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cyan · cool

#bfeaef

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Reef

RGB
191, 234, 239
HSL
186°, 60%, 84%
CMYK
20, 2, 0, 6
Luminance
0.7615

#bfeaef is a light vivid cyan, 186° on the wheel and 90/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (16.23:1). As text it scores 1.29:1 on white — use #23818C instead. Nearest name is Powder Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(186 60% 84%)rgb(191 234 239)Base step 200AAA inkCool

At a glance

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

Hex
#bfeaef
Hue
186°
cyan
Saturation
60%
vivid
Lightness
84%
light
Brightness
94%
HSV value
Perceived
87%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.7615
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
90/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
16.23:1
Closest name
Powder Blue
ΔE2000 2.7
Chroma
14.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.908
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 19
Web-safe
#CCFFFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue186° of 360°
Saturation60%
Lightness84%
Saturation × lightness field

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

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool90% 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
Red15%
Green77%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#bfeaef
HEX (8-digit)#bfeaefff
RGBrgb(191, 234, 239)
RGBArgba(191, 234, 239, 1)
HSLhsl(186, 60%, 84%)
HSV / HSBhsv(186, 20%, 94%)
HWBhwb(186 75% 6%)
CMYKcmyk(20%, 2%, 0%, 6%)
LABlab(89.9 -12.8 -7.0)
LCHlch(89.9 14.6 208.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.908 0.045 205.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(66.48, 76.15, 92.84)
Decimal12577519
Display P3color(display-p3 0.749 0.918 0.937)
Web-safe#CCFFFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bfeaef;
background-color: #bfeaef;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bfeaef;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bfeaef] bg-[#bfeaef]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bfeaef;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.749, green: 0.918, blue: 0.937)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.749, green: 0.918, blue: 0.937, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BFEAEF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBFEAEF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBFEAEF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(239, 234, 191)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(191, 234, 239)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(191, 234, 239)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 191, 234, 239)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7490f, 0.9176f, 0.9373f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{191,234,239}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bfeaef 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bfeaef 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#1A5E66, #D3EBEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bfeaef 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: #F4FAFB;
  --brand-100: #E9F5F7;
  --brand-200: #bfeaef;
  --brand-300: #A5E1E9;
  --brand-400: #78D3DD;
  --brand-500: #4BC4D2;
  --brand-600: #31B4C4;
  --brand-700: #2996A3;
  --brand-800: #217883;
  --brand-900: #1B585F;
  --brand-950: #11373B;
  --brand: #bfeaef;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C0E8ED;
  --brand-hover: #A2E1E8;
  --brand-pressed: #86D7E1;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142324;
    --brand-ink: #D3EBEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4FAFB',
        100: '#E9F5F7',
        200: '#bfeaef',
        300: '#A5E1E9',
        400: '#78D3DD',
        500: '#4BC4D2',
        600: '#31B4C4',
        700: '#2996A3',
        800: '#217883',
        900: '#1B585F',
        950: '#11373B',
        DEFAULT: '#bfeaef',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4FAFB,
  '100': #E9F5F7,
  '200': #bfeaef,
  '300': #A5E1E9,
  '400': #78D3DD,
  '500': #4BC4D2,
  '600': #31B4C4,
  '700': #2996A3,
  '800': #217883,
  '900': #1B585F,
  '950': #11373B,
);
$brand-base: #bfeaef;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4FAFB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E9F5F7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#bfeaef", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#A5E1E9", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#78D3DD", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#4BC4D2", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#31B4C4", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#2996A3", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#217883", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#1B585F", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#11373B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bfeaef · 16.23:1
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 · 16.23:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bfeaef as text scores 1.29:1 on white and 16.23:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #1A5E66 at 5.72:1.

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
#23818C · 4.57:1
AA on white−50% L
#23818C
The quick fox
#1A5F67 · 7.30:1
AAA on white−59% L
#1A5F67
The quick fox
#bfeaef · 16.23:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bfeaef
The quick fox
#bfeaef · 16.23:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bfeaef

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #2CA3B1 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
#bfeaef on white: 1.29:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bfeaef on black: 16.23:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.29:1AaAa
Slate 501.24:1AaAa
Slate 1001.18:1AaAa
Slate 2001.05:1AaAa
Slate 3001.15:1AaAa
Slate 4001.98:1AaAa
Slate 5003.68:1AaAa
Slate 6005.86:1AaAa
Slate 7008.00:1AaAa
Slate 80011.31:1AaAa
Slate 90013.80:1AaAa
Black16.23:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #E3E6EF
deuteranopia · #DADFEF
tritanopia · #B0EEEB

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. #bfeaef 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.

