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cyan · cool

#bdecf6

a pale, electric cyan · cool · closest name: Powder Blue

Token name suggestion: Chalk Lagoon

RGB
189, 236, 246
HSL
191°, 76%, 85%
CMYK
23, 4, 0, 4
Luminance
0.7746

#bdecf6 is a pale electric cyan, 191° on the wheel and 92/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (16.49:1). As text it scores 1.27:1 on white — use #147F95 instead. Nearest name is Powder Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(191 76% 85%)rgb(189 236 246)Base step 200AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bdecf6 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bdecf6
Hue
191°
cyan
Saturation
76%
electric
Lightness
85%
pale
Brightness
96%
HSV value
Perceived
88%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.7746
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
92/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
16.49:1
Closest name
Powder Blue
ΔE2000 3.3
Chroma
16.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.913
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 18.5
Web-safe
#CCFFFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue191° of 360°
Saturation76%
Lightness85%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bdecf6.

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
Red14%
Green77%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#bdecf6
HEX (8-digit)#bdecf6ff
RGBrgb(189, 236, 246)
RGBArgba(189, 236, 246, 1)
HSLhsl(191, 76%, 85%)
HSV / HSBhsv(191, 23%, 96%)
HWBhwb(191 74% 4%)
CMYKcmyk(23%, 4%, 0%, 4%)
LABlab(90.5 -12.9 -9.8)
LCHlch(90.5 16.2 217.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.913 0.050 212.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(67.61, 77.46, 98.56)
Decimal12446966
Display P3color(display-p3 0.741 0.925 0.965)
Web-safe#CCFFFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bdecf6;
background-color: #bdecf6;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bdecf6;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bdecf6] bg-[#bdecf6]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bdecf6;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.741, green: 0.925, blue: 0.965)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.741, green: 0.925, blue: 0.965, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BDECF6</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBDECF6)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBDECF6)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(246, 236, 189)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(189, 236, 246)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(189, 236, 246)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 189, 236, 246)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7412f, 0.9255f, 0.9647f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{189,236,246}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bdecf6 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bdecf6 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#0F5F70, #D3E9EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bdecf6 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: #F3FAFC;
  --brand-100: #E7F6F9;
  --brand-200: #bdecf6;
  --brand-300: #9CE3F2;
  --brand-400: #6BD4EB;
  --brand-500: #3AC6E4;
  --brand-600: #1DB7D7;
  --brand-700: #1898B4;
  --brand-800: #147A90;
  --brand-900: #125968;
  --brand-950: #0C3841;
  --brand: #bdecf6;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F9FA;
  --brand-border: #C0E5ED;
  --brand-hover: #9EE3F2;
  --brand-pressed: #7EDAED;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142224;
    --brand-ink: #D3E9EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3FAFC',
        100: '#E7F6F9',
        200: '#bdecf6',
        300: '#9CE3F2',
        400: '#6BD4EB',
        500: '#3AC6E4',
        600: '#1DB7D7',
        700: '#1898B4',
        800: '#147A90',
        900: '#125968',
        950: '#0C3841',
        DEFAULT: '#bdecf6',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3FAFC,
  '100': #E7F6F9,
  '200': #bdecf6,
  '300': #9CE3F2,
  '400': #6BD4EB,
  '500': #3AC6E4,
  '600': #1DB7D7,
  '700': #1898B4,
  '800': #147A90,
  '900': #125968,
  '950': #0C3841,
);
$brand-base: #bdecf6;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3FAFC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E7F6F9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#bdecf6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#9CE3F2", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#6BD4EB", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#3AC6E4", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#1DB7D7", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#1898B4", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#147A90", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#125968", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0C3841", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bdecf6 · 16.49:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.27:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 16.49:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bdecf6 as text scores 1.27:1 on white and 16.49:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #0F5F70 at 5.70:1.

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
#147F95 · 4.67:1
AA on white−52% L
#147F95
The quick fox
#0F6072 · 7.15:1
AAA on white−60% L
#0F6072
The quick fox
#bdecf6 · 16.49:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bdecf6
The quick fox
#bdecf6 · 16.49:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bdecf6

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #1AA1BE 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
#bdecf6 on white: 1.27:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bdecf6 on black: 16.49:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bdecf6 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bdecf6.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.27:1AaAa
Slate 501.22:1AaAa
Slate 1001.16:1AaAa
Slate 2001.03:1AaAa
Slate 3001.17:1AaAa
Slate 4002.01:1AaAa
Slate 5003.74:1AaAa
Slate 6005.95:1AaAa
Slate 7008.13:1AaAa
Slate 80011.49:1AaAa
Slate 90014.02:1AaAa
Black16.49:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #E3E8F7
deuteranopia · #DAE1F6
tritanopia · #ABF1EF

