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blue · cool

#25aefd

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

Token name suggestion: Studio Denim

RGB
37, 174, 253
HSL
202°, 98%, 57%
CMYK
85, 31, 0, 1
Luminance
0.3776

#25aefd is a balanced electric blue, 202° on the wheel and 97/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.55:1). As text it scores 2.46:1 on white — use #027AC0 instead. Nearest name is Deep Sky Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(202 98% 57%)rgb(37 174 253)Base step 500AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #25aefd is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#25aefd
Hue
202°
blue
Saturation
98%
electric
Lightness
57%
balanced
Brightness
99%
HSV value
Perceived
63%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3776
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
97/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
8.55:1
Closest name
Deep Sky Blue
ΔE2000 6.6
Chroma
49.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.718
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 3.6
Web-safe
#3399FF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue202° of 360°
Saturation98%
Lightness57%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #25aefd.

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%
Blue19%

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

Every format

HEX#25aefd
HEX (8-digit)#25aefdff
RGBrgb(37, 174, 253)
RGBArgba(37, 174, 253, 1)
HSLhsl(202, 98%, 57%)
HSV / HSBhsv(202, 85%, 99%)
HWBhwb(202 15% 1%)
CMYKcmyk(85%, 31%, 0%, 1%)
LABlab(67.8 -7.8 -48.8)
LCHlch(67.8 49.4 261.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.718 0.158 241.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(33.62, 37.75, 98.42)
Decimal2469629
Display P3color(display-p3 0.145 0.682 0.992)
Web-safe#3399FF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #25aefd;
background-color: #25aefd;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #25aefd;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#25aefd] bg-[#25aefd]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #25aefd;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.145, green: 0.682, blue: 0.992)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.145, green: 0.682, blue: 0.992, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#25AEFD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF25AEFD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF25AEFD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(253, 174, 37)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(37, 174, 253)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(37, 174, 253)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 37, 174, 253)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.1451f, 0.6824f, 0.9922f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{37,174,253}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #25aefd 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #25aefd 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#01517E, #D3E4EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #25aefd 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: #58C1FD;
  --brand-500: #25aefd;
  --brand-600: #029BF3;
  --brand-700: #0281CA;
  --brand-800: #0167A2;
  --brand-900: #064C74;
  --brand-950: #043049;
  --brand: #25aefd;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C0DCED;
  --brand-hover: #02A1FC;
  --brand-pressed: #028AD9;
}
@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: '#58C1FD',
        500: '#25aefd',
        600: '#029BF3',
        700: '#0281CA',
        800: '#0167A2',
        900: '#064C74',
        950: '#043049',
        DEFAULT: '#25aefd',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F1F9FD,
  '100': #E3F3FC,
  '200': #C1E6FB,
  '300': #90D6FE,
  '400': #58C1FD,
  '500': #25aefd,
  '600': #029BF3,
  '700': #0281CA,
  '800': #0167A2,
  '900': #064C74,
  '950': #043049,
);
$brand-base: #25aefd;
$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": "#58C1FD", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#25aefd", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#029BF3", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#0281CA", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#0167A2", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#064C74", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$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 #25aefd · 8.55:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.46:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.55:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #25aefd as text scores 2.46:1 on white and 8.55:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #01517E at 3.45:1.

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
#027AC0 · 4.62:1
AA on white−19% L
#027AC0
The quick fox
#015D92 · 7.04:1
AAA on white−28% L
#015D92
The quick fox
#25aefd · 8.55:1
AA on blackalready passes
#25aefd
The quick fox
#25aefd · 8.55:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#25aefd

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #029BF2 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
#25aefd on white: 2.46:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#25aefd on black: 8.55:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #25aefd as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #25aefd.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.46:1AaAa
Slate 502.35:1AaAa
Slate 1002.24:1AaAa
Slate 2001.99:1AaAa
Slate 3001.65:1AaAa
Slate 4001.04:1AaAa
Slate 5001.94:1AaAa
Slate 6003.09:1AaAa
Slate 7004.22:1AaAa
Slate 8005.96:1AaAa
Slate 9007.27:1AaAa
Black8.55:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #88B0FF
deuteranopia · #6B9DFC
tritanopia · #00C2CA

