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blue · cool

#159eee

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

Token name suggestion: Signal Denim

RGB
21, 158, 238
HSL
202°, 87%, 51%
CMYK
91, 34, 0, 7
Luminance
0.3079

#159eee is a balanced electric blue, 202° on the wheel and 97/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.16:1). As text it scores 2.93:1 on white — use #0D79B9 instead. Nearest name is Dodger Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(202 87% 51%)rgb(21 158 238)Base step 600AAA inkCool

At a glance

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

Hex
#159eee
Hue
202°
blue
Saturation
87%
electric
Lightness
51%
balanced
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
57%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3079
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
97/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
7.16:1
Closest name
Dodger Blue
ΔE2000 6.6
Chroma
49.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.672
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 3.5
Web-safe
#0099FF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue202° of 360°
Saturation87%
Lightness51%
Saturation × lightness field

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

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool97% 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%
Green79%
Blue20%

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

Every format

HEX#159eee
HEX (8-digit)#159eeeff
RGBrgb(21, 158, 238)
RGBArgba(21, 158, 238, 1)
HSLhsl(202, 87%, 51%)
HSV / HSBhsv(202, 91%, 93%)
HWBhwb(202 8% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(91%, 34%, 0%, 7%)
LABlab(62.3 -5.1 -49.4)
LCHlch(62.3 49.6 264.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.672 0.158 243.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(27.96, 30.78, 85.34)
Decimal1416942
Display P3color(display-p3 0.082 0.620 0.933)
Web-safe#0099FF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #159eee;
background-color: #159eee;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #159eee;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#159eee] bg-[#159eee]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #159eee;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.082, green: 0.620, blue: 0.933)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.082, green: 0.620, blue: 0.933, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#159EEE</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF159EEE)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF159EEE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(238, 158, 21)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(21, 158, 238)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(21, 158, 238)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 21, 158, 238)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.0824f, 0.6196f, 0.9333f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{21,158,238}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #159eee 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #159eee 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#094E77, #D3E4EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #159eee 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: #F2F9FD;
  --brand-100: #E5F2FA;
  --brand-200: #C4E5F7;
  --brand-300: #96D4F7;
  --brand-400: #62BEF4;
  --brand-500: #2EA8F0;
  --brand-600: #159eee;
  --brand-700: #0E7DBE;
  --brand-800: #0B6498;
  --brand-900: #0C4A6E;
  --brand-950: #082E45;
  --brand: #159eee;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C0DCED;
  --brand-hover: #0F89D0;
  --brand-pressed: #0D73AF;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141E24;
    --brand-ink: #D3E4EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F2F9FD',
        100: '#E5F2FA',
        200: '#C4E5F7',
        300: '#96D4F7',
        400: '#62BEF4',
        500: '#2EA8F0',
        600: '#159eee',
        700: '#0E7DBE',
        800: '#0B6498',
        900: '#0C4A6E',
        950: '#082E45',
        DEFAULT: '#159eee',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F2F9FD,
  '100': #E5F2FA,
  '200': #C4E5F7,
  '300': #96D4F7,
  '400': #62BEF4,
  '500': #2EA8F0,
  '600': #159eee,
  '700': #0E7DBE,
  '800': #0B6498,
  '900': #0C4A6E,
  '950': #082E45,
);
$brand-base: #159eee;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F2F9FD", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E5F2FA", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C4E5F7", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#96D4F7", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#62BEF4", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#2EA8F0", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#159eee", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#0E7DBE", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#0B6498", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#0C4A6E", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#082E45", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #159eee · 7.16:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.93:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.16:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #159eee as text scores 2.93:1 on white and 7.16:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #094E77 at 3.02:1.

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
#0D79B9 · 4.72:1
AA on white−12% L
#0D79B9
The quick fox
#0A5D8E · 7.07:1
AAA on white−21% L
#0A5D8E
The quick fox
#159eee · 7.16:1
AA on blackalready passes
#159eee
The quick fox
#159eee · 7.16:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#159eee

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #119CED 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
#159eee on white: 2.93:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#159eee on black: 7.16:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.93:1AaAa
Slate 502.80:1AaAa
Slate 1002.68:1AaAa
Slate 2002.38:1AaAa
Slate 3001.98:1AaAa
Slate 4001.14:1AaAa
Slate 5001.62:1AaAa
Slate 6002.58:1AaAa
Slate 7003.53:1AaAa
Slate 8004.99:1AaAa
Slate 9006.08:1AaAa
Black7.16:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #77A1F1
deuteranopia · #5A8EED
tritanopia · #00B2BB

