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cyan · cool

#dceef1

a pale, soft cyan · cool · closest name: Azure

Token name suggestion: Frost Reef

RGB
220, 238, 241
HSL
189°, 43%, 90%
CMYK
9, 1, 0, 6
Luminance
0.8272

#dceef1 is a pale soft cyan, 189° on the wheel and 91/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (17.54:1). As text it scores 1.20:1 on white — use #38808C instead. Nearest name is Azure, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(189 43% 90%)rgb(220 238 241)Base step 200AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #dceef1 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#dceef1
Hue
189°
cyan
Saturation
43%
soft
Lightness
90%
pale
Brightness
95%
HSV value
Perceived
91%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.8272
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
91/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
17.54:1
Closest name
Azure
ΔE2000 3.9
Chroma
6.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.937
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 23.8
Web-safe
#CCFFFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue189° of 360°
Saturation43%
Lightness90%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #dceef1.

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
Red18%
Green74%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#dceef1
HEX (8-digit)#dceef1ff
RGBrgb(220, 238, 241)
RGBArgba(220, 238, 241, 1)
HSLhsl(189, 43%, 90%)
HSV / HSBhsv(189, 9%, 95%)
HWBhwb(189 86% 5%)
CMYKcmyk(9%, 1%, 0%, 6%)
LABlab(92.9 -5.3 -3.5)
LCHlch(92.9 6.4 213.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.937 0.019 208.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(75.96, 82.71, 95.17)
Decimal14479089
Display P3color(display-p3 0.863 0.933 0.945)
Web-safe#CCFFFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #dceef1;
background-color: #dceef1;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #dceef1;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#dceef1] bg-[#dceef1]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #dceef1;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.863, green: 0.933, blue: 0.945)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.863, green: 0.933, blue: 0.945, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DCEEF1</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDCEEF1)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDCEEF1)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(241, 238, 220)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(220, 238, 241)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(220, 238, 241)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 220, 238, 241)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8627f, 0.9333f, 0.9451f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{220,238,241}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #dceef1 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #dceef1 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#24535B, #D3EAEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #dceef1 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: #F5F9FA;
  --brand-100: #EBF3F5;
  --brand-200: #dceef1;
  --brand-300: #AFD8DF;
  --brand-400: #87C5CF;
  --brand-500: #5FB1BF;
  --brand-600: #46A0AF;
  --brand-700: #3A8592;
  --brand-800: #2F6B75;
  --brand-900: #254E55;
  --brand-950: #173135;
  --brand: #dceef1;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C5E3E8;
  --brand-hover: #C3E2E7;
  --brand-pressed: #A9D5DD;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142224;
    --brand-ink: #D3EAEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F9FA',
        100: '#EBF3F5',
        200: '#dceef1',
        300: '#AFD8DF',
        400: '#87C5CF',
        500: '#5FB1BF',
        600: '#46A0AF',
        700: '#3A8592',
        800: '#2F6B75',
        900: '#254E55',
        950: '#173135',
        DEFAULT: '#dceef1',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F9FA,
  '100': #EBF3F5,
  '200': #dceef1,
  '300': #AFD8DF,
  '400': #87C5CF,
  '500': #5FB1BF,
  '600': #46A0AF,
  '700': #3A8592,
  '800': #2F6B75,
  '900': #254E55,
  '950': #173135,
);
$brand-base: #dceef1;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F9FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EBF3F5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#dceef1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#AFD8DF", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#87C5CF", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#5FB1BF", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#46A0AF", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#3A8592", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#2F6B75", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#254E55", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#173135", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #dceef1 · 17.54:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.20:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 17.54:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #dceef1 as text scores 1.20:1 on white and 17.54:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #24535B at 7.12:1.

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
#38808C · 4.53:1
AA on white−52% L
#38808C
The quick fox
#295F67 · 7.17:1
AAA on white−62% L
#295F67
The quick fox
#dceef1 · 17.54:1
AA on blackalready passes
#dceef1
The quick fox
#dceef1 · 17.54:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#dceef1

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #46A1B0 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
#dceef1 on white: 1.20:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#dceef1 on black: 17.54:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #dceef1 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #dceef1.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.20:1AaAa
Slate 501.14:1AaAa
Slate 1001.09:1AaAa
Slate 2001.03:1AaAa
Slate 3001.24:1AaAa
Slate 4002.14:1AaAa
Slate 5003.98:1AaAa
Slate 6006.33:1AaAa
Slate 7008.65:1AaAa
Slate 80012.22:1AaAa
Slate 90014.91:1AaAa
Black17.54:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #EBECF1
deuteranopia · #E7E9F1
tritanopia · #D6F0EF

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. #dceef1 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.

