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cyan · cool

#aadcd3

a light, soft cyan · cool · closest name: Pale Turquoise

Token name suggestion: Meadow Lagoon

RGB
170, 220, 211
HSL
169°, 42%, 77%
CMYK
23, 0, 4, 14
Luminance
0.6444

#aadcd3 is a light soft cyan, 169° on the wheel and 83/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (13.89:1). As text it scores 1.51:1 on white — use #358073 instead. Nearest name is Pale Turquoise, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(169 42% 77%)rgb(170 220 211)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #aadcd3 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#aadcd3
Hue
169°
cyan
Saturation
42%
soft
Lightness
77%
light
Brightness
86%
HSV value
Perceived
80%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6444
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
83/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
13.89:1
Closest name
Pale Turquoise
ΔE2000 5.6
Chroma
17.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.857
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 16.1
Web-safe
#99CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue169° of 360°
Saturation42%
Lightness77%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #aadcd3.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool83% 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
Red13%
Green79%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#aadcd3
HEX (8-digit)#aadcd3ff
RGBrgb(170, 220, 211)
RGBArgba(170, 220, 211, 1)
HSLhsl(169, 42%, 77%)
HSV / HSBhsv(169, 23%, 86%)
HWBhwb(169 67% 14%)
CMYKcmyk(23%, 0%, 4%, 14%)
LABlab(84.2 -17.9 -0.9)
LCHlch(84.2 17.9 182.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.857 0.053 182.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(53.93, 64.43, 71.21)
Decimal11197651
Display P3color(display-p3 0.667 0.863 0.827)
Web-safe#99CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #aadcd3;
background-color: #aadcd3;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #aadcd3;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#aadcd3] bg-[#aadcd3]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #aadcd3;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.667, green: 0.863, blue: 0.827)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.667, green: 0.863, blue: 0.827, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AADCD3</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAADCD3)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAADCD3)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(211, 220, 170)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(170, 220, 211)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(170, 220, 211)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 170, 220, 211)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6667f, 0.8627f, 0.8275f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{170,220,211}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #aadcd3 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #aadcd3 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#255A51, #D4EDE9);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #aadcd3 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: #EBF5F3;
  --brand-200: #D2EAE6;
  --brand-300: #aadcd3;
  --brand-400: #88CEC1;
  --brand-500: #60BEAD;
  --brand-600: #47AD9B;
  --brand-700: #3B9181;
  --brand-800: #307467;
  --brand-900: #26554C;
  --brand-950: #183530;
  --brand: #aadcd3;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAF9;
  --brand-border: #C5E7E1;
  --brand-hover: #91D2C6;
  --brand-pressed: #77C7B9;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142421;
    --brand-ink: #D4EDE9;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5FAF9',
        100: '#EBF5F3',
        200: '#D2EAE6',
        300: '#aadcd3',
        400: '#88CEC1',
        500: '#60BEAD',
        600: '#47AD9B',
        700: '#3B9181',
        800: '#307467',
        900: '#26554C',
        950: '#183530',
        DEFAULT: '#aadcd3',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5FAF9,
  '100': #EBF5F3,
  '200': #D2EAE6,
  '300': #aadcd3,
  '400': #88CEC1,
  '500': #60BEAD,
  '600': #47AD9B,
  '700': #3B9181,
  '800': #307467,
  '900': #26554C,
  '950': #183530,
);
$brand-base: #aadcd3;
$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": "#EBF5F3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D2EAE6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#aadcd3", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#88CEC1", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#60BEAD", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#47AD9B", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#3B9181", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#307467", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#26554C", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#183530", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #aadcd3 · 13.89:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.51:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 13.89:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #aadcd3 as text scores 1.51:1 on white and 13.89:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #255A51 at 5.22:1.

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
#358073 · 4.68:1
AA on white−41% L
#358073
The quick fox
#276056 · 7.26:1
AAA on white−50% L
#276056
The quick fox
#aadcd3 · 13.89:1
AA on blackalready passes
#aadcd3
The quick fox
#aadcd3 · 13.89:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#aadcd3

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #44A493 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
#aadcd3 on white: 1.51:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#aadcd3 on black: 13.89:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #aadcd3 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #aadcd3.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.51:1AaAa
Slate 501.45:1AaAa
Slate 1001.38:1AaAa
Slate 2001.23:1AaAa
Slate 3001.02:1AaAa
Slate 4001.70:1AaAa
Slate 5003.15:1AaAa
Slate 6005.01:1AaAa
Slate 7006.85:1AaAa
Slate 8009.67:1AaAa
Slate 90011.81:1AaAa
Black13.89:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D7D6D3
deuteranopia · #CECFD4
tritanopia · #9CDED9

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. #aadcd3 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.

