Skip to content
blue · cool

#032142

a deep, electric blue · cool · closest name: Midnight Blue

Token name suggestion: Cellar Cobalt

RGB
3, 33, 66
HSL
211°, 91%, 14%
CMYK
96, 50, 0, 74
Luminance
0.0150

#032142 is a deep electric blue, 211° on the wheel and 99/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (16.15:1). As text it scores 16.15:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Midnight Blue, nearest Tailwind family is slate.

hsl(211 91% 14%)rgb(3 33 66)Base step 950AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #032142 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#032142
Hue
211°
blue
Saturation
91%
electric
Lightness
14%
deep
Brightness
26%
HSV value
Perceived
13%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.0150
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
99/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Electric
Best ink
White
16.15:1
Closest name
Midnight Blue
ΔE2000 10.8
Chroma
24.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.247
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
slate
500 · ΔE 28.3
Web-safe
#003333
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue211° of 360°
Saturation91%
Lightness14%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #032142.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool99% 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
Red1%
Green72%
Blue26%

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

Every format

HEX#032142
HEX (8-digit)#032142ff
RGBrgb(3, 33, 66)
RGBArgba(3, 33, 66, 1)
HSLhsl(211, 91%, 14%)
HSV / HSBhsv(211, 95%, 26%)
HWBhwb(211 1% 74%)
CMYKcmyk(96%, 50%, 0%, 74%)
LABlab(12.6 3.9 -24.0)
LCHlch(12.6 24.3 279.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.247 0.072 253.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(1.56, 1.50, 5.36)
Decimal205122
Display P3color(display-p3 0.012 0.129 0.259)
Web-safe#003333

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #032142;
background-color: #032142;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #032142;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#032142] bg-[#032142]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #032142;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.012, green: 0.129, blue: 0.259)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.012, green: 0.129, blue: 0.259, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#032142</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF032142)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF032142)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(66, 33, 3)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(3, 33, 66)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(3, 33, 66)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 3, 33, 66)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.0118f, 0.1294f, 0.2588f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{3,33,66}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #032142 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #032142 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#063D7A, #D3E0EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #032142 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: #F2F7FD;
  --brand-100: #E4EFFB;
  --brand-200: #C3DDF9;
  --brand-300: #94C5FA;
  --brand-400: #5EA7F8;
  --brand-500: #288AF5;
  --brand-600: #0B75EA;
  --brand-700: #0962C3;
  --brand-800: #074E9C;
  --brand-900: #0A3B71;
  --brand-950: #032142;
  --brand: #032142;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F4F7FA;
  --brand-border: #C0D5ED;
  --brand-hover: #011020;
  --brand-pressed: #000000;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141C24;
    --brand-ink: #D3E0EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F2F7FD',
        100: '#E4EFFB',
        200: '#C3DDF9',
        300: '#94C5FA',
        400: '#5EA7F8',
        500: '#288AF5',
        600: '#0B75EA',
        700: '#0962C3',
        800: '#074E9C',
        900: '#0A3B71',
        950: '#032142',
        DEFAULT: '#032142',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F2F7FD,
  '100': #E4EFFB,
  '200': #C3DDF9,
  '300': #94C5FA,
  '400': #5EA7F8,
  '500': #288AF5,
  '600': #0B75EA,
  '700': #0962C3,
  '800': #074E9C,
  '900': #0A3B71,
  '950': #032142,
);
$brand-base: #032142;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F2F7FD", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E4EFFB", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C3DDF9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#94C5FA", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#5EA7F8", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#288AF5", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#0B75EA", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#0962C3", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#074E9C", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#0A3B71", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#032142", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#ffffff", "$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#ffffff on #032142 · 16.15:1
Use #ffffffAAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 16.15:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Aa
Black text · 1.30:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #032142 as text scores 16.15:1 on white and 1.30:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #E7F2FE at 14.25:1.

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
#032142 · 16.15:1
AA on whitealready passes
#032142
The quick fox
#032142 · 16.15:1
AAA on whitealready passes
#032142
The quick fox
#0A72E3 · 4.53:1
AA on black+33% L
#0A72E3
The quick fox
#4399F6 · 7.13:1
AAA on black+48% L
#4399F6

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #032142 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
#032142 on white: 16.15:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#032142 on black: 1.30:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #032142 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #032142.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White16.15:1AaAa
Slate 5015.44:1AaAa
Slate 10014.74:1AaAa
Slate 20013.10:1AaAa
Slate 30010.88:1AaAa
Slate 4006.30:1AaAa
Slate 5003.39:1AaAa
Slate 6002.13:1AaAa
Slate 7001.56:1AaAa
Slate 8001.10:1AaAa
Slate 9001.11:1AaAa
Black1.30:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #102443
deuteranopia · #031E41
tritanopia · #00292E

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. #032142 is pinned to step 950; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F2F7FD
#E4EFFB
#C3DDF9
#94C5FA
#5EA7F8
#288AF5
#0B75EA
#0962C3
#074E9C
#0A3B71
#032142
Base = 950Lightest = 50 · #F2F7FDDarkest = 950 · #032142Text step on white = 700
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 0.018 253.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.029 253.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.043 253.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.056 253.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.066 253.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.072 253.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.072 253.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.067 253.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.060 253.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.050 253.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.039 253.6);
}

Colors that work with #032142

Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.

