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blue · cool

#36adeb

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

Token name suggestion: Atlas Cobalt

RGB
54, 173, 235
HSL
201°, 82%, 57%
CMYK
77, 26, 0, 8
Luminance
0.3667

#36adeb is a balanced electric blue, 201° on the wheel and 96/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.33:1). As text it scores 2.52:1 on white — use #127CB4 instead. Nearest name is Deep Sky Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(201 82% 57%)rgb(54 173 235)Base step 500AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #36adeb is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#36adeb
Hue
201°
blue
Saturation
82%
electric
Lightness
57%
balanced
Brightness
92%
HSV value
Perceived
62%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3667
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
96/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
8.33:1
Closest name
Deep Sky Blue
ΔE2000 5.3
Chroma
42.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.710
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 2.6
Web-safe
#3399FF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue201° of 360°
Saturation82%
Lightness57%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #36adeb.

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
Red2%
Green82%
Blue16%

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

Every format

HEX#36adeb
HEX (8-digit)#36adebff
RGBrgb(54, 173, 235)
RGBArgba(54, 173, 235, 1)
HSLhsl(201, 82%, 57%)
HSV / HSBhsv(201, 77%, 92%)
HWBhwb(201 21% 8%)
CMYKcmyk(77%, 26%, 0%, 8%)
LABlab(67.0 -12.0 -40.3)
LCHlch(67.0 42.0 253.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.710 0.136 236.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(31.45, 36.67, 84.00)
Decimal3583467
Display P3color(display-p3 0.212 0.678 0.922)
Web-safe#3399FF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #36adeb;
background-color: #36adeb;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #36adeb;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#36adeb] bg-[#36adeb]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #36adeb;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.212, green: 0.678, blue: 0.922)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.212, green: 0.678, blue: 0.922, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#36ADEB</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF36ADEB)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF36ADEB)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(235, 173, 54)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(54, 173, 235)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(54, 173, 235)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 54, 173, 235)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.2118f, 0.6784f, 0.9216f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{54,173,235}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #36adeb 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #36adeb 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#0C5074, #D3E5EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #36adeb 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: #F2F9FC;
  --brand-100: #E6F3F9;
  --brand-200: #C6E5F6;
  --brand-300: #99D5F5;
  --brand-400: #66C0F0;
  --brand-500: #36adeb;
  --brand-600: #169ADF;
  --brand-700: #1280BA;
  --brand-800: #0F6794;
  --brand-900: #0F4C6B;
  --brand-950: #092F43;
  --brand: #36adeb;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C0DDED;
  --brand-hover: #179FE7;
  --brand-pressed: #1489C6;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141F24;
    --brand-ink: #D3E5EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F2F9FC',
        100: '#E6F3F9',
        200: '#C6E5F6',
        300: '#99D5F5',
        400: '#66C0F0',
        500: '#36adeb',
        600: '#169ADF',
        700: '#1280BA',
        800: '#0F6794',
        900: '#0F4C6B',
        950: '#092F43',
        DEFAULT: '#36adeb',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F2F9FC,
  '100': #E6F3F9,
  '200': #C6E5F6,
  '300': #99D5F5,
  '400': #66C0F0,
  '500': #36adeb,
  '600': #169ADF,
  '700': #1280BA,
  '800': #0F6794,
  '900': #0F4C6B,
  '950': #092F43,
);
$brand-base: #36adeb;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F2F9FC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E6F3F9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C6E5F6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#99D5F5", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#66C0F0", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#36adeb", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#169ADF", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#1280BA", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#0F6794", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#0F4C6B", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#092F43", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #36adeb · 8.33:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.52:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.33:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #36adeb as text scores 2.52:1 on white and 8.33:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #0C5074 at 3.45:1.

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
#127CB4 · 4.60:1
AA on white−18% L
#127CB4
The quick fox
#0D5C85 · 7.27:1
AAA on white−28% L
#0D5C85
The quick fox
#36adeb · 8.33:1
AA on blackalready passes
#36adeb
The quick fox
#36adeb · 8.33:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#36adeb

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #169CE2 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
#36adeb on white: 2.52:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#36adeb on black: 8.33:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #36adeb as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #36adeb.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.52:1AaAa
Slate 502.41:1AaAa
Slate 1002.30:1AaAa
Slate 2002.04:1AaAa
Slate 3001.70:1AaAa
Slate 4001.02:1AaAa
Slate 5001.89:1AaAa
Slate 6003.01:1AaAa
Slate 7004.11:1AaAa
Slate 8005.81:1AaAa
Slate 9007.08:1AaAa
Black8.33:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #8FADEE
deuteranopia · #779CEA
tritanopia · #00BDC2

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. #36adeb 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.