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. #159eee is pinned to step 600; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F2F9FD
#E5F2FA
#C4E5F7
#96D4F7
#62BEF4
#2EA8F0
#159eee
#0E7DBE
#0B6498
#0C4A6E
#082E45
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F2F9FDDarkest = 950 · #082E45Text step on white = 800
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 0.039 243.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.063 243.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.095 243.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.123 243.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.145 243.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.158 243.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.158 243.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.148 243.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.133 243.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.110 243.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.087 243.0);
}

Colors that work with #159eee

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#C0DCED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B7D9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#F32B10
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#094E77
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E7F5FD
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141E24
Dark-mode background
Hover#0F89D0
One step down in lightness
Pressed#0D73AF
Two steps down
Disabled#AABEC9
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#1DA9FB
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 #159eee

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 #094E77
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #119CED

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
  • Weight49/100
  • 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#EE6515
Analogous left#15EED1
Analogous right#1532EE
Split-complement 1#EE1532
Split-complement 2#EED115
Triadic 1#EE159E
Triadic 2#9EEE15
Tetradic#D115EE
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°202°

#159eee sits at 202°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red8.2%
Green62.0%
Blue93.3%
R · 0–255
21
0x15
G · 0–255
158
0x9e
B · 0–255
238
0xee

CMYK percentages

Cyan91.2%
Magenta33.6%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)6.7%

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

Color previews

#159eee text on a black background

contrast 7.16:1

Card sample

#159eee text on a white background

contrast 2.93:1

Card sample

#159eee on grey

2.68:1

#159eee on its own surface

2.75:1

#159eee on its dark surface

5.77:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(21, 158, 238, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(21, 158, 238, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #159eee;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #159eee, #1D15EE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #159eee, #5315EE);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #159eee;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #159eee;
caret-color: #159eee;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #159eee;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E7F5FD;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #159eee;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#159eee 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #159eee 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, 158, 238, 0.5)
rgb(21 158 238 / 50%)
#159eee80
hsl(202 87% 51% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #159eee 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#159eee1a#E8F5FD
20%#159eee33#D0ECFC
40%#159eee66#A1D8F8
60%#159eee99#73C5F5
80%#159eeecc#44B1F1

Gradients from #159eee

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, #4EB6F2, #159eee 45%, #094E77);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #159eee, #270FD5);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #159eee, #EE6515);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #6BC2F4 0%, #159eee 45%, #094E77 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%, #45F2CC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #323BF0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #094E77 0%, transparent 65%), #159eee;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #159eee

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.

#159eee 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 7.16:1.

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.

#159eee, answered

What color is #159eee?

#159eee is a balanced electric blue, closest to Dodger Blue (ΔE2000 6.6). It sits at 202° on the hue wheel with 87% saturation and 51% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #159eee?

rgb(21, 158, 238) — 21 red, 158 green and 238 blue out of 255, or 8.2% / 62% / 93.3% by channel.

What is #159eee in HSL and HSV?

hsl(202, 87%, 51%) and hsv(202, 91%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #159eee a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3079 and perceived brightness is 57%, so black text on it reaches 7.16:1.

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

Black. It scores 7.16:1 against #159eee, versus 2.93:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #159eee accessible on a white background?

#159eee on white scores 2.93:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #0D79B9 to reach 4.5:1, or #0A5D8E for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #159eee?

#EE6515 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #EE1532 and #EED115, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #159eee?

For interface work: #F4F8FA as the surface, #C0DCED for borders, #4B7D9B for secondary text, #F32B10 as an accent and #094E77 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #15EED1 and #1532EE stays calm, while #EE6515 is the loudest partner.

What is #159eee in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(91%, 34%, 0%, 7%). 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 #159eee warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 97 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #15EEEE; nudged cooler, #0D81DC.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #159eee?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 3.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #159eee as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #159eee in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(21, 158, 238, 0.5), or #159eee80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #8ACFF7; over black, #0B4F77.

Is #159eee a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #0099FF, ΔE2000 3.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #159eee 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 #159eee?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #4EB6F2, #159eee 45%, #094E77). For more colour, a short hue run to #270FD5 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #159eee in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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