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cyan · cool

#cfece5

a pale, soft cyan · cool · closest name: Light Cyan

Token name suggestion: Frost Lagoon

RGB
207, 236, 229
HSL
166°, 43%, 87%
CMYK
12, 0, 3, 8
Luminance
0.7891

#cfece5 is a pale soft cyan, 166° on the wheel and 81/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (16.78:1). As text it scores 1.25:1 on white — use #348370 instead. Nearest name is Light Cyan, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(166 43% 87%)rgb(207 236 229)Base step 200AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cfece5 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cfece5
Hue
166°
cyan
Saturation
43%
soft
Lightness
87%
pale
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
89%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.7891
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
81/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
16.78:1
Closest name
Light Cyan
ΔE2000 5
Chroma
10.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.920
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 22.4
Web-safe
#CCFFCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue166° of 360°
Saturation43%
Lightness87%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cfece5.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool81% 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
Red17%
Green76%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#cfece5
HEX (8-digit)#cfece5ff
RGBrgb(207, 236, 229)
RGBArgba(207, 236, 229, 1)
HSLhsl(166, 43%, 87%)
HSV / HSBhsv(166, 12%, 93%)
HWBhwb(166 81% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(12%, 0%, 3%, 8%)
LABlab(91.2 -10.8 0.2)
LCHlch(91.2 10.8 179.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.920 0.032 179.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(69.87, 78.91, 85.66)
Decimal13626597
Display P3color(display-p3 0.812 0.925 0.898)
Web-safe#CCFFCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cfece5;
background-color: #cfece5;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cfece5;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cfece5] bg-[#cfece5]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cfece5;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.812, green: 0.925, blue: 0.898)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.812, green: 0.925, blue: 0.898, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CFECE5</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCFECE5)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCFECE5)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(229, 236, 207)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(207, 236, 229)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(207, 236, 229)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 207, 236, 229)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8118f, 0.9255f, 0.8980f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{207,236,229}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cfece5 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cfece5 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#245B4E, #D3EEE7);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cfece5 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: #F5FAF9;
  --brand-100: #EBF5F2;
  --brand-200: #cfece5;
  --brand-300: #AFDFD3;
  --brand-400: #86CFBE;
  --brand-500: #5EBFA8;
  --brand-600: #45AF96;
  --brand-700: #3A927D;
  --brand-800: #2E7564;
  --brand-900: #25564A;
  --brand-950: #17352E;
  --brand: #cfece5;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAF9;
  --brand-border: #C5E8DF;
  --brand-hover: #B6E2D7;
  --brand-pressed: #9CD8C9;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142420;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEE7;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5FAF9',
        100: '#EBF5F2',
        200: '#cfece5',
        300: '#AFDFD3',
        400: '#86CFBE',
        500: '#5EBFA8',
        600: '#45AF96',
        700: '#3A927D',
        800: '#2E7564',
        900: '#25564A',
        950: '#17352E',
        DEFAULT: '#cfece5',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5FAF9,
  '100': #EBF5F2,
  '200': #cfece5,
  '300': #AFDFD3,
  '400': #86CFBE,
  '500': #5EBFA8,
  '600': #45AF96,
  '700': #3A927D,
  '800': #2E7564,
  '900': #25564A,
  '950': #17352E,
);
$brand-base: #cfece5;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5FAF9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EBF5F2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#cfece5", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#AFDFD3", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#86CFBE", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#5EBFA8", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#45AF96", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#3A927D", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#2E7564", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#25564A", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#17352E", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cfece5 · 16.78:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.25:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 16.78:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cfece5 as text scores 1.25:1 on white and 16.78:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #245B4E at 6.26:1.

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
#348370 · 4.54:1
AA on white−51% L
#348370
The quick fox
#276254 · 7.09:1
AAA on white−60% L
#276254
The quick fox
#cfece5 · 16.78:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cfece5
The quick fox
#cfece5 · 16.78:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cfece5

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #41A48C 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
#cfece5 on white: 1.25:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cfece5 on black: 16.78:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cfece5 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cfece5.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.25:1AaAa
Slate 501.20:1AaAa
Slate 1001.14:1AaAa
Slate 2001.02:1AaAa
Slate 3001.19:1AaAa
Slate 4002.05:1AaAa
Slate 5003.80:1AaAa
Slate 6006.06:1AaAa
Slate 7008.28:1AaAa
Slate 80011.69:1AaAa
Slate 90014.27:1AaAa
Black16.78:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #E9E8E5
deuteranopia · #E4E4E6
tritanopia · #C8EDEA

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. #cfece5 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.

