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blue · cool

#246181

a dark, vivid blue · cool · closest name: Steel Blue

Token name suggestion: Shadow Cobalt

RGB
36, 97, 129
HSL
201°, 56%, 32%
CMYK
72, 25, 0, 49
Luminance
0.1051

#246181 is a dark vivid blue, 201° on the wheel and 96/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (6.77:1). As text it scores 6.77:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is slate.

hsl(201 56% 32%)rgb(36 97 129)Base step 800AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #246181 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#246181
Hue
201°
blue
Saturation
56%
vivid
Lightness
32%
dark
Brightness
51%
HSV value
Perceived
35%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1051
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
96/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
White
6.77:1
Closest name
Steel Blue
ΔE2000 13.7
Chroma
25.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.468
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
slate
500 · ΔE 12.8
Web-safe
#336699
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue201° of 360°
Saturation56%
Lightness32%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #246181.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool96% 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
Red4%
Green81%
Blue15%

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

Every format

HEX#246181
HEX (8-digit)#246181ff
RGBrgb(36, 97, 129)
RGBArgba(36, 97, 129, 1)
HSLhsl(201, 56%, 32%)
HSV / HSBhsv(201, 72%, 51%)
HWBhwb(201 14% 49%)
CMYKcmyk(72%, 25%, 0%, 49%)
LABlab(38.7 -8.4 -23.6)
LCHlch(38.7 25.0 250.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.468 0.081 235.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(8.96, 10.51, 22.32)
Decimal2384257
Display P3color(display-p3 0.141 0.380 0.506)
Web-safe#336699

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #246181;
background-color: #246181;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #246181;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#246181] bg-[#246181]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #246181;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.141, green: 0.380, blue: 0.506)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.141, green: 0.380, blue: 0.506, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#246181</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF246181)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF246181)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(129, 97, 36)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(36, 97, 129)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(36, 97, 129)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 36, 97, 129)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.1412f, 0.3804f, 0.5059f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{36,97,129}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #246181 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #246181 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#1C4B64, #D3E5EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #246181 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: #F4F8FB;
  --brand-100: #E9F2F6;
  --brand-200: #CDE3EE;
  --brand-300: #A7D1E7;
  --brand-400: #7BBADA;
  --brand-500: #50A3CE;
  --brand-600: #3590BF;
  --brand-700: #2C78A0;
  --brand-800: #246181;
  --brand-900: #1D475D;
  --brand-950: #122C3A;
  --brand: #246181;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F4F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C0DDED;
  --brand-hover: #1C4C65;
  --brand-pressed: #143749;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141F24;
    --brand-ink: #D3E5EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4F8FB',
        100: '#E9F2F6',
        200: '#CDE3EE',
        300: '#A7D1E7',
        400: '#7BBADA',
        500: '#50A3CE',
        600: '#3590BF',
        700: '#2C78A0',
        800: '#246181',
        900: '#1D475D',
        950: '#122C3A',
        DEFAULT: '#246181',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4F8FB,
  '100': #E9F2F6,
  '200': #CDE3EE,
  '300': #A7D1E7,
  '400': #7BBADA,
  '500': #50A3CE,
  '600': #3590BF,
  '700': #2C78A0,
  '800': #246181,
  '900': #1D475D,
  '950': #122C3A,
);
$brand-base: #246181;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4F8FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E9F2F6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CDE3EE", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#A7D1E7", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#7BBADA", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#50A3CE", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#3590BF", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#2C78A0", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#246181", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#1D475D", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#122C3A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #246181 · 6.77:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 6.77:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 3.10:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #246181 as text scores 6.77:1 on white and 3.10:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #EBF5F9 at 6.11:1.

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
#246181 · 6.77:1
AA on whitealready passes
#246181
The quick fox
#235E7D · 7.07:1
AAA on white−1% L
#235E7D
The quick fox
#2E7CA5 · 4.54:1
AA on black+9% L
#2E7CA5
The quick fox
#499FCC · 7.11:1
AAA on black+22% L
#499FCC

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #246181 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
#246181 on white: 6.77:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#246181 on black: 3.10:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #246181 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #246181.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White6.77:1AaAa
Slate 506.47:1AaAa
Slate 1006.18:1AaAa
Slate 2005.49:1AaAa
Slate 3004.56:1AaAa
Slate 4002.64:1AaAa
Slate 5001.42:1AaAa
Slate 6001.12:1AaAa
Slate 7001.53:1AaAa
Slate 8002.16:1AaAa
Slate 9002.64:1AaAa
Black3.10:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #526083
deuteranopia · #455780
tritanopia · #00696C

