Exploring the Color #8AC9C6

#8AC9C6 sits at 177° on the color wheel, placing it in the cyan family of the cool half of the spectrum. With 37% saturation and 66% lightness, it reads as a softly muted, light tone — a balanced mid-energy presence that sits comfortably alongside other UI tones. Its RGB mix of 138, 201, 198 produces a 11.25:1 contrast ratio against black, which clears WCAG AAA for body text in that pairing.

In RGB space #8AC9C6 is a clear variant of CSS sky blue — about 37 units away from #87CEEB. Designers reach for cyan hues at this saturation when the brief calls for a conversational, mid-energy register, and at this lightness when they want a present, comfortable mid-canvas voice. On screen the cool cast tends to pair best with warm neutrals in the 25°-45° range to add life.

Darkening Shades

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