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blue · cool

#159afd

a balanced, electric blue · cool · closest name: Dodger Blue

Token name suggestion: Studio Denim

RGB
21, 154, 253
HSL
206°, 98%, 54%
CMYK
92, 39, 0, 1
Luminance
0.3036

#159afd is a balanced electric blue, 206° on the wheel and 98/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.07:1). As text it scores 2.97:1 on white — use #0277CE instead. Nearest name is Dodger Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(206 98% 54%)rgb(21 154 253)Base step 500AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #159afd is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#159afd
Hue
206°
blue
Saturation
98%
electric
Lightness
54%
balanced
Brightness
99%
HSV value
Perceived
57%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3036
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
98/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
7.07:1
Closest name
Dodger Blue
ΔE2000 3.8
Chroma
58.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.671
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 6.7
Web-safe
#0099FF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue206° of 360°
Saturation98%
Lightness54%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #159afd.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool98% 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%
Green76%
Blue23%

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

Every format

HEX#159afd
HEX (8-digit)#159afdff
RGBrgb(21, 154, 253)
RGBArgba(21, 154, 253, 1)
HSLhsl(206, 98%, 54%)
HSV / HSBhsv(206, 92%, 99%)
HWBhwb(206 8% 1%)
CMYKcmyk(92%, 39%, 0%, 1%)
LABlab(62.0 2.8 -58.2)
LCHlch(62.0 58.2 272.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.671 0.179 248.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(29.59, 30.36, 97.21)
Decimal1415933
Display P3color(display-p3 0.082 0.604 0.992)
Web-safe#0099FF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #159afd;
background-color: #159afd;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #159afd;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#159afd] bg-[#159afd]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #159afd;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.082, green: 0.604, blue: 0.992)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.082, green: 0.604, blue: 0.992, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#159AFD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF159AFD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF159AFD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(253, 154, 21)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(21, 154, 253)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(21, 154, 253)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 21, 154, 253)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.0824f, 0.6039f, 0.9922f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{21,154,253}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #159afd 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #159afd 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#01497E, #D3E2EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #159afd 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: #F1F8FD;
  --brand-100: #E3F2FC;
  --brand-200: #C1E2FB;
  --brand-300: #90CFFE;
  --brand-400: #58B7FE;
  --brand-500: #159afd;
  --brand-600: #028CF3;
  --brand-700: #0275CA;
  --brand-800: #015DA2;
  --brand-900: #064575;
  --brand-950: #042B49;
  --brand: #159afd;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C0D9ED;
  --brand-hover: #0288EC;
  --brand-pressed: #0274C9;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141D24;
    --brand-ink: #D3E2EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F1F8FD',
        100: '#E3F2FC',
        200: '#C1E2FB',
        300: '#90CFFE',
        400: '#58B7FE',
        500: '#159afd',
        600: '#028CF3',
        700: '#0275CA',
        800: '#015DA2',
        900: '#064575',
        950: '#042B49',
        DEFAULT: '#159afd',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F1F8FD,
  '100': #E3F2FC,
  '200': #C1E2FB,
  '300': #90CFFE,
  '400': #58B7FE,
  '500': #159afd,
  '600': #028CF3,
  '700': #0275CA,
  '800': #015DA2,
  '900': #064575,
  '950': #042B49,
);
$brand-base: #159afd;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F1F8FD", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E3F2FC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C1E2FB", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#90CFFE", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#58B7FE", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#159afd", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#028CF3", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#0275CA", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#015DA2", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#064575", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#042B49", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#000000", "$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#000000 on #159afd · 7.07:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.97:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.07:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #159afd as text scores 2.97:1 on white and 7.07:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #01497E at 3.14:1.

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
#0277CE · 4.63:1
AA on white−13% L
#0277CE
The quick fox
#015A9B · 7.15:1
AAA on white−23% L
#015A9B
The quick fox
#159afd · 7.07:1
AA on blackalready passes
#159afd
The quick fox
#159afd · 7.07:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#159afd

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #1098FD 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
#159afd on white: 2.97:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#159afd on black: 7.07:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #159afd as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #159afd.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.97:1AaAa
Slate 502.84:1AaAa
Slate 1002.71:1AaAa
Slate 2002.41:1AaAa
Slate 3002.00:1AaAa
Slate 4001.16:1AaAa
Slate 5001.60:1AaAa
Slate 6002.55:1AaAa
Slate 7003.49:1AaAa
Slate 8004.93:1AaAa
Slate 9006.01:1AaAa
Black7.07:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #69A0FF
deuteranopia · #438DFB
tritanopia · #00B2BF

