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cyan · cool

#bae4df

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Lagoon

RGB
186, 228, 223
HSL
173°, 44%, 81%
CMYK
18, 0, 2, 11
Luminance
0.7125

#bae4df is a light soft cyan, 173° on the wheel and 85/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (15.25:1). As text it scores 1.38:1 on white — use #328178 instead. Nearest name is Pale Turquoise, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(173 44% 81%)rgb(186 228 223)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bae4df is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bae4df
Hue
173°
cyan
Saturation
44%
soft
Lightness
81%
light
Brightness
89%
HSV value
Perceived
85%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.7125
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
85/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
15.25:1
Closest name
Pale Turquoise
ΔE2000 4.6
Chroma
14.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.888
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 19.1
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue173° of 360°
Saturation44%
Lightness81%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bae4df.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool85% 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
Red15%
Green78%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#bae4df
HEX (8-digit)#bae4dfff
RGBrgb(186, 228, 223)
RGBArgba(186, 228, 223, 1)
HSLhsl(173, 44%, 81%)
HSV / HSBhsv(173, 18%, 89%)
HWBhwb(173 73% 11%)
CMYKcmyk(18%, 0%, 2%, 11%)
LABlab(87.6 -14.6 -2.1)
LCHlch(87.6 14.7 188.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.888 0.044 187.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(61.31, 71.25, 80.32)
Decimal12248287
Display P3color(display-p3 0.729 0.894 0.875)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bae4df;
background-color: #bae4df;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bae4df;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bae4df] bg-[#bae4df]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bae4df;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.729, green: 0.894, blue: 0.875)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.729, green: 0.894, blue: 0.875, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BAE4DF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBAE4DF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBAE4DF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(223, 228, 186)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(186, 228, 223)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(186, 228, 223)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 186, 228, 223)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7294f, 0.8941f, 0.8745f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{186,228,223}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bae4df 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bae4df 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#245C55, #D3EEEB);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bae4df 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: #EAF5F4;
  --brand-200: #D1EBE8;
  --brand-300: #bae4df;
  --brand-400: #86D0C7;
  --brand-500: #5EC0B4;
  --brand-600: #45B0A3;
  --brand-700: #399388;
  --brand-800: #2E756D;
  --brand-900: #255650;
  --brand-950: #173632;
  --brand: #bae4df;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C4E8E4;
  --brand-hover: #A0DAD3;
  --brand-pressed: #87D0C7;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142422;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEEB;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5FAF9',
        100: '#EAF5F4',
        200: '#D1EBE8',
        300: '#bae4df',
        400: '#86D0C7',
        500: '#5EC0B4',
        600: '#45B0A3',
        700: '#399388',
        800: '#2E756D',
        900: '#255650',
        950: '#173632',
        DEFAULT: '#bae4df',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5FAF9,
  '100': #EAF5F4,
  '200': #D1EBE8,
  '300': #bae4df,
  '400': #86D0C7,
  '500': #5EC0B4,
  '600': #45B0A3,
  '700': #399388,
  '800': #2E756D,
  '900': #255650,
  '950': #173632,
);
$brand-base: #bae4df;
$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": "#EAF5F4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D1EBE8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#bae4df", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#86D0C7", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#5EC0B4", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#45B0A3", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#399388", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#2E756D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#255650", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#173632", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bae4df · 15.25:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.38:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 15.25:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bae4df as text scores 1.38:1 on white and 15.25:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #245C55 at 5.57:1.

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
#328178 · 4.62:1
AA on white−46% L
#328178
The quick fox
#266059 · 7.24:1
AAA on white−55% L
#266059
The quick fox
#bae4df · 15.25:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bae4df
The quick fox
#bae4df · 15.25:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bae4df

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #3FA296 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
#bae4df on white: 1.38:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bae4df on black: 15.25:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bae4df as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bae4df.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.38:1AaAa
Slate 501.32:1AaAa
Slate 1001.26:1AaAa
Slate 2001.12:1AaAa
Slate 3001.08:1AaAa
Slate 4001.86:1AaAa
Slate 5003.46:1AaAa
Slate 6005.50:1AaAa
Slate 7007.52:1AaAa
Slate 80010.62:1AaAa
Slate 90012.96:1AaAa
Black15.25:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #DFDFDF
deuteranopia · #D7D9E0
tritanopia · #AEE6E2

