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blue · cool

#2a366b

a dark, soft blue · cool · closest name: Dark Slate Blue

Token name suggestion: Slate Denim

RGB
42, 54, 107
HSL
229°, 44%, 29%
CMYK
61, 50, 0, 58
Luminance
0.0419

#2a366b is a dark soft blue, 229° on the wheel and 90/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (11.42:1). As text it scores 11.42:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Dark Slate Blue, nearest Tailwind family is slate.

hsl(229 44% 29%)rgb(42 54 107)Base step 800AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #2a366b is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#2a366b
Hue
229°
blue
Saturation
44%
soft
Lightness
29%
dark
Brightness
42%
HSV value
Perceived
23%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.0419
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
90/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
White
11.42:1
Closest name
Dark Slate Blue
ΔE2000 7.6
Chroma
35.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.352
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
slate
500 · ΔE 21.8
Web-safe
#333366
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue229° of 360°
Saturation44%
Lightness29%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #2a366b.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool90% 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
Red12%
Green63%
Blue25%

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

Every format

HEX#2a366b
HEX (8-digit)#2a366bff
RGBrgb(42, 54, 107)
RGBArgba(42, 54, 107, 1)
HSLhsl(229, 44%, 29%)
HSV / HSBhsv(229, 61%, 42%)
HWBhwb(229 16% 58%)
CMYKcmyk(61%, 50%, 0%, 58%)
LABlab(24.3 12.7 -32.6)
LCHlch(24.3 35.0 291.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.352 0.093 271.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(4.93, 4.19, 14.46)
Decimal2766443
Display P3color(display-p3 0.165 0.212 0.420)
Web-safe#333366

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #2a366b;
background-color: #2a366b;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #2a366b;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#2a366b] bg-[#2a366b]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #2a366b;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.165, green: 0.212, blue: 0.420)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.165, green: 0.212, blue: 0.420, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#2A366B</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF2A366B)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF2A366B)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(107, 54, 42)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(42, 54, 107)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(42, 54, 107)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 42, 54, 107)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.1647f, 0.2118f, 0.4196f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{42,54,107}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #2a366b 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #2a366b 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#242E5C, #D3D8EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #2a366b 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: #F5F6FA;
  --brand-100: #EAECF5;
  --brand-200: #D1D6EB;
  --brand-300: #AEB7DF;
  --brand-400: #8694D0;
  --brand-500: #5E70C0;
  --brand-600: #4559B0;
  --brand-700: #3A4A92;
  --brand-800: #2a366b;
  --brand-900: #252E56;
  --brand-950: #171D36;
  --brand: #2a366b;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F4F5FA;
  --brand-border: #C4CBE8;
  --brand-hover: #202951;
  --brand-pressed: #161C38;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141724;
    --brand-ink: #D3D8EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F6FA',
        100: '#EAECF5',
        200: '#D1D6EB',
        300: '#AEB7DF',
        400: '#8694D0',
        500: '#5E70C0',
        600: '#4559B0',
        700: '#3A4A92',
        800: '#2a366b',
        900: '#252E56',
        950: '#171D36',
        DEFAULT: '#2a366b',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F6FA,
  '100': #EAECF5,
  '200': #D1D6EB,
  '300': #AEB7DF,
  '400': #8694D0,
  '500': #5E70C0,
  '600': #4559B0,
  '700': #3A4A92,
  '800': #2a366b,
  '900': #252E56,
  '950': #171D36,
);
$brand-base: #2a366b;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F6FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EAECF5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D1D6EB", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#AEB7DF", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#8694D0", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#5E70C0", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#4559B0", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#3A4A92", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#2a366b", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#252E56", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#171D36", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #2a366b · 11.42:1
Use #ffffffAAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 11.42:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Aa
Black text · 1.84:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #2a366b as text scores 11.42:1 on white and 1.84:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #EDEFF8 at 9.96:1.

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
#2a366b · 11.42:1
AA on whitealready passes
#2a366b
The quick fox
#2a366b · 11.42:1
AAA on whitealready passes
#2a366b
The quick fox
#5F71C0 · 4.61:1
AA on black+27% L
#5F71C0
The quick fox
#8794D0 · 7.18:1
AAA on black+38% L
#8794D0

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #2A366B 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
#2a366b on white: 11.42:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#2a366b on black: 1.84:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #2a366b as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #2a366b.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White11.42:1AaAa
Slate 5010.92:1AaAa
Slate 10010.43:1AaAa
Slate 2009.27:1AaAa
Slate 3007.69:1AaAa
Slate 4004.46:1AaAa
Slate 5002.40:1AaAa
Slate 6001.51:1AaAa
Slate 7001.10:1AaAa
Slate 8001.28:1AaAa
Slate 9001.56:1AaAa
Black1.84:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #1D3D6D
deuteranopia · #13376A
tritanopia · #00424B

