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blue · cool

#2cb4fe

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

Token name suggestion: Signal Harbour

RGB
44, 180, 254
HSL
201°, 99%, 58%
CMYK
83, 29, 0, 0
Luminance
0.4033

#2cb4fe is a balanced electric blue, 201° on the wheel and 96/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.07:1). As text it scores 2.32:1 on white — use #017BBE instead. Nearest name is Deep Sky Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(201 99% 58%)rgb(44 180 254)Base step 500AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #2cb4fe is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#2cb4fe
Hue
201°
blue
Saturation
99%
electric
Lightness
58%
balanced
Brightness
100%
HSV value
Perceived
64%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4033
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
96/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
9.07:1
Closest name
Deep Sky Blue
ΔE2000 4.7
Chroma
47.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.734
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 4.6
Web-safe
#33CCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue201° of 360°
Saturation99%
Lightness58%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #2cb4fe.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool96% 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%
Green81%
Blue18%

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

Every format

HEX#2cb4fe
HEX (8-digit)#2cb4feff
RGBrgb(44, 180, 254)
RGBArgba(44, 180, 254, 1)
HSLhsl(201, 99%, 58%)
HSV / HSBhsv(201, 83%, 100%)
HWBhwb(201 17% 0%)
CMYKcmyk(83%, 29%, 0%, 0%)
LABlab(69.7 -10.2 -46.4)
LCHlch(69.7 47.5 257.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.734 0.153 239.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(35.24, 40.33, 99.67)
Decimal2929918
Display P3color(display-p3 0.173 0.706 0.996)
Web-safe#33CCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #2cb4fe;
background-color: #2cb4fe;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #2cb4fe;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#2cb4fe] bg-[#2cb4fe]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #2cb4fe;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.173, green: 0.706, blue: 0.996)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.173, green: 0.706, blue: 0.996, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#2CB4FE</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF2CB4FE)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF2CB4FE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(254, 180, 44)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(44, 180, 254)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(44, 180, 254)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 44, 180, 254)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.1725f, 0.7059f, 0.9961f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{44,180,254}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #2cb4fe 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #2cb4fe 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#01527F, #D3E4EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #2cb4fe 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: #F1F9FE;
  --brand-100: #E3F3FC;
  --brand-200: #C0E7FB;
  --brand-300: #8FD7FE;
  --brand-400: #57C4FE;
  --brand-500: #2cb4fe;
  --brand-600: #019EF4;
  --brand-700: #0184CB;
  --brand-800: #016AA2;
  --brand-900: #054E75;
  --brand-950: #033149;
  --brand: #2cb4fe;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C0DDED;
  --brand-hover: #08A8FE;
  --brand-pressed: #0193E1;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141F24;
    --brand-ink: #D3E4EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F1F9FE',
        100: '#E3F3FC',
        200: '#C0E7FB',
        300: '#8FD7FE',
        400: '#57C4FE',
        500: '#2cb4fe',
        600: '#019EF4',
        700: '#0184CB',
        800: '#016AA2',
        900: '#054E75',
        950: '#033149',
        DEFAULT: '#2cb4fe',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F1F9FE,
  '100': #E3F3FC,
  '200': #C0E7FB,
  '300': #8FD7FE,
  '400': #57C4FE,
  '500': #2cb4fe,
  '600': #019EF4,
  '700': #0184CB,
  '800': #016AA2,
  '900': #054E75,
  '950': #033149,
);
$brand-base: #2cb4fe;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F1F9FE", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E3F3FC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C0E7FB", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#8FD7FE", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#57C4FE", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#2cb4fe", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#019EF4", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#0184CB", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#016AA2", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#054E75", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#033149", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #2cb4fe · 9.07:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.32:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.07:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #2cb4fe as text scores 2.32:1 on white and 9.07:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #01527F at 3.61:1.

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
#017BBE · 4.59:1
AA on white−21% L
#017BBE
The quick fox
#015A8B · 7.40:1
AAA on white−31% L
#015A8B
The quick fox
#2cb4fe · 9.07:1
AA on blackalready passes
#2cb4fe
The quick fox
#2cb4fe · 9.07:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#2cb4fe

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #0199EC 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
#2cb4fe on white: 2.32:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#2cb4fe on black: 9.07:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #2cb4fe as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #2cb4fe.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.32:1AaAa
Slate 502.21:1AaAa
Slate 1002.11:1AaAa
Slate 2001.88:1AaAa
Slate 3001.56:1AaAa
Slate 4001.11:1AaAa
Slate 5002.05:1AaAa
Slate 6003.27:1AaAa
Slate 7004.47:1AaAa
Slate 8006.32:1AaAa
Slate 9007.71:1AaAa
Black9.07:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #91B5FF
deuteranopia · #74A2FD
tritanopia · #00C7CE

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. #2cb4fe 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.