Text on it#ffffff
White wins here
Surface#F4F7FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0D5ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B719B
Captions on the surface
Accent#431402
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#063D7A
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E7F2FE
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141C24
Dark-mode background
Hover#011020
One step down in lightness
Pressed#000000
Two steps down
Disabled#475A6E
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#002B59
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 #032142

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Body text and links on white
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Headers, footers and dark-mode surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text on black or near-black surfaces
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • Black text placed on it
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
Any size
Safe as a fill behind white type
Yes
Safe as a 1px border on white
Yes

Meaning and mood

What a colour in this family tends to signal, and how this particular chroma and lightness change the reading.

trustedcalmcompetentcorporate

The default of institutions for a reason: blue is read as stable and safe across nearly every culture that has been surveyed.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. The low lightness adds weight and formality.

Worth knowing

It is also the most crowded hue on the web. Distinctiveness has to come from your other choices.

Reads as
  • FormalityHigh
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight87/100
  • 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#422403
Analogous left#034042
Analogous right#040342
Split-complement 1#420403
Split-complement 2#404203
Triadic 1#420321
Triadic 2#214203
Tetradic#420340
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°211°

#032142 sits at 211°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red1.2%
Green12.9%
Blue25.9%
R · 0–255
3
0x03
G · 0–255
33
0x21
B · 0–255
66
0x42

CMYK percentages

Cyan95.5%
Magenta50.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)74.1%

Total ink coverage is 220%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#032142 text on a black background

contrast 1.30:1

Card sample

#032142 text on a white background

contrast 16.15:1

Card sample

#032142 on grey

14.74:1

#032142 on its own surface

15.02:1

#032142 on its dark surface

1.06:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #032142;
Background color
Panel with #032142 background
background-color: #032142;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #032142;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(3, 33, 66, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(3, 33, 66, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #032142;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #032142, #0F0342);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #032142, #1F0342);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #032142;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #032142;
caret-color: #032142;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #032142;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E7F2FE;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #032142;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#032142 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #032142 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(3, 33, 66, 0.5)
rgb(3 33 66 / 50%)
#03214280
hsl(211 91% 14% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #032142 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#0321421a#E6E9EC
20%#03214233#CDD3D9
40%#03214266#9AA6B3
60%#03214299#687A8E
80%#032142cc#354D68

Gradients from #032142

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, #063E7C, #032142 45%, #063D7A);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #032142, #0B0225);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #032142, #422403);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #074D9A 0%, #032142 45%, #063D7A 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F7FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #05736C 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #0E045F 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #063D7A 0%, transparent 65%), #032142;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #032142

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.

#032142 in the real world

Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.

Industries
TechnologyFinanceHealthcareEnterprise SaaS
Common UI roles
ButtonsLinksFocus statesCharts
Print note

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

On screens

Very dark values collapse into each other on cheap panels — leave more lightness between your darkest steps than the numbers suggest.

In dark mode

Too dim on dark surfaces at 1.30:1 — lift it to #0A72E3 for body text, or reserve it for fills.

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.

#032142, answered

What color is #032142?

#032142 is a deep electric blue, closest to Midnight Blue (ΔE2000 10.8). It sits at 211° on the hue wheel with 91% saturation and 14% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #032142?

rgb(3, 33, 66) — 3 red, 33 green and 66 blue out of 255, or 1.2% / 12.9% / 25.9% by channel.

What is #032142 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(211, 91%, 14%) and hsv(211, 95%, 26%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #032142 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.0150 and perceived brightness is 13%, so white text on it reaches 16.15:1.

Should I use black or white text on #032142?

White. It scores 16.15:1 against #032142, versus 1.30:1 for black — AAA at any size.

Is #032142 accessible on a white background?

#032142 on white scores 16.15:1, which clears AAA at every size.

What is the complementary color of #032142?

#422403 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #420403 and #404203, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #032142?

For interface work: #F4F7FA as the surface, #C0D5ED for borders, #4B719B for secondary text, #431402 as an accent and #063D7A for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #034042 and #040342 stays calm, while #422403 is the loudest partner.

What is #032142 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(96%, 50%, 0%, 74%). 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 #032142 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 99 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #030A42; nudged cooler, #01152A.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #032142?

The slate family — its 500 step is #64748b, ΔE2000 28.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #032142 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #032142 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#032142] or text-[#032142], 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 #032142 with 50% opacity?

rgba(3, 33, 66, 0.5), or #03214280 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #8190A1; over black, #021121.

Is #032142 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #003333, ΔE2000 20.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #032142 mean?

As a blue, it reads trusted, calm, competent. The default of institutions for a reason: blue is read as stable and safe across nearly every culture that has been surveyed. At this chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #032142?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #063E7C, #032142 45%, #063D7A). For more colour, a short hue run to #0B0225 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #032142 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #032142 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.