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blue · cool

#3f6980

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

Token name suggestion: Dusk Cobalt

RGB
63, 105, 128
HSL
201°, 34%, 38%
CMYK
51, 18, 0, 50
Luminance
0.1272

#3f6980 is a dark soft blue, 201° on the wheel and 95/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (5.93:1). As text it scores 5.93:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is slate.

hsl(201 34% 38%)rgb(63 105 128)Base step 700AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #3f6980 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#3f6980
Hue
201°
blue
Saturation
34%
soft
Lightness
38%
dark
Brightness
50%
HSV value
Perceived
38%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1272
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
95/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
White
5.93:1
Closest name
Steel Blue
ΔE2000 12
Chroma
19.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.500
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
slate
500 · ΔE 9.7
Web-safe
#336699
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue201° of 360°
Saturation34%
Lightness38%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #3f6980.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool95% 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%
Green79%
Blue12%

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

Every format

HEX#3f6980
HEX (8-digit)#3f6980ff
RGBrgb(63, 105, 128)
RGBArgba(63, 105, 128, 1)
HSLhsl(201, 34%, 38%)
HSV / HSBhsv(201, 51%, 50%)
HWBhwb(201 25% 50%)
CMYKcmyk(51%, 18%, 0%, 50%)
LABlab(42.3 -7.8 -17.3)
LCHlch(42.3 19.0 245.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.500 0.060 233.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(11.00, 12.72, 22.29)
Decimal4155776
Display P3color(display-p3 0.247 0.412 0.502)
Web-safe#336699

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #3f6980;
background-color: #3f6980;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #3f6980;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#3f6980] bg-[#3f6980]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #3f6980;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.247, green: 0.412, blue: 0.502)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.247, green: 0.412, blue: 0.502, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#3F6980</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF3F6980)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF3F6980)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(128, 105, 63)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(63, 105, 128)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(63, 105, 128)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 63, 105, 128)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.2471f, 0.4118f, 0.5020f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{63,105,128}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #3f6980 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #3f6980 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#2A4655, #D6E3EB);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #3f6980 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: #F5F8F9;
  --brand-100: #ECF1F4;
  --brand-200: #D4E1E8;
  --brand-300: #B4CCDA;
  --brand-400: #8EB3C7;
  --brand-500: #699AB5;
  --brand-600: #5187A4;
  --brand-700: #3f6980;
  --brand-800: #365A6D;
  --brand-900: #2A4350;
  --brand-950: #1A2A32;
  --brand: #3f6980;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F5F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C8DAE4;
  --brand-hover: #335668;
  --brand-pressed: #284250;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141F24;
    --brand-ink: #D6E3EB;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F8F9',
        100: '#ECF1F4',
        200: '#D4E1E8',
        300: '#B4CCDA',
        400: '#8EB3C7',
        500: '#699AB5',
        600: '#5187A4',
        700: '#3f6980',
        800: '#365A6D',
        900: '#2A4350',
        950: '#1A2A32',
        DEFAULT: '#3f6980',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F8F9,
  '100': #ECF1F4,
  '200': #D4E1E8,
  '300': #B4CCDA,
  '400': #8EB3C7,
  '500': #699AB5,
  '600': #5187A4,
  '700': #3f6980,
  '800': #365A6D,
  '900': #2A4350,
  '950': #1A2A32,
);
$brand-base: #3f6980;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F8F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#ECF1F4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D4E1E8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B4CCDA", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#8EB3C7", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#699AB5", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#5187A4", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#3f6980", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#365A6D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2A4350", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1A2A32", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #3f6980 · 5.93:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 5.93:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 3.54:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #3f6980 as text scores 5.93:1 on white and 3.54:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #EEF4F7 at 5.34:1.

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
#3f6980 · 5.93:1
AA on whitealready passes
#3f6980
The quick fox
#375B6F · 7.27:1
AAA on white−5% L
#375B6F
The quick fox
#497A95 · 4.50:1
AA on black+6% L
#497A95
The quick fox
#6E9DB7 · 7.17:1
AAA on black+20% L
#6E9DB7

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #3F6980 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
#3f6980 on white: 5.93:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#3f6980 on black: 3.54:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #3f6980 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #3f6980.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White5.93:1AaAa
Slate 505.66:1AaAa
Slate 1005.41:1AaAa
Slate 2004.81:1AaAa
Slate 3003.99:1AaAa
Slate 4002.31:1AaAa
Slate 5001.25:1AaAa
Slate 6001.28:1AaAa
Slate 7001.75:1AaAa
Slate 8002.47:1AaAa
Slate 9003.01:1AaAa
Black3.54:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #5E6881
deuteranopia · #556180
tritanopia · #1E6F70

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. #3f6980 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.

