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cyan · cool

#afe3ee

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Teal

RGB
175, 227, 238
HSL
191°, 65%, 81%
CMYK
27, 5, 0, 7
Luminance
0.7023

#afe3ee is a light vivid cyan, 191° on the wheel and 92/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (15.05:1). As text it scores 1.40:1 on white — use #1F7F93 instead. Nearest name is Powder Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(191 65% 81%)rgb(175 227 238)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #afe3ee is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#afe3ee
Hue
191°
cyan
Saturation
65%
vivid
Lightness
81%
light
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
84%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.7023
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
92/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
15.05:1
Closest name
Powder Blue
ΔE2000 2
Chroma
17.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.883
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 16.2
Web-safe
#99CCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue191° of 360°
Saturation65%
Lightness81%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #afe3ee.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool92% 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%
Green78%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#afe3ee
HEX (8-digit)#afe3eeff
RGBrgb(175, 227, 238)
RGBArgba(175, 227, 238, 1)
HSLhsl(191, 65%, 81%)
HSV / HSBhsv(190, 26%, 93%)
HWBhwb(191 69% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(27%, 5%, 0%, 7%)
LABlab(87.1 -14.1 -10.8)
LCHlch(87.1 17.8 217.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.883 0.055 212.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(60.58, 70.22, 91.23)
Decimal11527150
Display P3color(display-p3 0.686 0.890 0.933)
Web-safe#99CCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #afe3ee;
background-color: #afe3ee;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #afe3ee;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#afe3ee] bg-[#afe3ee]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #afe3ee;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.686, green: 0.890, blue: 0.933)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.686, green: 0.890, blue: 0.933, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AFE3EE</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAFE3EE)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAFE3EE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(238, 227, 175)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(175, 227, 238)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(175, 227, 238)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 175, 227, 238)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6863f, 0.8902f, 0.9333f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{175,227,238}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #afe3ee 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #afe3ee 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#165B69, #D3E9EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #afe3ee 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: #F3FAFB;
  --brand-100: #E8F5F7;
  --brand-200: #CBEAF1;
  --brand-300: #afe3ee;
  --brand-400: #74CEE1;
  --brand-500: #46BED8;
  --brand-600: #2BAECA;
  --brand-700: #2491A8;
  --brand-800: #1D7487;
  --brand-900: #195562;
  --brand-950: #0F353D;
  --brand: #afe3ee;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F9FA;
  --brand-border: #C0E5ED;
  --brand-hover: #92D9E8;
  --brand-pressed: #74CEE1;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142224;
    --brand-ink: #D3E9EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3FAFB',
        100: '#E8F5F7',
        200: '#CBEAF1',
        300: '#afe3ee',
        400: '#74CEE1',
        500: '#46BED8',
        600: '#2BAECA',
        700: '#2491A8',
        800: '#1D7487',
        900: '#195562',
        950: '#0F353D',
        DEFAULT: '#afe3ee',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3FAFB,
  '100': #E8F5F7,
  '200': #CBEAF1,
  '300': #afe3ee,
  '400': #74CEE1,
  '500': #46BED8,
  '600': #2BAECA,
  '700': #2491A8,
  '800': #1D7487,
  '900': #195562,
  '950': #0F353D,
);
$brand-base: #afe3ee;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3FAFB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E8F5F7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CBEAF1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#afe3ee", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#74CEE1", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#46BED8", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#2BAECA", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#2491A8", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#1D7487", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#195562", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0F353D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #afe3ee · 15.05:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.40:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 15.05:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #afe3ee as text scores 1.40:1 on white and 15.05:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #165B69 at 5.50:1.

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
#1F7F93 · 4.65:1
AA on white−46% L
#1F7F93
The quick fox
#175E6D · 7.35:1
AAA on white−55% L
#175E6D
The quick fox
#afe3ee · 15.05:1
AA on blackalready passes
#afe3ee
The quick fox
#afe3ee · 15.05:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#afe3ee

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #27A0B9 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
#afe3ee on white: 1.40:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#afe3ee on black: 15.05:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #afe3ee as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #afe3ee.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.40:1AaAa
Slate 501.33:1AaAa
Slate 1001.27:1AaAa
Slate 2001.13:1AaAa
Slate 3001.06:1AaAa
Slate 4001.84:1AaAa
Slate 5003.41:1AaAa
Slate 6005.43:1AaAa
Slate 7007.42:1AaAa
Slate 80010.48:1AaAa
Slate 90012.79:1AaAa
Black15.05:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #DADFEF
deuteranopia · #CFD7EE
tritanopia · #9BE8E6

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. #afe3ee 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.

