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Cyan #00ffff

The primary nobody was taught.

RGB
0, 255, 255
HSL
180°, 100%, 50%
CMYK
100, 0, 0, 0
Luminance
0.7874

About Cyan

Cyan, #00ffff, is green and blue at full power — one of the three subtractive printing primaries (the C in CMYK) and half of every screen’s white. School color wheels skipped it; every printed page and pixel depends on it.

History

From Greek kyanos (dark blue enamel), cyan earned its throne with four-color printing in the early 20th century: magenta, yellow, black and cyan reproduce nearly everything you have ever read in print. On screens it became the color of holograms, wireframes and “the future” from Tron onward.

Psychology

Cyan is clarity and coolness at maximum voltage — water, glass, signal. It reads technological and clean; on dark grounds it is the archetypal glow of interfaces imagining tomorrow.

In design

Pure #00ffff is too hot for light themes (1.25:1 on white — invisible) and electric on dark ones: use it as the accent spark, not the body. Tempered cyans (#06b6d4, #22d3ee) are workhorse accents — this hub pairs them with violet everywhere. Complement: red.

In culture

Cyan is the color of blueprints’ successor, medical scrubs’ cousin and every sci-fi UI ever rendered. Cyanotype printing gave us “blueprint” — cyan’s first monopoly.

Brands that own cyan

Shades of cyan

Every format

HEX#00ffff
RGBrgb(0, 255, 255)
HSLhsl(180, 100%, 50%)
CMYKcmyk(100%, 0%, 0%, 0%)
LABlab(91.1 -48.1 -14.1)
LCHlch(91.1 50.1 196.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.905 0.155 194.8)

Copy-ready code

/* CSS */
color: #00ffff;
background-color: #00ffff;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#00ffff] bg-[#00ffff]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #00ffff;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.000, green: 1.000, blue: 1.000)
/* Android */
Color.parseColor("#00ffff")

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

Aa
#00ffff on white: 1.25:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#00ffff on black: 16.75:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
true color
protanopia
deuteranopia
tritanopia

RGB percentages

Red0.0%
Green100.0%
Blue100.0%

CMYK percentages

Cyan100.0%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)0.0%

Color previews

#00ffff text on a black background

contrast 16.75:1

Card sample

#00ffff text on a white background

contrast 1.25:1

Card sample

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #00ffff;
Background color
Panel with #00ffff background
background-color: #00ffff;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #00ffff;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(0, 255, 255, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(0, 255, 255, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #00ffff;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #00ffff, #0055FF);

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #00ffff

Shades — darker

Tints — lighter

Hue & tone neighbors

Color harmonies

Nearest named colors

Cyan, answered

What is the hex code for cyan?

Pure cyan is #00ffff (identical to CSS “aqua”) — green and blue channels at maximum. Print’s process cyan is closer to #00b7eb.

Why is cyan a printing primary?

Subtractive color works by absorbing light: cyan ink absorbs red, magenta absorbs green, yellow absorbs blue. Together with black (K) they reconstruct the full gamut on paper.

Is cyan usable as a text color?

Only on dark backgrounds. On white it manages a catastrophic 1.25:1. On near-black it exceeds 16:1 — hence its life as the glow of dark-mode interfaces.

Work with #00ffff in the Color Lab