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. #bdecf6 is pinned to step 200; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F3FAFC
#E7F6F9
#bdecf6
#9CE3F2
#6BD4EB
#3AC6E4
#1DB7D7
#1898B4
#147A90
#125968
#0C3841
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F3FAFCDarkest = 950 · #0C3841Text 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 0.013 212.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.020 212.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.030 212.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.039 212.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.046 212.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.050 212.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.050 212.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.047 212.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.042 212.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.035 212.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.028 212.1);
}

Colors that work with #bdecf6

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#B9131E
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#0F5F70
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E9F9FC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142224
Dark-mode background
Hover#9EE3F2
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7EDAED
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F6F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#CCF3FB
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 #bdecf6

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 #0F5F70
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #1AA1BE

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.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. The high lightness makes it recede — a surface colour rather than a statement.

Worth knowing

At high lightness it disappears into white surfaces and thin strokes vanish entirely.

Reads as
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight15/100
  • 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#F6C7BD
Analogous left#BDF6E3
Analogous right#BDD0F6
Split-complement 1#F6BDD0
Split-complement 2#F6E3BD
Triadic 1#F6BDEC
Triadic 2#ECF6BD
Tetradic#E3BDF6
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°191°

#bdecf6 sits at 191°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red74.1%
Green92.5%
Blue96.5%
R · 0–255
189
0xbd
G · 0–255
236
0xec
B · 0–255
246
0xf6

CMYK percentages

Cyan23.2%
Magenta4.1%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)3.5%

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

Color previews

#bdecf6 text on a black background

contrast 16.49:1

Card sample

#bdecf6 text on a white background

contrast 1.27:1

Card sample

#bdecf6 on grey

1.16:1

#bdecf6 on its own surface

1.20:1

#bdecf6 on its dark surface

12.84:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bdecf6;
Background color
Panel with #bdecf6 background
background-color: #bdecf6;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bdecf6;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(189, 236, 246, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(189, 236, 246, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bdecf6;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bdecf6, #BDC6F6);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bdecf6, #C2BDF6);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bdecf6;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bdecf6;
caret-color: #bdecf6;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bdecf6;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E9F9FC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bdecf6;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bdecf6 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bdecf6 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(189, 236, 246, 0.5)
rgb(189 236 246 / 50%)
#bdecf680
hsl(191 76% 85% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bdecf6 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bdecf61a#F8FDFE
20%#bdecf633#F2FBFD
40%#bdecf666#E5F7FB
60%#bdecf699#D7F4FA
80%#bdecf6cc#CAF0F8

Gradients from #bdecf6

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, #EDFAFD, #bdecf6 45%, #0F5F70);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bdecf6, #A2A8F2);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bdecf6, #F6C7BD);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F2FBFD 0%, #bdecf6 45%, #0F5F70 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%, #EAFCF5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D8E0FA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #0F5F70 0%, transparent 65%), #bdecf6;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bdecf6

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.

#bdecf6 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

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

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 16.49:1.

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.

#bdecf6, answered

What color is #bdecf6?

#bdecf6 is a pale electric cyan, closest to Powder Blue (ΔE2000 3.3). It sits at 191° on the hue wheel with 76% saturation and 85% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #bdecf6?

rgb(189, 236, 246) — 189 red, 236 green and 246 blue out of 255, or 74.1% / 92.5% / 96.5% by channel.

What is #bdecf6 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(191, 76%, 85%) and hsv(191, 23%, 96%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bdecf6 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.7746 and perceived brightness is 88%, so black text on it reaches 16.49:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bdecf6?

Black. It scores 16.49:1 against #bdecf6, versus 1.27:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bdecf6 accessible on a white background?

#bdecf6 on white scores 1.27:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #147F95 to reach 4.5:1, or #0F6072 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bdecf6?

#F6C7BD sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #F6BDD0 and #F6E3BD, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bdecf6?

For interface work: #F4F9FA as the surface, #C0E5ED for borders, #4B8D9B for secondary text, #B9131E as an accent and #0F5F70 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BDF6E3 and #BDD0F6 stays calm, while #F6C7BD is the loudest partner.

What is #bdecf6 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(23%, 4%, 0%, 4%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #bdecf6 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 #BDF6EB; nudged cooler, #BCDDF7.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bdecf6?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 18.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bdecf6 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bdecf6 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bdecf6] or text-[#bdecf6], 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 #bdecf6 with 50% opacity?

rgba(189, 236, 246, 0.5), or #bdecf680 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DEF6FB; over black, #5F767B.

Is #bdecf6 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCFFFF, ΔE2000 5.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bdecf6 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 #bdecf6?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #EDFAFD, #bdecf6 45%, #0F5F70). For more colour, a short hue run to #A2A8F2 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bdecf6 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bdecf6 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.