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blue · cool

#42576f

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

Token name suggestion: Slate Sapphire

RGB
66, 87, 111
HSL
212°, 25%, 35%
CMYK
41, 22, 0, 57
Luminance
0.0912

#42576f is a dark soft blue, 212° on the wheel and 85/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (7.44:1). As text it scores 7.44:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Dark Slate Blue, nearest Tailwind family is slate.

hsl(212 25% 35%)rgb(66 87 111)Base step 800AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #42576f is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#42576f
Hue
212°
blue
Saturation
25%
soft
Lightness
35%
dark
Brightness
44%
HSV value
Perceived
33%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.0912
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
85/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
White
7.44:1
Closest name
Dark Slate Blue
ΔE2000 11.2
Chroma
16.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.450
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
slate
500 · ΔE 11.1
Web-safe
#336666
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue212° of 360°
Saturation25%
Lightness35%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #42576f.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool85% 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
Red13%
Green75%
Blue13%

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

Every format

HEX#42576f
HEX (8-digit)#42576fff
RGBrgb(66, 87, 111)
RGBArgba(66, 87, 111, 1)
HSLhsl(212, 25%, 35%)
HSV / HSBhsv(212, 41%, 44%)
HWBhwb(212 26% 56%)
CMYKcmyk(41%, 22%, 0%, 57%)
LABlab(36.2 -1.3 -16.3)
LCHlch(36.2 16.3 265.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.450 0.047 252.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(8.52, 9.12, 16.35)
Decimal4347759
Display P3color(display-p3 0.259 0.341 0.435)
Web-safe#336666

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #42576f;
background-color: #42576f;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #42576f;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#42576f] bg-[#42576f]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #42576f;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.259, green: 0.341, blue: 0.435)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.259, green: 0.341, blue: 0.435, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#42576F</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF42576F)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF42576F)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(111, 87, 66)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(66, 87, 111)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(66, 87, 111)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 66, 87, 111)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.2588f, 0.3412f, 0.4353f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{66,87,111}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #42576f 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #42576f 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#303F50, #D9E0E8);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #42576f 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: #F6F7F9;
  --brand-100: #EDEFF3;
  --brand-200: #D6DDE5;
  --brand-300: #B9C6D5;
  --brand-400: #95A9C0;
  --brand-500: #728DAB;
  --brand-600: #5B7899;
  --brand-700: #4C6480;
  --brand-800: #42576f;
  --brand-900: #2F3C4C;
  --brand-950: #1D262F;
  --brand: #42576f;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F5F7F9;
  --brand-border: #CCD6E1;
  --brand-hover: #354559;
  --brand-pressed: #273442;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #151C23;
    --brand-ink: #D9E0E8;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F7F9',
        100: '#EDEFF3',
        200: '#D6DDE5',
        300: '#B9C6D5',
        400: '#95A9C0',
        500: '#728DAB',
        600: '#5B7899',
        700: '#4C6480',
        800: '#42576f',
        900: '#2F3C4C',
        950: '#1D262F',
        DEFAULT: '#42576f',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F7F9,
  '100': #EDEFF3,
  '200': #D6DDE5,
  '300': #B9C6D5,
  '400': #95A9C0,
  '500': #728DAB,
  '600': #5B7899,
  '700': #4C6480,
  '800': #42576f,
  '900': #2F3C4C,
  '950': #1D262F,
);
$brand-base: #42576f;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F7F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EDEFF3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D6DDE5", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B9C6D5", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#95A9C0", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#728DAB", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#5B7899", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#4C6480", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#42576f", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2F3C4C", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1D262F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #42576f · 7.44:1
Use #ffffffAAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 7.44:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Aa
Black text · 2.82:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #42576f as text scores 7.44:1 on white and 2.82:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #EFF2F5 at 6.62:1.

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
#42576f · 7.44:1
AA on whitealready passes
#42576f
The quick fox
#42576f · 7.44:1
AAA on whitealready passes
#42576f
The quick fox
#5B7899 · 4.59:1
AA on black+13% L
#5B7899
The quick fox
#8199B4 · 7.15:1
AAA on black+26% L
#8199B4

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #42576F 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
#42576f on white: 7.44:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#42576f on black: 2.82:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #42576f as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #42576f.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White7.44:1AaAa
Slate 507.11:1AaAa
Slate 1006.79:1AaAa
Slate 2006.03:1AaAa
Slate 3005.01:1AaAa
Slate 4002.90:1AaAa
Slate 5001.56:1AaAa
Slate 6001.02:1AaAa
Slate 7001.39:1AaAa
Slate 8001.97:1AaAa
Slate 9002.40:1AaAa
Black2.82:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #4E5870
deuteranopia · #49536F
tritanopia · #335C5F

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. #42576f 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.

