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blue · cool

#385573

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

Token name suggestion: Slate Cobalt

RGB
56, 85, 115
HSL
211°, 35%, 34%
CMYK
51, 26, 0, 55
Luminance
0.0858

#385573 is a dark soft blue, 211° on the wheel and 99/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (7.73:1). As text it scores 7.73:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Dark Slate Blue, nearest Tailwind family is slate.

hsl(211 35% 34%)rgb(56 85 115)Base step 800AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #385573 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#385573
Hue
211°
blue
Saturation
35%
soft
Lightness
34%
dark
Brightness
45%
HSV value
Perceived
32%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.0858
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
99/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
White
7.73:1
Closest name
Dark Slate Blue
ΔE2000 11.4
Chroma
20.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.440
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
slate
500 · ΔE 12.5
Web-safe
#336666
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue211° of 360°
Saturation35%
Lightness34%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #385573.

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
Red10%
Green76%
Blue14%

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

Every format

HEX#385573
HEX (8-digit)#385573ff
RGBrgb(56, 85, 115)
RGBArgba(56, 85, 115, 1)
HSLhsl(211, 35%, 34%)
HSV / HSBhsv(211, 51%, 45%)
HWBhwb(211 22% 55%)
CMYKcmyk(51%, 26%, 0%, 55%)
LABlab(35.1 -1.6 -20.4)
LCHlch(35.1 20.5 265.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.440 0.061 250.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(7.97, 8.57, 17.45)
Decimal3691891
Display P3color(display-p3 0.220 0.333 0.451)
Web-safe#336666

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #385573;
background-color: #385573;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #385573;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#385573] bg-[#385573]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #385573;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.220, green: 0.333, blue: 0.451)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.220, green: 0.333, blue: 0.451, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#385573</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF385573)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF385573)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(115, 85, 56)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(56, 85, 115)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(56, 85, 115)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 56, 85, 115)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.2196f, 0.3333f, 0.4510f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{56,85,115}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #385573 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #385573 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#2A3F56, #D6E0EB);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #385573 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: #F5F7F9;
  --brand-100: #ECF0F4;
  --brand-200: #D4DEE8;
  --brand-300: #B4C7DA;
  --brand-400: #8EAAC8;
  --brand-500: #688EB6;
  --brand-600: #507AA5;
  --brand-700: #436589;
  --brand-800: #385573;
  --brand-900: #2A3D51;
  --brand-950: #1A2632;
  --brand: #385573;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F5F7FA;
  --brand-border: #C8D6E4;
  --brand-hover: #2C435B;
  --brand-pressed: #213143;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141C24;
    --brand-ink: #D6E0EB;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F7F9',
        100: '#ECF0F4',
        200: '#D4DEE8',
        300: '#B4C7DA',
        400: '#8EAAC8',
        500: '#688EB6',
        600: '#507AA5',
        700: '#436589',
        800: '#385573',
        900: '#2A3D51',
        950: '#1A2632',
        DEFAULT: '#385573',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F7F9,
  '100': #ECF0F4,
  '200': #D4DEE8,
  '300': #B4C7DA,
  '400': #8EAAC8,
  '500': #688EB6,
  '600': #507AA5,
  '700': #436589,
  '800': #385573,
  '900': #2A3D51,
  '950': #1A2632,
);
$brand-base: #385573;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F7F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#ECF0F4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D4DEE8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B4C7DA", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#8EAAC8", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#688EB6", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#507AA5", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#436589", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#385573", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2A3D51", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1A2632", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #385573 · 7.73:1
Use #ffffffAAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 7.73:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Aa
Black text · 2.72:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #385573 as text scores 7.73:1 on white and 2.72:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #EEF2F7 at 6.88:1.

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
#385573 · 7.73:1
AA on whitealready passes
#385573
The quick fox
#385573 · 7.73:1
AAA on whitealready passes
#385573
The quick fox
#4F78A3 · 4.55:1
AA on black+14% L
#4F78A3
The quick fox
#789ABD · 7.16:1
AAA on black+27% L
#789ABD

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #385573 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
#385573 on white: 7.73:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#385573 on black: 2.72:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #385573 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #385573.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White7.73:1AaAa
Slate 507.39:1AaAa
Slate 1007.06:1AaAa
Slate 2006.27:1AaAa
Slate 3005.21:1AaAa
Slate 4003.02:1AaAa
Slate 5001.63:1AaAa
Slate 6001.02:1AaAa
Slate 7001.34:1AaAa
Slate 8001.89:1AaAa
Slate 9002.31:1AaAa
Black2.72:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #495674
deuteranopia · #415072
tritanopia · #1D5C5F

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. #385573 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.

