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cyan · cool

#daeee9

a pale, soft cyan · cool · closest name: Light Cyan

Token name suggestion: Frost Reef

RGB
218, 238, 233
HSL
165°, 37%, 89%
CMYK
8, 0, 2, 7
Luminance
0.8194

#daeee9 is a pale soft cyan, 165° on the wheel and 81/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (17.39:1). As text it scores 1.21:1 on white — use #3A7F6E instead. Nearest name is Light Cyan, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(165 37% 89%)rgb(218 238 233)Base step 200AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #daeee9 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#daeee9
Hue
165°
cyan
Saturation
37%
soft
Lightness
89%
pale
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
91%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.8194
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
81/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
17.39:1
Closest name
Light Cyan
ΔE2000 4.8
Chroma
7.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.933
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 24.6
Web-safe
#CCFFFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue165° of 360°
Saturation37%
Lightness89%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #daeee9.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool81% 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
Red18%
Green75%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#daeee9
HEX (8-digit)#daeee9ff
RGBrgb(218, 238, 233)
RGBArgba(218, 238, 233, 1)
HSLhsl(165, 37%, 89%)
HSV / HSBhsv(165, 8%, 93%)
HWBhwb(165 85% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(8%, 0%, 2%, 7%)
LABlab(92.5 -7.5 0.2)
LCHlch(92.5 7.5 178.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.933 0.022 179.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(74.19, 81.94, 88.98)
Decimal14348009
Display P3color(display-p3 0.855 0.933 0.914)
Web-safe#CCFFFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #daeee9;
background-color: #daeee9;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #daeee9;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#daeee9] bg-[#daeee9]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #daeee9;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.855, green: 0.933, blue: 0.914)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.855, green: 0.933, blue: 0.914, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DAEEE9</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDAEEE9)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDAEEE9)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(233, 238, 218)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(218, 238, 233)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(218, 238, 233)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 218, 238, 233)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8549f, 0.9333f, 0.9137f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{218,238,233}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #daeee9 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #daeee9 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#28574C, #D5ECE6);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #daeee9 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: #F5FAF8;
  --brand-100: #EBF4F2;
  --brand-200: #daeee9;
  --brand-300: #B2DCD1;
  --brand-400: #8CCABA;
  --brand-500: #65B8A4;
  --brand-600: #4DA891;
  --brand-700: #408C79;
  --brand-800: #337061;
  --brand-900: #285248;
  --brand-950: #19332D;
  --brand: #daeee9;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5FAF9;
  --brand-border: #C7E5DE;
  --brand-hover: #C2E3DA;
  --brand-pressed: #A9D7CC;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142420;
    --brand-ink: #D5ECE6;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5FAF8',
        100: '#EBF4F2',
        200: '#daeee9',
        300: '#B2DCD1',
        400: '#8CCABA',
        500: '#65B8A4',
        600: '#4DA891',
        700: '#408C79',
        800: '#337061',
        900: '#285248',
        950: '#19332D',
        DEFAULT: '#daeee9',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5FAF8,
  '100': #EBF4F2,
  '200': #daeee9,
  '300': #B2DCD1,
  '400': #8CCABA,
  '500': #65B8A4,
  '600': #4DA891,
  '700': #408C79,
  '800': #337061,
  '900': #285248,
  '950': #19332D,
);
$brand-base: #daeee9;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5FAF8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EBF4F2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#daeee9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B2DCD1", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#8CCABA", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#65B8A4", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#4DA891", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#408C79", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#337061", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#285248", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#19332D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #daeee9 · 17.39:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.21:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 17.39:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #daeee9 as text scores 1.21:1 on white and 17.39:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #28574C at 6.80:1.

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
#3A7F6E · 4.73:1
AA on white−53% L
#3A7F6E
The quick fox
#2C6053 · 7.23:1
AAA on white−62% L
#2C6053
The quick fox
#daeee9 · 17.39:1
AA on blackalready passes
#daeee9
The quick fox
#daeee9 · 17.39:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#daeee9

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #4BA28C 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
#daeee9 on white: 1.21:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#daeee9 on black: 17.39:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #daeee9 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #daeee9.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.21:1AaAa
Slate 501.15:1AaAa
Slate 1001.10:1AaAa
Slate 2001.02:1AaAa
Slate 3001.23:1AaAa
Slate 4002.12:1AaAa
Slate 5003.94:1AaAa
Slate 6006.27:1AaAa
Slate 7008.57:1AaAa
Slate 80012.11:1AaAa
Slate 90014.78:1AaAa
Black17.39:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #ECEBE9
deuteranopia · #E8E8E9
tritanopia · #D6EFEC

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. #daeee9 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.

