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blue · cool

#282990

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

Token name suggestion: Dusk Cobalt

RGB
40, 41, 144
HSL
239°, 57%, 36%
CMYK
72, 72, 0, 44
Luminance
0.0405

#282990 is a dark vivid blue, 239° on the wheel and 84/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (11.60:1). As text it scores 11.60:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Midnight Blue, nearest Tailwind family is indigo.

hsl(239 57% 36%)rgb(40 41 144)Base step 700AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #282990 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#282990
Hue
239°
blue
Saturation
57%
vivid
Lightness
36%
dark
Brightness
56%
HSV value
Perceived
24%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.0405
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
84/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
White
11.60:1
Closest name
Midnight Blue
ΔE2000 6
Chroma
66.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.358
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
indigo
500 · ΔE 22.7
Web-safe
#333399
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue239° of 360°
Saturation57%
Lightness36%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #282990.

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
Red11%
Green39%
Blue50%

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

Every format

HEX#282990
HEX (8-digit)#282990ff
RGBrgb(40, 41, 144)
RGBArgba(40, 41, 144, 1)
HSLhsl(239, 57%, 36%)
HSV / HSBhsv(239, 72%, 56%)
HWBhwb(239 16% 44%)
CMYKcmyk(72%, 72%, 0%, 44%)
LABlab(23.8 34.8 -56.7)
LCHlch(23.8 66.5 301.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.358 0.164 273.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(6.70, 4.05, 26.81)
Decimal2632080
Display P3color(display-p3 0.157 0.161 0.565)
Web-safe#333399

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #282990;
background-color: #282990;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #282990;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#282990] bg-[#282990]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #282990;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.157, green: 0.161, blue: 0.565)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.157, green: 0.161, blue: 0.565, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#282990</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF282990)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF282990)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(144, 41, 40)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(40, 41, 144)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(40, 41, 144)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 40, 41, 144)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.1569f, 0.1608f, 0.5647f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{40,41,144}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #282990 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #282990 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#1C1C64, #D3D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #282990 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: #F4F4FB;
  --brand-100: #E9E9F6;
  --brand-200: #CDCEEE;
  --brand-300: #A7A8E7;
  --brand-400: #7B7CDA;
  --brand-500: #4F51CE;
  --brand-600: #3537C0;
  --brand-700: #282990;
  --brand-800: #232480;
  --brand-900: #1D1E5D;
  --brand-950: #12133A;
  --brand: #282990;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F4F4FA;
  --brand-border: #C0C0ED;
  --brand-hover: #202174;
  --brand-pressed: #191958;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141424;
    --brand-ink: #D3D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4F4FB',
        100: '#E9E9F6',
        200: '#CDCEEE',
        300: '#A7A8E7',
        400: '#7B7CDA',
        500: '#4F51CE',
        600: '#3537C0',
        700: '#282990',
        800: '#232480',
        900: '#1D1E5D',
        950: '#12133A',
        DEFAULT: '#282990',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4F4FB,
  '100': #E9E9F6,
  '200': #CDCEEE,
  '300': #A7A8E7,
  '400': #7B7CDA,
  '500': #4F51CE,
  '600': #3537C0,
  '700': #282990,
  '800': #232480,
  '900': #1D1E5D,
  '950': #12133A,
);
$brand-base: #282990;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4F4FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E9E9F6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CDCEEE", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#A7A8E7", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#7B7CDA", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#4F51CE", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#3537C0", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#282990", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#232480", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#1D1E5D", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#12133A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #282990 · 11.60:1
Use #ffffffAAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 11.60:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Aa
Black text · 1.81:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #282990 as text scores 11.60:1 on white and 1.81:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #EBEBF9 at 9.82:1.

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
#282990 · 11.60:1
AA on whitealready passes
#282990
The quick fox
#282990 · 11.60:1
AAA on whitealready passes
#282990
The quick fox
#6869D5 · 4.57:1
AA on black+26% L
#6869D5
The quick fox
#9090E0 · 7.25:1
AAA on black+36% L
#9090E0

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #282990 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
#282990 on white: 11.60:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#282990 on black: 1.81:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #282990 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #282990.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White11.60:1AaAa
Slate 5011.09:1AaAa
Slate 10010.59:1AaAa
Slate 2009.41:1AaAa
Slate 3007.81:1AaAa
Slate 4004.52:1AaAa
Slate 5002.44:1AaAa
Slate 6001.53:1AaAa
Slate 7001.12:1AaAa
Slate 8001.26:1AaAa
Slate 9001.54:1AaAa
Black1.81:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #003E93
deuteranopia · #00348E
tritanopia · #004559

