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blue · cool

#271bcf

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

Token name suggestion: Atlas Sapphire

RGB
39, 27, 207
HSL
244°, 77%, 46%
CMYK
81, 87, 0, 19
Luminance
0.0572

#271bcf is a balanced electric blue, 244° on the wheel and 81/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (9.79:1). As text it scores 9.79:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Medium Blue, nearest Tailwind family is indigo.

hsl(244 77% 46%)rgb(39 27 207)Base step 600AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #271bcf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#271bcf
Hue
244°
blue
Saturation
77%
electric
Lightness
46%
balanced
Brightness
81%
HSV value
Perceived
30%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.0572
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
81/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Electric
Best ink
White
9.79:1
Closest name
Medium Blue
ΔE2000 3.1
Chroma
106.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.413
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
indigo
500 · ΔE 19.8
Web-safe
#3333CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue244° of 360°
Saturation77%
Lightness46%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #271bcf.

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.

Luminance by channel
Red8%
Green14%
Blue79%

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

Every format

HEX#271bcf
HEX (8-digit)#271bcfff
RGBrgb(39, 27, 207)
RGBArgba(39, 27, 207, 1)
HSLhsl(244, 77%, 46%)
HSV / HSBhsv(244, 87%, 81%)
HWBhwb(244 11% 19%)
CMYKcmyk(81%, 87%, 0%, 19%)
LABlab(28.7 61.5 -86.4)
LCHlch(28.7 106.1 305.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.413 0.250 270.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(12.49, 5.72, 59.47)
Decimal2563023
Display P3color(display-p3 0.153 0.106 0.812)
Web-safe#3333CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #271bcf;
background-color: #271bcf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #271bcf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#271bcf] bg-[#271bcf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #271bcf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.153, green: 0.106, blue: 0.812)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.153, green: 0.106, blue: 0.812, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#271BCF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF271BCF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF271BCF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(207, 27, 39)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(39, 27, 207)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(39, 27, 207)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 39, 27, 207)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.1529f, 0.1059f, 0.8118f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{39,27,207}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #271bcf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #271bcf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#150F71, #D4D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #271bcf 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: #F3F3FC;
  --brand-100: #E8E7F9;
  --brand-200: #CAC7F4;
  --brand-300: #A29CF2;
  --brand-400: #736AEC;
  --brand-500: #4439E5;
  --brand-600: #271bcf;
  --brand-700: #2218B4;
  --brand-800: #1B1390;
  --brand-900: #181268;
  --brand-950: #0F0B41;
  --brand: #271bcf;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F5F4FA;
  --brand-border: #C3C0ED;
  --brand-hover: #2117AF;
  --brand-pressed: #1B1390;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #151424;
    --brand-ink: #D4D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3F3FC',
        100: '#E8E7F9',
        200: '#CAC7F4',
        300: '#A29CF2',
        400: '#736AEC',
        500: '#4439E5',
        600: '#271bcf',
        700: '#2218B4',
        800: '#1B1390',
        900: '#181268',
        950: '#0F0B41',
        DEFAULT: '#271bcf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3F3FC,
  '100': #E8E7F9,
  '200': #CAC7F4,
  '300': #A29CF2,
  '400': #736AEC,
  '500': #4439E5,
  '600': #271bcf,
  '700': #2218B4,
  '800': #1B1390,
  '900': #181268,
  '950': #0F0B41,
);
$brand-base: #271bcf;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3F3FC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E8E7F9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CAC7F4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#A29CF2", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#736AEC", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#4439E5", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#271bcf", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#2218B4", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#1B1390", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#181268", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0F0B41", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #271bcf · 9.79:1
Use #ffffffAAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 9.79:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Aa
Black text · 2.14:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #271bcf as text scores 9.79:1 on white and 2.14:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #EAE8FC at 8.14:1.

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
#271bcf · 9.79:1
AA on whitealready passes
#271bcf
The quick fox
#271bcf · 9.79:1
AAA on whitealready passes
#271bcf
The quick fox
#6A61EA · 4.51:1
AA on black+19% L
#6A61EA
The quick fox
#9089F0 · 7.02:1
AAA on black+28% L
#9089F0

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #271BCF 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
#271bcf on white: 9.79:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#271bcf on black: 2.14:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #271bcf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #271bcf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White9.79:1AaAa
Slate 509.36:1AaAa
Slate 1008.94:1AaAa
Slate 2007.95:1AaAa
Slate 3006.60:1AaAa
Slate 4003.82:1AaAa
Slate 5002.06:1AaAa
Slate 6001.29:1AaAa
Slate 7001.06:1AaAa
Slate 8001.49:1AaAa
Slate 9001.82:1AaAa
Black2.14:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #004CD4
deuteranopia · #003ACC
tritanopia · #00597B

