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cyan · cool

#def4ee

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

Token name suggestion: Chalk Lagoon

RGB
222, 244, 238
HSL
164°, 50%, 91%
CMYK
9, 0, 3, 4
Luminance
0.8640

#def4ee is a pale vivid cyan, 164° on the wheel and 81/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (18.28:1). As text it scores 1.15:1 on white — use #2C846C instead. Nearest name is Light Cyan, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(164 50% 91%)rgb(222 244 238)Base step 100AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #def4ee is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#def4ee
Hue
164°
cyan
Saturation
50%
vivid
Lightness
91%
pale
Brightness
96%
HSV value
Perceived
93%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.8640
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
81/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
18.28:1
Closest name
Light Cyan
ΔE2000 4
Chroma
8.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.949
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 25.1
Web-safe
#CCFFFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue164° of 360°
Saturation50%
Lightness91%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #def4ee.

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
Red18%
Green75%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#def4ee
HEX (8-digit)#def4eeff
RGBrgb(222, 244, 238)
RGBArgba(222, 244, 238, 1)
HSLhsl(164, 50%, 91%)
HSV / HSBhsv(164, 9%, 96%)
HWBhwb(164 87% 4%)
CMYKcmyk(9%, 0%, 3%, 4%)
LABlab(94.5 -8.3 0.4)
LCHlch(94.5 8.3 177.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.949 0.024 177.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(77.90, 86.40, 93.45)
Decimal14611694
Display P3color(display-p3 0.871 0.957 0.933)
Web-safe#CCFFFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #def4ee;
background-color: #def4ee;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #def4ee;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#def4ee] bg-[#def4ee]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #def4ee;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.871, green: 0.957, blue: 0.933)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.871, green: 0.957, blue: 0.933, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DEF4EE</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDEF4EE)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDEF4EE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(238, 244, 222)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(222, 244, 238)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(222, 244, 238)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 222, 244, 238)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8706f, 0.9569f, 0.9333f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{222,244,238}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #def4ee 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #def4ee 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#20604E, #D3EEE7);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #def4ee 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: #F4FAF9;
  --brand-100: #def4ee;
  --brand-200: #CFECE4;
  --brand-300: #ABE3D4;
  --brand-400: #81D5BE;
  --brand-500: #57C7A8;
  --brand-600: #3DB896;
  --brand-700: #33997D;
  --brand-800: #297A64;
  --brand-900: #21594A;
  --brand-950: #15382E;
  --brand: #def4ee;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAF9;
  --brand-border: #C2EBDF;
  --brand-hover: #C3EBE0;
  --brand-pressed: #A9E2D2;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142420;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEE7;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4FAF9',
        100: '#def4ee',
        200: '#CFECE4',
        300: '#ABE3D4',
        400: '#81D5BE',
        500: '#57C7A8',
        600: '#3DB896',
        700: '#33997D',
        800: '#297A64',
        900: '#21594A',
        950: '#15382E',
        DEFAULT: '#def4ee',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4FAF9,
  '100': #def4ee,
  '200': #CFECE4,
  '300': #ABE3D4,
  '400': #81D5BE,
  '500': #57C7A8,
  '600': #3DB896,
  '700': #33997D,
  '800': #297A64,
  '900': #21594A,
  '950': #15382E,
);
$brand-base: #def4ee;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4FAF9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#def4ee", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CFECE4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#ABE3D4", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#81D5BE", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#57C7A8", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#3DB896", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#33997D", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#297A64", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#21594A", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#15382E", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #def4ee · 18.28:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.15:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 18.28:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #def4ee as text scores 1.15:1 on white and 18.28:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #20604E at 6.43:1.

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
#2C846C · 4.54:1
AA on white−57% L
#2C846C
The quick fox
#20614F · 7.28:1
AAA on white−66% L
#20614F
The quick fox
#def4ee · 18.28:1
AA on blackalready passes
#def4ee
The quick fox
#def4ee · 18.28:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#def4ee

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #37A688 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
#def4ee on white: 1.15:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#def4ee on black: 18.28:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #def4ee as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #def4ee.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.15:1AaAa
Slate 501.10:1AaAa
Slate 1001.05:1AaAa
Slate 2001.07:1AaAa
Slate 3001.29:1AaAa
Slate 4002.23:1AaAa
Slate 5004.14:1AaAa
Slate 6006.60:1AaAa
Slate 7009.01:1AaAa
Slate 80012.73:1AaAa
Slate 90015.54:1AaAa
Black18.28:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #F2F1EE
deuteranopia · #EEEEEE
tritanopia · #D9F5F2

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. #def4ee 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.

