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blue · cool

#30516d

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

Token name suggestion: Shadow Cobalt

RGB
48, 81, 109
HSL
208°, 39%, 31%
CMYK
56, 26, 0, 57
Luminance
0.0762

#30516d is a dark soft blue, 208° on the wheel and 99/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (8.32:1). As text it scores 8.32:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Dark Slate Blue, nearest Tailwind family is slate.

hsl(208 39% 31%)rgb(48 81 109)Base step 800AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #30516d is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#30516d
Hue
208°
blue
Saturation
39%
soft
Lightness
31%
dark
Brightness
43%
HSV value
Perceived
30%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.0762
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
99/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
White
8.32:1
Closest name
Dark Slate Blue
ΔE2000 11.7
Chroma
20.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.422
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
slate
500 · ΔE 14.2
Web-safe
#336666
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue208° of 360°
Saturation39%
Lightness31%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #30516d.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool99% 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%
Green77%
Blue14%

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

Every format

HEX#30516d
HEX (8-digit)#30516dff
RGBrgb(48, 81, 109)
RGBArgba(48, 81, 109, 1)
HSLhsl(208, 39%, 31%)
HSV / HSBhsv(208, 56%, 43%)
HWBhwb(208 19% 57%)
CMYKcmyk(56%, 26%, 0%, 57%)
LABlab(33.2 -3.2 -19.8)
LCHlch(33.2 20.1 260.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.422 0.061 245.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(6.92, 7.62, 15.57)
Decimal3166573
Display P3color(display-p3 0.188 0.318 0.427)
Web-safe#336666

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #30516d;
background-color: #30516d;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #30516d;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#30516d] bg-[#30516d]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #30516d;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.188, green: 0.318, blue: 0.427)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.188, green: 0.318, blue: 0.427, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#30516D</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF30516D)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF30516D)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(109, 81, 48)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(48, 81, 109)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(48, 81, 109)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 48, 81, 109)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.1882f, 0.3176f, 0.4275f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{48,81,109}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #30516d 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #30516d 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#274259, #D4E1EC);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #30516d 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: #F5F8FA;
  --brand-100: #EBF0F4;
  --brand-200: #D3DFE9;
  --brand-300: #B1C9DD;
  --brand-400: #8AAECC;
  --brand-500: #6392BA;
  --brand-600: #4B7EAA;
  --brand-700: #3E698E;
  --brand-800: #30516d;
  --brand-900: #273F53;
  --brand-950: #192734;
  --brand: #30516d;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F4F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C6D8E6;
  --brand-hover: #253F54;
  --brand-pressed: #1A2C3C;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141D24;
    --brand-ink: #D4E1EC;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F8FA',
        100: '#EBF0F4',
        200: '#D3DFE9',
        300: '#B1C9DD',
        400: '#8AAECC',
        500: '#6392BA',
        600: '#4B7EAA',
        700: '#3E698E',
        800: '#30516d',
        900: '#273F53',
        950: '#192734',
        DEFAULT: '#30516d',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F8FA,
  '100': #EBF0F4,
  '200': #D3DFE9,
  '300': #B1C9DD,
  '400': #8AAECC,
  '500': #6392BA,
  '600': #4B7EAA,
  '700': #3E698E,
  '800': #30516d,
  '900': #273F53,
  '950': #192734,
);
$brand-base: #30516d;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F8FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EBF0F4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D3DFE9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B1C9DD", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#8AAECC", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#6392BA", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#4B7EAA", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#3E698E", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#30516d", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#273F53", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#192734", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #30516d · 8.32:1
Use #ffffffAAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 8.32:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Aa
Black text · 2.52:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #30516d as text scores 8.32:1 on white and 2.52:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #EDF3F7 at 7.44:1.

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
#30516d · 8.32:1
AA on whitealready passes
#30516d
The quick fox
#30516d · 8.32:1
AAA on whitealready passes
#30516d
The quick fox
#4779A2 · 4.52:1
AA on black+15% L
#4779A2
The quick fox
#719CC0 · 7.22:1
AAA on black+29% L
#719CC0

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #30516D 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
#30516d on white: 8.32:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#30516d on black: 2.52:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #30516d as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #30516d.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White8.32:1AaAa
Slate 507.95:1AaAa
Slate 1007.60:1AaAa
Slate 2006.75:1AaAa
Slate 3005.61:1AaAa
Slate 4003.25:1AaAa
Slate 5001.75:1AaAa
Slate 6001.10:1AaAa
Slate 7001.24:1AaAa
Slate 8001.76:1AaAa
Slate 9002.15:1AaAa
Black2.52:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #45516E
deuteranopia · #3D4B6C
tritanopia · #0B585B

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. #30516d 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.

