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blue · cool

#4271cd

a balanced, vivid blue · cool · closest name: Royal Blue

Token name suggestion: Studio Cobalt

RGB
66, 113, 205
HSL
220°, 58%, 53%
CMYK
68, 45, 0, 20
Luminance
0.1738

#4271cd is a balanced vivid blue, 220° on the wheel and 95/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (4.69:1). As text it scores 4.69:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Royal Blue, nearest Tailwind family is blue.

hsl(220 58% 53%)rgb(66 113 205)Base step 500AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #4271cd is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#4271cd
Hue
220°
blue
Saturation
58%
vivid
Lightness
53%
balanced
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
46%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1738
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
95/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
White
4.69:1
Closest name
Royal Blue
ΔE2000 4
Chroma
54.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.563
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
blue
500 · ΔE 7.6
Web-safe
#3366CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue220° of 360°
Saturation58%
Lightness53%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #4271cd.

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
Red7%
Green68%
Blue25%

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

Every format

HEX#4271cd
HEX (8-digit)#4271cdff
RGBrgb(66, 113, 205)
RGBArgba(66, 113, 205, 1)
HSLhsl(220, 58%, 53%)
HSV / HSBhsv(220, 68%, 80%)
HWBhwb(220 26% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(68%, 45%, 0%, 20%)
LABlab(48.7 14.2 -52.5)
LCHlch(48.7 54.3 285.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.563 0.151 262.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(19.17, 17.37, 60.09)
Decimal4354509
Display P3color(display-p3 0.259 0.443 0.804)
Web-safe#3366CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #4271cd;
background-color: #4271cd;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #4271cd;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#4271cd] bg-[#4271cd]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #4271cd;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.259, green: 0.443, blue: 0.804)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.259, green: 0.443, blue: 0.804, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#4271CD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF4271CD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF4271CD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(205, 113, 66)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(66, 113, 205)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(66, 113, 205)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 66, 113, 205)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.2588f, 0.4431f, 0.8039f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{66,113,205}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #4271cd 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #4271cd 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#1B3465, #D3DCEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #4271cd 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: #F4F6FB;
  --brand-100: #E9EDF7;
  --brand-200: #CDD8EF;
  --brand-300: #A6BCE8;
  --brand-400: #7A9BDC;
  --brand-500: #4271cd;
  --brand-600: #3363C2;
  --brand-700: #2B53A1;
  --brand-800: #224281;
  --brand-900: #1C335E;
  --brand-950: #12203B;
  --brand: #4271cd;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F4F6FA;
  --brand-border: #C0CFED;
  --brand-hover: #315FBA;
  --brand-pressed: #2A519E;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141924;
    --brand-ink: #D3DCEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4F6FB',
        100: '#E9EDF7',
        200: '#CDD8EF',
        300: '#A6BCE8',
        400: '#7A9BDC',
        500: '#4271cd',
        600: '#3363C2',
        700: '#2B53A1',
        800: '#224281',
        900: '#1C335E',
        950: '#12203B',
        DEFAULT: '#4271cd',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4F6FB,
  '100': #E9EDF7,
  '200': #CDD8EF,
  '300': #A6BCE8,
  '400': #7A9BDC,
  '500': #4271cd,
  '600': #3363C2,
  '700': #2B53A1,
  '800': #224281,
  '900': #1C335E,
  '950': #12203B,
);
$brand-base: #4271cd;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4F6FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E9EDF7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CDD8EF", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#A6BCE8", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#7A9BDC", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#4271cd", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#3363C2", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#2B53A1", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#224281", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#1C335E", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#12203B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #4271cd · 4.69:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 4.69:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 4.48:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #4271cd as text scores 4.69:1 on white and 4.48:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #EBF0FA at 4.11:1.

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
#4271cd · 4.69:1
AA on whitealready passes
#4271cd
The quick fox
#2C55A6 · 7.10:1
AAA on white−12% L
#2C55A6
The quick fox
#4674CE · 4.65:1
AA on black+1% L
#4674CE
The quick fox
#7295DA · 7.03:1
AAA on black+12% L
#7295DA

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #4271CD 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
#4271cd on white: 4.69:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#4271cd on black: 4.48:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #4271cd as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #4271cd.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White4.69:1AaAa
Slate 504.48:1AaAa
Slate 1004.28:1AaAa
Slate 2003.81:1AaAa
Slate 3003.16:1AaAa
Slate 4001.83:1AaAa
Slate 5001.01:1AaAa
Slate 6001.61:1AaAa
Slate 7002.21:1AaAa
Slate 8003.12:1AaAa
Slate 9003.80:1AaAa
Black4.48:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #447BD0
deuteranopia · #2A6ECB
tritanopia · #008695

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. #4271cd 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.