#F1F9FE
#E3F3FC
#C0E7FB
#8FD7FE
#57C4FE
#2cb4fe
#019EF4
#0184CB
#016AA2
#054E75
#033149
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F1F9FEDarkest = 950 · #033149Text 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 0.038 239.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.061 239.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.092 239.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.120 239.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.141 239.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.153 239.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.153 239.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.144 239.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.129 239.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.107 239.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.084 239.1);
}

Colors that work with #2cb4fe

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#C0DDED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B7F9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#FF402B
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#01527F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E6F6FF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141F24
Dark-mode background
Hover#08A8FE
One step down in lightness
Pressed#0193E1
Two steps down
Disabled#C2D0D8
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#3FBCFF
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 #2cb4fe

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 #01527F
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #0199EC

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
  • Weight42/100
  • 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#FE762C
Analogous left#2CFEDF
Analogous right#2C4BFE
Split-complement 1#FE2C4B
Split-complement 2#FEDF2C
Triadic 1#FE2CB4
Triadic 2#B4FE2C
Tetradic#DF2CFE
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°201°

#2cb4fe sits at 201°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red17.3%
Green70.6%
Blue99.6%
R · 0–255
44
0x2c
G · 0–255
180
0xb4
B · 0–255
254
0xfe

CMYK percentages

Cyan82.7%
Magenta29.1%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)0.4%

Total ink coverage is 112%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#2cb4fe text on a black background

contrast 9.07:1

Card sample

#2cb4fe text on a white background

contrast 2.32:1

Card sample

#2cb4fe on grey

2.11:1

#2cb4fe on its own surface

2.17:1

#2cb4fe on its dark surface

7.25:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #2cb4fe;
Background color
Panel with #2cb4fe background
background-color: #2cb4fe;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #2cb4fe;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(44, 180, 254, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(44, 180, 254, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #2cb4fe;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #2cb4fe, #302CFE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #2cb4fe, #642CFE);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #2cb4fe;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #2cb4fe;
caret-color: #2cb4fe;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #2cb4fe;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E6F6FF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #2cb4fe;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#2cb4fe 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #2cb4fe 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(44, 180, 254, 0.5)
rgb(44 180 254 / 50%)
#2cb4fe80
hsl(201 99% 58% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #2cb4fe 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#2cb4fe1a#EAF8FF
20%#2cb4fe33#D5F0FF
40%#2cb4fe66#ABE1FF
60%#2cb4fe99#80D2FE
80%#2cb4fecc#56C3FE

Gradients from #2cb4fe

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, #69CAFE, #2cb4fe 45%, #01527F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #2cb4fe, #260DFE);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #2cb4fe, #FE762C);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #87D5FE 0%, #2cb4fe 45%, #01527F 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%, #5FFED9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #4A56FE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #01527F 0%, transparent 65%), #2cb4fe;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #2cb4fe

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.

#2cb4fe 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 9.07:1.

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.

#2cb4fe, answered

What color is #2cb4fe?

#2cb4fe is a balanced electric blue, closest to Deep Sky Blue (ΔE2000 4.7). It sits at 201° on the hue wheel with 99% saturation and 58% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #2cb4fe?

rgb(44, 180, 254) — 44 red, 180 green and 254 blue out of 255, or 17.3% / 70.6% / 99.6% by channel.

What is #2cb4fe in HSL and HSV?

hsl(201, 99%, 58%) and hsv(201, 83%, 100%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #2cb4fe a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4033 and perceived brightness is 64%, so black text on it reaches 9.07:1.

Should I use black or white text on #2cb4fe?

Black. It scores 9.07:1 against #2cb4fe, versus 2.32:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #2cb4fe accessible on a white background?

#2cb4fe on white scores 2.32:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #017BBE to reach 4.5:1, or #015A8B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #2cb4fe?

#FE762C sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #FE2C4B and #FEDF2C, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #2cb4fe?

For interface work: #F4F8FA as the surface, #C0DDED for borders, #4B7F9B for secondary text, #FF402B as an accent and #01527F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #2CFEDF and #2C4BFE stays calm, while #FE762C is the loudest partner.

What is #2cb4fe in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(83%, 29%, 0%, 0%). 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 #2cb4fe warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 96 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #2CFEFB; nudged cooler, #1197FF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #2cb4fe?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 4.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #2cb4fe as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #2cb4fe in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#2cb4fe] or text-[#2cb4fe], 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 #2cb4fe with 50% opacity?

rgba(44, 180, 254, 0.5), or #2cb4fe80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #96DAFF; over black, #165A7F.

Is #2cb4fe a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #33CCFF, ΔE2000 8.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #2cb4fe 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 #2cb4fe?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #69CAFE, #2cb4fe 45%, #01527F). For more colour, a short hue run to #260DFE keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #2cb4fe in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #2cb4fe at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.