Skip to content

#afd1cd

a light, soft cyan · cool · closest name: Powder Blue

RGB
175, 209, 205
HSL
173°, 27%, 75%
CMYK
16, 0, 2, 18
Luminance
0.5912

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #afd1cd is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#afd1cd
Hue
173°
cyan
Saturation
27%
soft
Lightness
75%
light
Brightness
82%
HSV value
Perceived
78%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5912
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
77/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
12.82:1
Closest name
Powder Blue
ΔE2000 5.7
Where it sits
Hue173° of 360°
Saturation27%
Lightness75%
Temperature
Warm ← → Cool77% cool

Reads cool. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Every format

HEX#afd1cd
RGBrgb(175, 209, 205)
HSLhsl(173, 27%, 75%)
CMYKcmyk(16%, 0%, 2%, 18%)
LABlab(81.4 -12.0 -1.8)
LCHlch(81.4 12.2 188.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.835 0.036 187.8)
Decimal11522509
Display P3color(display-p3 0.686 0.820 0.804)

Copy-ready code

/* CSS */
color: #afd1cd;
background-color: #afd1cd;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#afd1cd] bg-[#afd1cd]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #afd1cd;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.686, green: 0.820, blue: 0.804)
/* Android */
Color.parseColor("#afd1cd")
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAFD1CD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(205, 209, 175)

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 #afd1cd · 12.82:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
White text · 1.64:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.82:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #afd1cd as text scores 1.64:1 on white and 12.82:1 on black.

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

Aa
#afd1cd on white: 1.64:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#afd1cd on black: 12.82:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
true color
protanopia · #CDCDCD
deuteranopia · #C6C8CD
tritanopia · #A6D3D0

Color scale — 50 to 950

A Tailwind-shaped ramp built around this exact hex. #afd1cd 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.

#F6F9F9
#ECF3F2
#D6E6E4
#afd1cd
#94C2BC
#71ADA6
#599B94
#4A827B
#3C6862
#2E4C49
#1D302E
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F6F9F9Darkest = 950 · #1D302E
:root {
  --brand-50: #F6F9F9;
  --brand-100: #ECF3F2;
  --brand-200: #D6E6E4;
  --brand-300: #afd1cd;
  --brand-400: #94C2BC;
  --brand-500: #71ADA6;
  --brand-600: #599B94;
  --brand-700: #4A827B;
  --brand-800: #3C6862;
  --brand-900: #2E4C49;
  --brand-950: #1D302E;
  --brand: #afd1cd;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
}

Colors that work with #afd1cd

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#F5F9F9
Tinted page background
Border#CBE1DF
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#54928A
Captions on the surface
Accent#86465E
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#2F514D
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EFF6F5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142422
Dark-mode background
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

How to use #afd1cd

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

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#D1AFB3
Analogous left#AFD1BC
Analogous right#AFC4D1
Split-complement 1#D1AFC4
Split-complement 2#D1BCAF
Triadic 1#CDAFD1
Triadic 2#D1CDAF
Tetradic#BCAFD1

RGB percentages

Red68.6%
Green82.0%
Blue80.4%

CMYK percentages

Cyan16.3%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow1.9%
Key (black)18.0%

Color previews

#afd1cd text on a black background

contrast 12.82:1

Card sample

#afd1cd text on a white background

contrast 1.64:1

Card sample

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #afd1cd;
Background color
Panel with #afd1cd background
background-color: #afd1cd;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #afd1cd;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(175, 209, 205, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(175, 209, 205, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #afd1cd;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #afd1cd, #AFBED1);

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #afd1cd

Shades — darker

Tints — lighter

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.

#afd1cd 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.

#afd1cd, answered

What color is #afd1cd?

#afd1cd is a light soft cyan, closest to Powder Blue (ΔE2000 5.7). It sits at 173° on the hue wheel with 27% saturation and 75% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #afd1cd?

rgb(175, 209, 205) — 175 red, 209 green and 205 blue out of 255, or 68.6% / 82% / 80.4% by channel.

Is #afd1cd a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5912 and perceived brightness is 78%, so black text on it reaches 12.82:1.

Should I use black or white text on #afd1cd?

Black. It scores 12.82:1 against #afd1cd, versus 1.64:1 for white — AAA at any size.

What is the complementary color of #afd1cd?

#D1AFB3 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #D1AFC4 and #D1BCAF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #afd1cd?

For interface work: #F5F9F9 as the surface, #CBE1DF for borders, #54928A for secondary text, #86465E as an accent and #2F514D for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AFD1BC and #AFC4D1 stays calm, while #D1AFB3 is the loudest partner.

What is #afd1cd in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(16%, 0%, 2%, 18%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #afd1cd warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 77 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #AFD1C1; nudged cooler, #AEC9D2.

Work with #afd1cd in the Color Lab