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#261ade

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

RGB
38, 26, 222
HSL
244°, 79%, 49%
CMYK
83, 88, 0, 13
Luminance
0.0642

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #261ade is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#261ade
Hue
244°
blue
Saturation
79%
electric
Lightness
49%
balanced
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
31%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.0642
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
81/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Electric
Best ink
White
9.19:1
Closest name
Blue
ΔE2000 3.4
Where it sits
Hue244° of 360°
Saturation79%
Lightness49%
Temperature
Warm ← → Cool81% cool

Reads cool. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Every format

HEX#261ade
RGBrgb(38, 26, 222)
HSLhsl(244, 79%, 49%)
CMYKcmyk(83%, 88%, 0%, 13%)
LABlab(30.5 66.0 -92.2)
LCHlch(30.5 113.4 305.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.430 0.267 269.2)
Decimal2497246
Display P3color(display-p3 0.149 0.102 0.871)

Copy-ready code

/* CSS */
color: #261ade;
background-color: #261ade;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#261ade] bg-[#261ade]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #261ade;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.149, green: 0.102, blue: 0.871)
/* Android */
Color.parseColor("#261ade")
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF261ADE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(222, 26, 38)

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 #261ade · 9.19:1
Use #ffffffAAA at every size.
Aa
White text · 9.19:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Aa
Black text · 2.28:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #261ade as text scores 9.19:1 on white and 2.28:1 on black.

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

Aa
#261ade on white: 9.19:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#261ade on black: 2.28:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
true color
protanopia · #0051E3
deuteranopia · #003DDB
tritanopia · #006084

Color scale — 50 to 950

A Tailwind-shaped ramp built around this exact hex. #261ade 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.

#F3F3FC
#E7E6F9
#CAC7F5
#A09BF3
#7168ED
#4136E7
#261ade
#1F15B7
#191192
#16116A
#0E0A42
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F3F3FCDarkest = 950 · #0E0A42
:root {
  --brand-50: #F3F3FC;
  --brand-100: #E7E6F9;
  --brand-200: #CAC7F5;
  --brand-300: #A09BF3;
  --brand-400: #7168ED;
  --brand-500: #4136E7;
  --brand-600: #261ade;
  --brand-700: #1F15B7;
  --brand-800: #191192;
  --brand-900: #16116A;
  --brand-950: #0E0A42;
  --brand: #261ade;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
}

Colors that work with #261ade

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#F5F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#C3C0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#504B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#BB9B11
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#140D72
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E9E8FC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#151424
Dark-mode background
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

How to use #261ade

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
Use with care
  • Text on black or near-black surfaces
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate

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#D2DE1A
Analogous left#1A70DE
Analogous right#881ADE
Split-complement 1#DE881A
Split-complement 2#70DE1A
Triadic 1#DE261A
Triadic 2#1ADE26
Tetradic#DE1A70

RGB percentages

Red14.9%
Green10.2%
Blue87.1%

CMYK percentages

Cyan82.9%
Magenta88.3%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)12.9%

Color previews

#261ade text on a black background

contrast 2.28:1

Card sample

#261ade text on a white background

contrast 9.19:1

Card sample

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #261ade;
Background color
Panel with #261ade background
background-color: #261ade;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #261ade;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(38, 26, 222, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(38, 26, 222, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #261ade;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #261ade, #A91ADE);

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #261ade

Shades — darker

Tints — lighter

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.

#261ade 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.

#261ade, answered

What color is #261ade?

#261ade is a balanced electric blue, closest to Blue (ΔE2000 3.4). It sits at 244° on the hue wheel with 79% saturation and 49% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #261ade?

rgb(38, 26, 222) — 38 red, 26 green and 222 blue out of 255, or 14.9% / 10.2% / 87.1% by channel.

Is #261ade a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.0642 and perceived brightness is 31%, so white text on it reaches 9.19:1.

Should I use black or white text on #261ade?

White. It scores 9.19:1 against #261ade, versus 2.28:1 for black — AAA at any size.

What is the complementary color of #261ade?

#D2DE1A sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DE881A and #70DE1A, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #261ade?

For interface work: #F5F4FA as the surface, #C3C0ED for borders, #504B9B for secondary text, #BB9B11 as an accent and #140D72 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #1A70DE and #881ADE stays calm, while #D2DE1A is the loudest partner.

What is #261ade in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(83%, 88%, 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 #261ade warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 81 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #6E1ADE; nudged cooler, #1842E0.

Work with #261ade in the Color Lab