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cyan · cool

#bdeef5

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

Token name suggestion: Frost Reef

RGB
189, 238, 245
HSL
188°, 74%, 85%
CMYK
23, 3, 0, 4
Luminance
0.7856

#bdeef5 is a pale vivid cyan, 188° on the wheel and 91/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (16.71:1). As text it scores 1.26:1 on white — use #167F8E instead. Nearest name is Powder Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(188 74% 85%)rgb(189 238 245)Base step 200AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bdeef5 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bdeef5
Hue
188°
cyan
Saturation
74%
vivid
Lightness
85%
pale
Brightness
96%
HSV value
Perceived
88%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.7856
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
91/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
16.71:1
Closest name
Powder Blue
ΔE2000 3.1
Chroma
16.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.917
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 18.9
Web-safe
#CCFFFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue188° of 360°
Saturation74%
Lightness85%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bdeef5.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool91% 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%
Green78%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#bdeef5
HEX (8-digit)#bdeef5ff
RGBrgb(189, 238, 245)
RGBArgba(189, 238, 245, 1)
HSLhsl(188, 74%, 85%)
HSV / HSBhsv(188, 23%, 96%)
HWBhwb(188 74% 4%)
CMYKcmyk(23%, 3%, 0%, 4%)
LABlab(91.0 -14.1 -8.5)
LCHlch(91.0 16.5 211.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.917 0.051 207.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(68.04, 78.56, 97.95)
Decimal12447477
Display P3color(display-p3 0.741 0.933 0.961)
Web-safe#CCFFFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bdeef5;
background-color: #bdeef5;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bdeef5;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bdeef5] bg-[#bdeef5]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bdeef5;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.741, green: 0.933, blue: 0.961)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.741, green: 0.933, blue: 0.961, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BDEEF5</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBDEEF5)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBDEEF5)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(245, 238, 189)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(189, 238, 245)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(189, 238, 245)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 189, 238, 245)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7412f, 0.9333f, 0.9608f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{189,238,245}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bdeef5 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bdeef5 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#11636F, #D3EBEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bdeef5 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: #F3FBFC;
  --brand-100: #E7F6F8;
  --brand-200: #bdeef5;
  --brand-300: #9EE6F0;
  --brand-400: #6DD9E9;
  --brand-500: #3CCDE1;
  --brand-600: #20BED5;
  --brand-700: #1B9EB1;
  --brand-800: #157F8E;
  --brand-900: #145C67;
  --brand-950: #0C3A40;
  --brand: #bdeef5;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C0E7ED;
  --brand-hover: #9EE6F0;
  --brand-pressed: #7FDEEC;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142224;
    --brand-ink: #D3EBEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3FBFC',
        100: '#E7F6F8',
        200: '#bdeef5',
        300: '#9EE6F0',
        400: '#6DD9E9',
        500: '#3CCDE1',
        600: '#20BED5',
        700: '#1B9EB1',
        800: '#157F8E',
        900: '#145C67',
        950: '#0C3A40',
        DEFAULT: '#bdeef5',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3FBFC,
  '100': #E7F6F8,
  '200': #bdeef5,
  '300': #9EE6F0,
  '400': #6DD9E9,
  '500': #3CCDE1,
  '600': #20BED5,
  '700': #1B9EB1,
  '800': #157F8E,
  '900': #145C67,
  '950': #0C3A40,
);
$brand-base: #bdeef5;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3FBFC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E7F6F8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#bdeef5", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#9EE6F0", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#6DD9E9", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#3CCDE1", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#20BED5", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#1B9EB1", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#157F8E", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#145C67", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0C3A40", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bdeef5 · 16.71:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.26:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 16.71:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bdeef5 as text scores 1.26:1 on white and 16.71:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #11636F 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
#167F8E · 4.71:1
AA on white−53% L
#167F8E
The quick fox
#105F6B · 7.31:1
AAA on white−61% L
#105F6B
The quick fox
#bdeef5 · 16.71:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bdeef5
The quick fox
#bdeef5 · 16.71:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bdeef5

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #1CA3B6 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
#bdeef5 on white: 1.26:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bdeef5 on black: 16.71:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bdeef5 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bdeef5.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.26:1AaAa
Slate 501.20:1AaAa
Slate 1001.15:1AaAa
Slate 2001.02:1AaAa
Slate 3001.18:1AaAa
Slate 4002.04:1AaAa
Slate 5003.79:1AaAa
Slate 6006.03:1AaAa
Slate 7008.24:1AaAa
Slate 80011.64:1AaAa
Slate 90014.21:1AaAa
Black16.71:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #E6EAF6
deuteranopia · #DCE2F5
tritanopia · #ACF2F0

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. #bdeef5 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.

