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blue · cool

#151b72

a dark, vivid blue · cool · “Midnight Blue”

Token name suggestion: Forest Sapphire

RGB
21, 27, 114
HSL
236°, 69%, 27%
CMYK
82, 76, 0, 55
Luminance
0.0216

#151b72 is a dark vivid blue, 236° on the wheel and 85/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (14.67:1). As text it scores 14.67:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Midnight Blue, nearest Tailwind family is slate.

hsl(236 69% 27%)rgb(21 27 114)Base step 900AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #151b72 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#151b72
Hue
236°
blue
Saturation
69%
vivid
Lightness
27%
dark
Brightness
45%
HSV value
Perceived
18%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.0216
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
85/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
White
14.67:1
Closest name
Midnight Blue
ΔE2000 0.8
Chroma
58.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.291
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
slate
500 · ΔE 27.9
Web-safe
#003366
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue236° of 360°
Saturation69%
Lightness27%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #151b72.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool85% 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
Red7%
Green36%
Blue56%

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

Every format

HEX#151b72
HEX (8-digit)#151b72ff
RGBrgb(21, 27, 114)
RGBArgba(21, 27, 114, 1)
HSLhsl(236, 69%, 27%)
HSV / HSBhsv(236, 82%, 45%)
HWBhwb(236 8% 55%)
CMYKcmyk(82%, 76%, 0%, 55%)
LABlab(16.3 30.8 -50.2)
LCHlch(16.3 58.9 301.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.291 0.145 270.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(3.74, 2.16, 16.14)
Decimal1383282
Display P3color(display-p3 0.082 0.106 0.447)
Web-safe#003366

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #151b72;
background-color: #151b72;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #151b72;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#151b72] bg-[#151b72]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #151b72;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.082, green: 0.106, blue: 0.447)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.082, green: 0.106, blue: 0.447, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#151B72</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF151B72)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF151B72)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(114, 27, 21)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(21, 27, 114)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(21, 27, 114)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 21, 27, 114)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.0824f, 0.1059f, 0.4471f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{21,27,114}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #151b72 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #151b72 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#141A6C, #D3D4EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #151b72 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: #F3F4FB;
  --brand-100: #E7E9F8;
  --brand-200: #CACCF2;
  --brand-300: #A0A5EE;
  --brand-400: #7178E5;
  --brand-500: #414CDC;
  --brand-600: #2631CF;
  --brand-700: #2029AC;
  --brand-800: #19218A;
  --brand-900: #151b72;
  --brand-950: #0E113E;
  --brand: #151b72;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F4F5FA;
  --brand-border: #C0C3ED;
  --brand-hover: #0F1454;
  --brand-pressed: #0A0D36;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141524;
    --brand-ink: #D3D4EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3F4FB',
        100: '#E7E9F8',
        200: '#CACCF2',
        300: '#A0A5EE',
        400: '#7178E5',
        500: '#414CDC',
        600: '#2631CF',
        700: '#2029AC',
        800: '#19218A',
        900: '#151b72',
        950: '#0E113E',
        DEFAULT: '#151b72',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3F4FB,
  '100': #E7E9F8,
  '200': #CACCF2,
  '300': #A0A5EE,
  '400': #7178E5,
  '500': #414CDC,
  '600': #2631CF,
  '700': #2029AC,
  '800': #19218A,
  '900': #151b72,
  '950': #0E113E,
);
$brand-base: #151b72;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3F4FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E7E9F8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CACCF2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#A0A5EE", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#7178E5", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#414CDC", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#2631CF", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#2029AC", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#19218A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#151b72", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0E113E", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #151b72 · 14.67:1
Use #ffffffAAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 14.67:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Aa
Black text · 1.43:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #151b72 as text scores 14.67:1 on white and 1.43:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #E9EBFB at 12.39:1.

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
#151b72 · 14.67:1
AA on whitealready passes
#151b72
The quick fox
#151b72 · 14.67:1
AAA on whitealready passes
#151b72
The quick fox
#626AE2 · 4.68:1
AA on black+37% L
#626AE2
The quick fox
#898FE9 · 7.17:1
AAA on black+46% L
#898FE9

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #151B72 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
#151b72 on white: 14.67:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#151b72 on black: 1.43:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #151b72 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #151b72.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White14.67:1AaAa
Slate 5014.02:1AaAa
Slate 10013.39:1AaAa
Slate 20011.90:1AaAa
Slate 3009.88:1AaAa
Slate 4005.72:1AaAa
Slate 5003.08:1AaAa
Slate 6001.94:1AaAa
Slate 7001.42:1AaAa
Slate 8001.00:1AaAa
Slate 9001.22:1AaAa
Black1.43:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #002D75
deuteranopia · #002470
tritanopia · #003445

