetradic#C8BDCD
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°191°

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

RGB percentages

Red74.1%
Green79.2%
Blue80.4%
R · 0–255
189
0xbd
G · 0–255
202
0xca
B · 0–255
205
0xcd

CMYK percentages

Cyan7.8%
Magenta1.5%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)19.6%

Total ink coverage is 29%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bdcacd text on a black background

contrast 12.49:1

Card sample

#bdcacd text on a white background

contrast 1.68:1

Card sample

#bdcacd on grey

1.53:1

#bdcacd on its own surface

1.58:1

#bdcacd on its dark surface

10.03:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(189, 202, 205, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(189, 202, 205, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bdcacd;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bdcacd, #BDBFCD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

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

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bdcacd;
caret-color: #bdcacd;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bdcacd;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F0F3F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bdcacd;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bdcacd 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bdcacd 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(189, 202, 205, 0.5)
rgb(189 202 205 / 50%)
#bdcacd80
hsl(191 14% 77% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bdcacd 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bdcacd1a#F8FAFA
20%#bdcacd33#F2F4F5
40%#bdcacd66#E5EAEB
60%#bdcacd99#D7DFE1
80%#bdcacdcc#CAD5D7

Gradients from #bdcacd

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, #E0E6E7, #bdcacd 45%, #374549);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bdcacd, #ACADC0);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bdcacd, #CDC0BD);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F1F4F5 0%, #bdcacd 45%, #374549 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F8F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #DAE3E0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #CFD1DA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #374549 0%, transparent 65%), #bdcacd;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bdcacd

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.

#bdcacd 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
BackgroundsBordersBody textDividers
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 12.49:1.

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.

#bdcacd, answered

What color is #bdcacd?

#bdcacd is a light muted cyan, closest to Silver (ΔE2000 6). It sits at 191° on the hue wheel with 14% saturation and 77% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #bdcacd?

rgb(189, 202, 205) — 189 red, 202 green and 205 blue out of 255, or 74.1% / 79.2% / 80.4% by channel.

What is #bdcacd in HSL and HSV?

hsl(191, 14%, 77%) and hsv(191, 8%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bdcacd a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5747 and perceived brightness is 78%, so black text on it reaches 12.49:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bdcacd?

Black. It scores 12.49:1 against #bdcacd, versus 1.68:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bdcacd accessible on a white background?

#bdcacd on white scores 1.68:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #617B81 to reach 4.5:1, or #495C61 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bdcacd?

#CDC0BD sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CDBDC2 and #CDC8BD, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bdcacd?

For interface work: #F6F8F8 as the surface, #D1DADC for borders, #637D83 for secondary text, #785456 as an accent and #374549 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BDCDC8 and #BDC2CD stays calm, while #CDC0BD is the loudest partner.

What is #bdcacd in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(8%, 2%, 0%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bdcacd warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 67 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #BDCDCA; nudged cooler, #BCC5CE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bdcacd?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 20 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bdcacd as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bdcacd in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(189, 202, 205, 0.5), or #bdcacd80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DEE5E6; over black, #5F6567.

Is #bdcacd a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 5.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bdcacd mean?

As a cyan, it reads clean, technical, fresh. Cyan reads as water, air and infrastructure: cool, hygienic, engineered. At this low chroma the association is faint; it behaves more like a neutral.

What gradient works with #bdcacd?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E0E6E7, #bdcacd 45%, #374549). For more colour, a short hue run to #ACADC0 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bdcacd in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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