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. #282990 is pinned to step 700; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F4F4FB
#E9E9F6
#CDCEEE
#A7A8E7
#7B7CDA
#4F51CE
#3537C0
#282990
#232480
#1D1E5D
#12133A
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #F4F4FBDarkest = 950 · #12133AText 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 0.041 273.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.066 273.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.099 273.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.128 273.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.151 273.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.164 273.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.164 273.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.154 273.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.138 273.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.115 273.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.090 273.9);
}

Colors that work with #282990

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#C0C0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B4B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#947724
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#1C1C64
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EBEBF9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141424
Dark-mode background
Hover#202174
One step down in lightness
Pressed#191958
Two steps down
Disabled#7D7DAC
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#2224AA
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 #282990

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
  • Weight64/100
  • 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#908F28
Analogous left#285D90
Analogous right#5B2890
Split-complement 1#905B28
Split-complement 2#5D9028
Triadic 1#902829
Triadic 2#299028
Tetradic#90285D
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°239°

#282990 sits at 239°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red15.7%
Green16.1%
Blue56.5%
R · 0–255
40
0x28
G · 0–255
41
0x29
B · 0–255
144
0x90

CMYK percentages

Cyan72.2%
Magenta71.5%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)43.5%

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

Color previews

#282990 text on a black background

contrast 1.81:1

Card sample

#282990 text on a white background

contrast 11.60:1

Card sample

#282990 on grey

10.59:1

#282990 on its own surface

10.59:1

#282990 on its dark surface

1.57:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #282990;
Background color
Panel with #282990 background
background-color: #282990;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #282990;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(40, 41, 144, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(40, 41, 144, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #282990;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #282990, #6C2890);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #282990, #862890);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #282990;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #282990;
caret-color: #282990;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #282990;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EBEBF9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #282990;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#282990 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #282990 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(40, 41, 144, 0.5)
rgb(40 41 144 / 50%)
#28299080
hsl(239 57% 36% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #282990 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#2829901a#EAEAF4
20%#28299033#D4D4E9
40%#28299066#A9A9D3
60%#28299099#7E7FBC
80%#282990cc#5354A6

Gradients from #282990

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, #3537C0, #282990 45%, #1C1C64);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #282990, #622178);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #282990, #908F28);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #4849CC 0%, #282990 45%, #1C1C64 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%, #3382B8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #742FA8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #1C1C64 0%, transparent 65%), #282990;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #282990

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.

#282990 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

Very dark values collapse into each other on cheap panels — leave more lightness between your darkest steps than the numbers suggest.

In dark mode

Too dim on dark surfaces at 1.81:1 — lift it to #6869D5 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.

#282990, answered

What color is #282990?

#282990 is a dark vivid blue, closest to Midnight Blue (ΔE2000 6). It sits at 239° on the hue wheel with 57% saturation and 36% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #282990?

rgb(40, 41, 144) — 40 red, 41 green and 144 blue out of 255, or 15.7% / 16.1% / 56.5% by channel.

What is #282990 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(239, 57%, 36%) and hsv(239, 72%, 56%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #282990 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.0405 and perceived brightness is 24%, so white text on it reaches 11.60:1.

Should I use black or white text on #282990?

White. It scores 11.60:1 against #282990, versus 1.81:1 for black — AAA at any size.

Is #282990 accessible on a white background?

#282990 on white scores 11.60:1, which clears AAA at every size.

What is the complementary color of #282990?

#908F28 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #905B28 and #5D9028, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #282990?

For interface work: #F4F4FA as the surface, #C0C0ED for borders, #4B4B9B for secondary text, #947724 as an accent and #1C1C64 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #285D90 and #5B2890 stays calm, while #908F28 is the loudest partner.

What is #282990 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(72%, 72%, 0%, 44%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #282990 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 #4D2890; nudged cooler, #264892.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #282990?

The indigo family — its 500 step is #6366f1, ΔE2000 22.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #282990 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #282990 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#282990] or text-[#282990], 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 #282990 with 50% opacity?

rgba(40, 41, 144, 0.5), or #28299080 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #9494C8; over black, #141548.

Is #282990 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #333399, ΔE2000 3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #282990 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 #282990?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #3537C0, #282990 45%, #1C1C64). For more colour, a short hue run to #622178 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #282990 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #282990 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.