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cyan · cool

#c2cece

a light, muted cyan · cool · closest name: Light Gray

Token name suggestion: Drift Reef

RGB
194, 206, 206
HSL
180°, 11%, 78%
CMYK
6, 0, 0, 19
Luminance
0.6007

#c2cece is a light muted cyan, 180° on the wheel and 62/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (13.01:1). As text it scores 1.61:1 on white — use #637B7B instead. Nearest name is Light Gray, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(180 11% 78%)rgb(194 206 206)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #c2cece is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#c2cece
Hue
180°
cyan
Saturation
11%
muted
Lightness
78%
light
Brightness
81%
HSV value
Perceived
79%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6007
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
62/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
13.01:1
Closest name
Light Gray
ΔE2000 5.8
Chroma
4.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.842
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 21.1
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue180° of 360°
Saturation11%
Lightness78%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #c2cece.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool62% 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%
Green73%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#c2cece
HEX (8-digit)#c2ceceff
RGBrgb(194, 206, 206)
RGBArgba(194, 206, 206, 1)
HSLhsl(180, 11%, 78%)
HSV / HSBhsv(180, 6%, 81%)
HWBhwb(180 76% 19%)
CMYKcmyk(6%, 0%, 0%, 19%)
LABlab(81.9 -4.1 -1.4)
LCHlch(81.9 4.3 199.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.842 0.013 196.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(55.46, 60.07, 67.05)
Decimal12766926
Display P3color(display-p3 0.761 0.808 0.808)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #c2cece;
background-color: #c2cece;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #c2cece;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#c2cece] bg-[#c2cece]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #c2cece;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.761, green: 0.808, blue: 0.808)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.761, green: 0.808, blue: 0.808, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#C2CECE</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFC2CECE)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFC2CECE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(206, 206, 194)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(194, 206, 206)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(194, 206, 206)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 194, 206, 206)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7608f, 0.8078f, 0.8078f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{194,206,206}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #c2cece 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #c2cece 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#394747, #DDE4E4);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #c2cece 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: #DBE1E1;
  --brand-300: #c2cece;
  --brand-400: #A2B4B4;
  --brand-500: #839B9B;
  --brand-600: #6D8888;
  --brand-700: #5B7171;
  --brand-800: #495A5A;
  --brand-900: #374343;
  --brand-950: #222A2A;
  --brand: #c2cece;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F7F8F8;
  --brand-border: #D2DBDB;
  --brand-hover: #AEBEBE;
  --brand-pressed: #9AAEAE;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #191F1F;
    --brand-ink: #DDE4E4;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F8F8',
        100: '#EEF1F1',
        200: '#DBE1E1',
        300: '#c2cece',
        400: '#A2B4B4',
        500: '#839B9B',
        600: '#6D8888',
        700: '#5B7171',
        800: '#495A5A',
        900: '#374343',
        950: '#222A2A',
        DEFAULT: '#c2cece',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F8F8,
  '100': #EEF1F1,
  '200': #DBE1E1,
  '300': #c2cece,
  '400': #A2B4B4,
  '500': #839B9B,
  '600': #6D8888,
  '700': #5B7171,
  '800': #495A5A,
  '900': #374343,
  '950': #222A2A,
);
$brand-base: #c2cece;
$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": "#DBE1E1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#c2cece", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#A2B4B4", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#839B9B", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#6D8888", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#5B7171", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#495A5A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#374343", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#222A2A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #c2cece · 13.01:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.61:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 13.01:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #c2cece as text scores 1.61:1 on white and 13.01:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #394747 at 6.01:1.

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
#637B7B · 4.52:1
AA on white−35% L
#637B7B
The quick fox
#4A5C5C · 7.06:1
AAA on white−46% L
#4A5C5C
The quick fox
#c2cece · 13.01:1
AA on blackalready passes
#c2cece
The quick fox
#c2cece · 13.01:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#c2cece

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #7E9797 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
#c2cece on white: 1.61:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#c2cece on black: 13.01:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #c2cece as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #c2cece.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.61:1AaAa
Slate 501.54:1AaAa
Slate 1001.47:1AaAa
Slate 2001.31:1AaAa
Slate 3001.09:1AaAa
Slate 4001.59:1AaAa
Slate 5002.95:1AaAa
Slate 6004.70:1AaAa
Slate 7006.42:1AaAa
Slate 8009.07:1AaAa
Slate 90011.06:1AaAa
Black13.01:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #CCCDCE
deuteranopia · #CACBCE
tritanopia · #BFCFCE

