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blue · cool

#262bbc

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

Token name suggestion: Dusk Sapphire

RGB
38, 43, 188
HSL
238°, 66%, 44%
CMYK
80, 77, 0, 26
Luminance
0.0577

#262bbc is a dark vivid blue, 238° on the wheel and 84/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (9.75:1). As text it scores 9.75:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Medium Blue, nearest Tailwind family is indigo.

hsl(238 66% 44%)rgb(38 43 188)Base step 600AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #262bbc is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#262bbc
Hue
238°
blue
Saturation
66%
vivid
Lightness
44%
dark
Brightness
74%
HSV value
Perceived
29%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.0577
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
84/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
White
9.75:1
Closest name
Medium Blue
ΔE2000 5.5
Chroma
89.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.407
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
indigo
500 · ΔE 18.9
Web-safe
#3333CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue238° of 360°
Saturation66%
Lightness44%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #262bbc.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool84% 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
Red7%
Green30%
Blue63%

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

Every format

HEX#262bbc
HEX (8-digit)#262bbcff
RGBrgb(38, 43, 188)
RGBArgba(38, 43, 188, 1)
HSLhsl(238, 66%, 44%)
HSV / HSBhsv(238, 80%, 74%)
HWBhwb(238 15% 26%)
CMYKcmyk(80%, 77%, 0%, 26%)
LABlab(28.8 48.5 -75.0)
LCHlch(28.8 89.4 302.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.407 0.217 270.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(10.74, 5.77, 48.11)
Decimal2501564
Display P3color(display-p3 0.149 0.169 0.737)
Web-safe#3333CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #262bbc;
background-color: #262bbc;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #262bbc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#262bbc] bg-[#262bbc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #262bbc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.149, green: 0.169, blue: 0.737)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.149, green: 0.169, blue: 0.737, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#262BBC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF262BBC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF262BBC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(188, 43, 38)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(38, 43, 188)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(38, 43, 188)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 38, 43, 188)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.1490f, 0.1686f, 0.7373f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{38,43,188}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #262bbc 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #262bbc 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#15186A, #D3D4EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #262bbc 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: #F3F4FB;
  --brand-100: #E8E8F8;
  --brand-200: #CACCF1;
  --brand-300: #A2A4EC;
  --brand-400: #7377E3;
  --brand-500: #4449D9;
  --brand-600: #262bbc;
  --brand-700: #2227AA;
  --brand-800: #1B1F88;
  --brand-900: #181A63;
  --brand-950: #0F103E;
  --brand: #262bbc;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F4F4FA;
  --brand-border: #C0C1ED;
  --brand-hover: #20249E;
  --brand-pressed: #1A1D81;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141424;
    --brand-ink: #D3D4EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3F4FB',
        100: '#E8E8F8',
        200: '#CACCF1',
        300: '#A2A4EC',
        400: '#7377E3',
        500: '#4449D9',
        600: '#262bbc',
        700: '#2227AA',
        800: '#1B1F88',
        900: '#181A63',
        950: '#0F103E',
        DEFAULT: '#262bbc',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3F4FB,
  '100': #E8E8F8,
  '200': #CACCF1,
  '300': #A2A4EC,
  '400': #7377E3,
  '500': #4449D9,
  '600': #262bbc,
  '700': #2227AA,
  '800': #1B1F88,
  '900': #181A63,
  '950': #0F103E,
);
$brand-base: #262bbc;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3F4FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E8E8F8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CACCF1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#A2A4EC", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#7377E3", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#4449D9", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#262bbc", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#2227AA", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#1B1F88", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#181A63", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0F103E", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #262bbc · 9.75:1
Use #ffffffAAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 9.75:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Aa
Black text · 2.15:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #262bbc as text scores 9.75:1 on white and 2.15:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #EAEAFB at 8.20:1.

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
#262bbc · 9.75:1
AA on whitealready passes
#262bbc
The quick fox
#262bbc · 9.75:1
AAA on whitealready passes
#262bbc
The quick fox
#6367E0 · 4.55:1
AA on black+19% L
#6367E0
The quick fox
#898DE7 · 7.03:1
AAA on black+28% L
#898DE7

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #262BBC 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
#262bbc on white: 9.75:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#262bbc on black: 2.15:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #262bbc as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #262bbc.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White9.75:1AaAa
Slate 509.32:1AaAa
Slate 1008.90:1AaAa
Slate 2007.91:1AaAa
Slate 3006.57:1AaAa
Slate 4003.80:1AaAa
Slate 5002.05:1AaAa
Slate 6001.29:1AaAa
Slate 7001.06:1AaAa
Slate 8001.50:1AaAa
Slate 9001.83:1AaAa
Black2.15:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #004BC0
deuteranopia · #003CB9
tritanopia · #005772

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. #262bbc 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.