#F4FAF9
#def4ee
#CFECE4
#ABE3D4
#81D5BE
#57C7A8
#3DB896
#33997D
#297A64
#21594A
#15382E
Base = 100Lightest = 50 · #F4FAF9Darkest = 950 · #15382EText 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 0.006 177.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.010 177.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.015 177.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.019 177.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.022 177.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.024 177.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.024 177.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.023 177.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.020 177.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.017 177.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.013 177.6);
}

Colors that work with #def4ee

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#C2EBDF
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B85
Captions on the surface
Accent#9E2E6B
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#20604E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#ECF9F5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142420
Dark-mode background
Hover#C3EBE0
One step down in lightness
Pressed#A9E2D2
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F7F6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#DEF7F0
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 #def4ee

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 #20604E
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #37A688

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 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-high
  • Weight9/100
  • 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#F4DEE4
Analogous left#DEF4E3
Analogous right#DEEFF4
Split-complement 1#F4DEEF
Split-complement 2#F4E3DE
Triadic 1#EEDEF4
Triadic 2#F4EEDE
Tetradic#E3DEF4
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°164°

#def4ee sits at 164°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red87.1%
Green95.7%
Blue93.3%
R · 0–255
222
0xde
G · 0–255
244
0xf4
B · 0–255
238
0xee

CMYK percentages

Cyan9.0%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow2.5%
Key (black)4.3%

Total ink coverage is 16%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#def4ee text on a black background

contrast 18.28:1

Card sample

#def4ee text on a white background

contrast 1.15:1

Card sample

#def4ee on grey

1.05:1

#def4ee on its own surface

1.09:1

#def4ee on its dark surface

14.03:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #def4ee;
Background color
Panel with #def4ee background
background-color: #def4ee;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #def4ee;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(222, 244, 238, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(222, 244, 238, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #def4ee;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #def4ee, #DEEBF4);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #def4ee, #DEE6F4);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #def4ee;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #def4ee;
caret-color: #def4ee;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #def4ee;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #ECF9F5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #def4ee;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#def4ee 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #def4ee 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(222, 244, 238, 0.5)
rgb(222 244 238 / 50%)
#def4ee80
hsl(164 50% 91% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #def4ee 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#def4ee1a#FCFEFD
20%#def4ee33#F8FDFC
40%#def4ee66#F2FBF8
60%#def4ee99#EBF8F5
80%#def4eecc#E5F6F1

Gradients from #def4ee

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, #F0FAF7, #def4ee 45%, #20604E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #def4ee, #C7DBEC);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #def4ee, #F4DEE4);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F4FBF9 0%, #def4ee 45%, #20604E 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%, #FFFFFF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #F5FAFC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #20604E 0%, transparent 65%), #def4ee;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #def4ee

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.

#def4ee 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

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 18.28:1.

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.

#def4ee, answered

What color is #def4ee?

#def4ee is a pale vivid cyan, closest to Light Cyan (ΔE2000 4). It sits at 164° on the hue wheel with 50% saturation and 91% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #def4ee?

rgb(222, 244, 238) — 222 red, 244 green and 238 blue out of 255, or 87.1% / 95.7% / 93.3% by channel.

What is #def4ee in HSL and HSV?

hsl(164, 50%, 91%) and hsv(164, 9%, 96%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #def4ee a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.8640 and perceived brightness is 93%, so black text on it reaches 18.28:1.

Should I use black or white text on #def4ee?

Black. It scores 18.28:1 against #def4ee, versus 1.15:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #def4ee accessible on a white background?

#def4ee on white scores 1.15:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #2C846C to reach 4.5:1, or #20614F for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #def4ee?

#F4DEE4 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #F4DEEF and #F4E3DE, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #def4ee?

For interface work: #F4FAF9 as the surface, #C2EBDF for borders, #4B9B85 for secondary text, #9E2E6B as an accent and #20604E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DEF4E3 and #DEEFF4 stays calm, while #F4DEE4 is the loudest partner.

What is #def4ee in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(9%, 0%, 3%, 4%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #def4ee 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 #DEF4E6; nudged cooler, #DEF2F4.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #def4ee?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 25.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #def4ee as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #def4ee in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#def4ee] or text-[#def4ee], 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 #def4ee with 50% opacity?

rgba(222, 244, 238, 0.5), or #def4ee80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EFFAF7; over black, #6F7A77.

Is #def4ee a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCFFFF, ΔE2000 7.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #def4ee 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 #def4ee?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F0FAF7, #def4ee 45%, #20604E). For more colour, a short hue run to #C7DBEC keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #def4ee in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #def4ee at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.