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cyan · cool

#daf3ec

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

Token name suggestion: Whisper Teal

RGB
218, 243, 236
HSL
163°, 51%, 90%
CMYK
10, 0, 3, 5
Luminance
0.8506

#daf3ec is a pale vivid cyan, 163° on the wheel and 81/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (18.01:1). As text it scores 1.17:1 on white — use #2B846B instead. Nearest name is Light Cyan, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(163 51% 90%)rgb(218 243 236)Base step 200AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #daf3ec is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#daf3ec
Hue
163°
cyan
Saturation
51%
vivid
Lightness
90%
pale
Brightness
95%
HSV value
Perceived
92%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.8506
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
81/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
18.01:1
Closest name
Light Cyan
ΔE2000 4
Chroma
9.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.944
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 24.3
Web-safe
#CCFFFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue163° of 360°
Saturation51%
Lightness90%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #daf3ec.

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#daf3ec
HEX (8-digit)#daf3ecff
RGBrgb(218, 243, 236)
RGBArgba(218, 243, 236, 1)
HSLhsl(163, 51%, 90%)
HSV / HSBhsv(163, 10%, 95%)
HWBhwb(163 85% 5%)
CMYKcmyk(10%, 0%, 3%, 5%)
LABlab(93.9 -9.5 0.6)
LCHlch(93.9 9.5 176.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.944 0.028 177.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(76.10, 85.06, 91.75)
Decimal14349292
Display P3color(display-p3 0.855 0.953 0.925)
Web-safe#CCFFFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #daf3ec;
background-color: #daf3ec;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #daf3ec;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#daf3ec] bg-[#daf3ec]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #daf3ec;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.855, green: 0.953, blue: 0.925)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.855, green: 0.953, blue: 0.925, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DAF3EC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDAF3EC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDAF3EC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(236, 243, 218)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(218, 243, 236)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(218, 243, 236)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 218, 243, 236)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8549f, 0.9529f, 0.9255f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{218,243,236}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #daf3ec 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #daf3ec 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#1F604E, #D3EEE6);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #daf3ec 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: #F4FAF9;
  --brand-100: #EAF6F2;
  --brand-200: #daf3ec;
  --brand-300: #AAE4D3;
  --brand-400: #80D6BE;
  --brand-500: #56C8A8;
  --brand-600: #3CB996;
  --brand-700: #329A7D;
  --brand-800: #287B64;
  --brand-900: #205A4A;
  --brand-950: #14382E;
  --brand: #daf3ec;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAF9;
  --brand-border: #C1EBDF;
  --brand-hover: #BFEADE;
  --brand-pressed: #A4E2D0;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142420;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEE6;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4FAF9',
        100: '#EAF6F2',
        200: '#daf3ec',
        300: '#AAE4D3',
        400: '#80D6BE',
        500: '#56C8A8',
        600: '#3CB996',
        700: '#329A7D',
        800: '#287B64',
        900: '#205A4A',
        950: '#14382E',
        DEFAULT: '#daf3ec',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4FAF9,
  '100': #EAF6F2,
  '200': #daf3ec,
  '300': #AAE4D3,
  '400': #80D6BE,
  '500': #56C8A8,
  '600': #3CB996,
  '700': #329A7D,
  '800': #287B64,
  '900': #205A4A,
  '950': #14382E,
);
$brand-base: #daf3ec;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4FAF9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EAF6F2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#daf3ec", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#AAE4D3", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#80D6BE", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#56C8A8", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#3CB996", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#329A7D", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#287B64", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#205A4A", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#14382E", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #daf3ec · 18.01:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.17:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 18.01:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #daf3ec as text scores 1.17:1 on white and 18.01:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #1F604E at 6.34:1.

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
#2B846B · 4.55:1
AA on white−56% L
#2B846B
The quick fox
#20624F · 7.19:1
AAA on white−65% L
#20624F
The quick fox
#daf3ec · 18.01:1
AA on blackalready passes
#daf3ec
The quick fox
#daf3ec · 18.01:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#daf3ec

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #35A384 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
#daf3ec on white: 1.17:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#daf3ec on black: 18.01:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #daf3ec as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #daf3ec.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.17:1AaAa
Slate 501.11:1AaAa
Slate 1001.06:1AaAa
Slate 2001.06:1AaAa
Slate 3001.27:1AaAa
Slate 4002.20:1AaAa
Slate 5004.08:1AaAa
Slate 6006.50:1AaAa
Slate 7008.88:1AaAa
Slate 80012.55:1AaAa
Slate 90015.31:1AaAa
Black18.01:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #F1F0EC
deuteranopia · #ECECED
tritanopia · #D4F4F1

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. #daf3ec 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.

