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blue · cool

#321baf

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

Token name suggestion: Slate Sapphire

RGB
50, 27, 175
HSL
249°, 73%, 40%
CMYK
71, 85, 0, 31
Luminance
0.0456

#321baf is a dark vivid blue, 249° on the wheel and 78/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (10.99:1). As text it scores 10.99:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Medium Blue, nearest Tailwind family is indigo.

hsl(249 73% 40%)rgb(50 27 175)Base step 700AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #321baf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#321baf
Hue
249°
blue
Saturation
73%
vivid
Lightness
40%
dark
Brightness
69%
HSV value
Perceived
27%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.0456
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
78/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
White
10.99:1
Closest name
Medium Blue
ΔE2000 4.2
Chroma
90.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.381
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
indigo
500 · ΔE 21.9
Web-safe
#333399
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue249° of 360°
Saturation73%
Lightness40%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #321baf.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool78% 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
Red15%
Green17%
Blue68%

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

Every format

HEX#321baf
HEX (8-digit)#321bafff
RGBrgb(50, 27, 175)
RGBArgba(50, 27, 175, 1)
HSLhsl(249, 73%, 40%)
HSV / HSBhsv(249, 85%, 69%)
HWBhwb(249 11% 31%)
CMYKcmyk(71%, 85%, 0%, 31%)
LABlab(25.4 53.0 -72.9)
LCHlch(25.4 90.1 306.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.381 0.212 276.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(9.44, 4.56, 40.93)
Decimal3283887
Display P3color(display-p3 0.196 0.106 0.686)
Web-safe#333399

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #321baf;
background-color: #321baf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #321baf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#321baf] bg-[#321baf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #321baf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.196, green: 0.106, blue: 0.686)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.196, green: 0.106, blue: 0.686, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#321BAF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF321BAF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF321BAF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(175, 27, 50)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(50, 27, 175)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(50, 27, 175)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 50, 27, 175)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.1961f, 0.1059f, 0.6863f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{50,27,175}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #321baf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #321baf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#20116E, #D7D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #321baf 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: #F4F3FC;
  --brand-100: #EAE7F8;
  --brand-200: #CFC8F3;
  --brand-300: #AB9EF0;
  --brand-400: #806DE9;
  --brand-500: #563DE1;
  --brand-600: #3C21D4;
  --brand-700: #321baf;
  --brand-800: #28168D;
  --brand-900: #211466;
  --brand-950: #140C40;
  --brand: #321baf;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F5F4FA;
  --brand-border: #C7C0ED;
  --brand-hover: #291690;
  --brand-pressed: #201171;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #161424;
    --brand-ink: #D7D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4F3FC',
        100: '#EAE7F8',
        200: '#CFC8F3',
        300: '#AB9EF0',
        400: '#806DE9',
        500: '#563DE1',
        600: '#3C21D4',
        700: '#321baf',
        800: '#28168D',
        900: '#211466',
        950: '#140C40',
        DEFAULT: '#321baf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4F3FC,
  '100': #EAE7F8,
  '200': #CFC8F3,
  '300': #AB9EF0,
  '400': #806DE9,
  '500': #563DE1,
  '600': #3C21D4,
  '700': #321baf,
  '800': #28168D,
  '900': #211466,
  '950': #140C40,
);
$brand-base: #321baf;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4F3FC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EAE7F8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CFC8F3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#AB9EF0", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#806DE9", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#563DE1", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#3C21D4", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#321baf", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#28168D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#211466", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#140C40", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #321baf · 10.99:1
Use #ffffffAAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 10.99:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Aa
Black text · 1.91:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #321baf as text scores 10.99:1 on white and 1.91:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #ECE9FC at 9.22:1.

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
#321baf · 10.99:1
AA on whitealready passes
#321baf
The quick fox
#321baf · 10.99:1
AAA on whitealready passes
#321baf
The quick fox
#7763E7 · 4.72:1
AA on black+25% L
#7763E7
The quick fox
#9A8AED · 7.23:1
AAA on black+34% L
#9A8AED

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #321BAF 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
#321baf on white: 10.99:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#321baf on black: 1.91:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #321baf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #321baf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White10.99:1AaAa
Slate 5010.50:1AaAa
Slate 10010.03:1AaAa
Slate 2008.91:1AaAa
Slate 3007.40:1AaAa
Slate 4004.28:1AaAa
Slate 5002.31:1AaAa
Slate 6001.45:1AaAa
Slate 7001.06:1AaAa
Slate 8001.33:1AaAa
Slate 9001.62:1AaAa
Black1.91:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #0042B3
deuteranopia · #0036AD
tritanopia · #004B68

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. #321baf 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.

