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cyan · cool

#a6ddf2

a light, vivid cyan · cool · closest name: Light Blue

Token name suggestion: Drift Glacier

RGB
166, 221, 242
HSL
197°, 75%, 80%
CMYK
31, 9, 0, 5
Luminance
0.6623

#a6ddf2 is a light vivid cyan, 197° on the wheel and 94/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (14.25:1). As text it scores 1.47:1 on white — use #187EA5 instead. Nearest name is Light Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(197 75% 80%)rgb(166 221 242)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #a6ddf2 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#a6ddf2
Hue
197°
cyan
Saturation
75%
vivid
Lightness
80%
light
Brightness
95%
HSV value
Perceived
82%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6623
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
94/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
14.25:1
Closest name
Light Blue
ΔE2000 2.9
Chroma
20.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.867
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 14.6
Web-safe
#99CCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue197° of 360°
Saturation75%
Lightness80%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #a6ddf2.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool94% 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
Red12%
Green78%
Blue10%

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

Every format

HEX#a6ddf2
HEX (8-digit)#a6ddf2ff
RGBrgb(166, 221, 242)
RGBArgba(166, 221, 242, 1)
HSLhsl(197, 75%, 80%)
HSV / HSBhsv(197, 31%, 95%)
HWBhwb(197 65% 5%)
CMYKcmyk(31%, 9%, 0%, 5%)
LABlab(85.1 -12.7 -15.9)
LCHlch(85.1 20.4 231.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.867 0.063 223.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(57.60, 66.23, 93.74)
Decimal10935794
Display P3color(display-p3 0.651 0.867 0.949)
Web-safe#99CCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #a6ddf2;
background-color: #a6ddf2;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #a6ddf2;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#a6ddf2] bg-[#a6ddf2]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #a6ddf2;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.651, green: 0.867, blue: 0.949)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.651, green: 0.867, blue: 0.949, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#A6DDF2</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFA6DDF2)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFA6DDF2)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(242, 221, 166)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(166, 221, 242)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(166, 221, 242)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 166, 221, 242)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6510f, 0.8667f, 0.9490f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{166,221,242}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #a6ddf2 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #a6ddf2 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#10556F, #D3E7EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #a6ddf2 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: #F3F9FC;
  --brand-100: #E7F4F9;
  --brand-200: #C8E8F4;
  --brand-300: #a6ddf2;
  --brand-400: #6CC7EA;
  --brand-500: #3BB4E2;
  --brand-600: #1FA3D6;
  --brand-700: #1A88B2;
  --brand-800: #156D8E;
  --brand-900: #135067;
  --brand-950: #0C3240;
  --brand: #a6ddf2;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F9FA;
  --brand-border: #C0E0ED;
  --brand-hover: #87D1ED;
  --brand-pressed: #68C5E9;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142024;
    --brand-ink: #D3E7EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3F9FC',
        100: '#E7F4F9',
        200: '#C8E8F4',
        300: '#a6ddf2',
        400: '#6CC7EA',
        500: '#3BB4E2',
        600: '#1FA3D6',
        700: '#1A88B2',
        800: '#156D8E',
        900: '#135067',
        950: '#0C3240',
        DEFAULT: '#a6ddf2',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3F9FC,
  '100': #E7F4F9,
  '200': #C8E8F4,
  '300': #a6ddf2,
  '400': #6CC7EA,
  '500': #3BB4E2,
  '600': #1FA3D6,
  '700': #1A88B2,
  '800': #156D8E,
  '900': #135067,
  '950': #0C3240,
);
$brand-base: #a6ddf2;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3F9FC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E7F4F9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C8E8F4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#a6ddf2", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#6CC7EA", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#3BB4E2", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#1FA3D6", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#1A88B2", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#156D8E", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#135067", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0C3240", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #a6ddf2 · 14.25:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.47:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 14.25:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #a6ddf2 as text scores 1.47:1 on white and 14.25:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #10556F at 5.58:1.

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
#187EA5 · 4.60:1
AA on white−43% L
#187EA5
The quick fox
#125F7D · 7.10:1
AAA on white−52% L
#125F7D
The quick fox
#a6ddf2 · 14.25:1
AA on blackalready passes
#a6ddf2
The quick fox
#a6ddf2 · 14.25:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#a6ddf2

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #1FA0D1 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
#a6ddf2 on white: 1.47:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#a6ddf2 on black: 14.25:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #a6ddf2 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #a6ddf2.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.47:1AaAa
Slate 501.41:1AaAa
Slate 1001.35:1AaAa
Slate 2001.20:1AaAa
Slate 3001.01:1AaAa
Slate 4001.74:1AaAa
Slate 5003.23:1AaAa
Slate 6005.14:1AaAa
Slate 7007.02:1AaAa
Slate 8009.92:1AaAa
Slate 90012.11:1AaAa
Black14.25:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D1DAF3
deuteranopia · #C5D1F2
tritanopia · #8DE4E3

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. #a6ddf2 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.

