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cyan · cool

#def9fc

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

Token name suggestion: Whisper Glacier

RGB
222, 249, 252
HSL
186°, 83%, 93%
CMYK
12, 1, 0, 1
Luminance
0.9031

#def9fc is a pale electric cyan, 186° on the wheel and 90/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (19.06:1). As text it scores 1.10:1 on white — use #0D8390 instead. Nearest name is Light Cyan, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(186 83% 93%)rgb(222 249 252)Base step 100AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #def9fc is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#def9fc
Hue
186°
cyan
Saturation
83%
electric
Lightness
93%
pale
Brightness
99%
HSV value
Perceived
95%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.9031
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
90/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
19.06:1
Closest name
Light Cyan
ΔE2000 2.2
Chroma
9.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.964
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 23.9
Web-safe
#CCFFFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue186° of 360°
Saturation83%
Lightness93%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #def9fc.

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
Red17%
Green75%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#def9fc
HEX (8-digit)#def9fcff
RGBrgb(222, 249, 252)
RGBArgba(222, 249, 252, 1)
HSLhsl(186, 83%, 93%)
HSV / HSBhsv(186, 12%, 99%)
HWBhwb(186 87% 1%)
CMYKcmyk(12%, 1%, 0%, 1%)
LABlab(96.1 -8.2 -4.4)
LCHlch(96.1 9.3 208.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.964 0.028 204.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(81.57, 90.31, 105.21)
Decimal14612988
Display P3color(display-p3 0.871 0.976 0.988)
Web-safe#CCFFFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #def9fc;
background-color: #def9fc;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #def9fc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#def9fc] bg-[#def9fc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #def9fc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.871, green: 0.976, blue: 0.988)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.871, green: 0.976, blue: 0.988, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DEF9FC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDEF9FC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDEF9FC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(252, 249, 222)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(222, 249, 252)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(222, 249, 252)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 222, 249, 252)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8706f, 0.9765f, 0.9882f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{222,249,252}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #def9fc 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #def9fc 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#0B6A75, #D3EBEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #def9fc 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: #F2FBFC;
  --brand-100: #def9fc;
  --brand-200: #C6F1F6;
  --brand-300: #98ECF6;
  --brand-400: #65E3F1;
  --brand-500: #31DAEC;
  --brand-600: #14CCE0;
  --brand-700: #11AABB;
  --brand-800: #0E8896;
  --brand-900: #0E636C;
  --brand-950: #093E44;
  --brand: #def9fc;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C0E8ED;
  --brand-hover: #BDF3F9;
  --brand-pressed: #9CEDF6;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142324;
    --brand-ink: #D3EBEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F2FBFC',
        100: '#def9fc',
        200: '#C6F1F6',
        300: '#98ECF6',
        400: '#65E3F1',
        500: '#31DAEC',
        600: '#14CCE0',
        700: '#11AABB',
        800: '#0E8896',
        900: '#0E636C',
        950: '#093E44',
        DEFAULT: '#def9fc',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F2FBFC,
  '100': #def9fc,
  '200': #C6F1F6,
  '300': #98ECF6,
  '400': #65E3F1,
  '500': #31DAEC,
  '600': #14CCE0,
  '700': #11AABB,
  '800': #0E8896,
  '900': #0E636C,
  '950': #093E44,
);
$brand-base: #def9fc;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F2FBFC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#def9fc", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C6F1F6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#98ECF6", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#65E3F1", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#31DAEC", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#14CCE0", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#11AABB", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#0E8896", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#0E636C", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#093E44", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #def9fc · 19.06:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.10:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 19.06:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #def9fc as text scores 1.10:1 on white and 19.06:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #0B6A75 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
#0D8390 · 4.50:1
AA on white−62% L
#0D8390
The quick fox
#0A616B · 7.15:1
AAA on white−70% L
#0A616B
The quick fox
#def9fc · 19.06:1
AA on blackalready passes
#def9fc
The quick fox
#def9fc · 19.06:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#def9fc

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #10A1B1 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
#def9fc on white: 1.10:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#def9fc on black: 19.06:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #def9fc as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #def9fc.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.10:1AaAa
Slate 501.05:1AaAa
Slate 1001.01:1AaAa
Slate 2001.12:1AaAa
Slate 3001.35:1AaAa
Slate 4002.33:1AaAa
Slate 5004.32:1AaAa
Slate 6006.88:1AaAa
Slate 7009.40:1AaAa
Slate 80013.28:1AaAa
Slate 90016.20:1AaAa
Black19.06:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #F5F6FC
deuteranopia · #EFF2FC
tritanopia · #D6FBFA

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. #def9fc 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.