#F5FAF8
#EBF4F2
#daeee9
#B2DCD1
#8CCABA
#65B8A4
#4DA891
#408C79
#337061
#285248
#19332D
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F5FAF8Darkest = 950 · #19332DText 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 0.006 179.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.009 179.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.013 179.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.017 179.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.020 179.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.022 179.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.022 179.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.021 179.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.019 179.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.015 179.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.012 179.2);
}

Colors that work with #daeee9

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#F5FAF9
Tinted page background
Border#C7E5DE
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B87
Captions on the surface
Accent#903C66
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#28574C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EEF7F5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142420
Dark-mode background
Hover#C2E3DA
One step down in lightness
Pressed#A9D7CC
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F7F6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#E1F4EF
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 #daeee9

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 #28574C
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #4BA28C

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 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
  • Weight11/100
  • 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#EEDADF
Analogous left#DAEEDF
Analogous right#DAE9EE
Split-complement 1#EEDAE9
Split-complement 2#EEDFDA
Triadic 1#E9DAEE
Triadic 2#EEE9DA
Tetradic#DFDAEE
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°165°

#daeee9 sits at 165°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red85.5%
Green93.3%
Blue91.4%
R · 0–255
218
0xda
G · 0–255
238
0xee
B · 0–255
233
0xe9

CMYK percentages

Cyan8.4%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow2.1%
Key (black)6.7%

Total ink coverage is 17%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#daeee9 text on a black background

contrast 17.39:1

Card sample

#daeee9 text on a white background

contrast 1.21:1

Card sample

#daeee9 on grey

1.10:1

#daeee9 on its own surface

1.15:1

#daeee9 on its dark surface

13.34:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #daeee9;
Background color
Panel with #daeee9 background
background-color: #daeee9;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #daeee9;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(218, 238, 233, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(218, 238, 233, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #daeee9;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #daeee9, #DAE6EE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #daeee9, #DAE1EE);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #daeee9;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #daeee9;
caret-color: #daeee9;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #daeee9;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EEF7F5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #daeee9;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#daeee9 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #daeee9 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(218, 238, 233, 0.5)
rgb(218 238 233 / 50%)
#daeee980
hsl(165 37% 89% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #daeee9 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#daeee91a#FBFDFD
20%#daeee933#F8FCFB
40%#daeee966#F0F8F6
60%#daeee999#E9F5F2
80%#daeee9cc#E1F1ED

Gradients from #daeee9

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, #F1F9F7, #daeee9 45%, #28574C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #daeee9, #C5D5E4);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #daeee9, #EEDADF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F5FAF9 0%, #daeee9 45%, #28574C 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5FAF9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #FDFEFD 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #EFF5F8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #28574C 0%, transparent 65%), #daeee9;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #daeee9

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.

#daeee9 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 17.39:1.

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.

#daeee9, answered

What color is #daeee9?

#daeee9 is a pale soft cyan, closest to Light Cyan (ΔE2000 4.8). It sits at 165° on the hue wheel with 37% saturation and 89% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #daeee9?

rgb(218, 238, 233) — 218 red, 238 green and 233 blue out of 255, or 85.5% / 93.3% / 91.4% by channel.

What is #daeee9 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(165, 37%, 89%) and hsv(165, 8%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #daeee9 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.8194 and perceived brightness is 91%, so black text on it reaches 17.39:1.

Should I use black or white text on #daeee9?

Black. It scores 17.39:1 against #daeee9, versus 1.21:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #daeee9 accessible on a white background?

#daeee9 on white scores 1.21:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #3A7F6E to reach 4.5:1, or #2C6053 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #daeee9?

#EEDADF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #EEDAE9 and #EEDFDA, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #daeee9?

For interface work: #F5FAF9 as the surface, #C7E5DE for borders, #4B9B87 for secondary text, #903C66 as an accent and #28574C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DAEEDF and #DAE9EE stays calm, while #EEDADF is the loudest partner.

What is #daeee9 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(8%, 0%, 2%, 7%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #daeee9 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 81 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #DAEEE2; nudged cooler, #D9ECEF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #daeee9?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 24.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #daeee9 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #daeee9 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#daeee9] or text-[#daeee9], 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 #daeee9 with 50% opacity?

rgba(218, 238, 233, 0.5), or #daeee980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EDF7F4; over black, #6D7775.

Is #daeee9 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCFFFF, ΔE2000 8.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #daeee9 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 #daeee9?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F1F9F7, #daeee9 45%, #28574C). For more colour, a short hue run to #C5D5E4 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #daeee9 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #daeee9 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.