#F5F9FA
#EBF3F5
#dceef1
#AFD8DF
#87C5CF
#5FB1BF
#46A0AF
#3A8592
#2F6B75
#254E55
#173135
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F5F9FADarkest = 950 · #173135Text 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 0.005 208.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.008 208.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.012 208.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.015 208.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.018 208.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.019 208.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.019 208.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.018 208.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.016 208.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.014 208.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.011 208.8);
}

Colors that work with #dceef1

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#C5E3E8
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B8F9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#96363E
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#24535B
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EDF6F8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142224
Dark-mode background
Hover#C3E2E7
One step down in lightness
Pressed#A9D5DD
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F6F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#E0F2F5
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 #dceef1

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 #24535B
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #46A1B0

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
  • 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#F1DFDC
Analogous left#DCF1EA
Analogous right#DCE4F1
Split-complement 1#F1DCE4
Split-complement 2#F1EADC
Triadic 1#F1DCEE
Triadic 2#EEF1DC
Tetradic#EADCF1
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°189°

#dceef1 sits at 189°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red86.3%
Green93.3%
Blue94.5%
R · 0–255
220
0xdc
G · 0–255
238
0xee
B · 0–255
241
0xf1

CMYK percentages

Cyan8.7%
Magenta1.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)5.5%

Total ink coverage is 15%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#dceef1 text on a black background

contrast 17.54:1

Card sample

#dceef1 text on a white background

contrast 1.20:1

Card sample

#dceef1 on grey

1.09:1

#dceef1 on its own surface

1.13:1

#dceef1 on its dark surface

13.66:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #dceef1;
Background color
Panel with #dceef1 background
background-color: #dceef1;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #dceef1;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(220, 238, 241, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(220, 238, 241, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #dceef1;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #dceef1, #DCE0F1);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dceef1, #DDDCF1);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #dceef1;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #dceef1;
caret-color: #dceef1;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #dceef1;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EDF6F8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #dceef1;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#dceef1 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #dceef1 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(220, 238, 241, 0.5)
rgb(220 238 241 / 50%)
#dceef180
hsl(189 43% 90% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #dceef1 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#dceef11a#FCFDFE
20%#dceef133#F8FCFC
40%#dceef166#F1F8F9
60%#dceef199#EAF5F7
80%#dceef1cc#E3F1F4

Gradients from #dceef1

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, #F0F8F9, #dceef1 45%, #24535B);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #dceef1, #C6CAE8);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dceef1, #F1DFDC);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F4FAFB 0%, #dceef1 45%, #24535B 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%, #FFFFFF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #F2F4FA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #24535B 0%, transparent 65%), #dceef1;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #dceef1

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.

#dceef1 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 17.54:1.

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.

#dceef1, answered

What color is #dceef1?

#dceef1 is a pale soft cyan, closest to Azure (ΔE2000 3.9). It sits at 189° on the hue wheel with 43% saturation and 90% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #dceef1?

rgb(220, 238, 241) — 220 red, 238 green and 241 blue out of 255, or 86.3% / 93.3% / 94.5% by channel.

What is #dceef1 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(189, 43%, 90%) and hsv(189, 9%, 95%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #dceef1 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.8272 and perceived brightness is 91%, so black text on it reaches 17.54:1.

Should I use black or white text on #dceef1?

Black. It scores 17.54:1 against #dceef1, versus 1.20:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #dceef1 accessible on a white background?

#dceef1 on white scores 1.20:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #38808C to reach 4.5:1, or #295F67 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #dceef1?

#F1DFDC sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #F1DCE4 and #F1EADC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #dceef1?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C5E3E8 for borders, #4B8F9B for secondary text, #96363E as an accent and #24535B for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DCF1EA and #DCE4F1 stays calm, while #F1DFDC is the loudest partner.

What is #dceef1 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(9%, 1%, 0%, 6%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #dceef1 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 #DCF1EC; nudged cooler, #DCE7F2.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #dceef1?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 23.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #dceef1 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #dceef1 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#dceef1] or text-[#dceef1], 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 #dceef1 with 50% opacity?

rgba(220, 238, 241, 0.5), or #dceef180 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EEF7F8; over black, #6E7779.

Is #dceef1 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCFFFF, ΔE2000 9.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #dceef1 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 #dceef1?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F0F8F9, #dceef1 45%, #24535B). For more colour, a short hue run to #C6CAE8 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #dceef1 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #dceef1 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.