#F3FBFC
#E7F6F8
#bdeef5
#9EE6F0
#6DD9E9
#3CCDE1
#20BED5
#1B9EB1
#157F8E
#145C67
#0C3A40
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F3FBFCDarkest = 950 · #0C3A40Text 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 0.013 207.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.020 207.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.031 207.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.040 207.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.047 207.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.051 207.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.051 207.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.048 207.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.043 207.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.036 207.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.028 207.0);
}

Colors that work with #bdeef5

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#C0E7ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B919B
Captions on the surface
Accent#B6162B
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#11636F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E9F9FC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142224
Dark-mode background
Hover#9EE6F0
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7FDEEC
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F6F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#CCF5FA
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 #bdeef5

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 #11636F
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #1CA3B6

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 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
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • 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#F5C4BD
Analogous left#BDF5E0
Analogous right#BDD2F5
Split-complement 1#F5BDD2
Split-complement 2#F5E0BD
Triadic 1#F5BDEE
Triadic 2#EEF5BD
Tetradic#E0BDF5
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°188°

#bdeef5 sits at 188°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red74.1%
Green93.3%
Blue96.1%
R · 0–255
189
0xbd
G · 0–255
238
0xee
B · 0–255
245
0xf5

CMYK percentages

Cyan22.9%
Magenta2.9%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)3.9%

Total ink coverage is 30%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bdeef5 text on a black background

contrast 16.71:1

Card sample

#bdeef5 text on a white background

contrast 1.26:1

Card sample

#bdeef5 on grey

1.15:1

#bdeef5 on its own surface

1.19:1

#bdeef5 on its dark surface

13.02:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bdeef5;
Background color
Panel with #bdeef5 background
background-color: #bdeef5;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bdeef5;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(189, 238, 245, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(189, 238, 245, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bdeef5;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bdeef5, #BDC9F5);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bdeef5, #BFBDF5);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bdeef5;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bdeef5;
caret-color: #bdeef5;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bdeef5;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E9F9FC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bdeef5;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bdeef5 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bdeef5 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, 238, 245, 0.5)
rgb(189 238 245 / 50%)
#bdeef580
hsl(188 74% 85% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bdeef5 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bdeef51a#F8FDFE
20%#bdeef533#F2FCFD
40%#bdeef566#E5F8FB
60%#bdeef599#D7F5F9
80%#bdeef5cc#CAF1F7

Gradients from #bdeef5

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, #EDFAFC, #bdeef5 45%, #11636F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bdeef5, #A2ACF1);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bdeef5, #F5C4BD);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F2FCFD 0%, #bdeef5 45%, #11636F 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%, #E9FCF3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D8E1F9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #11636F 0%, transparent 65%), #bdeef5;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bdeef5

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.

#bdeef5 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

Very light tints can drop out on uncoated stock; check it at 100% size before signing off.

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 16.71:1.

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.

#bdeef5, answered

What color is #bdeef5?

#bdeef5 is a pale vivid cyan, closest to Powder Blue (ΔE2000 3.1). It sits at 188° on the hue wheel with 74% saturation and 85% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #bdeef5?

rgb(189, 238, 245) — 189 red, 238 green and 245 blue out of 255, or 74.1% / 93.3% / 96.1% by channel.

What is #bdeef5 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(188, 74%, 85%) and hsv(188, 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 #bdeef5 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.7856 and perceived brightness is 88%, so black text on it reaches 16.71:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bdeef5?

Black. It scores 16.71:1 against #bdeef5, versus 1.26:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bdeef5 accessible on a white background?

#bdeef5 on white scores 1.26:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #167F8E to reach 4.5:1, or #105F6B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bdeef5?

#F5C4BD sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #F5BDD2 and #F5E0BD, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bdeef5?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C0E7ED for borders, #4B919B for secondary text, #B6162B as an accent and #11636F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BDF5E0 and #BDD2F5 stays calm, while #F5C4BD is the loudest partner.

What is #bdeef5 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(23%, 3%, 0%, 4%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bdeef5 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 91 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #BDF5E7; nudged cooler, #BCDDF6.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bdeef5?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 18.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bdeef5 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bdeef5 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bdeef5] or text-[#bdeef5], 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 #bdeef5 with 50% opacity?

rgba(189, 238, 245, 0.5), or #bdeef580 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DEF7FA; over black, #5F777B.

Is #bdeef5 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCFFFF, ΔE2000 4.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bdeef5 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 #bdeef5?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #EDFAFC, #bdeef5 45%, #11636F). For more colour, a short hue run to #A2ACF1 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bdeef5 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bdeef5 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.