#F2F9FC
#E6F3F9
#C6E5F6
#99D5F5
#66C0F0
#36adeb
#169ADF
#1280BA
#0F6794
#0F4C6B
#092F43
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F2F9FCDarkest = 950 · #092F43Text 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 0.034 236.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.054 236.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.082 236.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.106 236.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.125 236.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.136 236.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.136 236.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.128 236.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.114 236.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.095 236.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.075 236.6);
}

Colors that work with #36adeb

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#EF4332
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#0C5074
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E8F6FD
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141F24
Dark-mode background
Hover#179FE7
One step down in lightness
Pressed#1489C6
Two steps down
Disabled#BDCCD5
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#3FB8F7
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 #36adeb

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 #0C5074
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #169CE2

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
  • Weight43/100
  • 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#EB7436
Analogous left#36EBCF
Analogous right#3652EB
Split-complement 1#EB3652
Split-complement 2#EBCF36
Triadic 1#EB36AD
Triadic 2#ADEB36
Tetradic#CF36EB
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°201°

#36adeb sits at 201°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red21.2%
Green67.8%
Blue92.2%
R · 0–255
54
0x36
G · 0–255
173
0xad
B · 0–255
235
0xeb

CMYK percentages

Cyan77.0%
Magenta26.4%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)7.8%

Total ink coverage is 111%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#36adeb text on a black background

contrast 8.33:1

Card sample

#36adeb text on a white background

contrast 2.52:1

Card sample

#36adeb on grey

2.30:1

#36adeb on its own surface

2.36:1

#36adeb on its dark surface

6.66:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #36adeb;
Background color
Panel with #36adeb background
background-color: #36adeb;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #36adeb;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(54, 173, 235, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(54, 173, 235, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #36adeb;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #36adeb, #3836EB);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #36adeb, #6536EB);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #36adeb;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #36adeb;
caret-color: #36adeb;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #36adeb;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E8F6FD;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #36adeb;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#36adeb 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #36adeb 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(54, 173, 235, 0.5)
rgb(54 173 235 / 50%)
#36adeb80
hsl(201 82% 57% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #36adeb 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#36adeb1a#EBF7FD
20%#36adeb33#D7EFFB
40%#36adeb66#AFDEF7
60%#36adeb99#86CEF3
80%#36adebcc#5EBDEF

Gradients from #36adeb

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, #6EC4F1, #36adeb 45%, #0C5074);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #36adeb, #2E1AE8);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #36adeb, #EB7436);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #8ACFF3 0%, #36adeb 45%, #0C5074 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%, #65F0CE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #525DEE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #0C5074 0%, transparent 65%), #36adeb;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #36adeb

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.

#36adeb 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 8.33:1.

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.

#36adeb, answered

What color is #36adeb?

#36adeb is a balanced electric blue, closest to Deep Sky Blue (ΔE2000 5.3). It sits at 201° on the hue wheel with 82% saturation and 57% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #36adeb?

rgb(54, 173, 235) — 54 red, 173 green and 235 blue out of 255, or 21.2% / 67.8% / 92.2% by channel.

What is #36adeb in HSL and HSV?

hsl(201, 82%, 57%) and hsv(201, 77%, 92%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #36adeb a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3667 and perceived brightness is 62%, so black text on it reaches 8.33:1.

Should I use black or white text on #36adeb?

Black. It scores 8.33:1 against #36adeb, versus 2.52:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #36adeb accessible on a white background?

#36adeb on white scores 2.52:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #127CB4 to reach 4.5:1, or #0D5C85 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #36adeb?

#EB7436 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #EB3652 and #EBCF36, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #36adeb?

For interface work: #F4F8FA as the surface, #C0DDED for borders, #4B7F9B for secondary text, #EF4332 as an accent and #0C5074 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #36EBCF and #3652EB stays calm, while #EB7436 is the loudest partner.

What is #36adeb in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(77%, 26%, 0%, 8%). 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 #36adeb 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 #36EBE7; nudged cooler, #1C91EB.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #36adeb?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 2.6 away. That is close enough to swap in without anyone noticing.

How do I use #36adeb in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#36adeb] or text-[#36adeb], 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 #36adeb with 50% opacity?

rgba(54, 173, 235, 0.5), or #36adeb80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #9BD6F5; over black, #1B5776.

Is #36adeb a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #3399FF, ΔE2000 9.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #36adeb 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 #36adeb?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #6EC4F1, #36adeb 45%, #0C5074). For more colour, a short hue run to #2E1AE8 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #36adeb in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #36adeb at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.