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. #bae4df 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
#EAF5F4
#D1EBE8
#bae4df
#86D0C7
#5EC0B4
#45B0A3
#399388
#2E756D
#255650
#173632
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F5FAF9Darkest = 950 · #173632Text 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 0.011 187.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.018 187.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.027 187.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.034 187.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.041 187.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.044 187.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.044 187.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.042 187.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.037 187.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.031 187.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.024 187.5);
}

Colors that work with #bae4df

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#C4E8E4
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B91
Captions on the surface
Accent#973559
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#245C55
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EDF8F7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142422
Dark-mode background
Hover#A0DAD3
One step down in lightness
Pressed#87D0C7
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F7F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C5EEE9
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 #bae4df

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 #245C55
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #3FA296

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
  • 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#E4BABF
Analogous left#BAE4CA
Analogous right#BAD4E4
Split-complement 1#E4BAD4
Split-complement 2#E4CABA
Triadic 1#DFBAE4
Triadic 2#E4DFBA
Tetradic#CABAE4
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°173°

#bae4df sits at 173°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red72.9%
Green89.4%
Blue87.5%
R · 0–255
186
0xba
G · 0–255
228
0xe4
B · 0–255
223
0xdf

CMYK percentages

Cyan18.4%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow2.2%
Key (black)10.6%

Total ink coverage is 31%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bae4df text on a black background

contrast 15.25:1

Card sample

#bae4df text on a white background

contrast 1.38:1

Card sample

#bae4df on grey

1.26:1

#bae4df on its own surface

1.30:1

#bae4df on its dark surface

11.68:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bae4df;
Background color
Panel with #bae4df background
background-color: #bae4df;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bae4df;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(186, 228, 223, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(186, 228, 223, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bae4df;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bae4df, #BACDE4);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bae4df, #BAC3E4);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bae4df;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bae4df;
caret-color: #bae4df;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bae4df;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EDF8F7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bae4df;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bae4df 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bae4df 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(186, 228, 223, 0.5)
rgb(186 228 223 / 50%)
#bae4df80
hsl(173 44% 81% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bae4df 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bae4df1a#F8FCFC
20%#bae4df33#F1FAF9
40%#bae4df66#E3F4F2
60%#bae4df99#D6EFEC
80%#bae4dfcc#C8E9E5

Gradients from #bae4df

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, #E6F5F3, #bae4df 45%, #245C55);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bae4df, #A4B8DB);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bae4df, #E4BABF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F4FBFA 0%, #bae4df 45%, #245C55 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%, #DFF2E5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D0DFED 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #245C55 0%, transparent 65%), #bae4df;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bae4df

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.

#bae4df 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 15.25:1.

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.

#bae4df, answered

What color is #bae4df?

#bae4df is a light soft cyan, closest to Pale Turquoise (ΔE2000 4.6). It sits at 173° on the hue wheel with 44% saturation and 81% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #bae4df?

rgb(186, 228, 223) — 186 red, 228 green and 223 blue out of 255, or 72.9% / 89.4% / 87.5% by channel.

What is #bae4df in HSL and HSV?

hsl(173, 44%, 81%) and hsv(173, 18%, 89%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bae4df a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.7125 and perceived brightness is 85%, so black text on it reaches 15.25:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bae4df?

Black. It scores 15.25:1 against #bae4df, versus 1.38:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bae4df accessible on a white background?

#bae4df on white scores 1.38:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #328178 to reach 4.5:1, or #266059 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bae4df?

#E4BABF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #E4BAD4 and #E4CABA, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bae4df?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C4E8E4 for borders, #4B9B91 for secondary text, #973559 as an accent and #245C55 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BAE4CA and #BAD4E4 stays calm, while #E4BABF is the loudest partner.

What is #bae4df in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(18%, 0%, 2%, 11%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bae4df warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 85 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #BAE4D0; nudged cooler, #B9DAE5.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bae4df?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 19.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bae4df as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bae4df in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bae4df] or text-[#bae4df], 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 #bae4df with 50% opacity?

rgba(186, 228, 223, 0.5), or #bae4df80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DDF2EF; over black, #5D7270.

Is #bae4df a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 15.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bae4df 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 #bae4df?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E6F5F3, #bae4df 45%, #245C55). For more colour, a short hue run to #A4B8DB keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bae4df in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bae4df at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.