#e6ebec
a pale, muted cyan · cool · closest name: White Smoke
Token name suggestion: Whisper Teal
#e6ebec is a pale muted cyan, 190° on the wheel and 66/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (17.46:1). As text it scores 1.20:1 on white — use #627B81 instead. Nearest name is White Smoke, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.
At a glance
Every number on this page in one read: what #e6ebec is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.
Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #e6ebec.
Reads cool. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.
Green carries most of what the eye calls brightness — that is why WCAG weights it 0.7152.
Every format
| HEX | #e6ebec |
| HEX (8-digit) | #e6ebecff |
| RGB | rgb(230, 235, 236) |
| RGBA | rgba(230, 235, 236, 1) |
| HSL | hsl(190, 14%, 91%) |
| HSV / HSB | hsv(190, 3%, 93%) |
| HWB | hwb(190 90% 7%) |
| CMYK | cmyk(3%, 0%, 0%, 8%) |
| LAB | lab(92.7 -1.5 -1.1) |
| LCH | lch(92.7 1.8 215.9) |
| OKLCH | oklch(0.936 0.005 211.0) |
| XYZ (D65) | xyz(77.48, 82.30, 91.14) |
| Decimal | 15133676 |
| Display P3 | color(display-p3 0.902 0.922 0.925) |
| Web-safe | #FFFFFF |
Copy-ready code
/* CSS */
color: #e6ebec;
background-color: #e6ebec;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #e6ebec;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#e6ebec] bg-[#e6ebec]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #e6ebec;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.902, green: 0.922, blue: 0.925)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.902, green: 0.922, blue: 0.925, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#E6EBEC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFE6EBEC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFE6EBEC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(236, 235, 230)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(230, 235, 236)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(230, 235, 236)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 230, 235, 236)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9020f, 0.9216f, 0.9255f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{230,235,236}/* mix without leaving CSS */ background: color-mix(in oklab, #e6ebec 85%, white); border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #e6ebec 40%, transparent); /* theme-aware in one line */ color: light-dark(#374648, #DCE3E5); /* relative colour syntax */ --hover: hsl(from #e6ebec h s calc(l - 7));
Design tokens
The same ramp in the four formats a team actually needs. Paste one and the whole palette lands with it.
:root {
--brand-50: #F7F8F8;
--brand-100: #e6ebec;
--brand-200: #DAE0E2;
--brand-300: #BFCCCF;
--brand-400: #9FB2B6;
--brand-500: #80999E;
--brand-600: #6A858B;
--brand-700: #586F74;
--brand-800: #47595D;
--brand-900: #364245;
--brand-950: #21292B;
--brand: #e6ebec;
--brand-ink: #000000;
--brand-surface: #F6F8F8;
--brand-border: #D1DADC;
--brand-hover: #D2DBDD;
--brand-pressed: #BECBCD;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
:root {
--brand-surface: #181F20;
--brand-ink: #DCE3E5;
}
}theme: {
extend: {
colors: {
brand: {
50: '#F7F8F8',
100: '#e6ebec',
200: '#DAE0E2',
300: '#BFCCCF',
400: '#9FB2B6',
500: '#80999E',
600: '#6A858B',
700: '#586F74',
800: '#47595D',
900: '#364245',
950: '#21292B',
DEFAULT: '#e6ebec',
},
},
},
}$brand: (
'50': #F7F8F8,
'100': #e6ebec,
'200': #DAE0E2,
'300': #BFCCCF,
'400': #9FB2B6,
'500': #80999E,
'600': #6A858B,
'700': #586F74,
'800': #47595D,
'900': #364245,
'950': #21292B,
);
$brand-base: #e6ebec;
$brand-ink: #000000;
@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }{
"color": {
"brand": {
"50": { "$value": "#F7F8F8", "$type": "color" },
"100": { "$value": "#e6ebec", "$type": "color" },
"200": { "$value": "#DAE0E2", "$type": "color" },
"300": { "$value": "#BFCCCF", "$type": "color" },
"400": { "$value": "#9FB2B6", "$type": "color" },
"500": { "$value": "#80999E", "$type": "color" },
"600": { "$value": "#6A858B", "$type": "color" },
"700": { "$value": "#586F74", "$type": "color" },
"800": { "$value": "#47595D", "$type": "color" },
"900": { "$value": "#364245", "$type": "color" },
"950": { "$value": "#21292B", "$type": "color" }
},
"brandInk": { "$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.
