#08BBCD

sRGB: 8 / 187 / 205

#08BBCD belongs to the cyan family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 8 red, 187 green and 205 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 185.5° lands in the cyan region. Its 92.5% saturation makes it strong in color at this lightness. HSL lightness is 41.8% on a scale from black (0%) to white (100%). Of black and white lettering, black has the clearer light-to-dark separation on this background (9.00:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 8, 187, 205
HSL: 185.48°, 92.49%, 41.76%
HSV / HSB: 185.48°, 96.10%, 80.39%
CMYK (approx.): 96.10%, 8.78%, 0.00%, 19.61%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 28.888, 39.998, 63.957
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 69.468, -32.222, -20.126
WCAG relative luminance: 0.40000
24-bit decimal: 572365

CMYK uses a profile-free approximation. Printed output depends on the press, ink and paper. Lab uses a D65 white point.

Text contrast

Contrast tells you how clearly lettering separates from #08BBCD in light and dark. The ratio compares relative luminance, a measure of light weighted for human vision. Identical colors give 1:1 and black against white gives 21:1. A ratio of 2.99:1 falls just below the 3:1 AA minimum for large text. Body text needs at least 4.5:1 because its finer strokes are harder to distinguish.

Black text: 9.00:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 2.33:1

Normal text: Fail
Large text: Fail

AA and AAA are WCAG accessibility levels. AAA sets a higher bar: 7:1 for normal text and 4.5:1 for large text. Large text begins at 18 pt regular or 14 pt bold. Ratings use the unrounded ratio.

Reference: WCAG text contrast guidance

Palettes & scales

Harmonies rotate the hue. Scales mix the starting color with white, black or middle gray in 20% steps in encoded sRGB.

Complementary

#CD1A08 sits half a turn (180°) from #08BBCD on the HSL wheel. Keeping saturation and lightness steady while crossing to the opposite hue gives you a contrasting accent. Check text contrast separately before using the pair for lettering.

#08BBCD #CD1A08

Analogous

#08CD7D and #0859CD sit 30° to either side of #08BBCD. The three hues are neighbors on the wheel, so you can change the color of a border or highlight while keeping it close to the original.

#08CD7D #08BBCD #0859CD

Triadic

#08BBCD, #CD08BB and #BBCD08 are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#08BBCD #CD08BB #BBCD08

Split complementary

Start at #08BBCD and look across the wheel. #CD0859 and #CD7D08 sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#08BBCD #CD0859 #CD7D08

Square

Starting with #08BBCD, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #7C08CD, #CD1A08, then #59CD08. Across the square, #08BBCD pairs with #CD1A08, and #7C08CD with #59CD08.

#08BBCD #7C08CD #CD1A08 #59CD08

Tetradic

#08BBCD and #CD1A08 are opposites, as are #1A08CD and #BBCD08. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#08BBCD #1A08CD #CD1A08 #BBCD08

Tints

Mixing #08BBCD with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #39C9D7, keeps 80% of the original. By #CEF1F5, the mixture is 80% white.

#08BBCD #39C9D7 #6BD6E1 #9CE4EB #CEF1F5 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #08BBCD with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #0696A4, keeps 80% of the original. By #022529, the mixture is 80% black.

#08BBCD #0696A4 #05707B #034B52 #022529 #000000

Tones

Mixing #08BBCD with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #20AFBE, keeps 80% of the original. By #688C8F, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#08BBCD #20AFBE #38A3AE #50989F #688C8F #808080

Copy color codes

Hex, RGB and HSL are three ways to write this screen color. Paste any of them into a CSS color property.

Hex

#08BBCD

RGB

rgb(8 187 205)

HSL

hsl(185.482 92.488% 41.765%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #08BBCD;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#08BBCD uses 8 red, 187 green and 205 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 3.1%

Green 73.3%

Blue 80.4%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #08BBCD is 96.1% cyan, 8.8% magenta, 0.0% yellow and 19.6% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 96.1%

Magenta 8.8%

Yellow 0.0%

Black 19.6%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #00BBCC. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #0BC in CSS. For a modern design, keep #08BBCD when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #00CCCC, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand: #00BBCC Nearest web-safe: #00CCCC

Gradient to complement

#08BBCD #29A0AC #4A858B #6B6B6B #8B504A #AC3529 #CD1A08

Color vision previews

Compare how #08BBCD appears in each simulation. When two chart lines or status indicators become hard to tell apart, a label, shape or line pattern gives readers another way to distinguish them. Individual perception varies.

Protanopia

A red–green color vision deficiency. Without a distinct response from long-wavelength cones, some reds and greens can look alike, and reds can appear darker.

#A9B3CE

Deuteranopia

A red–green color vision deficiency. Without a distinct response from medium-wavelength cones, some greens can be difficult to distinguish from reds or browns.

#92A3CD

Tritanopia

A blue–yellow color vision deficiency. Without a distinct response from short-wavelength cones, blue can resemble green, and yellow can resemble pink.

#00C4C0

Protanomaly (50%)

An altered long-wavelength cone response can make reds appear dimmer and harder to distinguish from greens. This swatch shows the model’s halfway setting.

#8AB4CE

Deuteranomaly (50%)

An altered medium-wavelength cone response can reduce the visible difference between reds and greens. This swatch shows the model’s halfway setting.

#7EACCD

Tritanomaly (50%)

An altered short-wavelength cone response can make blue harder to distinguish from green. This swatch shows the model’s halfway setting.

#00BCC8

Grayscale (luminance)

This design check removes hue and preserves relative luminance so you can compare light and dark areas.

#AAAAAA

Partial grayscale (50% blend)

This design check mixes the original color halfway toward its grayscale equivalent in linear light. Use it to see how a design holds up as color fades.

#7CB3BC

Reference: National Eye Institute: Types of Color Vision Deficiency

Technical reference

CAM16 and CIECAM02 below assume D65 white, an average surround, background Y of 20 against white at 100, and adapting luminance of 4.07 cd/m².

Linear sRGB

These channels scale with emitted light. Use them for lighting calculations and physically meaningful blends.

R 0.00243 G 0.49693 B 0.61050

Display P3

P3 displays can reproduce a wider range of reds and greens. These coordinates reproduce this same sRGB swatch on a color-managed P3 display.

R 0.33223 G 0.72238 B 0.79291

Linear Display P3

These P3 channels are proportional to light, before display encoding.

R 0.09022 G 0.48052 B 0.59189

CIE xyY

The x and y coordinates locate chromaticity on a diagram. Y gives relative luminance on a scale where white is 100.

x 0.217 y 0.301 Y 39.998

CMY

Ideal cyan, magenta and yellow are the complements of the encoded red, green and blue channels.

C % 96.863 M % 26.667 Y % 19.608

Binary RGB

Each eight-bit group represents one channel. Together they store the 24-bit hex color.

00001000 10111011 11001101