#F4F6FB
#E9EDF7
#CDD8EF
#A6BCE8
#7A9BDC
#4271cd
#3363C2
#2B53A1
#224281
#1C335E
#12203B
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F4F6FBDarkest = 950 · #12203BText step on white = 500
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 0.038 262.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.061 262.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.091 262.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.118 262.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.139 262.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.151 262.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.151 262.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.142 262.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.127 262.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.106 262.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.083 262.3);
}

Colors that work with #4271cd

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#F4F6FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0CFED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B669B
Captions on the surface
Accent#A65B26
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#1B3465
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EBF0FA
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141924
Dark-mode background
Hover#315FBA
One step down in lightness
Pressed#2A519E
Two steps down
Disabled#B2BBCD
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#4779DC
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 #4271cd

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Body text and links on white
  • 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
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • 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.

This is a confident chroma: strong enough to lead a brand, restrained enough to live in an interface all day. 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
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight47/100
  • 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#CD9E42
Analogous left#42B7CD
Analogous right#5842CD
Split-complement 1#CD5842
Split-complement 2#B7CD42
Triadic 1#CD4271
Triadic 2#71CD42
Tetradic#CD42B7
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°220°

#4271cd sits at 220°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red25.9%
Green44.3%
Blue80.4%
R · 0–255
66
0x42
G · 0–255
113
0x71
B · 0–255
205
0xcd

CMYK percentages

Cyan67.8%
Magenta44.9%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)19.6%

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

Color previews

#4271cd text on a black background

contrast 4.48:1

Card sample

#4271cd text on a white background

contrast 4.69:1

Card sample

#4271cd on grey

4.28:1

#4271cd on its own surface

4.34:1

#4271cd on its dark surface

3.75:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #4271cd;
Background color
Panel with #4271cd background
background-color: #4271cd;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #4271cd;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(66, 113, 205, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(66, 113, 205, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #4271cd;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #4271cd, #7042CD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #4271cd, #9242CD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #4271cd;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #4271cd;
caret-color: #4271cd;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #4271cd;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EBF0FA;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #4271cd;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#4271cd 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #4271cd 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, 113, 205, 0.5)
rgb(66 113 205 / 50%)
#4271cd80
hsl(220 58% 53% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #4271cd 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#4271cd1a#ECF1FA
20%#4271cd33#D9E3F5
40%#4271cd66#B3C6EB
60%#4271cd99#8EAAE1
80%#4271cdcc#688DD7

Gradients from #4271cd

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, #7295DA, #4271cd 45%, #1B3465);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #4271cd, #6C32BE);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #4271cd, #CD9E42);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #8AA7E0 0%, #4271cd 45%, #1B3465 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F6FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #6ACFD8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #785AD3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #1B3465 0%, transparent 65%), #4271cd;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #4271cd

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.

#4271cd 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 4.48:1 — lift it to #4674CE 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.

#4271cd, answered

What color is #4271cd?

#4271cd is a balanced vivid blue, closest to Royal Blue (ΔE2000 4). It sits at 220° on the hue wheel with 58% saturation and 53% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #4271cd?

rgb(66, 113, 205) — 66 red, 113 green and 205 blue out of 255, or 25.9% / 44.3% / 80.4% by channel.

What is #4271cd in HSL and HSV?

hsl(220, 58%, 53%) and hsv(220, 68%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #4271cd a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1738 and perceived brightness is 46%, so white text on it reaches 4.69:1.

Should I use black or white text on #4271cd?

White. It scores 4.69:1 against #4271cd, versus 4.48:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #4271cd accessible on a white background?

#4271cd on white scores 4.69:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #4271cd?

#CD9E42 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CD5842 and #B7CD42, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #4271cd?

For interface work: #F4F6FA as the surface, #C0CFED for borders, #4B669B for secondary text, #A65B26 as an accent and #1B3465 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #42B7CD and #5842CD stays calm, while #CD9E42 is the loudest partner.

What is #4271cd in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(68%, 45%, 0%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #4271cd 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 #4642CD; nudged cooler, #316EC4.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #4271cd?

The blue family — its 500 step is #3b82f6, ΔE2000 7.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #4271cd as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #4271cd in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#4271cd] or text-[#4271cd], 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 #4271cd with 50% opacity?

rgba(66, 113, 205, 0.5), or #4271cd80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #A1B8E6; over black, #213967.

Is #4271cd a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #3366CC, ΔE2000 3.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #4271cd 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 #4271cd?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #7295DA, #4271cd 45%, #1B3465). For more colour, a short hue run to #6C32BE keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #4271cd in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #4271cd at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.