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blue · cool

#17aafd

a balanced, electric blue · cool · closest name: Deep Sky Blue

Token name suggestion: Studio Denim

RGB
23, 170, 253
HSL
202°, 98%, 54%
CMYK
91, 33, 0, 1
Luminance
0.3602

#17aafd is a balanced electric blue, 202° on the wheel and 97/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.20:1). As text it scores 2.56:1 on white — use #027CC1 instead. Nearest name is Deep Sky Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(202 98% 54%)rgb(23 170 253)Base step 500AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #17aafd is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#17aafd
Hue
202°
blue
Saturation
98%
electric
Lightness
54%
balanced
Brightness
99%
HSV value
Perceived
61%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3602
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
97/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
8.20:1
Closest name
Deep Sky Blue
ΔE2000 7.8
Chroma
51.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.708
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 3.3
Web-safe
#0099FF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue202° 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 #17aafd.

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%
Green80%
Blue20%

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

Every format

HEX#17aafd
HEX (8-digit)#17aafdff
RGBrgb(23, 170, 253)
RGBArgba(23, 170, 253, 1)
HSLhsl(202, 98%, 54%)
HSV / HSBhsv(202, 91%, 99%)
HWBhwb(202 9% 1%)
CMYKcmyk(91%, 33%, 0%, 1%)
LABlab(66.5 -6.3 -50.9)
LCHlch(66.5 51.3 263.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.708 0.164 242.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(32.45, 36.02, 98.15)
Decimal1551101
Display P3color(display-p3 0.090 0.667 0.992)
Web-safe#0099FF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #17aafd;
background-color: #17aafd;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #17aafd;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#17aafd] bg-[#17aafd]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #17aafd;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.090, green: 0.667, blue: 0.992)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.090, green: 0.667, blue: 0.992, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#17AAFD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF17AAFD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF17AAFD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(253, 170, 23)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(23, 170, 253)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(23, 170, 253)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 23, 170, 253)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.0902f, 0.6667f, 0.9922f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{23,170,253}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #17aafd 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #17aafd 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#01517E, #D3E4EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #17aafd 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: #F1F9FD;
  --brand-100: #E3F3FC;
  --brand-200: #C1E6FB;
  --brand-300: #90D6FE;
  --brand-400: #58C2FE;
  --brand-500: #17aafd;
  --brand-600: #029CF3;
  --brand-700: #0282CA;
  --brand-800: #0168A2;
  --brand-900: #064D75;
  --brand-950: #043049;
  --brand: #17aafd;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C0DCED;
  --brand-hover: #0299EE;
  --brand-pressed: #0282CB;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141E24;
    --brand-ink: #D3E4EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F1F9FD',
        100: '#E3F3FC',
        200: '#C1E6FB',
        300: '#90D6FE',
        400: '#58C2FE',
        500: '#17aafd',
        600: '#029CF3',
        700: '#0282CA',
        800: '#0168A2',
        900: '#064D75',
        950: '#043049',
        DEFAULT: '#17aafd',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F1F9FD,
  '100': #E3F3FC,
  '200': #C1E6FB,
  '300': #90D6FE,
  '400': #58C2FE,
  '500': #17aafd,
  '600': #029CF3,
  '700': #0282CA,
  '800': #0168A2,
  '900': #064D75,
  '950': #043049,
);
$brand-base: #17aafd;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F1F9FD", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E3F3FC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C1E6FB", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#90D6FE", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#58C2FE", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#17aafd", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#029CF3", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#0282CA", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#0168A2", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#064D75", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#043049", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #17aafd · 8.20:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.56:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.20:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #17aafd as text scores 2.56:1 on white and 8.20:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #01517E at 3.31:1.

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
#027CC1 · 4.51:1
AA on white−16% L
#027CC1
The quick fox
#015B8E · 7.27:1
AAA on white−26% L
#015B8E
The quick fox
#17aafd · 8.20:1
AA on blackalready passes
#17aafd
The quick fox
#17aafd · 8.20:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#17aafd

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #0299EE 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
#17aafd on white: 2.56:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#17aafd on black: 8.20:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #17aafd as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #17aafd.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.56:1AaAa
Slate 502.45:1AaAa
Slate 1002.34:1AaAa
Slate 2002.08:1AaAa
Slate 3001.72:1AaAa
Slate 4001.00:1AaAa
Slate 5001.86:1AaAa
Slate 6002.96:1AaAa
Slate 7004.05:1AaAa
Slate 8005.72:1AaAa
Slate 9006.97:1AaAa
Black8.20:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #82ACFF
deuteranopia · #6399FB
tritanopia · #00BFC8

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. #17aafd 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.

