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blue · cool

#185bdf

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

Token name suggestion: Atlas Sapphire

RGB
24, 91, 223
HSL
220°, 81%, 48%
CMYK
89, 59, 0, 13
Luminance
0.1300

#185bdf is a balanced electric blue, 220° on the wheel and 95/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (5.83:1). As text it scores 5.83:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Royal Blue, nearest Tailwind family is indigo.

hsl(220 81% 48%)rgb(24 91 223)Base step 600AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #185bdf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#185bdf
Hue
220°
blue
Saturation
81%
electric
Lightness
48%
balanced
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
41%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1300
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
95/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Electric
Best ink
White
5.83:1
Closest name
Royal Blue
ΔE2000 5.1
Chroma
78.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.518
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
indigo
500 · ΔE 8.8
Web-safe
#0066CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue220° of 360°
Saturation81%
Lightness48%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #185bdf.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool95% 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%
Green58%
Blue41%

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

Every format

HEX#185bdf
HEX (8-digit)#185bdfff
RGBrgb(24, 91, 223)
RGBArgba(24, 91, 223, 1)
HSLhsl(220, 81%, 48%)
HSV / HSBhsv(220, 89%, 87%)
HWBhwb(220 9% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(89%, 59%, 0%, 13%)
LABlab(42.8 30.8 -72.4)
LCHlch(42.8 78.7 293.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.518 0.212 262.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(17.43, 13.00, 71.39)
Decimal1596383
Display P3color(display-p3 0.094 0.357 0.875)
Web-safe#0066CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #185bdf;
background-color: #185bdf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #185bdf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#185bdf] bg-[#185bdf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #185bdf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.094, green: 0.357, blue: 0.875)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.094, green: 0.357, blue: 0.875, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#185BDF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF185BDF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF185BDF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(223, 91, 24)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(24, 91, 223)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(24, 91, 223)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 24, 91, 223)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.0941f, 0.3569f, 0.8745f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{24,91,223}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #185bdf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #185bdf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#0C2F73, #D3DCEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #185bdf 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: #F3F6FC;
  --brand-100: #E6EDF9;
  --brand-200: #C6D6F5;
  --brand-300: #9AB8F4;
  --brand-400: #6795EF;
  --brand-500: #3471E9;
  --brand-600: #185bdf;
  --brand-700: #144BB8;
  --brand-800: #103C93;
  --brand-900: #102E6B;
  --brand-950: #0A1D43;
  --brand: #185bdf;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F4F6FA;
  --brand-border: #C0CFED;
  --brand-hover: #144EBF;
  --brand-pressed: #11419E;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141924;
    --brand-ink: #D3DCEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3F6FC',
        100: '#E6EDF9',
        200: '#C6D6F5',
        300: '#9AB8F4',
        400: '#6795EF',
        500: '#3471E9',
        600: '#185bdf',
        700: '#144BB8',
        800: '#103C93',
        900: '#102E6B',
        950: '#0A1D43',
        DEFAULT: '#185bdf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3F6FC,
  '100': #E6EDF9,
  '200': #C6D6F5,
  '300': #9AB8F4,
  '400': #6795EF,
  '500': #3471E9,
  '600': #185bdf,
  '700': #144BB8,
  '800': #103C93,
  '900': #102E6B,
  '950': #0A1D43,
);
$brand-base: #185bdf;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3F6FC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E6EDF9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C6D6F5", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#9AB8F4", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#6795EF", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#3471E9", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#185bdf", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#144BB8", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#103C93", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#102E6B", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0A1D43", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #185bdf · 5.83:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 5.83:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 3.60:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #185bdf as text scores 5.83:1 on white and 3.60:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #E8EFFD at 5.05:1.

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
#185bdf · 5.83:1
AA on whitealready passes
#185bdf
The quick fox
#1550C3 · 7.08:1
AAA on white−6% L
#1550C3
The quick fox
#326FE9 · 4.59:1
AA on black+7% L
#326FE9
The quick fox
#6996EF · 7.21:1
AAA on black+19% L
#6996EF

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #185BDF 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
#185bdf on white: 5.83:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#185bdf on black: 3.60:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #185bdf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #185bdf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White5.83:1AaAa
Slate 505.57:1AaAa
Slate 1005.32:1AaAa
Slate 2004.73:1AaAa
Slate 3003.93:1AaAa
Slate 4002.27:1AaAa
Slate 5001.23:1AaAa
Slate 6001.30:1AaAa
Slate 7001.78:1AaAa
Slate 8002.51:1AaAa
Slate 9003.06:1AaAa
Black3.60:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #006EE3
deuteranopia · #005CDC
tritanopia · #007D94

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. #185bdf 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.

