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cyan · cool

#e3fdfc

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

Token name suggestion: Whisper Glacier

RGB
227, 253, 252
HSL
178°, 87%, 94%
CMYK
10, 0, 0, 1
Luminance
0.9361

#e3fdfc is a pale electric cyan, 178° on the wheel and 87/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (19.72:1). As text it scores 1.06:1 on white — use #09817C instead. Nearest name is Light Cyan, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(178 87% 94%)rgb(227 253 252)Base step 100AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #e3fdfc is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#e3fdfc
Hue
178°
cyan
Saturation
87%
electric
Lightness
94%
pale
Brightness
99%
HSV value
Perceived
96%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.9361
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
87/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
19.72:1
Closest name
Light Cyan
ΔE2000 1.4
Chroma
8.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.975
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 25.2
Web-safe
#CCFFFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue178° of 360°
Saturation87%
Lightness94%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #e3fdfc.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool87% 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
Red17%
Green75%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#e3fdfc
HEX (8-digit)#e3fdfcff
RGBrgb(227, 253, 252)
RGBArgba(227, 253, 252, 1)
HSLhsl(178, 87%, 94%)
HSV / HSBhsv(178, 10%, 99%)
HWBhwb(178 89% 1%)
CMYKcmyk(10%, 0%, 0%, 1%)
LABlab(97.5 -8.6 -2.4)
LCHlch(97.5 8.9 195.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.975 0.027 193.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(84.37, 93.61, 105.70)
Decimal14941692
Display P3color(display-p3 0.890 0.992 0.988)
Web-safe#CCFFFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #e3fdfc;
background-color: #e3fdfc;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #e3fdfc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#e3fdfc] bg-[#e3fdfc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #e3fdfc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.890, green: 0.992, blue: 0.988)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.890, green: 0.992, blue: 0.988, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#E3FDFC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFE3FDFC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFE3FDFC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(252, 253, 227)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(227, 253, 252)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(227, 253, 252)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 227, 253, 252)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8902f, 0.9922f, 0.9882f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{227,253,252}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #e3fdfc 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #e3fdfc 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#087773, #D3EEED);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #e3fdfc 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: #F2FDFC;
  --brand-100: #e3fdfc;
  --brand-200: #C4F7F5;
  --brand-300: #96F8F4;
  --brand-400: #62F4EE;
  --brand-500: #2EF0E9;
  --brand-600: #10E5DC;
  --brand-700: #0EBEB8;
  --brand-800: #0B9893;
  --brand-900: #0C6E6A;
  --brand-950: #084542;
  --brand: #e3fdfc;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C0EDEB;
  --brand-hover: #C2FBF8;
  --brand-pressed: #A0F8F5;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142424;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEED;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F2FDFC',
        100: '#e3fdfc',
        200: '#C4F7F5',
        300: '#96F8F4',
        400: '#62F4EE',
        500: '#2EF0E9',
        600: '#10E5DC',
        700: '#0EBEB8',
        800: '#0B9893',
        900: '#0C6E6A',
        950: '#084542',
        DEFAULT: '#e3fdfc',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F2FDFC,
  '100': #e3fdfc,
  '200': #C4F7F5,
  '300': #96F8F4,
  '400': #62F4EE,
  '500': #2EF0E9,
  '600': #10E5DC,
  '700': #0EBEB8,
  '800': #0B9893,
  '900': #0C6E6A,
  '950': #084542,
);
$brand-base: #e3fdfc;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F2FDFC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#e3fdfc", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C4F7F5", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#96F8F4", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#62F4EE", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#2EF0E9", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#10E5DC", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#0EBEB8", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#0B9893", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#0C6E6A", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#084542", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #e3fdfc · 19.72:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.06:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 19.72:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #e3fdfc as text scores 1.06:1 on white and 19.72:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #087773 at 5.06:1.

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
#09817C · 4.73:1
AA on white−67% L
#09817C
The quick fox
#07605C · 7.40:1
AAA on white−74% L
#07605C
The quick fox
#e3fdfc · 19.72:1
AA on blackalready passes
#e3fdfc
The quick fox
#e3fdfc · 19.72:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#e3fdfc

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #0CA29D 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
#e3fdfc on white: 1.06:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#e3fdfc on black: 19.72:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #e3fdfc as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #e3fdfc.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.06:1AaAa
Slate 501.02:1AaAa
Slate 1001.03:1AaAa
Slate 2001.16:1AaAa
Slate 3001.39:1AaAa
Slate 4002.41:1AaAa
Slate 5004.47:1AaAa
Slate 6007.12:1AaAa
Slate 7009.72:1AaAa
Slate 80013.74:1AaAa
Slate 90016.77:1AaAa
Black19.72:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #F9FAFC
deuteranopia · #F4F6FC
tritanopia · #DCFFFD