#F2FBFC
#def9fc
#C6F1F6
#98ECF6
#65E3F1
#31DAEC
#14CCE0
#11AABB
#0E8896
#0E636C
#093E44
Base = 100Lightest = 50 · #F2FBFCDarkest = 950 · #093E44Text 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 0.007 204.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.011 204.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.017 204.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.022 204.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.026 204.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.028 204.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.028 204.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.027 204.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.024 204.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.020 204.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.016 204.8);
}

Colors that work with #def9fc

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#4B939B
Captions on the surface
Accent#C10B28
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#0B6A75
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E8FBFD
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142324
Dark-mode background
Hover#BDF3F9
One step down in lightness
Pressed#9CEDF6
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F7F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D8FAFE
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 #def9fc

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 #0B6A75
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #10A1B1

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
  • Weight7/100
  • 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#FCE1DE
Analogous left#DEFCF0
Analogous right#DEEAFC
Split-complement 1#FCDEEA
Split-complement 2#FCF0DE
Triadic 1#FCDEF9
Triadic 2#F9FCDE
Tetradic#F0DEFC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°186°

#def9fc sits at 186°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red87.1%
Green97.6%
Blue98.8%
R · 0–255
222
0xde
G · 0–255
249
0xf9
B · 0–255
252
0xfc

CMYK percentages

Cyan11.9%
Magenta1.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)1.2%

Total ink coverage is 14%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#def9fc text on a black background

contrast 19.06:1

Card sample

#def9fc text on a white background

contrast 1.10:1

Card sample

#def9fc on grey

1.01:1

#def9fc on its own surface

1.04:1

#def9fc on its dark surface

14.71:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #def9fc;
Background color
Panel with #def9fc background
background-color: #def9fc;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #def9fc;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(222, 249, 252, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(222, 249, 252, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #def9fc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #def9fc, #DEE5FC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #def9fc, #DEDEFC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #def9fc;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #def9fc;
caret-color: #def9fc;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #def9fc;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E8FBFD;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #def9fc;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#def9fc 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #def9fc 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, 249, 252, 0.5)
rgb(222 249 252 / 50%)
#def9fc80
hsl(186 83% 93% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #def9fc 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#def9fc1a#FCFEFF
20%#def9fc33#F8FEFE
40%#def9fc66#F2FDFE
60%#def9fc99#EBFBFD
80%#def9fccc#E5FAFD

Gradients from #def9fc

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, #ECFCFD, #def9fc 45%, #0B6A75);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #def9fc, #C2CAF9);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #def9fc, #FCE1DE);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F1FCFE 0%, #def9fc 45%, #0B6A75 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%, #FAFBFF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #0B6A75 0%, transparent 65%), #def9fc;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #def9fc

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.

#def9fc 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 19.06:1.

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.

#def9fc, answered

What color is #def9fc?

#def9fc is a pale electric cyan, closest to Light Cyan (ΔE2000 2.2). It sits at 186° on the hue wheel with 83% saturation and 93% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #def9fc?

rgb(222, 249, 252) — 222 red, 249 green and 252 blue out of 255, or 87.1% / 97.6% / 98.8% by channel.

What is #def9fc in HSL and HSV?

hsl(186, 83%, 93%) and hsv(186, 12%, 99%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #def9fc a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.9031 and perceived brightness is 95%, so black text on it reaches 19.06:1.

Should I use black or white text on #def9fc?

Black. It scores 19.06:1 against #def9fc, versus 1.10:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #def9fc accessible on a white background?

#def9fc on white scores 1.10:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #0D8390 to reach 4.5:1, or #0A616B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #def9fc?

#FCE1DE sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #FCDEEA and #FCF0DE, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #def9fc?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C0E8ED for borders, #4B939B for secondary text, #C10B28 as an accent and #0B6A75 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DEFCF0 and #DEEAFC stays calm, while #FCE1DE is the loudest partner.

What is #def9fc in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(12%, 1%, 0%, 1%). 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 #def9fc 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 #DEFCF4; nudged cooler, #DDEEFC.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #def9fc?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 23.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #def9fc as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #def9fc in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#def9fc] or text-[#def9fc], 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 #def9fc with 50% opacity?

rgba(222, 249, 252, 0.5), or #def9fc80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EFFCFE; over black, #6F7D7E.

Is #def9fc a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCFFFF, ΔE2000 6.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #def9fc 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 #def9fc?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #ECFCFD, #def9fc 45%, #0B6A75). For more colour, a short hue run to #C2CAF9 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #def9fc in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #def9fc at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.