#F3F6FC
#E6EDF9
#C6D6F5
#9AB8F4
#6795EF
#3471E9
#185bdf
#144BB8
#103C93
#102E6B
#0A1D43
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F3F6FCDarkest = 950 · #0A1D43Text step on white = 600
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 0.053 262.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.085 262.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.127 262.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.165 262.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.195 262.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.212 262.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.212 262.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.199 262.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.178 262.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.148 262.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.116 262.0);
}

Colors that work with #185bdf

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#F4F6FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0CFED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B669B
Captions on the surface
Accent#E46913
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#0C2F73
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E8EFFD
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141924
Dark-mode background
Hover#144EBF
One step down in lightness
Pressed#11419E
Two steps down
Disabled#A3AEC4
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#1862F4
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 #185bdf

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
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • 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.

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
  • Weight52/100
  • 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#DF9C18
Analogous left#18BEDF
Analogous right#3818DF
Split-complement 1#DF3818
Split-complement 2#BEDF18
Triadic 1#DF185B
Triadic 2#5BDF18
Tetradic#DF18BE
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°220°

#185bdf sits at 220°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red9.4%
Green35.7%
Blue87.5%
R · 0–255
24
0x18
G · 0–255
91
0x5b
B · 0–255
223
0xdf

CMYK percentages

Cyan89.2%
Magenta59.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)12.5%

Total ink coverage is 161%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#185bdf text on a black background

contrast 3.60:1

Card sample

#185bdf text on a white background

contrast 5.83:1

Card sample

#185bdf on grey

5.32:1

#185bdf on its own surface

5.39:1

#185bdf on its dark surface

3.02:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #185bdf;
Background color
Panel with #185bdf background
background-color: #185bdf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #185bdf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(24, 91, 223, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(24, 91, 223, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #185bdf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #185bdf, #5A18DF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #185bdf, #8B18DF);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #185bdf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #185bdf;
caret-color: #185bdf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #185bdf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E8EFFD;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #185bdf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#185bdf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #185bdf 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(24, 91, 223, 0.5)
rgb(24 91 223 / 50%)
#185bdf80
hsl(220 81% 48% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #185bdf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#185bdf1a#E8EFFC
20%#185bdf33#D1DEF9
40%#185bdf66#A3BDF2
60%#185bdf99#749DEC
80%#185bdfcc#467CE5

Gradients from #185bdf

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, #497FEB, #185bdf 45%, #0C2F73);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #185bdf, #5D15C3);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #185bdf, #DF9C18);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #6493EE 0%, #185bdf 45%, #0C2F73 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F6FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #3FDDEA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #5B2DE8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #0C2F73 0%, transparent 65%), #185bdf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #185bdf

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.

#185bdf 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

Too dim on dark surfaces at 3.60:1 — lift it to #326FE9 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.

#185bdf, answered

What color is #185bdf?

#185bdf is a balanced electric blue, closest to Royal Blue (ΔE2000 5.1). It sits at 220° on the hue wheel with 81% saturation and 48% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #185bdf?

rgb(24, 91, 223) — 24 red, 91 green and 223 blue out of 255, or 9.4% / 35.7% / 87.5% by channel.

What is #185bdf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(220, 81%, 48%) and hsv(220, 89%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #185bdf a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1300 and perceived brightness is 41%, so white text on it reaches 5.83:1.

Should I use black or white text on #185bdf?

White. It scores 5.83:1 against #185bdf, versus 3.60:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #185bdf accessible on a white background?

#185bdf on white scores 5.83:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #185bdf?

#DF9C18 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DF3818 and #BEDF18, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #185bdf?

For interface work: #F4F6FA as the surface, #C0CFED for borders, #4B669B for secondary text, #E46913 as an accent and #0C2F73 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #18BEDF and #3818DF stays calm, while #DF9C18 is the loudest partner.

What is #185bdf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(89%, 59%, 0%, 13%). 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 #185bdf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 95 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #1E18DF; nudged cooler, #135DCA.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #185bdf?

The indigo family — its 500 step is #6366f1, ΔE2000 8.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #185bdf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #185bdf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#185bdf] or text-[#185bdf], 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 #185bdf with 50% opacity?

rgba(24, 91, 223, 0.5), or #185bdf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #8CADEF; over black, #0C2E70.

Is #185bdf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #0066CC, ΔE2000 5.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #185bdf 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 #185bdf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #497FEB, #185bdf 45%, #0C2F73). For more colour, a short hue run to #5D15C3 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #185bdf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #185bdf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.