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cyan · cool

#aef5f2

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Glacier

RGB
174, 245, 242
HSL
178°, 78%, 82%
CMYK
29, 0, 1, 4
Luminance
0.8071

#aef5f2 is a light electric cyan, 178° on the wheel and 86/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (17.14:1). As text it scores 1.22:1 on white — use #10807B instead. Nearest name is Pale Turquoise, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(178 78% 82%)rgb(174 245 242)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #aef5f2 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#aef5f2
Hue
178°
cyan
Saturation
78%
electric
Lightness
82%
light
Brightness
96%
HSV value
Perceived
89%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.8071
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
86/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
17.14:1
Closest name
Pale Turquoise
ΔE2000 2.2
Chroma
23.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.923
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 19.3
Web-safe
#99FFFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue178° of 360°
Saturation78%
Lightness82%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #aef5f2.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool86% 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
Red11%
Green81%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#aef5f2
HEX (8-digit)#aef5f2ff
RGBrgb(174, 245, 242)
RGBArgba(174, 245, 242, 1)
HSLhsl(178, 78%, 82%)
HSV / HSBhsv(177, 29%, 96%)
HWBhwb(178 68% 4%)
CMYKcmyk(29%, 0%, 1%, 4%)
LABlab(92.0 -22.5 -5.6)
LCHlch(92.0 23.2 194.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.923 0.070 192.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(66.13, 80.71, 96.08)
Decimal11466226
Display P3color(display-p3 0.682 0.961 0.949)
Web-safe#99FFFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #aef5f2;
background-color: #aef5f2;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #aef5f2;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#aef5f2] bg-[#aef5f2]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #aef5f2;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.682, green: 0.961, blue: 0.949)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.682, green: 0.961, blue: 0.949, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AEF5F2</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAEF5F2)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAEF5F2)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(242, 245, 174)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(174, 245, 242)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(174, 245, 242)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 174, 245, 242)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6824f, 0.9608f, 0.9490f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{174,245,242}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #aef5f2 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #aef5f2 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#0E716D, #D3EEED);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #aef5f2 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: #F3FCFC;
  --brand-100: #E6F9F8;
  --brand-200: #C7F5F3;
  --brand-300: #aef5f2;
  --brand-400: #69ECE7;
  --brand-500: #37E6DF;
  --brand-600: #1BDAD2;
  --brand-700: #16B6AF;
  --brand-800: #12918C;
  --brand-900: #116965;
  --brand-950: #0B423F;
  --brand: #aef5f2;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C0EDEB;
  --brand-hover: #8EF1ED;
  --brand-pressed: #6FEDE8;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142424;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEED;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3FCFC',
        100: '#E6F9F8',
        200: '#C7F5F3',
        300: '#aef5f2',
        400: '#69ECE7',
        500: '#37E6DF',
        600: '#1BDAD2',
        700: '#16B6AF',
        800: '#12918C',
        900: '#116965',
        950: '#0B423F',
        DEFAULT: '#aef5f2',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3FCFC,
  '100': #E6F9F8,
  '200': #C7F5F3,
  '300': #aef5f2,
  '400': #69ECE7,
  '500': #37E6DF,
  '600': #1BDAD2,
  '700': #16B6AF,
  '800': #12918C,
  '900': #116965,
  '950': #0B423F,
);
$brand-base: #aef5f2;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3FCFC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E6F9F8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C7F5F3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#aef5f2", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#69ECE7", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#37E6DF", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#1BDAD2", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#16B6AF", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#12918C", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#116965", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0B423F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #aef5f2 · 17.14:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.22:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 17.14:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #aef5f2 as text scores 1.22:1 on white and 17.14:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #0E716D 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
#10807B · 4.78:1
AA on white−54% L
#10807B
The quick fox
#0C605D · 7.38:1
AAA on white−61% L
#0C605D
The quick fox
#aef5f2 · 17.14:1
AA on blackalready passes
#aef5f2
The quick fox
#aef5f2 · 17.14:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#aef5f2

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #14A49E 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
#aef5f2 on white: 1.22:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#aef5f2 on black: 17.14:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #aef5f2 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #aef5f2.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.22:1AaAa
Slate 501.17:1AaAa
Slate 1001.12:1AaAa
Slate 2001.01:1AaAa
Slate 3001.21:1AaAa
Slate 4002.09:1AaAa
Slate 5003.88:1AaAa
Slate 6006.19:1AaAa
Slate 7008.45:1AaAa
Slate 80011.94:1AaAa
Slate 90014.57:1AaAa
Black17.14:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #EDEEF2
deuteranopia · #DFE4F3
tritanopia · #95F9F4

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. #aef5f2 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.