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. #159afd is pinned to step 500; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F1F8FD
#E3F2FC
#C1E2FB
#90CFFE
#58B7FE
#159afd
#028CF3
#0275CA
#015DA2
#064575
#042B49
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F1F8FDDarkest = 950 · #042B49Text 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 0.045 248.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.071 248.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.107 248.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.139 248.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.164 248.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.179 248.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.179 248.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.168 248.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.150 248.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.125 248.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.098 248.8);
}

Colors that work with #159afd

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#F4F8FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0D9ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B799B
Captions on the surface
Accent#FF3D13
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#01497E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E6F4FF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141D24
Dark-mode background
Hover#0288EC
One step down in lightness
Pressed#0274C9
Two steps down
Disabled#B3C3CF
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#27A3FF
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 #159afd

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
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
Not as text
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #01497E
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #1098FD

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 mid lightness keeps it versatile in both themes.

Worth knowing

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

Reads as
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight46/100
  • 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#FD7815
Analogous left#15FDEC
Analogous right#1526FD
Split-complement 1#FD1526
Split-complement 2#FDEC15
Triadic 1#FD159A
Triadic 2#9AFD15
Tetradic#EC15FD
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°206°

#159afd sits at 206°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red8.2%
Green60.4%
Blue99.2%
R · 0–255
21
0x15
G · 0–255
154
0x9a
B · 0–255
253
0xfd

CMYK percentages

Cyan91.7%
Magenta39.1%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)0.8%

Total ink coverage is 132%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#159afd text on a black background

contrast 7.07:1

Card sample

#159afd text on a white background

contrast 2.97:1

Card sample

#159afd on grey

2.71:1

#159afd on its own surface

2.78:1

#159afd on its dark surface

5.75:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #159afd;
Background color
Panel with #159afd background
background-color: #159afd;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #159afd;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(21, 154, 253, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(21, 154, 253, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #159afd;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #159afd, #2B15FD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #159afd, #6515FD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #159afd;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #159afd;
caret-color: #159afd;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #159afd;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E6F4FF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #159afd;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#159afd 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #159afd 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, 154, 253, 0.5)
rgb(21 154 253 / 50%)
#159afd80
hsl(206 98% 54% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #159afd 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#159afd1a#E8F5FF
20%#159afd33#D0EBFF
40%#159afd66#A1D7FE
60%#159afd99#73C2FE
80%#159afdcc#44AEFD

Gradients from #159afd

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, #52B4FE, #159afd 45%, #01497E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #159afd, #2C02F1);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #159afd, #FD7815);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #70C1FE 0%, #159afd 45%, #01497E 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F8FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #47FDE1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #3533FD 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #01497E 0%, transparent 65%), #159afd;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #159afd

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.

#159afd 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

Holds up across typical panel gamma. Still worth checking on an uncalibrated laptop, where mid-tones shift most.

In dark mode

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 7.07:1.

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.

#159afd, answered

What color is #159afd?

#159afd is a balanced electric blue, closest to Dodger Blue (ΔE2000 3.8). It sits at 206° on the hue wheel with 98% saturation and 54% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #159afd?

rgb(21, 154, 253) — 21 red, 154 green and 253 blue out of 255, or 8.2% / 60.4% / 99.2% by channel.

What is #159afd in HSL and HSV?

hsl(206, 98%, 54%) and hsv(206, 92%, 99%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #159afd a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3036 and perceived brightness is 57%, so black text on it reaches 7.07:1.

Should I use black or white text on #159afd?

Black. It scores 7.07:1 against #159afd, versus 2.97:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #159afd accessible on a white background?

#159afd on white scores 2.97:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #0277CE to reach 4.5:1, or #015A9B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #159afd?

#FD7815 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #FD1526 and #FDEC15, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #159afd?

For interface work: #F4F8FA as the surface, #C0D9ED for borders, #4B799B for secondary text, #FF3D13 as an accent and #01497E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #15FDEC and #1526FD stays calm, while #FD7815 is the loudest partner.

What is #159afd in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(92%, 39%, 0%, 1%). 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 #159afd warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 98 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #1545FD; nudged cooler, #0083F8.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #159afd?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 6.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #159afd as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #159afd in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#159afd] or text-[#159afd], 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 #159afd with 50% opacity?

rgba(21, 154, 253, 0.5), or #159afd80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #8ACDFE; over black, #0B4D7F.

Is #159afd a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #0099FF, ΔE2000 0.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #159afd 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 #159afd?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #52B4FE, #159afd 45%, #01497E). For more colour, a short hue run to #2C02F1 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #159afd in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #159afd at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.