#F4FAFB
#E9F5F7
#bfeaef
#A5E1E9
#78D3DD
#4BC4D2
#31B4C4
#2996A3
#217883
#1B585F
#11373B
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F4FAFBDarkest = 950 · #11373BText 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 0.011 205.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.018 205.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.027 205.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.035 205.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.041 205.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.045 205.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.045 205.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.042 205.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.038 205.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.031 205.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.025 205.1);
}

Colors that work with #bfeaef

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#C0E8ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B929B
Captions on the surface
Accent#A82438
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#1A5E66
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EBF8FA
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142324
Dark-mode background
Hover#A2E1E8
One step down in lightness
Pressed#86D7E1
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F7F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#CCF2F6
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 #bfeaef

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 #1A5E66
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #2CA3B1

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#EFC4BF
Analogous left#BFEFDC
Analogous right#BFD2EF
Split-complement 1#EFBFD2
Split-complement 2#EFDCBF
Triadic 1#EFBFEA
Triadic 2#EAEFBF
Tetradic#DCBFEF
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°186°

#bfeaef sits at 186°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red74.9%
Green91.8%
Blue93.7%
R · 0–255
191
0xbf
G · 0–255
234
0xea
B · 0–255
239
0xef

CMYK percentages

Cyan20.1%
Magenta2.1%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)6.3%

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

Color previews

#bfeaef text on a black background

contrast 16.23:1

Card sample

#bfeaef text on a white background

contrast 1.29:1

Card sample

#bfeaef on grey

1.18:1

#bfeaef on its own surface

1.23:1

#bfeaef on its dark surface

12.53:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(191, 234, 239, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(191, 234, 239, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bfeaef;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bfeaef, #BFCAEF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bfeaef, #C0BFEF);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bfeaef;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bfeaef;
caret-color: #bfeaef;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bfeaef;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EBF8FA;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bfeaef;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bfeaef 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bfeaef 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(191, 234, 239, 0.5)
rgb(191 234 239 / 50%)
#bfeaef80
hsl(186 60% 84% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bfeaef 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bfeaef1a#F9FDFD
20%#bfeaef33#F2FBFC
40%#bfeaef66#E5F7F9
60%#bfeaef99#D9F2F5
80%#bfeaefcc#CCEEF2

Gradients from #bfeaef

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, #EFFAFB, #bfeaef 45%, #1A5E66);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bfeaef, #A6B0E9);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bfeaef, #EFC4BF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F3FBFC 0%, #bfeaef 45%, #1A5E66 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%, #E8F9F1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D7E1F5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #1A5E66 0%, transparent 65%), #bfeaef;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bfeaef

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.

#bfeaef 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 16.23:1.

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.

#bfeaef, answered

What color is #bfeaef?

#bfeaef is a light vivid cyan, closest to Powder Blue (ΔE2000 2.7). It sits at 186° on the hue wheel with 60% saturation and 84% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #bfeaef?

rgb(191, 234, 239) — 191 red, 234 green and 239 blue out of 255, or 74.9% / 91.8% / 93.7% by channel.

What is #bfeaef in HSL and HSV?

hsl(186, 60%, 84%) and hsv(186, 20%, 94%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bfeaef a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.7615 and perceived brightness is 87%, so black text on it reaches 16.23:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bfeaef?

Black. It scores 16.23:1 against #bfeaef, versus 1.29:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bfeaef accessible on a white background?

#bfeaef on white scores 1.29:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #23818C to reach 4.5:1, or #1A5F67 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bfeaef?

#EFC4BF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #EFBFD2 and #EFDCBF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bfeaef?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C0E8ED for borders, #4B929B for secondary text, #A82438 as an accent and #1A5E66 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BFEFDC and #BFD2EF stays calm, while #EFC4BF is the loudest partner.

What is #bfeaef in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(20%, 2%, 0%, 6%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bfeaef warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 90 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #BFEFE2; nudged cooler, #BEDAF0.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bfeaef?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 19 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bfeaef as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bfeaef in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(191, 234, 239, 0.5), or #bfeaef80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DFF5F7; over black, #607578.

Is #bfeaef a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCFFFF, ΔE2000 5.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bfeaef 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 #bfeaef?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #EFFAFB, #bfeaef 45%, #1A5E66). For more colour, a short hue run to #A6B0E9 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bfeaef in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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