#F3F9FC
#E7F4F9
#C8E8F4
#a6ddf2
#6CC7EA
#3BB4E2
#1FA3D6
#1A88B2
#156D8E
#135067
#0C3240
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F3F9FCDarkest = 950 · #0C3240Text 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 0.016 223.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.025 223.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.038 223.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.049 223.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.058 223.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.063 223.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.063 223.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.060 223.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.053 223.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.044 223.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.035 223.4);
}

Colors that work with #a6ddf2

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#F4F9FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0E0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B859B
Captions on the surface
Accent#B61A16
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#10556F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E9F6FC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142024
Dark-mode background
Hover#87D1ED
One step down in lightness
Pressed#68C5E9
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F6F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B4E6F9
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 #a6ddf2

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 #10556F
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #1FA0D1

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 lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

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

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight20/100
  • 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#F2BBA6
Analogous left#A6F2E1
Analogous right#A6B7F2
Split-complement 1#F2A6B7
Split-complement 2#F2E1A6
Triadic 1#F2A6DD
Triadic 2#DDF2A6
Tetradic#E1A6F2
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°197°

#a6ddf2 sits at 197°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red65.1%
Green86.7%
Blue94.9%
R · 0–255
166
0xa6
G · 0–255
221
0xdd
B · 0–255
242
0xf2

CMYK percentages

Cyan31.4%
Magenta8.7%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)5.1%

Total ink coverage is 45%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#a6ddf2 text on a black background

contrast 14.25:1

Card sample

#a6ddf2 text on a white background

contrast 1.47:1

Card sample

#a6ddf2 on grey

1.35:1

#a6ddf2 on its own surface

1.39:1

#a6ddf2 on its dark surface

11.29:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #a6ddf2;
Background color
Panel with #a6ddf2 background
background-color: #a6ddf2;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #a6ddf2;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(166, 221, 242, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(166, 221, 242, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #a6ddf2;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #a6ddf2, #A6AAF2);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #a6ddf2, #B5A6F2);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #a6ddf2;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #a6ddf2;
caret-color: #a6ddf2;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #a6ddf2;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E9F6FC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #a6ddf2;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#a6ddf2 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #a6ddf2 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(166, 221, 242, 0.5)
rgb(166 221 242 / 50%)
#a6ddf280
hsl(197 75% 80% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #a6ddf2 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#a6ddf21a#F6FCFE
20%#a6ddf233#EDF8FC
40%#a6ddf266#DBF1FA
60%#a6ddf299#CAEBF7
80%#a6ddf2cc#B8E4F5

Gradients from #a6ddf2

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, #DBF1FA, #a6ddf2 45%, #10556F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #a6ddf2, #8E8BEE);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #a6ddf2, #F2BBA6);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F2FAFD 0%, #a6ddf2 45%, #10556F 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F9FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #D3F8ED 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C1C8F6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #10556F 0%, transparent 65%), #a6ddf2;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #a6ddf2

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.

#a6ddf2 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

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 14.25:1.

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.

#a6ddf2, answered

What color is #a6ddf2?

#a6ddf2 is a light vivid cyan, closest to Light Blue (ΔE2000 2.9). It sits at 197° on the hue wheel with 75% saturation and 80% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #a6ddf2?

rgb(166, 221, 242) — 166 red, 221 green and 242 blue out of 255, or 65.1% / 86.7% / 94.9% by channel.

What is #a6ddf2 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(197, 75%, 80%) and hsv(197, 31%, 95%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #a6ddf2 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6623 and perceived brightness is 82%, so black text on it reaches 14.25:1.

Should I use black or white text on #a6ddf2?

Black. It scores 14.25:1 against #a6ddf2, versus 1.47:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #a6ddf2 accessible on a white background?

#a6ddf2 on white scores 1.47:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #187EA5 to reach 4.5:1, or #125F7D for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #a6ddf2?

#F2BBA6 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #F2A6B7 and #F2E1A6, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #a6ddf2?

For interface work: #F4F9FA as the surface, #C0E0ED for borders, #4B859B for secondary text, #B61A16 as an accent and #10556F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #A6F2E1 and #A6B7F2 stays calm, while #F2BBA6 is the loudest partner.

What is #a6ddf2 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(31%, 9%, 0%, 5%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #a6ddf2 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 94 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #A6F2EB; nudged cooler, #A5CFF3.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #a6ddf2?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 14.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #a6ddf2 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #a6ddf2 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#a6ddf2] or text-[#a6ddf2], 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 #a6ddf2 with 50% opacity?

rgba(166, 221, 242, 0.5), or #a6ddf280 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D3EEF9; over black, #536F79.

Is #a6ddf2 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCFF, ΔE2000 10.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #a6ddf2 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 #a6ddf2?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #DBF1FA, #a6ddf2 45%, #10556F). For more colour, a short hue run to #8E8BEE keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #a6ddf2 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #a6ddf2 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.