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cyan · cool

#bbdcdb

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Lagoon

RGB
187, 220, 219
HSL
178°, 32%, 80%
CMYK
15, 0, 1, 14
Luminance
0.6687

#bbdcdb is a light soft cyan, 178° on the wheel and 84/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (14.37:1). As text it scores 1.46:1 on white — use #427F7D instead. Nearest name is Powder Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(178 32% 80%)rgb(187 220 219)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

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

Hex
#bbdcdb
Hue
178°
cyan
Saturation
32%
soft
Lightness
80%
light
Brightness
86%
HSV value
Perceived
83%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6687
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
84/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
14.37:1
Closest name
Powder Blue
ΔE2000 4.1
Chroma
11.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.870
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 18.9
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue178° of 360°
Saturation32%
Lightness80%
Saturation × lightness field

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

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool84% 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
Red16%
Green77%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#bbdcdb
HEX (8-digit)#bbdcdbff
RGBrgb(187, 220, 219)
RGBArgba(187, 220, 219, 1)
HSLhsl(178, 32%, 80%)
HSV / HSBhsv(178, 15%, 86%)
HWBhwb(178 73% 14%)
CMYKcmyk(15%, 0%, 1%, 14%)
LABlab(85.4 -11.0 -3.1)
LCHlch(85.4 11.4 196.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.870 0.035 194.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(58.87, 66.86, 76.81)
Decimal12311771
Display P3color(display-p3 0.733 0.863 0.859)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bbdcdb;
background-color: #bbdcdb;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bbdcdb;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bbdcdb] bg-[#bbdcdb]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bbdcdb;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.733, green: 0.863, blue: 0.859)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.733, green: 0.863, blue: 0.859, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BBDCDB</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBBDCDB)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBBDCDB)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(219, 220, 187)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(187, 220, 219)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(187, 220, 219)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 187, 220, 219)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7333f, 0.8627f, 0.8588f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{187,220,219}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bbdcdb 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bbdcdb 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#2B5453, #D7EAEA);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bbdcdb 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: #F5F9F9;
  --brand-100: #ECF4F3;
  --brand-200: #D5E7E7;
  --brand-300: #bbdcdb;
  --brand-400: #90C6C4;
  --brand-500: #6BB3B1;
  --brand-600: #53A29F;
  --brand-700: #458785;
  --brand-800: #376C6A;
  --brand-900: #2B4F4E;
  --brand-950: #1B3231;
  --brand: #bbdcdb;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C9E3E2;
  --brand-hover: #A3D0CF;
  --brand-pressed: #8CC4C2;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142424;
    --brand-ink: #D7EAEA;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F9F9',
        100: '#ECF4F3',
        200: '#D5E7E7',
        300: '#bbdcdb',
        400: '#90C6C4',
        500: '#6BB3B1',
        600: '#53A29F',
        700: '#458785',
        800: '#376C6A',
        900: '#2B4F4E',
        950: '#1B3231',
        DEFAULT: '#bbdcdb',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F9F9,
  '100': #ECF4F3,
  '200': #D5E7E7,
  '300': #bbdcdb,
  '400': #90C6C4,
  '500': #6BB3B1,
  '600': #53A29F,
  '700': #458785,
  '800': #376C6A,
  '900': #2B4F4E,
  '950': #1B3231,
);
$brand-base: #bbdcdb;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F9F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#ECF4F3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D5E7E7", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#bbdcdb", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#90C6C4", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#6BB3B1", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#53A29F", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#458785", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#376C6A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2B4F4E", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1B3231", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bbdcdb · 14.37:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.46:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 14.37:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bbdcdb as text scores 1.46:1 on white and 14.37:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #2B5453 at 5.76:1.

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
#427F7D · 4.60:1
AA on white−42% L
#427F7D
The quick fox
#305E5C · 7.29:1
AAA on white−52% L
#305E5C
The quick fox
#bbdcdb · 14.37:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bbdcdb
The quick fox
#bbdcdb · 14.37:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bbdcdb

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #53A19F 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
#bbdcdb on white: 1.46:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bbdcdb on black: 14.37:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.46:1AaAa
Slate 501.40:1AaAa
Slate 1001.33:1AaAa
Slate 2001.19:1AaAa
Slate 3001.02:1AaAa
Slate 4001.75:1AaAa
Slate 5003.26:1AaAa
Slate 6005.19:1AaAa
Slate 7007.09:1AaAa
Slate 80010.01:1AaAa
Slate 90012.22:1AaAa
Black14.37:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D8D8DB
deuteranopia · #D1D3DB
tritanopia · #B1DEDC

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. #bbdcdb 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.