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. #2a366b is pinned to step 800; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F5F6FA
#EAECF5
#D1D6EB
#AEB7DF
#8694D0
#5E70C0
#4559B0
#3A4A92
#2a366b
#252E56
#171D36
Base = 800Lightest = 50 · #F5F6FADarkest = 950 · #171D36Text 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 0.023 271.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.037 271.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.056 271.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.072 271.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.085 271.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.093 271.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.093 271.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.087 271.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.078 271.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.065 271.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.051 271.3);
}

Colors that work with #2a366b

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#F4F5FA
Tinted page background
Border#C4CBE8
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B599B
Captions on the surface
Accent#6E4F27
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#242E5C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EDEFF8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141724
Dark-mode background
Hover#202951
One step down in lightness
Pressed#161C38
Two steps down
Disabled#67719E
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#273882
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 #2a366b

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Body text and links on white
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Headers, footers and dark-mode surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text on black or near-black surfaces
  • 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.

The muted chroma softens the association — it reads considered rather than loud, which suits long-form and data-heavy screens. 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
  • Weight71/100
  • 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#6B5F2A
Analogous left#2A566B
Analogous right#3E2A6B
Split-complement 1#6B3E2A
Split-complement 2#566B2A
Triadic 1#6B2A36
Triadic 2#366B2A
Tetradic#6B2A56
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°229°

#2a366b sits at 229°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red16.5%
Green21.2%
Blue42.0%
R · 0–255
42
0x2a
G · 0–255
54
0x36
B · 0–255
107
0x6b

CMYK percentages

Cyan60.7%
Magenta49.5%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)58.0%

Total ink coverage is 168%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#2a366b text on a black background

contrast 1.84:1

Card sample

#2a366b text on a white background

contrast 11.42:1

Card sample

#2a366b on grey

10.43:1

#2a366b on its own surface

10.49:1

#2a366b on its dark surface

1.56:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #2a366b;
Background color
Panel with #2a366b background
background-color: #2a366b;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #2a366b;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(42, 54, 107, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(42, 54, 107, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #2a366b;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #2a366b, #492A6B);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #2a366b, #5A2A6B);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #2a366b;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #2a366b;
caret-color: #2a366b;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #2a366b;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EDEFF8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #2a366b;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#2a366b 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #2a366b 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(42, 54, 107, 0.5)
rgb(42 54 107 / 50%)
#2a366b80
hsl(229 44% 29% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #2a366b 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#2a366b1a#EAEBF0
20%#2a366b33#D4D7E1
40%#2a366b66#AAAFC4
60%#2a366b99#7F86A6
80%#2a366bcc#555E89

Gradients from #2a366b

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, #3B4C97, #2a366b 45%, #242E5C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #2a366b, #3F2155);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #2a366b, #6B5F2A);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #4457AD 0%, #2a366b 45%, #242E5C 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F5FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #387B90 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #523381 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #242E5C 0%, transparent 65%), #2a366b;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #2a366b

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.

#2a366b 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 1.84:1 — lift it to #5F71C0 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.

#2a366b, answered

What color is #2a366b?

#2a366b is a dark soft blue, closest to Dark Slate Blue (ΔE2000 7.6). It sits at 229° on the hue wheel with 44% saturation and 29% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #2a366b?

rgb(42, 54, 107) — 42 red, 54 green and 107 blue out of 255, or 16.5% / 21.2% / 42% by channel.

What is #2a366b in HSL and HSV?

hsl(229, 44%, 29%) and hsv(229, 61%, 42%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #2a366b a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.0419 and perceived brightness is 23%, so white text on it reaches 11.42:1.

Should I use black or white text on #2a366b?

White. It scores 11.42:1 against #2a366b, versus 1.84:1 for black — AAA at any size.

Is #2a366b accessible on a white background?

#2a366b on white scores 11.42:1, which clears AAA at every size.

What is the complementary color of #2a366b?

#6B5F2A sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #6B3E2A and #566B2A, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #2a366b?

For interface work: #F4F5FA as the surface, #C4CBE8 for borders, #4B599B for secondary text, #6E4F27 as an accent and #242E5C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #2A566B and #3E2A6B stays calm, while #6B5F2A is the loudest partner.

What is #2a366b in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(61%, 50%, 0%, 58%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #2a366b warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 90 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #362A6B; nudged cooler, #29446C.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #2a366b?

The slate family — its 500 step is #64748b, ΔE2000 21.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #2a366b as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #2a366b in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#2a366b] or text-[#2a366b], 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 #2a366b with 50% opacity?

rgba(42, 54, 107, 0.5), or #2a366b80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #959BB5; over black, #151B36.

Is #2a366b a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #333366, ΔE2000 3.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #2a366b 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 moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #2a366b?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #3B4C97, #2a366b 45%, #242E5C). For more colour, a short hue run to #3F2155 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #2a366b in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #2a366b at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.