#F3FAFB
#E8F5F7
#CBEAF1
#afe3ee
#74CEE1
#46BED8
#2BAECA
#2491A8
#1D7487
#195562
#0F353D
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F3FAFBDarkest = 950 · #0F353DText 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 0.014 212.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.022 212.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.033 212.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.043 212.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.051 212.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.055 212.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.055 212.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.052 212.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.047 212.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.039 212.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.030 212.1);
}

Colors that work with #afe3ee

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#C0E5ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B8D9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#AC202A
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#165B69
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EAF8FB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142224
Dark-mode background
Hover#92D9E8
One step down in lightness
Pressed#74CEE1
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F6F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#BCEBF5
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 #afe3ee

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 #165B69
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #27A0B9

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
  • Weight19/100
  • 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#EEBAAF
Analogous left#AFEEDA
Analogous right#AFC4EE
Split-complement 1#EEAFC4
Split-complement 2#EEDAAF
Triadic 1#EEAFE3
Triadic 2#E3EEAF
Tetradic#DAAFEE
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°191°

#afe3ee sits at 191°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red68.6%
Green89.0%
Blue93.3%
R · 0–255
175
0xaf
G · 0–255
227
0xe3
B · 0–255
238
0xee

CMYK percentages

Cyan26.5%
Magenta4.6%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)6.7%

Total ink coverage is 38%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#afe3ee text on a black background

contrast 15.05:1

Card sample

#afe3ee text on a white background

contrast 1.40:1

Card sample

#afe3ee on grey

1.27:1

#afe3ee on its own surface

1.31:1

#afe3ee on its dark surface

11.72:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #afe3ee;
Background color
Panel with #afe3ee background
background-color: #afe3ee;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #afe3ee;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(175, 227, 238, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(175, 227, 238, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #afe3ee;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #afe3ee, #AFB9EE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #afe3ee, #B5AFEE);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #afe3ee;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #afe3ee;
caret-color: #afe3ee;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #afe3ee;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EAF8FB;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #afe3ee;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#afe3ee 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #afe3ee 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(175, 227, 238, 0.5)
rgb(175 227 238 / 50%)
#afe3ee80
hsl(191 65% 81% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #afe3ee 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#afe3ee1a#F7FCFD
20%#afe3ee33#EFF9FC
40%#afe3ee66#DFF4F8
60%#afe3ee99#CFEEF5
80%#afe3eecc#BFE9F1

Gradients from #afe3ee

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, #E2F5F9, #afe3ee 45%, #165B69);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #afe3ee, #969CE9);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #afe3ee, #EEBAAF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F2FBFC 0%, #afe3ee 45%, #165B69 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%, #D9F7EB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C8D3F3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #165B69 0%, transparent 65%), #afe3ee;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #afe3ee

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.

#afe3ee 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 15.05:1.

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.

#afe3ee, answered

What color is #afe3ee?

#afe3ee is a light vivid cyan, closest to Powder Blue (ΔE2000 2). It sits at 191° on the hue wheel with 65% saturation and 81% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #afe3ee?

rgb(175, 227, 238) — 175 red, 227 green and 238 blue out of 255, or 68.6% / 89% / 93.3% by channel.

What is #afe3ee in HSL and HSV?

hsl(191, 65%, 81%) and hsv(190, 26%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #afe3ee a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.7023 and perceived brightness is 84%, so black text on it reaches 15.05:1.

Should I use black or white text on #afe3ee?

Black. It scores 15.05:1 against #afe3ee, versus 1.40:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #afe3ee accessible on a white background?

#afe3ee on white scores 1.40:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #1F7F93 to reach 4.5:1, or #175E6D for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #afe3ee?

#EEBAAF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #EEAFC4 and #EEDAAF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #afe3ee?

For interface work: #F4F9FA as the surface, #C0E5ED for borders, #4B8D9B for secondary text, #AC202A as an accent and #165B69 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AFEEDA and #AFC4EE stays calm, while #EEBAAF is the loudest partner.

What is #afe3ee in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(27%, 5%, 0%, 7%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #afe3ee warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 92 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #AFEEE2; nudged cooler, #AED2EF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #afe3ee?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 16.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #afe3ee as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #afe3ee in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#afe3ee] or text-[#afe3ee], 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 #afe3ee with 50% opacity?

rgba(175, 227, 238, 0.5), or #afe3ee80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D7F1F7; over black, #587277.

Is #afe3ee a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCFF, ΔE2000 14 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #afe3ee 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 #afe3ee?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E2F5F9, #afe3ee 45%, #165B69). For more colour, a short hue run to #969CE9 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #afe3ee in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #afe3ee at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.