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. #246181 is pinned to step 800; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F4F8FB
#E9F2F6
#CDE3EE
#A7D1E7
#7BBADA
#50A3CE
#3590BF
#2C78A0
#246181
#1D475D
#122C3A
Base = 800Lightest = 50 · #F4F8FBDarkest = 950 · #122C3AText 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 0.020 235.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.032 235.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.048 235.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.063 235.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.074 235.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.081 235.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.081 235.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.076 235.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.068 235.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.056 235.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.044 235.2);
}

Colors that work with #246181

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#F4F8FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0DDED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B7F9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#852A21
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#1C4B64
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EBF5F9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141F24
Dark-mode background
Hover#1C4C65
One step down in lightness
Pressed#143749
Two steps down
Disabled#7193A4
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#1F709A
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 #246181

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
  • 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
  • Weight68/100
  • 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#814424
Analogous left#248173
Analogous right#243381
Split-complement 1#812433
Split-complement 2#817324
Triadic 1#812461
Triadic 2#618124
Tetradic#732481
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°201°

#246181 sits at 201°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red14.1%
Green38.0%
Blue50.6%
R · 0–255
36
0x24
G · 0–255
97
0x61
B · 0–255
129
0x81

CMYK percentages

Cyan72.1%
Magenta24.8%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)49.4%

Total ink coverage is 146%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#246181 text on a black background

contrast 3.10:1

Card sample

#246181 text on a white background

contrast 6.77:1

Card sample

#246181 on grey

6.18:1

#246181 on its own surface

6.34:1

#246181 on its dark surface

2.48:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #246181;
Background color
Panel with #246181 background
background-color: #246181;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #246181;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(36, 97, 129, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(36, 97, 129, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #246181;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #246181, #252481);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #246181, #3C2481);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #246181;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #246181;
caret-color: #246181;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #246181;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EBF5F9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #246181;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#246181 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #246181 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(36, 97, 129, 0.5)
rgb(36 97 129 / 50%)
#24618180
hsl(201 56% 32% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #246181 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#2461811a#E9EFF2
20%#24618133#D3DFE6
40%#24618166#A7C0CD
60%#24618199#7CA0B3
80%#246181cc#50819A

Gradients from #246181

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, #3185B1, #246181 45%, #1C4B64);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #246181, #241D69);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #246181, #814424);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #3997C8 0%, #246181 45%, #1C4B64 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%, #2FA98C 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #2B3399 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #1C4B64 0%, transparent 65%), #246181;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #246181

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.

#246181 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

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 3.10:1 — lift it to #2E7CA5 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.

#246181, answered

What color is #246181?

#246181 is a dark vivid blue, closest to Steel Blue (ΔE2000 13.7). It sits at 201° on the hue wheel with 56% saturation and 32% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #246181?

rgb(36, 97, 129) — 36 red, 97 green and 129 blue out of 255, or 14.1% / 38% / 50.6% by channel.

What is #246181 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(201, 56%, 32%) and hsv(201, 72%, 51%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #246181 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1051 and perceived brightness is 35%, so white text on it reaches 6.77:1.

Should I use black or white text on #246181?

White. It scores 6.77:1 against #246181, versus 3.10:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #246181 accessible on a white background?

#246181 on white scores 6.77:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #246181?

#814424 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #812433 and #817324, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #246181?

For interface work: #F4F8FA as the surface, #C0DDED for borders, #4B7F9B for secondary text, #852A21 as an accent and #1C4B64 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #248173 and #243381 stays calm, while #814424 is the loudest partner.

What is #246181 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(72%, 25%, 0%, 49%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #246181 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 96 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #24817F; nudged cooler, #225683.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #246181?

The slate family — its 500 step is #64748b, ΔE2000 12.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #246181 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #246181 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#246181] or text-[#246181], 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 #246181 with 50% opacity?

rgba(36, 97, 129, 0.5), or #24618180 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #92B0C0; over black, #123141.

Is #246181 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #336699, ΔE2000 6.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #246181 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 #246181?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #3185B1, #246181 45%, #1C4B64). For more colour, a short hue run to #241D69 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #246181 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #246181 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.