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.
Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #7E989D 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
Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #e6ebec as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #e6ebec.
| Neutral | Ratio | Verdict | Both directions |
|---|---|---|---|
| White#ffffff | 1.20:1 | AAAA lgAAA | AaAa |
| Slate 50#f8fafc | 1.15:1 | AAAA lgAAA | AaAa |
| Slate 100#f1f5f9 | 1.10:1 | AAAA lgAAA | AaAa |
| Slate 200#e2e8f0 | 1.02:1 | AAAA lgAAA | AaAa |
| Slate 300#cbd5e1 | 1.23:1 | AAAA lgAAA | AaAa |
| Slate 400#94a3b8 | 2.13:1 | AAAA lgAAA | AaAa |
| Slate 500#64748b | 3.96:1 | AAAA lgAAA | AaAa |
| Slate 600#475569 | 6.30:1 | AAAA lgAAA | AaAa |
| Slate 700#334155 | 8.61:1 | AAAA lgAAA | AaAa |
| Slate 800#1e293b | 12.16:1 | AAAA lgAAA | AaAa |
| Slate 900#0f172a | 14.84:1 | AAAA lgAAA | AaAa |
| Black#000000 | 17.46:1 | AAAA lgAAA | AaAa |
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. #e6ebec 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.
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.
:root {
--brand-50: oklch(0.97 0.001 211.0);
--brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.002 211.0);
--brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.003 211.0);
--brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.004 211.0);
--brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.005 211.0);
--brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.005 211.0);
--brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.005 211.0);
--brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.005 211.0);
--brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.005 211.0);
--brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.004 211.0);
--brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.003 211.0);
}Colors that work with #e6ebec
Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.
Surface, border, heading and body all derive from this one hue, so the screen stays coherent without a second palette.
Lightness flips, hue holds. The accent stays the anchor in both themes.
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.
Focus ring uses the light variant so the field still reads as one shape.
The file stays available for seven days. Download it before it expires.
How to use #e6ebec
Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.
- ✓Text and icons on dark surfaces
- ✓Borders, dividers and quiet backgrounds
- ✓Long-form reading surfaces
- ✓Card and section backgrounds
- ✓Brand accents, badges and data highlights
- ⚠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
Meaning and mood
What a colour in this family tends to signal, and how this particular chroma and lightness change the reading.
Cyan reads as water, air and infrastructure: cool, hygienic, engineered.
With almost no chroma left, the family association is barely present; treat it as a neutral that happens to lean this way. The high lightness makes it recede — a surface colour rather than a statement.
At high lightness it disappears into white surfaces and thin strokes vanish entirely.
- FormalityMedium
- EnergyLow
- Weight9/100
- 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 | #ECE7E6 | Directly opposite — maximum tension | |
| Analogous left | #E6ECEA | Neighbour, quieter | |
| Analogous right | #E6E8EC | Neighbour, quieter | |
| Split-complement 1 | #ECE6E8 | Contrast without the clash | |
| Split-complement 2 | #ECEAE6 | Contrast without the clash | |
| Triadic 1 | #ECE6EB | Even thirds — balanced and loud | |
| Triadic 2 | #EBECE6 | Even thirds — balanced and loud | |
| Tetradic | #EAE6EC | Fourth corner of the square scheme |
#e6ebec sits at 190°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.
RGB percentages
CMYK percentages
Total ink coverage is 10%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.
Color previews
#e6ebec text on a black background
contrast 17.46:1
#e6ebec text on a white background
contrast 1.20:1
#e6ebec on grey
1.10:1
#e6ebec on its own surface
1.13:1
#e6ebec on its dark surface
13.90:1
CSS3 live lab
The quick brown fox
color: #e6ebec;
background-color: #e6ebec;
Glowing headline
text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #e6ebec;
Soft neon halo
text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(230, 235, 236, 0.45);
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(230, 235, 236, 0.45);
border: 3px solid #e6ebec; background: linear-gradient(135deg, #e6ebec, #E6E7EC);
Gradient headline
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #e6ebec, #E7E6EC); -webkit-background-clip: text; color: transparent;
outline: 2px solid #e6ebec; outline-offset: 3px;
Marked up text
text-decoration-color: #e6ebec; caret-color: #e6ebec;
border-left: 4px solid #e6ebec;
background: #F1F3F4; box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #e6ebec;
background: conic-gradient(#e6ebec 68%, #e2e8f0 0);
Transparency
What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #e6ebec 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.
