Skip to content

#0ba8cb

a dark, electric cyan · cool · closest name: Deep Sky Blue

RGB
11, 168, 203
HSL
191°, 90%, 42%
CMYK
95, 17, 0, 20
Luminance
0.3239

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #0ba8cb is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#0ba8cb
Hue
191°
cyan
Saturation
90%
electric
Lightness
42%
dark
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
57%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3239
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
92/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
7.48:1
Closest name
Deep Sky Blue
ΔE2000 9.8
Where it sits
Hue191° of 360°
Saturation90%
Lightness42%
Temperature
Warm ← → Cool92% cool

Reads cool. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Every format

HEX#0ba8cb
RGBrgb(11, 168, 203)
HSLhsl(191, 90%, 42%)
CMYKcmyk(95%, 17%, 0%, 20%)
LABlab(63.7 -23.4 -27.9)
LCHlch(63.7 36.4 230.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.677 0.122 220.0)
Decimal764107
Display P3color(display-p3 0.043 0.659 0.796)

Copy-ready code

/* CSS */
color: #0ba8cb;
background-color: #0ba8cb;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#0ba8cb] bg-[#0ba8cb]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #0ba8cb;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.043, green: 0.659, blue: 0.796)
/* Android */
Color.parseColor("#0ba8cb")
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF0BA8CB)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(203, 168, 11)

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 #0ba8cb · 7.48:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
White text · 2.81:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.48:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #0ba8cb as text scores 2.81:1 on white and 7.48:1 on black.

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

Aa
#0ba8cb on white: 2.81:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#0ba8cb on black: 7.48:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
true color
protanopia · #93A3CD
deuteranopia · #7C93CB
tritanopia · #00B3B3

Color scale — 50 to 950

A Tailwind-shaped ramp built around this exact hex. #0ba8cb is pinned to step 700; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F2FBFD
#E5F7FB
#C3EFF8
#95E7F9
#5FDBF6
#2ACFF3
#0DC0E8
#0ba8cb
#08809B
#0B5D70
#073A46
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #F2FBFDDarkest = 950 · #073A46
:root {
  --brand-50: #F2FBFD;
  --brand-100: #E5F7FB;
  --brand-200: #C3EFF8;
  --brand-300: #95E7F9;
  --brand-400: #5FDBF6;
  --brand-500: #2ACFF3;
  --brand-600: #0DC0E8;
  --brand-700: #0ba8cb;
  --brand-800: #08809B;
  --brand-900: #0B5D70;
  --brand-950: #073A46;
  --brand: #0ba8cb;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
}

Colors that work with #0ba8cb

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#F4F9FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0E4ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B8C9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#CF0714
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#076479
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E7FAFE
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142124
Dark-mode background
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

How to use #0ba8cb

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
  • Headers, footers and dark-mode surfaces
  • 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
  • Black text placed on it
  • Thin strokes and 1px borders — they disappear on light UI
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate

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#CB2E0B
Analogous left#0BCB8E
Analogous right#0B48CB
Split-complement 1#CB0B48
Split-complement 2#CB8E0B
Triadic 1#CB0BA8
Triadic 2#A8CB0B
Tetradic#8E0BCB

RGB percentages

Red4.3%
Green65.9%
Blue79.6%

CMYK percentages

Cyan94.6%
Magenta17.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)20.4%

Color previews

#0ba8cb text on a black background

contrast 7.48:1

Card sample

#0ba8cb text on a white background

contrast 2.81:1

Card sample

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #0ba8cb;
Background color
Panel with #0ba8cb background
background-color: #0ba8cb;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #0ba8cb;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(11, 168, 203, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(11, 168, 203, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #0ba8cb;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #0ba8cb, #0B28CB);

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #0ba8cb

Shades — darker

Tints — lighter

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.

#0ba8cb 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
ButtonsLinksFocus statesCharts
Print note

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

#0ba8cb, answered

What color is #0ba8cb?

#0ba8cb is a dark electric cyan, closest to Deep Sky Blue (ΔE2000 9.8). It sits at 191° on the hue wheel with 90% saturation and 42% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #0ba8cb?

rgb(11, 168, 203) — 11 red, 168 green and 203 blue out of 255, or 4.3% / 65.9% / 79.6% by channel.

Is #0ba8cb a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3239 and perceived brightness is 57%, so black text on it reaches 7.48:1.

Should I use black or white text on #0ba8cb?

Black. It scores 7.48:1 against #0ba8cb, versus 2.81:1 for white — AAA at any size.

What is the complementary color of #0ba8cb?

#CB2E0B sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CB0B48 and #CB8E0B, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #0ba8cb?

For interface work: #F4F9FA as the surface, #C0E4ED for borders, #4B8C9B for secondary text, #CF0714 as an accent and #076479 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #0BCB8E and #0B48CB stays calm, while #CB2E0B is the loudest partner.

What is #0ba8cb in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(95%, 17%, 0%, 20%). 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 #0ba8cb warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 92 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #0BCBA8; nudged cooler, #0987CD.

Work with #0ba8cb in the Color Lab