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. #151b72 is pinned to step 900; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F3F4FB
#E7E9F8
#CACCF2
#A0A5EE
#7178E5
#414CDC
#2631CF
#2029AC
#19218A
#151b72
#0E113E
Base = 900Lightest = 50 · #F3F4FBDarkest = 950 · #0E113EText step on white = 500
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 0.036 270.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.058 270.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.087 270.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.113 270.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.134 270.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.145 270.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.145 270.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.137 270.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.122 270.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.102 270.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.080 270.3);
}

Colors that work with #151b72

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#F4F5FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0C3ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B509B
Captions on the surface
Accent#755612
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#141A6C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E9EBFB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141524
Dark-mode background
Hover#0F1454
One step down in lightness
Pressed#0A0D36
Two steps down
Disabled#606497
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#10188B
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 #151b72

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.

This is a confident chroma: strong enough to lead a brand, restrained enough to live in an interface all day. 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
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight74/100
  • 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#726C15
Analogous left#154A72
Analogous right#3E1572
Split-complement 1#723E15
Split-complement 2#4A7215
Triadic 1#72151B
Triadic 2#1B7215
Tetradic#72154A
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°236°

#151b72 sits at 236°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red8.2%
Green10.6%
Blue44.7%
R · 0–255
21
0x15
G · 0–255
27
0x1b
B · 0–255
114
0x72

CMYK percentages

Cyan81.6%
Magenta76.3%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)55.3%

Total ink coverage is 213%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#151b72 text on a black background

contrast 1.43:1

Card sample

#151b72 text on a white background

contrast 14.67:1

Card sample

#151b72 on grey

13.39:1

#151b72 on its own surface

13.47:1

#151b72 on its dark surface

1.23:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #151b72;
Background color
Panel with #151b72 background
background-color: #151b72;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #151b72;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(21, 27, 114, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(21, 27, 114, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #151b72;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #151b72, #4D1572);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #151b72, #641572);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #151b72;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #151b72;
caret-color: #151b72;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #151b72;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E9EBFB;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #151b72;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#151b72 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #151b72 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(21, 27, 114, 0.5)
rgb(21 27 114 / 50%)
#151b7280
hsl(236 69% 27% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #151b72 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#151b721a#E8E8F1
20%#151b7233#D0D1E3
40%#151b7266#A1A4C7
60%#151b7299#7376AA
80%#151b72cc#44498E

Gradients from #151b72

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, #1F27A6, #151b72 45%, #141A6C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #151b72, #421058);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #151b72, #726C15);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #232DC0 0%, #151b72 45%, #141A6C 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F5FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #1D709D 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #551A8C 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #141A6C 0%, transparent 65%), #151b72;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #151b72

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.

#151b72 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

Converts to four-color process without much drama. Proof it anyway.

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 1.43:1 — lift it to #626AE2 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.

#151b72, answered

What color is #151b72?

#151b72 is a dark vivid blue — the CSS keyword Midnight Blue. It sits at 236° on the hue wheel with 69% saturation and 27% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #151b72?

rgb(21, 27, 114) — 21 red, 27 green and 114 blue out of 255, or 8.2% / 10.6% / 44.7% by channel.

What is #151b72 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(236, 69%, 27%) and hsv(236, 82%, 45%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #151b72 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.0216 and perceived brightness is 18%, so white text on it reaches 14.67:1.

Should I use black or white text on #151b72?

White. It scores 14.67:1 against #151b72, versus 1.43:1 for black — AAA at any size.

Is #151b72 accessible on a white background?

#151b72 on white scores 14.67:1, which clears AAA at every size.

What is the complementary color of #151b72?

#726C15 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #723E15 and #4A7215, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #151b72?

For interface work: #F4F5FA as the surface, #C0C3ED for borders, #4B509B for secondary text, #755612 as an accent and #141A6C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #154A72 and #3E1572 stays calm, while #726C15 is the loudest partner.

What is #151b72 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(82%, 76%, 0%, 55%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #151b72 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 85 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #311572; nudged cooler, #143473.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #151b72?

The slate family — its 500 step is #64748b, ΔE2000 27.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #151b72 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #151b72 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#151b72] or text-[#151b72], 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 #151b72 with 50% opacity?

rgba(21, 27, 114, 0.5), or #151b7280 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #8A8DB9; over black, #0B0E39.

Is #151b72 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #003366, ΔE2000 10.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #151b72 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 #151b72?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #1F27A6, #151b72 45%, #141A6C). For more colour, a short hue run to #421058 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #151b72 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #151b72 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.