#F3FCFC
#E6F9F8
#C7F5F3
#aef5f2
#69ECE7
#37E6DF
#1BDAD2
#16B6AF
#12918C
#116965
#0B423F
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F3FCFCDarkest = 950 · #0B423FText 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 0.018 192.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.028 192.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.042 192.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.055 192.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.065 192.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.070 192.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.070 192.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.066 192.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.059 192.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.049 192.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.039 192.7);
}

Colors that work with #aef5f2

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#C0EDEB
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B98
Captions on the surface
Accent#BA1243
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#0E716D
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E8FCFB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142424
Dark-mode background
Hover#8EF1ED
One step down in lightness
Pressed#6FEDE8
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F7F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#BDFBF8
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 #aef5f2

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 #0E716D
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #14A49E

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 lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

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

Reads as
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight18/100
  • 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#F5AEB1
Analogous left#AEF5CF
Analogous right#AED5F5
Split-complement 1#F5AED5
Split-complement 2#F5CFAE
Triadic 1#F2AEF5
Triadic 2#F5F2AE
Tetradic#CFAEF5
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°178°

#aef5f2 sits at 178°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red68.2%
Green96.1%
Blue94.9%
R · 0–255
174
0xae
G · 0–255
245
0xf5
B · 0–255
242
0xf2

CMYK percentages

Cyan29.0%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow1.2%
Key (black)3.9%

Total ink coverage is 34%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#aef5f2 text on a black background

contrast 17.14:1

Card sample

#aef5f2 text on a white background

contrast 1.22:1

Card sample

#aef5f2 on grey

1.12:1

#aef5f2 on its own surface

1.16:1

#aef5f2 on its dark surface

13.11:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #aef5f2;
Background color
Panel with #aef5f2 background
background-color: #aef5f2;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #aef5f2;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(174, 245, 242, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(174, 245, 242, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #aef5f2;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #aef5f2, #AEC9F5);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #aef5f2, #AEB7F5);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #aef5f2;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #aef5f2;
caret-color: #aef5f2;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #aef5f2;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E8FCFB;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #aef5f2;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#aef5f2 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #aef5f2 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(174, 245, 242, 0.5)
rgb(174 245 242 / 50%)
#aef5f280
hsl(178 78% 82% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #aef5f2 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#aef5f21a#F7FEFE
20%#aef5f233#EFFDFC
40%#aef5f266#DFFBFA
60%#aef5f299#CEF9F7
80%#aef5f2cc#BEF7F5

Gradients from #aef5f2

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, #E5FCFB, #aef5f2 45%, #0E716D);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #aef5f2, #93AFF2);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #aef5f2, #F5AEB1);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F1FDFD 0%, #aef5f2 45%, #0E716D 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%, #DCFBE7 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C9DFF8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #0E716D 0%, transparent 65%), #aef5f2;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #aef5f2

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.

#aef5f2 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

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 17.14:1.

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.

#aef5f2, answered

What color is #aef5f2?

#aef5f2 is a light electric cyan, closest to Pale Turquoise (ΔE2000 2.2). It sits at 178° on the hue wheel with 78% saturation and 82% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #aef5f2?

rgb(174, 245, 242) — 174 red, 245 green and 242 blue out of 255, or 68.2% / 96.1% / 94.9% by channel.

What is #aef5f2 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(178, 78%, 82%) and hsv(177, 29%, 96%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #aef5f2 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.8071 and perceived brightness is 89%, so black text on it reaches 17.14:1.

Should I use black or white text on #aef5f2?

Black. It scores 17.14:1 against #aef5f2, versus 1.22:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #aef5f2 accessible on a white background?

#aef5f2 on white scores 1.22:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #10807B to reach 4.5:1, or #0C605D for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #aef5f2?

#F5AEB1 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #F5AED5 and #F5CFAE, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #aef5f2?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C0EDEB for borders, #4B9B98 for secondary text, #BA1243 as an accent and #0E716D for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AEF5CF and #AED5F5 stays calm, while #F5AEB1 is the loudest partner.

What is #aef5f2 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(29%, 0%, 1%, 4%). 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 #aef5f2 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 86 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #AEF5D8; nudged cooler, #ADDEF6.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #aef5f2?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 19.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #aef5f2 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #aef5f2 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#aef5f2] or text-[#aef5f2], 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 #aef5f2 with 50% opacity?

rgba(174, 245, 242, 0.5), or #aef5f280 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D7FAF9; over black, #577B79.

Is #aef5f2 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99FFFF, ΔE2000 4.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #aef5f2 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 #aef5f2?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E5FCFB, #aef5f2 45%, #0E716D). For more colour, a short hue run to #93AFF2 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #aef5f2 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #aef5f2 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.