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cyan · cool

#b5cfda

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Teal

RGB
181, 207, 218
HSL
198°, 33%, 78%
CMYK
17, 5, 0, 15
Luminance
0.5951

#b5cfda is a light soft cyan, 198° on the wheel and 93/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.90:1). As text it scores 1.63:1 on white — use #497D93 instead. Nearest name is Light Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(198 33% 78%)rgb(181 207 218)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #b5cfda is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#b5cfda
Hue
198°
cyan
Saturation
33%
soft
Lightness
78%
light
Brightness
85%
HSV value
Perceived
79%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5951
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
93/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
12.90:1
Closest name
Light Blue
ΔE2000 4.5
Chroma
10.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.839
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 17.1
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue198° of 360°
Saturation33%
Lightness78%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #b5cfda.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool93% 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
Red17%
Green75%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#b5cfda
HEX (8-digit)#b5cfdaff
RGBrgb(181, 207, 218)
RGBArgba(181, 207, 218, 1)
HSLhsl(198, 33%, 78%)
HSV / HSBhsv(198, 17%, 85%)
HWBhwb(198 71% 15%)
CMYKcmyk(17%, 5%, 0%, 15%)
LABlab(81.6 -6.4 -8.4)
LCHlch(81.6 10.5 232.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.839 0.032 225.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(54.02, 59.51, 74.96)
Decimal11915226
Display P3color(display-p3 0.710 0.812 0.855)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #b5cfda;
background-color: #b5cfda;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #b5cfda;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#b5cfda] bg-[#b5cfda]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #b5cfda;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.710, green: 0.812, blue: 0.855)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.710, green: 0.812, blue: 0.855, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#B5CFDA</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFB5CFDA)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFB5CFDA)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(218, 207, 181)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(181, 207, 218)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(181, 207, 218)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 181, 207, 218)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7098f, 0.8118f, 0.8549f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{181,207,218}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #b5cfda 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #b5cfda 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#2B4855, #D6E5EB);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #b5cfda 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: #F5F8F9;
  --brand-100: #ECF1F4;
  --brand-200: #D4E2E8;
  --brand-300: #b5cfda;
  --brand-400: #8FB6C7;
  --brand-500: #699EB4;
  --brand-600: #528BA3;
  --brand-700: #447488;
  --brand-800: #365D6D;
  --brand-900: #2A4550;
  --brand-950: #1B2B32;
  --brand: #b5cfda;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C9DCE4;
  --brand-hover: #9DC0CE;
  --brand-pressed: #85B0C2;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141F24;
    --brand-ink: #D6E5EB;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F8F9',
        100: '#ECF1F4',
        200: '#D4E2E8',
        300: '#b5cfda',
        400: '#8FB6C7',
        500: '#699EB4',
        600: '#528BA3',
        700: '#447488',
        800: '#365D6D',
        900: '#2A4550',
        950: '#1B2B32',
        DEFAULT: '#b5cfda',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F8F9,
  '100': #ECF1F4,
  '200': #D4E2E8,
  '300': #b5cfda,
  '400': #8FB6C7,
  '500': #699EB4,
  '600': #528BA3,
  '700': #447488,
  '800': #365D6D,
  '900': #2A4550,
  '950': #1B2B32,
);
$brand-base: #b5cfda;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F8F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#ECF1F4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D4E2E8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#b5cfda", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#8FB6C7", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#699EB4", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#528BA3", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#447488", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#365D6D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2A4550", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1B2B32", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #b5cfda · 12.90:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.63:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.90:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #b5cfda as text scores 1.63:1 on white and 12.90:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #2B4855 at 5.97:1.

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
#497D93 · 4.53:1
AA on white−35% L
#497D93
The quick fox
#375D6D · 7.12:1
AAA on white−46% L
#375D6D
The quick fox
#b5cfda · 12.90:1
AA on blackalready passes
#b5cfda
The quick fox
#b5cfda · 12.90:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#b5cfda

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #679CB3 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
#b5cfda on white: 1.63:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#b5cfda on black: 12.90:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #b5cfda as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #b5cfda.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.63:1AaAa
Slate 501.56:1AaAa
Slate 1001.49:1AaAa
Slate 2001.32:1AaAa
Slate 3001.10:1AaAa
Slate 4001.58:1AaAa
Slate 5002.92:1AaAa
Slate 6004.66:1AaAa
Slate 7006.36:1AaAa
Slate 8008.99:1AaAa
Slate 90010.97:1AaAa
Black12.90:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C9CDDB
deuteranopia · #C3C9DA
tritanopia · #ABD3D2

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. #b5cfda 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.