#F1F9FD
#E3F3FC
#C1E6FB
#90D6FE
#58C2FE
#17aafd
#029CF3
#0282CA
#0168A2
#064D75
#043049
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F1F9FDDarkest = 950 · #043049Text 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 0.041 242.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.066 242.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.098 242.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.128 242.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.151 242.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.164 242.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.164 242.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.154 242.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.138 242.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.115 242.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.090 242.2);
}

Colors that work with #17aafd

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#4B7E9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#FF2F15
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#01517E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E6F6FF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141E24
Dark-mode background
Hover#0299EE
One step down in lightness
Pressed#0282CB
Two steps down
Disabled#B5C6CF
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#29B2FF
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 #17aafd

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 #01517E
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #0299EE

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#FD6A17
Analogous left#17FDDD
Analogous right#1737FD
Split-complement 1#FD1737
Split-complement 2#FDDD17
Triadic 1#FD17AA
Triadic 2#AAFD17
Tetradic#DD17FD
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°202°

#17aafd sits at 202°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red9.0%
Green66.7%
Blue99.2%
R · 0–255
23
0x17
G · 0–255
170
0xaa
B · 0–255
253
0xfd

CMYK percentages

Cyan90.9%
Magenta32.8%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)0.8%

Total ink coverage is 125%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#17aafd text on a black background

contrast 8.20:1

Card sample

#17aafd text on a white background

contrast 2.56:1

Card sample

#17aafd on grey

2.34:1

#17aafd on its own surface

2.40:1

#17aafd on its dark surface

6.61:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #17aafd;
Background color
Panel with #17aafd background
background-color: #17aafd;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #17aafd;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(23, 170, 253, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(23, 170, 253, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #17aafd;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #17aafd, #1D17FD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #17aafd, #5717FD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #17aafd;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #17aafd;
caret-color: #17aafd;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #17aafd;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E6F6FF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #17aafd;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#17aafd 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #17aafd 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(23, 170, 253, 0.5)
rgb(23 170 253 / 50%)
#17aafd80
hsl(202 98% 54% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #17aafd 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#17aafd1a#E8F7FF
20%#17aafd33#D1EEFF
40%#17aafd66#A2DDFE
60%#17aafd99#74CCFE
80%#17aafdcc#45BBFD

Gradients from #17aafd

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, #54C0FE, #17aafd 45%, #01517E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #17aafd, #1D02F3);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #17aafd, #FD6A17);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #72CBFE 0%, #17aafd 45%, #01517E 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%, #49FDD6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #3540FD 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #01517E 0%, transparent 65%), #17aafd;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #17aafd

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.

#17aafd 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 8.20:1.

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.

#17aafd, answered

What color is #17aafd?

#17aafd is a balanced electric blue, closest to Deep Sky Blue (ΔE2000 7.8). It sits at 202° on the hue wheel with 98% saturation and 54% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #17aafd?

rgb(23, 170, 253) — 23 red, 170 green and 253 blue out of 255, or 9% / 66.7% / 99.2% by channel.

What is #17aafd in HSL and HSV?

hsl(202, 98%, 54%) and hsv(202, 91%, 99%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #17aafd a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3602 and perceived brightness is 61%, so black text on it reaches 8.20:1.

Should I use black or white text on #17aafd?

Black. It scores 8.20:1 against #17aafd, versus 2.56:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #17aafd accessible on a white background?

#17aafd on white scores 2.56:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #027CC1 to reach 4.5:1, or #015B8E for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #17aafd?

#FD6A17 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #FD1737 and #FDDD17, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #17aafd?

For interface work: #F4F8FA as the surface, #C0DCED for borders, #4B7E9B for secondary text, #FF2F15 as an accent and #01517E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #17FDDD and #1737FD stays calm, while #FD6A17 is the loudest partner.

What is #17aafd in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(91%, 33%, 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 #17aafd 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 #17FDFC; nudged cooler, #008DFA.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #17aafd?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 3.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #17aafd as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #17aafd in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#17aafd] or text-[#17aafd], 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 #17aafd with 50% opacity?

rgba(23, 170, 253, 0.5), or #17aafd80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #8BD5FE; over black, #0C557F.

Is #17aafd a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #0099FF, ΔE2000 5.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #17aafd 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 #17aafd?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #54C0FE, #17aafd 45%, #01517E). For more colour, a short hue run to #1D02F3 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #17aafd in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #17aafd at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.