#F4F3FC
#EAE7F8
#CFC8F3
#AB9EF0
#806DE9
#563DE1
#3C21D4
#321baf
#28168D
#211466
#140C40
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #F4F3FCDarkest = 950 · #140C40Text 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 0.053 276.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.085 276.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.127 276.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.165 276.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.195 276.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.212 276.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.212 276.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.199 276.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.178 276.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.148 276.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.117 276.4);
}

Colors that work with #321baf

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#C7C0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#574B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#B5A617
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#20116E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#ECE9FC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#161424
Dark-mode background
Hover#291690
One step down in lightness
Pressed#201171
Two steps down
Disabled#8E88B3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#2F13CC
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 #321baf

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
  • Weight60/100
  • 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#98AF1B
Analogous left#1B4EAF
Analogous right#7C1BAF
Split-complement 1#AF7C1B
Split-complement 2#4EAF1B
Triadic 1#AF321B
Triadic 2#1BAF32
Tetradic#AF1B4E
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°249°

#321baf sits at 249°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red19.6%
Green10.6%
Blue68.6%
R · 0–255
50
0x32
G · 0–255
27
0x1b
B · 0–255
175
0xaf

CMYK percentages

Cyan71.4%
Magenta84.6%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)31.4%

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

Color previews

#321baf text on a black background

contrast 1.91:1

Card sample

#321baf text on a white background

contrast 10.99:1

Card sample

#321baf on grey

10.03:1

#321baf on its own surface

10.05:1

#321baf on its dark surface

1.65:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #321baf;
Background color
Panel with #321baf background
background-color: #321baf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #321baf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(50, 27, 175, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(50, 27, 175, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #321baf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #321baf, #951BAF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #321baf, #AF1BA4);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #321baf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #321baf;
caret-color: #321baf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #321baf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #ECE9FC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #321baf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#321baf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #321baf 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(50, 27, 175, 0.5)
rgb(50 27 175 / 50%)
#321baf80
hsl(249 73% 40% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #321baf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#321baf1a#EBE8F7
20%#321baf33#D6D1EF
40%#321baf66#ADA4DF
60%#321baf99#8476CF
80%#321bafcc#5B49BF

Gradients from #321baf

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, #4529DE, #321baf 45%, #20116E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #321baf, #891794);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #321baf, #98AF1B);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #5C44E2 0%, #321baf 45%, #20116E 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%, #2271DB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #9D1FCA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #20116E 0%, transparent 65%), #321baf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #321baf

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.

#321baf 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 1.91:1 — lift it to #7763E7 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.

#321baf, answered

What color is #321baf?

#321baf is a dark vivid blue, closest to Medium Blue (ΔE2000 4.2). It sits at 249° on the hue wheel with 73% saturation and 40% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #321baf?

rgb(50, 27, 175) — 50 red, 27 green and 175 blue out of 255, or 19.6% / 10.6% / 68.6% by channel.

What is #321baf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(249, 73%, 40%) and hsv(249, 85%, 69%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #321baf a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.0456 and perceived brightness is 27%, so white text on it reaches 10.99:1.

Should I use black or white text on #321baf?

White. It scores 10.99:1 against #321baf, versus 1.91:1 for black — AAA at any size.

Is #321baf accessible on a white background?

#321baf on white scores 10.99:1, which clears AAA at every size.

What is the complementary color of #321baf?

#98AF1B sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #AF7C1B and #4EAF1B, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #321baf?

For interface work: #F5F4FA as the surface, #C7C0ED for borders, #574B9B for secondary text, #B5A617 as an accent and #20116E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #1B4EAF and #7C1BAF stays calm, while #98AF1B is the loudest partner.

What is #321baf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(71%, 85%, 0%, 31%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #321baf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 78 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #681BAF; nudged cooler, #1939B1.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #321baf?

The indigo family — its 500 step is #6366f1, ΔE2000 21.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #321baf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #321baf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#321baf] or text-[#321baf], 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 #321baf with 50% opacity?

rgba(50, 27, 175, 0.5), or #321baf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #998DD7; over black, #190E58.

Is #321baf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #333399, ΔE2000 6.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #321baf 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 #321baf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #4529DE, #321baf 45%, #20116E). For more colour, a short hue run to #891794 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #321baf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #321baf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.