#F3F4FB
#E8E8F8
#CACCF1
#A2A4EC
#7377E3
#4449D9
#262bbc
#2227AA
#1B1F88
#181A63
#0F103E
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F3F4FBDarkest = 950 · #0F103EText step on white = 500
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 0.054 270.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.087 270.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.130 270.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.170 270.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.200 270.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.217 270.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.217 270.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.204 270.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.183 270.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.152 270.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.120 270.2);
}

Colors that work with #262bbc

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#F4F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0C1ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B4D9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#AE851E
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#15186A
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EAEAFB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141424
Dark-mode background
Hover#20249E
One step down in lightness
Pressed#1A1D81
Two steps down
Disabled#9697BC
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#1D23D9
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 #262bbc

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
  • Text on black or near-black surfaces
  • 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
  • Weight56/100
  • 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#BCB726
Analogous left#2676BC
Analogous right#6C26BC
Split-complement 1#BC6C26
Split-complement 2#76BC26
Triadic 1#BC262B
Triadic 2#2BBC26
Tetradic#BC2676
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°238°

#262bbc sits at 238°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red14.9%
Green16.9%
Blue73.7%
R · 0–255
38
0x26
G · 0–255
43
0x2b
B · 0–255
188
0xbc

CMYK percentages

Cyan79.8%
Magenta77.1%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)26.3%

Total ink coverage is 183%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#262bbc text on a black background

contrast 2.15:1

Card sample

#262bbc text on a white background

contrast 9.75:1

Card sample

#262bbc on grey

8.90:1

#262bbc on its own surface

8.90:1

#262bbc on its dark surface

1.86:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #262bbc;
Background color
Panel with #262bbc background
background-color: #262bbc;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #262bbc;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(38, 43, 188, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(38, 43, 188, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #262bbc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #262bbc, #8526BC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #262bbc, #AA26BC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #262bbc;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #262bbc;
caret-color: #262bbc;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #262bbc;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EAEAFB;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #262bbc;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#262bbc 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #262bbc 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(38, 43, 188, 0.5)
rgb(38 43 188 / 50%)
#262bbc80
hsl(238 66% 44% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #262bbc 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#262bbc1a#E9EAF8
20%#262bbc33#D4D5F2
40%#262bbc66#A8AAE4
60%#262bbc99#7D80D7
80%#262bbccc#5155C9

Gradients from #262bbc

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, #464BDA, #262bbc 45%, #15186A);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #262bbc, #7E21A3);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #262bbc, #BCB726);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #5F63DF 0%, #262bbc 45%, #15186A 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #3D9DD8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #892CD4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #15186A 0%, transparent 65%), #262bbc;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #262bbc

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.

#262bbc 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 2.15:1 — lift it to #6367E0 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.

#262bbc, answered

What color is #262bbc?

#262bbc is a dark vivid blue, closest to Medium Blue (ΔE2000 5.5). It sits at 238° on the hue wheel with 66% saturation and 44% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #262bbc?

rgb(38, 43, 188) — 38 red, 43 green and 188 blue out of 255, or 14.9% / 16.9% / 73.7% by channel.

What is #262bbc in HSL and HSV?

hsl(238, 66%, 44%) and hsv(238, 80%, 74%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #262bbc a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.0577 and perceived brightness is 29%, so white text on it reaches 9.75:1.

Should I use black or white text on #262bbc?

White. It scores 9.75:1 against #262bbc, versus 2.15:1 for black — AAA at any size.

Is #262bbc accessible on a white background?

#262bbc on white scores 9.75:1, which clears AAA at every size.

What is the complementary color of #262bbc?

#BCB726 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BC6C26 and #76BC26, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #262bbc?

For interface work: #F4F4FA as the surface, #C0C1ED for borders, #4B4D9B for secondary text, #AE851E as an accent and #15186A for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #2676BC and #6C26BC stays calm, while #BCB726 is the loudest partner.

What is #262bbc in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(80%, 77%, 0%, 26%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #262bbc warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 84 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #5826BC; nudged cooler, #244FBE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #262bbc?

The indigo family — its 500 step is #6366f1, ΔE2000 18.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #262bbc as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #262bbc in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#262bbc] or text-[#262bbc], 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 #262bbc with 50% opacity?

rgba(38, 43, 188, 0.5), or #262bbc80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #9395DE; over black, #13165E.

Is #262bbc a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #3333CC, ΔE2000 3.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #262bbc 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 #262bbc?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #464BDA, #262bbc 45%, #15186A). For more colour, a short hue run to #7E21A3 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #262bbc in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #262bbc at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.