#F5F8F9
#ECF1F4
#D4E2E8
#b5cfda
#8FB6C7
#699EB4
#528BA3
#447488
#365D6D
#2A4550
#1B2B32
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F5F8F9Darkest = 950 · #1B2B32Text step on white = 700
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 0.008 225.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.013 225.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.019 225.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.025 225.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.029 225.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.032 225.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.032 225.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.030 225.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.027 225.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.022 225.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.018 225.2);
}

Colors that work with #b5cfda

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#F5F8FA
Tinted page background
Border#C9DCE4
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4D8299
Captions on the surface
Accent#8C4440
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#2B4855
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EEF4F6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141F24
Dark-mode background
Hover#9DC0CE
One step down in lightness
Pressed#85B0C2
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F6F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#BEDAE5
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 #b5cfda

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 #2B4855
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #679CB3

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
  • Weight22/100
  • 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#DAC0B5
Analogous left#B5DAD2
Analogous right#B5BCDA
Split-complement 1#DAB5BC
Split-complement 2#DAD2B5
Triadic 1#DAB5CF
Triadic 2#CFDAB5
Tetradic#D2B5DA
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°198°

#b5cfda sits at 198°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red71.0%
Green81.2%
Blue85.5%
R · 0–255
181
0xb5
G · 0–255
207
0xcf
B · 0–255
218
0xda

CMYK percentages

Cyan17.0%
Magenta5.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)14.5%

Total ink coverage is 37%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#b5cfda text on a black background

contrast 12.90:1

Card sample

#b5cfda text on a white background

contrast 1.63:1

Card sample

#b5cfda on grey

1.49:1

#b5cfda on its own surface

1.53:1

#b5cfda on its dark surface

10.31:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #b5cfda;
Background color
Panel with #b5cfda background
background-color: #b5cfda;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #b5cfda;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(181, 207, 218, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(181, 207, 218, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #b5cfda;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #b5cfda, #B5B6DA);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #b5cfda, #BDB5DA);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #b5cfda;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #b5cfda;
caret-color: #b5cfda;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #b5cfda;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EEF4F6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #b5cfda;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#b5cfda 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #b5cfda 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(181, 207, 218, 0.5)
rgb(181 207 218 / 50%)
#b5cfda80
hsl(198 33% 78% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #b5cfda 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#b5cfda1a#F8FAFB
20%#b5cfda33#F0F5F8
40%#b5cfda66#E1ECF0
60%#b5cfda99#D3E2E9
80%#b5cfdacc#C4D9E1

Gradients from #b5cfda

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, #DEE9EE, #b5cfda 45%, #2B4855);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #b5cfda, #A3A1D0);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #b5cfda, #DAC0B5);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F2F7F9 0%, #b5cfda 45%, #2B4855 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5F8FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #D7EBE5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C9CDE4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #2B4855 0%, transparent 65%), #b5cfda;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #b5cfda

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.

#b5cfda 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 12.90:1.

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.

#b5cfda, answered

What color is #b5cfda?

#b5cfda is a light soft cyan, closest to Light Blue (ΔE2000 4.5). It sits at 198° on the hue wheel with 33% saturation and 78% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #b5cfda?

rgb(181, 207, 218) — 181 red, 207 green and 218 blue out of 255, or 71% / 81.2% / 85.5% by channel.

What is #b5cfda in HSL and HSV?

hsl(198, 33%, 78%) and hsv(198, 17%, 85%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #b5cfda a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5951 and perceived brightness is 79%, so black text on it reaches 12.90:1.

Should I use black or white text on #b5cfda?

Black. It scores 12.90:1 against #b5cfda, versus 1.63:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #b5cfda accessible on a white background?

#b5cfda on white scores 1.63:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #497D93 to reach 4.5:1, or #375D6D for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #b5cfda?

#DAC0B5 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DAB5BC and #DAD2B5, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #b5cfda?

For interface work: #F5F8FA as the surface, #C9DCE4 for borders, #4D8299 for secondary text, #8C4440 as an accent and #2B4855 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #B5DAD2 and #B5BCDA stays calm, while #DAC0B5 is the loudest partner.

What is #b5cfda in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(17%, 5%, 0%, 15%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #b5cfda warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 93 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #B5DAD7; nudged cooler, #B4C8DB.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #b5cfda?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 17.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #b5cfda as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #b5cfda in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#b5cfda] or text-[#b5cfda], 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 #b5cfda with 50% opacity?

rgba(181, 207, 218, 0.5), or #b5cfda80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DAE7ED; over black, #5B686D.

Is #b5cfda a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 9.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #b5cfda 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 #b5cfda?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #DEE9EE, #b5cfda 45%, #2B4855). For more colour, a short hue run to #A3A1D0 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #b5cfda in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #b5cfda at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.