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. #25aefd 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
#58C1FD
#25aefd
#029BF3
#0281CA
#0167A2
#064C74
#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 0.040 241.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.063 241.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.095 241.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.123 241.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.146 241.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.158 241.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.158 241.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.149 241.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.133 241.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.111 241.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.087 241.2);
}

Colors that work with #25aefd

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#FF3C23
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#01517E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E6F6FF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141E24
Dark-mode background
Hover#02A1FC
One step down in lightness
Pressed#028AD9
Two steps down
Disabled#BDCCD5
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#38B6FF
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 #25aefd

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 #029BF2

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
  • Weight43/100
  • 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#FD7425
Analogous left#25FDE0
Analogous right#2542FD
Split-complement 1#FD2542
Split-complement 2#FDE025
Triadic 1#FD25AE
Triadic 2#AEFD25
Tetradic#E025FD
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°202°

#25aefd sits at 202°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red14.5%
Green68.2%
Blue99.2%
R · 0–255
37
0x25
G · 0–255
174
0xae
B · 0–255
253
0xfd

CMYK percentages

Cyan85.4%
Magenta31.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)0.8%

Total ink coverage is 117%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#25aefd text on a black background

contrast 8.55:1

Card sample

#25aefd text on a white background

contrast 2.46:1

Card sample

#25aefd on grey

2.24:1

#25aefd on its own surface

2.30:1

#25aefd on its dark surface

6.89:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #25aefd;
Background color
Panel with #25aefd background
background-color: #25aefd;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #25aefd;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(37, 174, 253, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(37, 174, 253, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #25aefd;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #25aefd, #2C25FD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #25aefd, #6225FD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #25aefd;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #25aefd;
caret-color: #25aefd;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #25aefd;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E6F6FF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #25aefd;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#25aefd 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #25aefd 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(37, 174, 253, 0.5)
rgb(37 174 253 / 50%)
#25aefd80
hsl(202 98% 57% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #25aefd 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#25aefd1a#E9F7FF
20%#25aefd33#D3EFFF
40%#25aefd66#A8DFFE
60%#25aefd99#7CCEFE
80%#25aefdcc#51BEFD

Gradients from #25aefd

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, #62C5FE, #25aefd 45%, #01517E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #25aefd, #2307FD);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #25aefd, #FD7425);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #80D0FE 0%, #25aefd 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%, #58FDD9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #434DFD 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #01517E 0%, transparent 65%), #25aefd;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #25aefd

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.

#25aefd 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 8.55:1.

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.

#25aefd, answered

What color is #25aefd?

#25aefd is a balanced electric blue, closest to Deep Sky Blue (ΔE2000 6.6). It sits at 202° on the hue wheel with 98% saturation and 57% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #25aefd?

rgb(37, 174, 253) — 37 red, 174 green and 253 blue out of 255, or 14.5% / 68.2% / 99.2% by channel.

What is #25aefd in HSL and HSV?

hsl(202, 98%, 57%) and hsv(202, 85%, 99%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #25aefd a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3776 and perceived brightness is 63%, so black text on it reaches 8.55:1.

Should I use black or white text on #25aefd?

Black. It scores 8.55:1 against #25aefd, versus 2.46:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #25aefd accessible on a white background?

#25aefd on white scores 2.46:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #027AC0 to reach 4.5:1, or #015D92 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #25aefd?

#FD7425 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #FD2542 and #FDE025, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #25aefd?

For interface work: #F4F8FA as the surface, #C0DCED for borders, #4B7E9B for secondary text, #FF3C23 as an accent and #01517E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #25FDE0 and #2542FD stays calm, while #FD7425 is the loudest partner.

What is #25aefd in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(85%, 31%, 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 #25aefd 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 #25FDFD; nudged cooler, #0A92FF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #25aefd?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 3.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #25aefd as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #25aefd in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#25aefd] or text-[#25aefd], 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 #25aefd with 50% opacity?

rgba(37, 174, 253, 0.5), or #25aefd80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #92D7FE; over black, #13577F.

Is #25aefd a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #3399FF, ΔE2000 8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #25aefd 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 #25aefd?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #62C5FE, #25aefd 45%, #01517E). For more colour, a short hue run to #2307FD keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #25aefd in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #25aefd at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.