#F5F7F9
#ECF0F4
#D4DEE8
#B4C7DA
#8EAAC8
#688EB6
#507AA5
#436589
#385573
#2A3D51
#1A2632
Base = 800Lightest = 50 · #F5F7F9Darkest = 950 · #1A2632Text step on white = 600
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 0.015 250.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.024 250.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.036 250.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.047 250.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.056 250.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.061 250.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.061 250.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.057 250.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.051 250.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.042 250.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.033 250.2);
}

Colors that work with #385573

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#F5F7FA
Tinted page background
Border#C8D6E4
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B729A
Captions on the surface
Accent#764635
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#2A3F56
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EEF2F7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141C24
Dark-mode background
Hover#2C435B
One step down in lightness
Pressed#213143
Two steps down
Disabled#758DA6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#355F8A
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 #385573

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
  • Weight67/100
  • 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#735638
Analogous left#387273
Analogous right#383873
Split-complement 1#733838
Split-complement 2#727338
Triadic 1#733855
Triadic 2#557338
Tetradic#733872
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°211°

#385573 sits at 211°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red22.0%
Green33.3%
Blue45.1%
R · 0–255
56
0x38
G · 0–255
85
0x55
B · 0–255
115
0x73

CMYK percentages

Cyan51.3%
Magenta26.1%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)54.9%

Total ink coverage is 132%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#385573 text on a black background

contrast 2.72:1

Card sample

#385573 text on a white background

contrast 7.73:1

Card sample

#385573 on grey

7.06:1

#385573 on its own surface

7.21:1

#385573 on its dark surface

2.22:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #385573;
Background color
Panel with #385573 background
background-color: #385573;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #385573;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(56, 85, 115, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(56, 85, 115, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #385573;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #385573, #423873);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #385573, #513873);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #385573;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #385573;
caret-color: #385573;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #385573;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EEF2F7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #385573;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#385573 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #385573 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(56, 85, 115, 0.5)
rgb(56 85 115 / 50%)
#38557380
hsl(211 35% 34% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #385573 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#3855731a#EBEEF1
20%#38557333#D7DDE3
40%#38557366#AFBBC7
60%#38557399#8899AB
80%#385573cc#60778F

Gradients from #385573

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, #4C739C, #385573 45%, #2A3F56);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #385573, #3A2E5E);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #385573, #735638);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #5983AE 0%, #385573 45%, #2A3F56 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5F7FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #49958F 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #484287 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #2A3F56 0%, transparent 65%), #385573;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #385573

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.

#385573 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 2.72:1 — lift it to #4F78A3 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.

#385573, answered

What color is #385573?

#385573 is a dark soft blue, closest to Dark Slate Blue (ΔE2000 11.4). It sits at 211° on the hue wheel with 35% saturation and 34% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #385573?

rgb(56, 85, 115) — 56 red, 85 green and 115 blue out of 255, or 22% / 33.3% / 45.1% by channel.

What is #385573 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(211, 35%, 34%) and hsv(211, 51%, 45%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #385573 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.0858 and perceived brightness is 32%, so white text on it reaches 7.73:1.

Should I use black or white text on #385573?

White. It scores 7.73:1 against #385573, versus 2.72:1 for black — AAA at any size.

Is #385573 accessible on a white background?

#385573 on white scores 7.73:1, which clears AAA at every size.

What is the complementary color of #385573?

#735638 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #733838 and #727338, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #385573?

For interface work: #F5F7FA as the surface, #C8D6E4 for borders, #4B729A for secondary text, #764635 as an accent and #2A3F56 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #387273 and #383873 stays calm, while #735638 is the loudest partner.

What is #385573 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(51%, 26%, 0%, 55%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #385573 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 #383F73; nudged cooler, #2E4763.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #385573?

The slate family — its 500 step is #64748b, ΔE2000 12.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #385573 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #385573 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#385573] or text-[#385573], 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 #385573 with 50% opacity?

rgba(56, 85, 115, 0.5), or #38557380 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #9CAAB9; over black, #1C2B3A.

Is #385573 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #336666, ΔE2000 17.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #385573 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 #385573?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #4C739C, #385573 45%, #2A3F56). For more colour, a short hue run to #3A2E5E keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #385573 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #385573 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.