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. #271bcf 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
#E8E7F9
#CAC7F4
#A29CF2
#736AEC
#4439E5
#271bcf
#2218B4
#1B1390
#181268
#0F0B41
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F3F3FCDarkest = 950 · #0F0B41Text 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 0.063 270.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.100 270.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.150 270.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.195 270.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.230 270.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.250 270.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.250 270.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.235 270.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.210 270.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.175 270.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.138 270.2);
}

Colors that work with #271bcf

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#B99A13
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#150F71
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EAE8FC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#151424
Dark-mode background
Hover#2117AF
One step down in lightness
Pressed#1B1390
Two steps down
Disabled#9E9BBF
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#1F11EE
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 #271bcf

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
  • Text on black or near-black surfaces
  • 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
  • Weight54/100
  • 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#C3CF1B
Analogous left#1B69CF
Analogous right#811BCF
Split-complement 1#CF811B
Split-complement 2#69CF1B
Triadic 1#CF271B
Triadic 2#1BCF27
Tetradic#CF1B69
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°244°

#271bcf sits at 244°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red15.3%
Green10.6%
Blue81.2%
R · 0–255
39
0x27
G · 0–255
27
0x1b
B · 0–255
207
0xcf

CMYK percentages

Cyan81.2%
Magenta87.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)18.8%

Total ink coverage is 187%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#271bcf text on a black background

contrast 2.14:1

Card sample

#271bcf text on a white background

contrast 9.79:1

Card sample

#271bcf on grey

8.94:1

#271bcf on its own surface

8.96:1

#271bcf on its dark surface

1.85:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #271bcf;
Background color
Panel with #271bcf background
background-color: #271bcf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #271bcf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(39, 27, 207, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(39, 27, 207, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #271bcf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #271bcf, #9F1BCF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #271bcf, #CC1BCF);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #271bcf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #271bcf;
caret-color: #271bcf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #271bcf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EAE8FC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #271bcf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#271bcf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #271bcf 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(39, 27, 207, 0.5)
rgb(39 27 207 / 50%)
#271bcf80
hsl(244 77% 46% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #271bcf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#271bcf1a#E9E8FA
20%#271bcf33#D4D1F5
40%#271bcf66#A9A4EC
60%#271bcf99#7D76E2
80%#271bcfcc#5249D9

Gradients from #271bcf

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, #4C41E6, #271bcf 45%, #150F71);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #271bcf, #9718B4);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #271bcf, #C3CF1B);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #665CEA 0%, #271bcf 45%, #150F71 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #3891E5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #A126E3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #150F71 0%, transparent 65%), #271bcf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #271bcf

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.

#271bcf 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 2.14:1 — lift it to #6A61EA 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.

#271bcf, answered

What color is #271bcf?

#271bcf is a balanced electric blue, closest to Medium Blue (ΔE2000 3.1). It sits at 244° on the hue wheel with 77% saturation and 46% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #271bcf?

rgb(39, 27, 207) — 39 red, 27 green and 207 blue out of 255, or 15.3% / 10.6% / 81.2% by channel.

What is #271bcf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(244, 77%, 46%) and hsv(244, 87%, 81%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #271bcf a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.0572 and perceived brightness is 30%, so white text on it reaches 9.79:1.

Should I use black or white text on #271bcf?

White. It scores 9.79:1 against #271bcf, versus 2.14:1 for black — AAA at any size.

Is #271bcf accessible on a white background?

#271bcf on white scores 9.79:1, which clears AAA at every size.

What is the complementary color of #271bcf?

#C3CF1B sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CF811B and #69CF1B, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #271bcf?

For interface work: #F5F4FA as the surface, #C3C0ED for borders, #504B9B for secondary text, #B99A13 as an accent and #150F71 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #1B69CF and #811BCF stays calm, while #C3CF1B is the loudest partner.

What is #271bcf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(81%, 87%, 0%, 19%). 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 #271bcf 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 #691BCF; nudged cooler, #1941D1.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #271bcf?

The indigo family — its 500 step is #6366f1, ΔE2000 19.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #271bcf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #271bcf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#271bcf] or text-[#271bcf], 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 #271bcf with 50% opacity?

rgba(39, 27, 207, 0.5), or #271bcf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #938DE7; over black, #140E68.

Is #271bcf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #3333CC, ΔE2000 4.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #271bcf 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 #271bcf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #4C41E6, #271bcf 45%, #150F71). For more colour, a short hue run to #9718B4 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #271bcf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #271bcf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.