rgba(230, 235, 236, 0.5) rgb(230 235 236 / 50%) #e6ebec80 hsl(190 14% 91% / 50%) color-mix(in srgb, #e6ebec 50%, transparent)
| Alpha | 8-digit hex | Flat on white |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | #e6ebec1a | #FDFDFD |
| 20% | #e6ebec33 | #FAFBFB |
| 40% | #e6ebec66 | #F5F7F7 |
| 60% | #e6ebec99 | #F0F3F4 |
| 80% | #e6ebeccc | #EBEFF0 |
Gradients from #e6ebec
Six recipes, each built from this hex and shown with the exact CSS that produced it.
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #F3F6F6, #e6ebec 45%, #374648);
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #e6ebec, #D5D6DF);
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #e6ebec, #ECE7E6);
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F6F8F8 0%, #e6ebec 45%, #374648 100%);
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F8F8, #ffffff);
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #FFFFFF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #F7F8F9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #374648 0%, transparent 65%), #e6ebec;
Monochromatic scale
Palettes built from #e6ebec
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.
Closest color with a full write-up: Gainsboro (#dcdcdc) — ΔE2000 3.9 away, with its history, psychology and brand usage.
#e6ebec in the real world
Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.
Very light tints can drop out on uncoated stock; check it at 100% size before signing off.
Holds up across typical panel gamma. Still worth checking on an uncalibrated laptop, where mid-tones shift most.
Usable as-is on a dark surface at 17.46:1.
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.
#e6ebec, answered
What color is #e6ebec?
#e6ebec is a pale muted cyan, closest to White Smoke (ΔE2000 3.3). It sits at 190° on the hue wheel with 14% saturation and 91% lightness, which reads as cool.
What is the RGB value of #e6ebec?
rgb(230, 235, 236) — 230 red, 235 green and 236 blue out of 255, or 90.2% / 92.2% / 92.5% by channel.
What is #e6ebec in HSL and HSV?
hsl(190, 14%, 91%) and hsv(190, 3%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.
Is #e6ebec a light or a dark color?
It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.8230 and perceived brightness is 92%, so black text on it reaches 17.46:1.
Should I use black or white text on #e6ebec?
Black. It scores 17.46:1 against #e6ebec, versus 1.20:1 for white — AAA at any size.
Is #e6ebec accessible on a white background?
#e6ebec on white scores 1.20:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #627B81 to reach 4.5:1, or #475A5E for 7:1.
What is the complementary color of #e6ebec?
#ECE7E6 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #ECE6E8 and #ECEAE6, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.
What colors go well with #e6ebec?
For interface work: #F6F8F8 as the surface, #D1DADC for borders, #637D82 for secondary text, #795358 as an accent and #374648 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #E6ECEA and #E6E8EC stays calm, while #ECE7E6 is the loudest partner.
What is #e6ebec in CMYK for printing?
cmyk(3%, 0%, 0%, 8%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.
Is #e6ebec warm or cool?
Cool — it scores 66 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #E6ECEB; nudged cooler, #E6E9EC.
Which Tailwind color is closest to #e6ebec?
The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 26.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #e6ebec as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.
How do I use #e6ebec in Tailwind CSS?
Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#e6ebec] or text-[#e6ebec], 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 #e6ebec with 50% opacity?
rgba(230, 235, 236, 0.5), or #e6ebec80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #F3F5F6; over black, #737676.
Is #e6ebec a web-safe color?
No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FFFFFF, ΔE2000 4.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.
What does the color #e6ebec mean?
As a cyan, it reads clean, technical, fresh. Cyan reads as water, air and infrastructure: cool, hygienic, engineered. At this low chroma the association is faint; it behaves more like a neutral.
What gradient works with #e6ebec?
The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F3F6F6, #e6ebec 45%, #374648). For more colour, a short hue run to #D5D6DF keeps it rich without turning muddy.
Work with #e6ebec in the Color Lab
Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.
Every value on this page is computed from #e6ebec at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.