#F5FAF9
#EBF5F3
#D2EAE6
#aadcd3
#88CEC1
#60BEAD
#47AD9B
#3B9181
#307467
#26554C
#183530
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F5FAF9Darkest = 950 · #183530Text 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 0.013 182.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.021 182.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.032 182.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.041 182.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.049 182.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.053 182.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.053 182.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.050 182.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.045 182.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.037 182.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.029 182.8);
}

Colors that work with #aadcd3

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#C5E7E1
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B8C
Captions on the surface
Accent#94385F
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#255A51
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EDF8F6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142421
Dark-mode background
Hover#91D2C6
One step down in lightness
Pressed#77C7B9
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F7F6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B4E7DE
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 #aadcd3

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 #255A51
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #44A493

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 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
  • Weight24/100
  • 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#DCAAB3
Analogous left#AADCBA
Analogous right#AACCDC
Split-complement 1#DCAACC
Split-complement 2#DCBAAA
Triadic 1#D3AADC
Triadic 2#DCD3AA
Tetradic#BAAADC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°169°

#aadcd3 sits at 169°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red66.7%
Green86.3%
Blue82.7%
R · 0–255
170
0xaa
G · 0–255
220
0xdc
B · 0–255
211
0xd3

CMYK percentages

Cyan22.7%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow4.1%
Key (black)13.7%

Total ink coverage is 41%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#aadcd3 text on a black background

contrast 13.89:1

Card sample

#aadcd3 text on a white background

contrast 1.51:1

Card sample

#aadcd3 on grey

1.38:1

#aadcd3 on its own surface

1.43:1

#aadcd3 on its dark surface

10.65:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #aadcd3;
Background color
Panel with #aadcd3 background
background-color: #aadcd3;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #aadcd3;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(170, 220, 211, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(170, 220, 211, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #aadcd3;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #aadcd3, #AAC4DC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #aadcd3, #AAB7DC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #aadcd3;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #aadcd3;
caret-color: #aadcd3;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #aadcd3;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EDF8F6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #aadcd3;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#aadcd3 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #aadcd3 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(170, 220, 211, 0.5)
rgb(170 220 211 / 50%)
#aadcd380
hsl(169 42% 77% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #aadcd3 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#aadcd31a#F7FCFB
20%#aadcd333#EEF8F6
40%#aadcd366#DDF1ED
60%#aadcd399#CCEAE5
80%#aadcd3cc#BBE3DC

Gradients from #aadcd3

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, #D5EEEA, #aadcd3 45%, #255A51);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #aadcd3, #94AFD3);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #aadcd3, #DCAAB3);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EBF7F5 0%, #aadcd3 45%, #255A51 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%, #CEEBD5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C0D6E5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #255A51 0%, transparent 65%), #aadcd3;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #aadcd3

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.

#aadcd3 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 13.89:1.

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.

#aadcd3, answered

What color is #aadcd3?

#aadcd3 is a light soft cyan, closest to Pale Turquoise (ΔE2000 5.6). It sits at 169° on the hue wheel with 42% saturation and 77% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #aadcd3?

rgb(170, 220, 211) — 170 red, 220 green and 211 blue out of 255, or 66.7% / 86.3% / 82.7% by channel.

What is #aadcd3 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(169, 42%, 77%) and hsv(169, 23%, 86%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #aadcd3 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6444 and perceived brightness is 80%, so black text on it reaches 13.89:1.

Should I use black or white text on #aadcd3?

Black. It scores 13.89:1 against #aadcd3, versus 1.51:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #aadcd3 accessible on a white background?

#aadcd3 on white scores 1.51:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #358073 to reach 4.5:1, or #276056 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #aadcd3?

#DCAAB3 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DCAACC and #DCBAAA, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #aadcd3?

For interface work: #F4FAF9 as the surface, #C5E7E1 for borders, #4B9B8C for secondary text, #94385F as an accent and #255A51 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AADCBA and #AACCDC stays calm, while #DCAAB3 is the loudest partner.

What is #aadcd3 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(23%, 0%, 4%, 14%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #aadcd3 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 83 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #AADCC1; nudged cooler, #A9D3DD.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #aadcd3?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 16.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #aadcd3 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #aadcd3 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#aadcd3] or text-[#aadcd3], 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 #aadcd3 with 50% opacity?

rgba(170, 220, 211, 0.5), or #aadcd380 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D5EEE9; over black, #556E6A.

Is #aadcd3 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCCC, ΔE2000 5.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #aadcd3 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 #aadcd3?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D5EEEA, #aadcd3 45%, #255A51). For more colour, a short hue run to #94AFD3 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #aadcd3 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #aadcd3 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.