#F5F9F9
#ECF4F3
#D5E7E7
#bbdcdb
#90C6C4
#6BB3B1
#53A29F
#458785
#376C6A
#2B4F4E
#1B3231
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F5F9F9Darkest = 950 · #1B3231Text 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 0.009 194.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.014 194.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.021 194.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.027 194.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.032 194.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.035 194.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.035 194.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.033 194.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.029 194.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.024 194.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.019 194.3);
}

Colors that work with #bbdcdb

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#F5FAFA
Tinted page background
Border#C9E3E2
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4E9795
Captions on the surface
Accent#8B4155
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#2B5453
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EEF6F6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142424
Dark-mode background
Hover#A3D0CF
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8CC4C2
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F7F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C4E7E6
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 #bbdcdb

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 #2B5453
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #53A19F

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
  • Weight20/100
  • 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#DCBBBC
Analogous left#BBDCCB
Analogous right#BBCCDC
Split-complement 1#DCBBCC
Split-complement 2#DCCBBB
Triadic 1#DBBBDC
Triadic 2#DCDBBB
Tetradic#CBBBDC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°178°

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

RGB percentages

Red73.3%
Green86.3%
Blue85.9%
R · 0–255
187
0xbb
G · 0–255
220
0xdc
B · 0–255
219
0xdb

CMYK percentages

Cyan15.0%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow0.5%
Key (black)13.7%

Total ink coverage is 29%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bbdcdb text on a black background

contrast 14.37:1

Card sample

#bbdcdb text on a white background

contrast 1.46:1

Card sample

#bbdcdb on grey

1.33:1

#bbdcdb on its own surface

1.39:1

#bbdcdb on its dark surface

10.99:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(187, 220, 219, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(187, 220, 219, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bbdcdb;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bbdcdb, #BBC7DC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

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

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bbdcdb;
caret-color: #bbdcdb;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bbdcdb;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EEF6F6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bbdcdb;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bbdcdb 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bbdcdb 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(187, 220, 219, 0.5)
rgb(187 220 219 / 50%)
#bbdcdb80
hsl(178 32% 80% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bbdcdb 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bbdcdb1a#F8FCFB
20%#bbdcdb33#F1F8F8
40%#bbdcdb66#E4F1F1
60%#bbdcdb99#D6EAE9
80%#bbdcdbcc#C9E3E2

Gradients from #bbdcdb

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, #E3F1F0, #bbdcdb 45%, #2B5453);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bbdcdb, #A7B3D2);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bbdcdb, #DCBBBC);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F5FAFA 0%, #bbdcdb 45%, #2B5453 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5FAFA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #DDEDE3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #CFDAE6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #2B5453 0%, transparent 65%), #bbdcdb;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bbdcdb

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.

#bbdcdb 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 14.37:1.

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.

#bbdcdb, answered

What color is #bbdcdb?

#bbdcdb is a light soft cyan, closest to Powder Blue (ΔE2000 4.1). It sits at 178° on the hue wheel with 32% saturation and 80% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #bbdcdb?

rgb(187, 220, 219) — 187 red, 220 green and 219 blue out of 255, or 73.3% / 86.3% / 85.9% by channel.

What is #bbdcdb in HSL and HSV?

hsl(178, 32%, 80%) and hsv(178, 15%, 86%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bbdcdb a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6687 and perceived brightness is 83%, so black text on it reaches 14.37:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bbdcdb?

Black. It scores 14.37:1 against #bbdcdb, versus 1.46:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bbdcdb accessible on a white background?

#bbdcdb on white scores 1.46:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #427F7D to reach 4.5:1, or #305E5C for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bbdcdb?

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

What colors go well with #bbdcdb?

For interface work: #F5FAFA as the surface, #C9E3E2 for borders, #4E9795 for secondary text, #8B4155 as an accent and #2B5453 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BBDCCB and #BBCCDC stays calm, while #DCBBBC is the loudest partner.

What is #bbdcdb in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(15%, 0%, 1%, 14%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bbdcdb warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 84 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #BBDCCF; nudged cooler, #BAD1DD.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bbdcdb?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 18.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bbdcdb as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bbdcdb in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(187, 220, 219, 0.5), or #bbdcdb80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DDEEED; over black, #5E6E6E.

Is #bbdcdb a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 12.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bbdcdb 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 #bbdcdb?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E3F1F0, #bbdcdb 45%, #2B5453). For more colour, a short hue run to #A7B3D2 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bbdcdb in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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