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cyan · cool

#dafef9

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

Token name suggestion: Frost Reef

RGB
218, 254, 249
HSL
172°, 95%, 93%
CMYK
14, 0, 2, 0
Luminance
0.9263

#dafef9 is a pale electric cyan, 172° on the wheel and 84/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (19.53:1). As text it scores 1.08:1 on white — use #048472 instead. Nearest name is Light Cyan, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(172 95% 93%)rgb(218 254 249)Base step 100AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #dafef9 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#dafef9
Hue
172°
cyan
Saturation
95%
electric
Lightness
93%
pale
Brightness
100%
HSV value
Perceived
95%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.9263
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
84/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
19.53:1
Closest name
Light Cyan
ΔE2000 2.8
Chroma
12.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.970
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 24.4
Web-safe
#CCFFFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue172° of 360°
Saturation95%
Lightness93%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #dafef9.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool84% 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
Red16%
Green77%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#dafef9
HEX (8-digit)#dafef9ff
RGBrgb(218, 254, 249)
RGBArgba(218, 254, 249, 1)
HSLhsl(172, 95%, 93%)
HSV / HSBhsv(172, 14%, 100%)
HWBhwb(172 85% 0%)
CMYKcmyk(14%, 0%, 2%, 0%)
LABlab(97.1 -12.5 -1.5)
LCHlch(97.1 12.6 186.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.970 0.038 186.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(81.45, 92.63, 103.19)
Decimal14352121
Display P3color(display-p3 0.855 0.996 0.976)
Web-safe#CCFFFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #dafef9;
background-color: #dafef9;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #dafef9;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#dafef9] bg-[#dafef9]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #dafef9;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.855, green: 0.996, blue: 0.976)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.855, green: 0.996, blue: 0.976, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DAFEF9</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDAFEF9)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDAFEF9)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(249, 254, 218)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(218, 254, 249)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(218, 254, 249)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 218, 254, 249)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8549f, 0.9961f, 0.9765f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{218,254,249}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #dafef9 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #dafef9 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#037C6B, #D3EEEA);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #dafef9 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: #F1FDFC;
  --brand-100: #dafef9;
  --brand-200: #C2FAF2;
  --brand-300: #92FCED;
  --brand-400: #5BFBE4;
  --brand-500: #25F9DC;
  --brand-600: #06EECE;
  --brand-700: #05C7AC;
  --brand-800: #049F89;
  --brand-900: #087364;
  --brand-950: #05483E;
  --brand: #dafef9;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C0EDE6;
  --brand-hover: #B7FDF3;
  --brand-pressed: #94FCEE;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142422;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEEA;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F1FDFC',
        100: '#dafef9',
        200: '#C2FAF2',
        300: '#92FCED',
        400: '#5BFBE4',
        500: '#25F9DC',
        600: '#06EECE',
        700: '#05C7AC',
        800: '#049F89',
        900: '#087364',
        950: '#05483E',
        DEFAULT: '#dafef9',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F1FDFC,
  '100': #dafef9,
  '200': #C2FAF2,
  '300': #92FCED,
  '400': #5BFBE4,
  '500': #25F9DC,
  '600': #06EECE,
  '700': #05C7AC,
  '800': #049F89,
  '900': #087364,
  '950': #05483E,
);
$brand-base: #dafef9;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F1FDFC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#dafef9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C2FAF2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#92FCED", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#5BFBE4", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#25F9DC", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#06EECE", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#05C7AC", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#049F89", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#087364", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#05483E", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #dafef9 · 19.53:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.08:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 19.53:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #dafef9 as text scores 1.08:1 on white and 19.53:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #037C6B at 4.76:1.

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
#048472 · 4.62:1
AA on white−66% L
#048472
The quick fox
#036154 · 7.39:1
AAA on white−73% L
#036154
The quick fox
#dafef9 · 19.53:1
AA on blackalready passes
#dafef9
The quick fox
#dafef9 · 19.53:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#dafef9

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #05A690 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
#dafef9 on white: 1.08:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#dafef9 on black: 19.53:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #dafef9 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #dafef9.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.08:1AaAa
Slate 501.03:1AaAa
Slate 1001.02:1AaAa
Slate 2001.15:1AaAa
Slate 3001.38:1AaAa
Slate 4002.38:1AaAa
Slate 5004.42:1AaAa
Slate 6007.05:1AaAa
Slate 7009.63:1AaAa
Slate 80013.60:1AaAa
Slate 90016.60:1AaAa
Black19.53:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #FAFAF9
deuteranopia · #F3F4FA
tritanopia · #D1FFFC