#F5F8F9
#ECF1F4
#D4E1E8
#B4CCDA
#8EB3C7
#699AB5
#5187A4
#3f6980
#365A6D
#2A4350
#1A2A32
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #F5F8F9Darkest = 950 · #1A2A32Text 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 0.015 233.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.024 233.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.036 233.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.046 233.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.055 233.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.060 233.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.060 233.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.056 233.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.050 233.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.042 233.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.033 233.7);
}

Colors that work with #3f6980

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#F5F8FA
Tinted page background
Border#C8DAE4
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4C7E9A
Captions on the surface
Accent#84433B
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#2A4655
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EEF4F7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141F24
Dark-mode background
Hover#335668
One step down in lightness
Pressed#284250
Two steps down
Disabled#819EAE
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#3B7798
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 #3f6980

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#80563F
Analogous left#3F8077
Analogous right#3F4980
Split-complement 1#803F49
Split-complement 2#80773F
Triadic 1#803F69
Triadic 2#69803F
Tetradic#773F80
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°201°

#3f6980 sits at 201°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red24.7%
Green41.2%
Blue50.2%
R · 0–255
63
0x3f
G · 0–255
105
0x69
B · 0–255
128
0x80

CMYK percentages

Cyan50.8%
Magenta18.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)49.8%

Total ink coverage is 119%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#3f6980 text on a black background

contrast 3.54:1

Card sample

#3f6980 text on a white background

contrast 5.93:1

Card sample

#3f6980 on grey

5.41:1

#3f6980 on its own surface

5.56:1

#3f6980 on its dark surface

2.83:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #3f6980;
Background color
Panel with #3f6980 background
background-color: #3f6980;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #3f6980;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(63, 105, 128, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(63, 105, 128, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #3f6980;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #3f6980, #403F80);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #3f6980, #513F80);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #3f6980;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #3f6980;
caret-color: #3f6980;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #3f6980;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EEF4F7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #3f6980;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#3f6980 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #3f6980 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(63, 105, 128, 0.5)
rgb(63 105 128 / 50%)
#3f698080
hsl(201 34% 38% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #3f6980 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#3f69801a#ECF0F2
20%#3f698033#D9E1E6
40%#3f698066#B2C3CC
60%#3f698099#8CA5B3
80%#3f6980cc#658799

Gradients from #3f6980

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, #538BA9, #3f6980 45%, #2A4655);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #3f6980, #3B356C);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #3f6980, #80563F);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #6799B4 0%, #3f6980 45%, #2A4655 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5F8FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #50A28F 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #494E95 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #2A4655 0%, transparent 65%), #3f6980;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #3f6980

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.

#3f6980 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 3.54:1 — lift it to #497A95 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.

#3f6980, answered

What color is #3f6980?

#3f6980 is a dark soft blue, closest to Steel Blue (ΔE2000 12). It sits at 201° on the hue wheel with 34% saturation and 38% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #3f6980?

rgb(63, 105, 128) — 63 red, 105 green and 128 blue out of 255, or 24.7% / 41.2% / 50.2% by channel.

What is #3f6980 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(201, 34%, 38%) and hsv(201, 51%, 50%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #3f6980 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1272 and perceived brightness is 38%, so white text on it reaches 5.93:1.

Should I use black or white text on #3f6980?

White. It scores 5.93:1 against #3f6980, versus 3.54:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #3f6980 accessible on a white background?

#3f6980 on white scores 5.93:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #3f6980?

#80563F sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #803F49 and #80773F, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #3f6980?

For interface work: #F5F8FA as the surface, #C8DAE4 for borders, #4C7E9A for secondary text, #84433B as an accent and #2A4655 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #3F8077 and #3F4980 stays calm, while #80563F is the loudest partner.

What is #3f6980 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(51%, 18%, 0%, 50%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #3f6980 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 95 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #3F807F; nudged cooler, #3D6182.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #3f6980?

The slate family — its 500 step is #64748b, ΔE2000 9.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #3f6980 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #3f6980 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#3f6980] or text-[#3f6980], 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 #3f6980 with 50% opacity?

rgba(63, 105, 128, 0.5), or #3f698080 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #9FB4C0; over black, #203540.

Is #3f6980 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #336699, ΔE2000 7.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #3f6980 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 #3f6980?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #538BA9, #3f6980 45%, #2A4655). For more colour, a short hue run to #3B356C keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #3f6980 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #3f6980 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.