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blue · cool

#356a88

a dark, soft blue · cool · closest name: Steel Blue

Token name suggestion: Dusk Denim

RGB
53, 106, 136
HSL
202°, 44%, 37%
CMYK
61, 22, 0, 47
Luminance
0.1284

#356a88 is a dark soft blue, 202° on the wheel and 97/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (5.88:1). As text it scores 5.88:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is slate.

hsl(202 44% 37%)rgb(53 106 136)Base step 700AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #356a88 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#356a88
Hue
202°
blue
Saturation
44%
soft
Lightness
37%
dark
Brightness
53%
HSV value
Perceived
38%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1284
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
97/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
White
5.88:1
Closest name
Steel Blue
ΔE2000 10.8
Chroma
23.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.501
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
slate
500 · ΔE 10.3
Web-safe
#336699
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue202° of 360°
Saturation44%
Lightness37%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #356a88.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool97% 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
Red6%
Green80%
Blue14%

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

Every format

HEX#356a88
HEX (8-digit)#356a88ff
RGBrgb(53, 106, 136)
RGBArgba(53, 106, 136, 1)
HSLhsl(202, 44%, 37%)
HSV / HSBhsv(202, 61%, 53%)
HWBhwb(202 21% 47%)
CMYKcmyk(61%, 22%, 0%, 47%)
LABlab(42.5 -8.1 -21.9)
LCHlch(42.5 23.3 249.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.501 0.074 235.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(11.06, 12.84, 25.18)
Decimal3500680
Display P3color(display-p3 0.208 0.416 0.533)
Web-safe#336699

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #356a88;
background-color: #356a88;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #356a88;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#356a88] bg-[#356a88]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #356a88;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.208, green: 0.416, blue: 0.533)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.208, green: 0.416, blue: 0.533, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#356A88</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF356A88)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF356A88)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(136, 106, 53)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(53, 106, 136)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(53, 106, 136)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 53, 106, 136)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.2078f, 0.4157f, 0.5333f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{53,106,136}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #356a88 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #356a88 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#24475C, #D3E4EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #356a88 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: #EAF1F5;
  --brand-200: #D1E1EB;
  --brand-300: #AECEE0;
  --brand-400: #86B5D0;
  --brand-500: #5E9CC0;
  --brand-600: #4589B0;
  --brand-700: #356a88;
  --brand-800: #2E5C75;
  --brand-900: #244456;
  --brand-950: #172B36;
  --brand: #356a88;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F4F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C4DBE8;
  --brand-hover: #2B566E;
  --brand-pressed: #214255;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141E24;
    --brand-ink: #D3E4EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F8FA',
        100: '#EAF1F5',
        200: '#D1E1EB',
        300: '#AECEE0',
        400: '#86B5D0',
        500: '#5E9CC0',
        600: '#4589B0',
        700: '#356a88',
        800: '#2E5C75',
        900: '#244456',
        950: '#172B36',
        DEFAULT: '#356a88',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F8FA,
  '100': #EAF1F5,
  '200': #D1E1EB,
  '300': #AECEE0,
  '400': #86B5D0,
  '500': #5E9CC0,
  '600': #4589B0,
  '700': #356a88,
  '800': #2E5C75,
  '900': #244456,
  '950': #172B36,
);
$brand-base: #356a88;
$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": "#EAF1F5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D1E1EB", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#AECEE0", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#86B5D0", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#5E9CC0", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#4589B0", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#356a88", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#2E5C75", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#244456", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#172B36", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #356a88 · 5.88:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 5.88:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 3.57:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #356a88 as text scores 5.88:1 on white and 3.57:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #EDF4F8 at 5.30:1.

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
#356a88 · 5.88:1
AA on whitealready passes
#356a88
The quick fox
#2E5C76 · 7.22:1
AAA on white−5% L
#2E5C76
The quick fox
#3E7B9E · 4.53:1
AA on black+6% L
#3E7B9E
The quick fox
#5E9DC0 · 7.06:1
AAA on black+19% L
#5E9DC0

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #356A88 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
#356a88 on white: 5.88:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#356a88 on black: 3.57:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #356a88 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #356a88.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White5.88:1AaAa
Slate 505.62:1AaAa
Slate 1005.37:1AaAa
Slate 2004.77:1AaAa
Slate 3003.96:1AaAa
Slate 4002.30:1AaAa
Slate 5001.24:1AaAa
Slate 6001.29:1AaAa
Slate 7001.76:1AaAa
Slate 8002.49:1AaAa
Slate 9003.03:1AaAa
Black3.57:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #5C6989
deuteranopia · #506188
tritanopia · #007274

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. #356a88 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.