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. #dafef9 is pinned to step 100; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F1FDFC
#dafef9
#C2FAF2
#92FCED
#5BFBE4
#25F9DC
#06EECE
#05C7AC
#049F89
#087364
#05483E
Base = 100Lightest = 50 · #F1FDFCDarkest = 950 · #05483EText step on white = 900
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 0.009 186.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.015 186.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.023 186.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.029 186.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.035 186.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.038 186.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.038 186.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.035 186.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.032 186.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.026 186.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.021 186.4);
}

Colors that work with #dafef9

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#C0EDE6
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B90
Captions on the surface
Accent#CC0051
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#037C6B
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E6FEFB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142422
Dark-mode background
Hover#B7FDF3
One step down in lightness
Pressed#94FCEE
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F7F6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D6FFF9
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 #dafef9

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 #037C6B
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #05A690

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.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. 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
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight8/100
  • 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#FEDADF
Analogous left#DAFEE7
Analogous right#DAF1FE
Split-complement 1#FEDAF1
Split-complement 2#FEE7DA
Triadic 1#F9DAFE
Triadic 2#FEF9DA
Tetradic#E7DAFE
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°172°

#dafef9 sits at 172°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red85.5%
Green99.6%
Blue97.6%
R · 0–255
218
0xda
G · 0–255
254
0xfe
B · 0–255
249
0xf9

CMYK percentages

Cyan14.2%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow2.0%
Key (black)0.4%

Total ink coverage is 17%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#dafef9 text on a black background

contrast 19.53:1

Card sample

#dafef9 text on a white background

contrast 1.08:1

Card sample

#dafef9 on grey

1.02:1

#dafef9 on its own surface

1.02:1

#dafef9 on its dark surface

14.96:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #dafef9;
Background color
Panel with #dafef9 background
background-color: #dafef9;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #dafef9;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(218, 254, 249, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(218, 254, 249, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #dafef9;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #dafef9, #DAEBFE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dafef9, #DAE2FE);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #dafef9;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #dafef9;
caret-color: #dafef9;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #dafef9;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E6FEFB;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #dafef9;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#dafef9 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #dafef9 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(218, 254, 249, 0.5)
rgb(218 254 249 / 50%)
#dafef980
hsl(172 95% 93% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #dafef9 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#dafef91a#FBFFFE
20%#dafef933#F8FFFE
40%#dafef966#F0FFFD
60%#dafef999#E9FEFB
80%#dafef9cc#E1FEFA

Gradients from #dafef9

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, #EBFEFC, #dafef9 45%, #037C6B);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #dafef9, #BCD5FD);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dafef9, #FEDADF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F0FFFD 0%, #dafef9 45%, #037C6B 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%, #FFFFFF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #F8FCFF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #037C6B 0%, transparent 65%), #dafef9;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #dafef9

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.

#dafef9 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

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

On screens

Very light values are indistinguishable from white on a dim phone screen outdoors. Give it a border if the boundary matters.

In dark mode

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 19.53:1.

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.

#dafef9, answered

What color is #dafef9?

#dafef9 is a pale electric cyan, closest to Light Cyan (ΔE2000 2.8). It sits at 172° on the hue wheel with 95% saturation and 93% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #dafef9?

rgb(218, 254, 249) — 218 red, 254 green and 249 blue out of 255, or 85.5% / 99.6% / 97.6% by channel.

What is #dafef9 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(172, 95%, 93%) and hsv(172, 14%, 100%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #dafef9 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.9263 and perceived brightness is 95%, so black text on it reaches 19.53:1.

Should I use black or white text on #dafef9?

Black. It scores 19.53:1 against #dafef9, versus 1.08:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #dafef9 accessible on a white background?

#dafef9 on white scores 1.08:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #048472 to reach 4.5:1, or #036154 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #dafef9?

#FEDADF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #FEDAF1 and #FEE7DA, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #dafef9?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C0EDE6 for borders, #4B9B90 for secondary text, #CC0051 as an accent and #037C6B for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DAFEE7 and #DAF1FE stays calm, while #FEDADF is the loudest partner.

What is #dafef9 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(14%, 0%, 2%, 0%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #dafef9 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 84 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #DAFEEC; nudged cooler, #D9F6FE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #dafef9?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 24.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #dafef9 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #dafef9 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#dafef9] or text-[#dafef9], 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 #dafef9 with 50% opacity?

rgba(218, 254, 249, 0.5), or #dafef980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EDFFFC; over black, #6D7F7D.

Is #dafef9 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCFFFF, ΔE2000 3.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #dafef9 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 #dafef9?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #EBFEFC, #dafef9 45%, #037C6B). For more colour, a short hue run to #BCD5FD keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #dafef9 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #dafef9 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.