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. #c2cece 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
#DBE1E1
#c2cece
#A2B4B4
#839B9B
#6D8888
#5B7171
#495A5A
#374343
#222A2A
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F7F8F8Darkest = 950 · #222A2AText 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 0.003 196.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.005 196.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.008 196.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.010 196.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.012 196.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.013 196.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.013 196.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.012 196.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.011 196.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.009 196.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.007 196.9);
}

Colors that work with #c2cece

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#F7F8F8
Tinted page background
Border#D2DBDB
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#667F7F
Captions on the surface
Accent#75575F
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#394747
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F1F4F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#191F1F
Dark-mode background
Hover#AEBEBE
One step down in lightness
Pressed#9AAEAE
Two steps down
Disabled#F4F6F6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C9DBDB
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 #c2cece

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 #394747
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #7E9797

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
  • Weight22/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • ApproachabilityBalanced

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#CEC2C2
Analogous left#C2CEC8
Analogous right#C2C8CE
Split-complement 1#CEC2C8
Split-complement 2#CEC8C2
Triadic 1#CEC2CE
Triadic 2#CECEC2
Tetradic#C8C2CE
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°180°

#c2cece sits at 180°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red76.1%
Green80.8%
Blue80.8%
R · 0–255
194
0xc2
G · 0–255
206
0xce
B · 0–255
206
0xce

CMYK percentages

Cyan5.8%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)19.2%

Total ink coverage is 25%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#c2cece text on a black background

contrast 13.01:1

Card sample

#c2cece text on a white background

contrast 1.61:1

Card sample

#c2cece on grey

1.47:1

#c2cece on its own surface

1.52:1

#c2cece on its dark surface

10.35:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #c2cece;
Background color
Panel with #c2cece background
background-color: #c2cece;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #c2cece;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(194, 206, 206, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(194, 206, 206, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #c2cece;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #c2cece, #C2C6CE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c2cece, #C2C3CE);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #c2cece;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #c2cece;
caret-color: #c2cece;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #c2cece;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F1F4F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #c2cece;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#c2cece 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #c2cece 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(194, 206, 206, 0.5)
rgb(194 206 206 / 50%)
#c2cece80
hsl(180 11% 78% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #c2cece 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#c2cece1a#F9FAFA
20%#c2cece33#F3F5F5
40%#c2cece66#E7EBEB
60%#c2cece99#DAE2E2
80%#c2cececc#CED8D8

Gradients from #c2cece

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, #E4E9E9, #c2cece 45%, #394747);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #c2cece, #B1B5C0);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c2cece, #CEC2C2);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F5F7F7 0%, #c2cece 45%, #394747 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F7F8F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #DEE5E1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D3D6DC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #394747 0%, transparent 65%), #c2cece;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #c2cece

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.

#c2cece 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 13.01:1.

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.

#c2cece, answered

What color is #c2cece?

#c2cece is a light muted cyan, closest to Light Gray (ΔE2000 5.8). It sits at 180° on the hue wheel with 11% saturation and 78% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #c2cece?

rgb(194, 206, 206) — 194 red, 206 green and 206 blue out of 255, or 76.1% / 80.8% / 80.8% by channel.

What is #c2cece in HSL and HSV?

hsl(180, 11%, 78%) and hsv(180, 6%, 81%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #c2cece a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6007 and perceived brightness is 79%, so black text on it reaches 13.01:1.

Should I use black or white text on #c2cece?

Black. It scores 13.01:1 against #c2cece, versus 1.61:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #c2cece accessible on a white background?

#c2cece on white scores 1.61:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #637B7B to reach 4.5:1, or #4A5C5C for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #c2cece?

#CEC2C2 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CEC2C8 and #CEC8C2, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #c2cece?

For interface work: #F7F8F8 as the surface, #D2DBDB for borders, #667F7F for secondary text, #75575F as an accent and #394747 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #C2CEC8 and #C2C8CE stays calm, while #CEC2C2 is the loudest partner.

What is #c2cece in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(6%, 0%, 0%, 19%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #c2cece warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 62 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C2CECA; nudged cooler, #C1CACF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #c2cece?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 21.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #c2cece as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #c2cece in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#c2cece] or text-[#c2cece], 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 #c2cece with 50% opacity?

rgba(194, 206, 206, 0.5), or #c2cece80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E1E7E7; over black, #616767.

Is #c2cece a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 5.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #c2cece 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 #c2cece?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E4E9E9, #c2cece 45%, #394747). For more colour, a short hue run to #B1B5C0 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #c2cece in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #c2cece at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.