#F5F8FA
#EAF1F5
#D1E1EB
#AECEE0
#86B5D0
#5E9CC0
#4589B0
#356a88
#2E5C75
#244456
#172B36
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #F5F8FADarkest = 950 · #172B36Text 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 0.018 235.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.030 235.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.044 235.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.058 235.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.068 235.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.074 235.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.074 235.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.070 235.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.062 235.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.052 235.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.041 235.7);
}

Colors that work with #356a88

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#C4DBE8
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B7E9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#8C3B31
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#24475C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EDF4F8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141E24
Dark-mode background
Hover#2B566E
One step down in lightness
Pressed#214255
Two steps down
Disabled#809DAE
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#3078A1
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 #356a88

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
  • 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
  • Weight63/100
  • 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#885335
Analogous left#35887D
Analogous right#354188
Split-complement 1#883541
Split-complement 2#887D35
Triadic 1#88356A
Triadic 2#6A8835
Tetradic#7D3588
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°202°

#356a88 sits at 202°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red20.8%
Green41.6%
Blue53.3%
R · 0–255
53
0x35
G · 0–255
106
0x6a
B · 0–255
136
0x88

CMYK percentages

Cyan61.0%
Magenta22.1%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)46.7%

Total ink coverage is 130%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#356a88 text on a black background

contrast 3.57:1

Card sample

#356a88 text on a white background

contrast 5.88:1

Card sample

#356a88 on grey

5.37:1

#356a88 on its own surface

5.51:1

#356a88 on its dark surface

2.88:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #356a88;
Background color
Panel with #356a88 background
background-color: #356a88;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #356a88;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(53, 106, 136, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(53, 106, 136, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #356a88;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #356a88, #373588);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #356a88, #4C3588);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #356a88;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #356a88;
caret-color: #356a88;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #356a88;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EDF4F8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #356a88;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#356a88 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #356a88 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(53, 106, 136, 0.5)
rgb(53 106 136 / 50%)
#356a8880
hsl(202 44% 37% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #356a88 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#356a881a#EBF0F3
20%#356a8833#D7E1E7
40%#356a8866#AEC3CF
60%#356a8899#86A6B8
80%#356a88cc#5D88A0

Gradients from #356a88

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, #468CB4, #356a88 45%, #24475C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #356a88, #342C72);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #356a88, #885335);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #5A9ABF 0%, #356a88 45%, #24475C 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%, #43AD95 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #3E439E 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #24475C 0%, transparent 65%), #356a88;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #356a88

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.

#356a88 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 3.57:1 — lift it to #3E7B9E 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.

#356a88, answered

What color is #356a88?

#356a88 is a dark soft blue, closest to Steel Blue (ΔE2000 10.8). It sits at 202° on the hue wheel with 44% saturation and 37% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #356a88?

rgb(53, 106, 136) — 53 red, 106 green and 136 blue out of 255, or 20.8% / 41.6% / 53.3% by channel.

What is #356a88 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(202, 44%, 37%) and hsv(202, 61%, 53%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #356a88 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1284 and perceived brightness is 38%, so white text on it reaches 5.88:1.

Should I use black or white text on #356a88?

White. It scores 5.88:1 against #356a88, versus 3.57:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #356a88 accessible on a white background?

#356a88 on white scores 5.88:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #356a88?

#885335 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #883541 and #887D35, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #356a88?

For interface work: #F4F8FA as the surface, #C4DBE8 for borders, #4B7E9B for secondary text, #8C3B31 as an accent and #24475C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #35887D and #354188 stays calm, while #885335 is the loudest partner.

What is #356a88 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(61%, 22%, 0%, 47%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #356a88 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 97 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #358888; nudged cooler, #33608A.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #356a88?

The slate family — its 500 step is #64748b, ΔE2000 10.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #356a88 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #356a88 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#356a88] or text-[#356a88], 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 #356a88 with 50% opacity?

rgba(53, 106, 136, 0.5), or #356a8880 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #9AB5C4; over black, #1B3544.

Is #356a88 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #336699, ΔE2000 6.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #356a88 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 #356a88?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #468CB4, #356a88 45%, #24475C). For more colour, a short hue run to #342C72 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #356a88 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #356a88 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.