#F6F7F9
#EDEFF3
#D6DDE5
#B9C6D5
#95A9C0
#728DAB
#5B7899
#4C6480
#42576f
#2F3C4C
#1D262F
Base = 800Lightest = 50 · #F6F7F9Darkest = 950 · #1D262FText 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 0.012 252.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.019 252.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.028 252.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.037 252.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.044 252.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.047 252.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.047 252.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.044 252.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.040 252.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.033 252.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.026 252.2);
}

Colors that work with #42576f

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#F5F7F9
Tinted page background
Border#CCD6E1
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#567190
Captions on the surface
Accent#724D3E
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#303F50
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EFF2F5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#151C23
Dark-mode background
Hover#354559
One step down in lightness
Pressed#273442
Two steps down
Disabled#788FA9
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#406086
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 #42576f

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
  • Weight65/100
  • 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#6F5A42
Analogous left#426D6F
Analogous right#44426F
Split-complement 1#6F4442
Split-complement 2#6D6F42
Triadic 1#6F4257
Triadic 2#576F42
Tetradic#6F426D
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°212°

#42576f sits at 212°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red25.9%
Green34.1%
Blue43.5%
R · 0–255
66
0x42
G · 0–255
87
0x57
B · 0–255
111
0x6f

CMYK percentages

Cyan40.5%
Magenta21.6%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)56.5%

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

Color previews

#42576f text on a black background

contrast 2.82:1

Card sample

#42576f text on a white background

contrast 7.44:1

Card sample

#42576f on grey

6.79:1

#42576f on its own surface

6.92:1

#42576f on its dark surface

2.31:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #42576f;
Background color
Panel with #42576f background
background-color: #42576f;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #42576f;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(66, 87, 111, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(66, 87, 111, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #42576f;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #42576f, #4B426F);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #42576f, #56426F);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #42576f;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #42576f;
caret-color: #42576f;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #42576f;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EFF2F5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #42576f;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#42576f 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #42576f 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(66, 87, 111, 0.5)
rgb(66 87 111 / 50%)
#42576f80
hsl(212 25% 35% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #42576f 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#42576f1a#ECEEF1
20%#42576f33#D9DDE2
40%#42576f66#B3BCC5
60%#42576f99#8E9AA9
80%#42576fcc#68798C

Gradients from #42576f

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, #597595, #42576f 45%, #303F50);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #42576f, #41375C);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #42576f, #6F5A42);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #6884A5 0%, #42576f 45%, #303F50 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5F7F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #558F8C 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #544D82 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #303F50 0%, transparent 65%), #42576f;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #42576f

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.

#42576f 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 2.82:1 — lift it to #5B7899 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.

#42576f, answered

What color is #42576f?

#42576f is a dark soft blue, closest to Dark Slate Blue (ΔE2000 11.2). It sits at 212° on the hue wheel with 25% saturation and 35% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #42576f?

rgb(66, 87, 111) — 66 red, 87 green and 111 blue out of 255, or 25.9% / 34.1% / 43.5% by channel.

What is #42576f in HSL and HSV?

hsl(212, 25%, 35%) and hsv(212, 41%, 44%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #42576f a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.0912 and perceived brightness is 33%, so white text on it reaches 7.44:1.

Should I use black or white text on #42576f?

White. It scores 7.44:1 against #42576f, versus 2.82:1 for black — AAA at any size.

Is #42576f accessible on a white background?

#42576f on white scores 7.44:1, which clears AAA at every size.

What is the complementary color of #42576f?

#6F5A42 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #6F4442 and #6D6F42, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #42576f?

For interface work: #F5F7F9 as the surface, #CCD6E1 for borders, #567190 for secondary text, #724D3E as an accent and #303F50 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #426D6F and #44426F stays calm, while #6F5A42 is the loudest partner.

What is #42576f in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(41%, 22%, 0%, 57%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #42576f warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 85 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #42476F; nudged cooler, #374A60.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #42576f?

The slate family — its 500 step is #64748b, ΔE2000 11.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #42576f as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #42576f in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#42576f] or text-[#42576f], 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 #42576f with 50% opacity?

rgba(66, 87, 111, 0.5), or #42576f80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #A1ABB7; over black, #212C38.

Is #42576f a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #336666, ΔE2000 16.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #42576f 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 #42576f?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #597595, #42576f 45%, #303F50). For more colour, a short hue run to #41375C keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #42576f in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #42576f at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.