#F4FAF9
#EAF6F2
#daf3ec
#AAE4D3
#80D6BE
#56C8A8
#3CB996
#329A7D
#287B64
#205A4A
#14382E
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F4FAF9Darkest = 950 · #14382EText 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 0.007 177.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.011 177.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.017 177.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.022 177.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.026 177.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.028 177.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.028 177.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.026 177.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.023 177.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.019 177.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.015 177.0);
}

Colors that work with #daf3ec

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#F4FAF9
Tinted page background
Border#C1EBDF
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B84
Captions on the surface
Accent#9E2E68
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#1F604E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#ECF9F5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142420
Dark-mode background
Hover#BFEADE
One step down in lightness
Pressed#A4E2D0
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F7F6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#DEF7F0
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 #daf3ec

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 #1F604E
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #35A384

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
  • Weight10/100
  • 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#F3DAE1
Analogous left#DAF3E0
Analogous right#DAEEF3
Split-complement 1#F3DAEE
Split-complement 2#F3E0DA
Triadic 1#ECDAF3
Triadic 2#F3ECDA
Tetradic#E0DAF3
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°163°

#daf3ec sits at 163°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red85.5%
Green95.3%
Blue92.5%
R · 0–255
218
0xda
G · 0–255
243
0xf3
B · 0–255
236
0xec

CMYK percentages

Cyan10.3%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow2.9%
Key (black)4.7%

Total ink coverage is 18%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#daf3ec text on a black background

contrast 18.01:1

Card sample

#daf3ec text on a white background

contrast 1.17:1

Card sample

#daf3ec on grey

1.06:1

#daf3ec on its own surface

1.10:1

#daf3ec on its dark surface

13.82:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #daf3ec;
Background color
Panel with #daf3ec background
background-color: #daf3ec;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #daf3ec;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(218, 243, 236, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(218, 243, 236, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #daf3ec;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #daf3ec, #DAE9F3);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #daf3ec, #DAE3F3);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #daf3ec;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #daf3ec;
caret-color: #daf3ec;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #daf3ec;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #ECF9F5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #daf3ec;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#daf3ec 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #daf3ec 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, 243, 236, 0.5)
rgb(218 243 236 / 50%)
#daf3ec80
hsl(163 51% 90% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #daf3ec 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#daf3ec1a#FBFEFD
20%#daf3ec33#F8FDFB
40%#daf3ec66#F0FAF7
60%#daf3ec99#E9F8F4
80%#daf3eccc#E1F5F0

Gradients from #daf3ec

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, #F0FAF7, #daf3ec 45%, #1F604E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #daf3ec, #C3D8EC);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #daf3ec, #F3DAE1);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F3FBF9 0%, #daf3ec 45%, #1F604E 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4FAF9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #FFFFFF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #F1F8FB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #1F604E 0%, transparent 65%), #daf3ec;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #daf3ec

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.

#daf3ec 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

Very light values are indistinguishable from white on a dim phone screen outdoors. Give it a border if the boundary matters.

In dark mode

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 18.01:1.

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.

#daf3ec, answered

What color is #daf3ec?

#daf3ec is a pale vivid cyan, closest to Light Cyan (ΔE2000 4). It sits at 163° on the hue wheel with 51% saturation and 90% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #daf3ec?

rgb(218, 243, 236) — 218 red, 243 green and 236 blue out of 255, or 85.5% / 95.3% / 92.5% by channel.

What is #daf3ec in HSL and HSV?

hsl(163, 51%, 90%) and hsv(163, 10%, 95%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #daf3ec a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.8506 and perceived brightness is 92%, so black text on it reaches 18.01:1.

Should I use black or white text on #daf3ec?

Black. It scores 18.01:1 against #daf3ec, versus 1.17:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #daf3ec accessible on a white background?

#daf3ec on white scores 1.17:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #2B846B to reach 4.5:1, or #20624F for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #daf3ec?

#F3DAE1 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #F3DAEE and #F3E0DA, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #daf3ec?

For interface work: #F4FAF9 as the surface, #C1EBDF for borders, #4B9B84 for secondary text, #9E2E68 as an accent and #1F604E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DAF3E0 and #DAEEF3 stays calm, while #F3DAE1 is the loudest partner.

What is #daf3ec in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(10%, 0%, 3%, 5%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #daf3ec 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 #DAF3E3; nudged cooler, #DAF1F3.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #daf3ec?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 24.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #daf3ec as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #daf3ec in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#daf3ec] or text-[#daf3ec], 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 #daf3ec with 50% opacity?

rgba(218, 243, 236, 0.5), or #daf3ec80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EDF9F6; over black, #6D7A76.

Is #daf3ec a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCFFFF, ΔE2000 6.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #daf3ec 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 #daf3ec?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F0FAF7, #daf3ec 45%, #1F604E). For more colour, a short hue run to #C3D8EC keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #daf3ec in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #daf3ec at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.