#F5FAF9
#EBF5F2
#cfece5
#AFDFD3
#86CFBE
#5EBFA8
#45AF96
#3A927D
#2E7564
#25564A
#17352E
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F5FAF9Darkest = 950 · #17352EText 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 0.008 179.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.013 179.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.019 179.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.025 179.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.029 179.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.032 179.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.032 179.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.030 179.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.027 179.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.022 179.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.017 179.4);
}

Colors that work with #cfece5

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#C5E8DF
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B88
Captions on the surface
Accent#953764
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#245B4E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EDF8F5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142420
Dark-mode background
Hover#B6E2D7
One step down in lightness
Pressed#9CD8C9
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F7F6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#DBF4EE
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 #cfece5

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary 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 #245B4E
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #41A48C

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.

The muted chroma softens the association — it reads considered rather than loud, which suits long-form and data-heavy screens. The high lightness makes it recede — a surface colour rather than a statement.

Worth knowing

At high lightness it disappears into white surfaces and thin strokes vanish entirely.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight13/100
  • 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#ECCFD6
Analogous left#CFECD7
Analogous right#CFE5EC
Split-complement 1#ECCFE5
Split-complement 2#ECD7CF
Triadic 1#E5CFEC
Triadic 2#ECE5CF
Tetradic#D7CFEC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°166°

#cfece5 sits at 166°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red81.2%
Green92.5%
Blue89.8%
R · 0–255
207
0xcf
G · 0–255
236
0xec
B · 0–255
229
0xe5

CMYK percentages

Cyan12.3%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow3.0%
Key (black)7.5%

Total ink coverage is 23%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cfece5 text on a black background

contrast 16.78:1

Card sample

#cfece5 text on a white background

contrast 1.25:1

Card sample

#cfece5 on grey

1.14:1

#cfece5 on its own surface

1.19:1

#cfece5 on its dark surface

12.88:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cfece5;
Background color
Panel with #cfece5 background
background-color: #cfece5;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cfece5;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(207, 236, 229, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(207, 236, 229, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cfece5;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cfece5, #CFE0EC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cfece5, #CFD9EC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cfece5;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cfece5;
caret-color: #cfece5;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cfece5;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EDF8F5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cfece5;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cfece5 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cfece5 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(207, 236, 229, 0.5)
rgb(207 236 229 / 50%)
#cfece580
hsl(166 43% 87% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cfece5 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cfece51a#FAFDFC
20%#cfece533#F5FBFA
40%#cfece566#ECF7F5
60%#cfece599#E2F4EF
80%#cfece5cc#D9F0EA

Gradients from #cfece5

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, #F0F9F7, #cfece5 45%, #245B4E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cfece5, #B9CEE3);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cfece5, #ECCFD6);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F4FBF9 0%, #cfece5 45%, #245B4E 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%, #F4FBF5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E5EFF5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #245B4E 0%, transparent 65%), #cfece5;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cfece5

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.

#cfece5 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

Very light tints can drop out on uncoated stock; check it at 100% size before signing off.

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 16.78:1.

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.

#cfece5, answered

What color is #cfece5?

#cfece5 is a pale soft cyan, closest to Light Cyan (ΔE2000 5). It sits at 166° on the hue wheel with 43% saturation and 87% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #cfece5?

rgb(207, 236, 229) — 207 red, 236 green and 229 blue out of 255, or 81.2% / 92.5% / 89.8% by channel.

What is #cfece5 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(166, 43%, 87%) and hsv(166, 12%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cfece5 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.7891 and perceived brightness is 89%, so black text on it reaches 16.78:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cfece5?

Black. It scores 16.78:1 against #cfece5, versus 1.25:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cfece5 accessible on a white background?

#cfece5 on white scores 1.25:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #348370 to reach 4.5:1, or #276254 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cfece5?

#ECCFD6 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #ECCFE5 and #ECD7CF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cfece5?

For interface work: #F4FAF9 as the surface, #C5E8DF for borders, #4B9B88 for secondary text, #953764 as an accent and #245B4E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CFECD7 and #CFE5EC stays calm, while #ECCFD6 is the loudest partner.

What is #cfece5 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(12%, 0%, 3%, 8%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cfece5 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 81 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CFECDA; nudged cooler, #CEE9ED.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cfece5?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 22.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cfece5 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cfece5 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cfece5] or text-[#cfece5], 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 #cfece5 with 50% opacity?

rgba(207, 236, 229, 0.5), or #cfece580 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E7F6F2; over black, #687673.

Is #cfece5 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCFFCC, ΔE2000 13.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cfece5 mean?

As a cyan, it reads clean, technical, fresh. Cyan reads as water, air and infrastructure: cool, hygienic, engineered. At this moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #cfece5?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F0F9F7, #cfece5 45%, #245B4E). For more colour, a short hue run to #B9CEE3 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cfece5 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cfece5 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.