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. #e3fdfc is pinned to step 100; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F2FDFC
#e3fdfc
#C4F7F5
#96F8F4
#62F4EE
#2EF0E9
#10E5DC
#0EBEB8
#0B9893
#0C6E6A
#084542
Base = 100Lightest = 50 · #F2FDFCDarkest = 950 · #084542Text step on white = 900
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 0.007 193.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.011 193.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.016 193.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.021 193.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.025 193.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.027 193.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.027 193.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.025 193.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.023 193.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.019 193.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.015 193.9);
}

Colors that work with #e3fdfc

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#C0EDEB
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B98
Captions on the surface
Accent#C5073D
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#087773
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E7FDFC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142424
Dark-mode background
Hover#C2FBF8
One step down in lightness
Pressed#A0F8F5
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F7F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D7FEFD
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 #e3fdfc

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 #087773
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #0CA29D

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.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. 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
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight6/100
  • 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#FDE3E4
Analogous left#E3FDEF
Analogous right#E3F1FD
Split-complement 1#FDE3F1
Split-complement 2#FDEFE3
Triadic 1#FCE3FD
Triadic 2#FDFCE3
Tetradic#EFE3FD
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°178°

#e3fdfc sits at 178°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red89.0%
Green99.2%
Blue98.8%
R · 0–255
227
0xe3
G · 0–255
253
0xfd
B · 0–255
252
0xfc

CMYK percentages

Cyan10.3%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow0.4%
Key (black)0.8%

Total ink coverage is 12%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#e3fdfc text on a black background

contrast 19.72:1

Card sample

#e3fdfc text on a white background

contrast 1.06:1

Card sample

#e3fdfc on grey

1.03:1

#e3fdfc on its own surface

1.01:1

#e3fdfc on its dark surface

15.08:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #e3fdfc;
Background color
Panel with #e3fdfc background
background-color: #e3fdfc;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #e3fdfc;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(227, 253, 252, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(227, 253, 252, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #e3fdfc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #e3fdfc, #E3EDFD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #e3fdfc, #E3E6FD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #e3fdfc;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #e3fdfc;
caret-color: #e3fdfc;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #e3fdfc;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E7FDFC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #e3fdfc;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#e3fdfc 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #e3fdfc 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(227, 253, 252, 0.5)
rgb(227 253 252 / 50%)
#e3fdfc80
hsl(178 87% 94% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #e3fdfc 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#e3fdfc1a#FCFFFF
20%#e3fdfc33#F9FFFE
40%#e3fdfc66#F4FEFE
60%#e3fdfc99#EEFEFD
80%#e3fdfccc#E9FDFD

Gradients from #e3fdfc

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, #ECFEFD, #e3fdfc 45%, #087773);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #e3fdfc, #C6D6FB);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #e3fdfc, #FDE3E4);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F1FEFD 0%, #e3fdfc 45%, #087773 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%, #FFFFFF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #087773 0%, transparent 65%), #e3fdfc;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #e3fdfc

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.

#e3fdfc 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

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

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 19.72:1.

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.

#e3fdfc, answered

What color is #e3fdfc?

#e3fdfc is a pale electric cyan, closest to Light Cyan (ΔE2000 1.4). It sits at 178° on the hue wheel with 87% saturation and 94% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #e3fdfc?

rgb(227, 253, 252) — 227 red, 253 green and 252 blue out of 255, or 89% / 99.2% / 98.8% by channel.

What is #e3fdfc in HSL and HSV?

hsl(178, 87%, 94%) and hsv(178, 10%, 99%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #e3fdfc a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.9361 and perceived brightness is 96%, so black text on it reaches 19.72:1.

Should I use black or white text on #e3fdfc?

Black. It scores 19.72:1 against #e3fdfc, versus 1.06:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #e3fdfc accessible on a white background?

#e3fdfc on white scores 1.06:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #09817C to reach 4.5:1, or #07605C for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #e3fdfc?

#FDE3E4 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #FDE3F1 and #FDEFE3, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #e3fdfc?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C0EDEB for borders, #4B9B98 for secondary text, #C5073D as an accent and #087773 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #E3FDEF and #E3F1FD stays calm, while #FDE3E4 is the loudest partner.

What is #e3fdfc in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(10%, 0%, 0%, 1%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #e3fdfc warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 87 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #E3FDF2; nudged cooler, #E3F5FD.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #e3fdfc?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 25.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #e3fdfc as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #e3fdfc in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#e3fdfc] or text-[#e3fdfc], 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 #e3fdfc with 50% opacity?

rgba(227, 253, 252, 0.5), or #e3fdfc80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #F1FEFE; over black, #727F7E.

Is #e3fdfc a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCFFFF, ΔE2000 6.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #e3fdfc 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 #e3fdfc?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #ECFEFD, #e3fdfc 45%, #087773). For more colour, a short hue run to #C6D6FB keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #e3fdfc in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #e3fdfc at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.