#F5F8FA
#EBF0F4
#D3DFE9
#B1C9DD
#8AAECC
#6392BA
#4B7EAA
#3E698E
#30516d
#273F53
#192734
Base = 800Lightest = 50 · #F5F8FADarkest = 950 · #192734Text step on white = 700
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 0.015 245.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.024 245.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.037 245.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.048 245.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.056 245.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.061 245.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.061 245.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.057 245.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.051 245.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.043 245.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.033 245.5);
}

Colors that work with #30516d

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#F4F8FA
Tinted page background
Border#C6D8E6
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B769B
Captions on the surface
Accent#703B2D
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#274259
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EDF3F7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141D24
Dark-mode background
Hover#253F54
One step down in lightness
Pressed#1A2C3C
Two steps down
Disabled#6C89A1
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#2D5C84
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 #30516d

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
  • Weight69/100
  • 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#6D4C30
Analogous left#306D6B
Analogous right#30336D
Split-complement 1#6D3033
Split-complement 2#6D6B30
Triadic 1#6D3051
Triadic 2#516D30
Tetradic#6B306D
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°208°

#30516d sits at 208°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red18.8%
Green31.8%
Blue42.7%
R · 0–255
48
0x30
G · 0–255
81
0x51
B · 0–255
109
0x6d

CMYK percentages

Cyan56.0%
Magenta25.7%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)57.3%

Total ink coverage is 139%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#30516d text on a black background

contrast 2.52:1

Card sample

#30516d text on a white background

contrast 8.32:1

Card sample

#30516d on grey

7.60:1

#30516d on its own surface

7.79:1

#30516d on its dark surface

2.05:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #30516d;
Background color
Panel with #30516d background
background-color: #30516d;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #30516d;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(48, 81, 109, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(48, 81, 109, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #30516d;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #30516d, #38306D);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #30516d, #47306D);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #30516d;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #30516d;
caret-color: #30516d;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #30516d;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EDF3F7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #30516d;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#30516d 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #30516d 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(48, 81, 109, 0.5)
rgb(48 81 109 / 50%)
#30516d80
hsl(208 39% 31% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #30516d 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#30516d1a#EAEEF0
20%#30516d33#D6DCE2
40%#30516d66#ACB9C5
60%#30516d99#8397A7
80%#30516dcc#59748A

Gradients from #30516d

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, #437198, #30516d 45%, #274259);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #30516d, #312758);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #30516d, #6D4C30);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #4C80AD 0%, #30516d 45%, #274259 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%, #409186 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #3C3982 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #274259 0%, transparent 65%), #30516d;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #30516d

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.

#30516d 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 2.52:1 — lift it to #4779A2 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.

#30516d, answered

What color is #30516d?

#30516d is a dark soft blue, closest to Dark Slate Blue (ΔE2000 11.7). It sits at 208° on the hue wheel with 39% saturation and 31% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #30516d?

rgb(48, 81, 109) — 48 red, 81 green and 109 blue out of 255, or 18.8% / 31.8% / 42.7% by channel.

What is #30516d in HSL and HSV?

hsl(208, 39%, 31%) and hsv(208, 56%, 43%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #30516d a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.0762 and perceived brightness is 30%, so white text on it reaches 8.32:1.

Should I use black or white text on #30516d?

White. It scores 8.32:1 against #30516d, versus 2.52:1 for black — AAA at any size.

Is #30516d accessible on a white background?

#30516d on white scores 8.32:1, which clears AAA at every size.

What is the complementary color of #30516d?

#6D4C30 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #6D3033 and #6D6B30, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #30516d?

For interface work: #F4F8FA as the surface, #C6D8E6 for borders, #4B769B for secondary text, #703B2D as an accent and #274259 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #306D6B and #30336D stays calm, while #6D4C30 is the loudest partner.

What is #30516d in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(56%, 26%, 0%, 57%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #30516d warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 99 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #303B6D; nudged cooler, #27415D.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #30516d?

The slate family — its 500 step is #64748b, ΔE2000 14.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #30516d as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #30516d in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#30516d] or text-[#30516d], 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 #30516d with 50% opacity?

rgba(48, 81, 109, 0.5), or #30516d80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #98A8B6; over black, #182937.

Is #30516d a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #336666, ΔE2000 16.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #30516d 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 #30516d?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #437198, #30516d 45%, #274259). For more colour, a short hue run to #312758 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #30516d in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #30516d at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.