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blue · cool

#451bc9

a dark, electric blue · cool · closest name: Medium Blue

Token name suggestion: Shadow Sapphire

RGB
69, 27, 201
HSL
255°, 76%, 45%
CMYK
66, 87, 0, 21
Luminance
0.0627

#451bc9 is a dark electric blue, 255° on the wheel and 75/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (9.32:1). As text it scores 9.32:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Medium Blue, nearest Tailwind family is indigo.

hsl(255 76% 45%)rgb(69 27 201)Base step 600AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #451bc9 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#451bc9
Hue
255°
blue
Saturation
76%
electric
Lightness
45%
dark
Brightness
79%
HSV value
Perceived
32%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.0627
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
75/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Electric
Best ink
White
9.32:1
Closest name
Medium Blue
ΔE2000 4.6
Chroma
101.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.426
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
indigo
500 · ΔE 19.3
Web-safe
#3333CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue255° of 360°
Saturation76%
Lightness45%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #451bc9.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool75% 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
Red20%
Green13%
Blue67%

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

Every format

HEX#451bc9
HEX (8-digit)#451bc9ff
RGBrgb(69, 27, 201)
RGBArgba(69, 27, 201, 1)
HSLhsl(255, 76%, 45%)
HSV / HSBhsv(254, 87%, 79%)
HWBhwb(255 11% 21%)
CMYKcmyk(66%, 87%, 0%, 21%)
LABlab(30.1 61.5 -80.6)
LCHlch(30.1 101.4 307.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.426 0.236 280.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(13.39, 6.27, 55.75)
Decimal4529097
Display P3color(display-p3 0.271 0.106 0.788)
Web-safe#3333CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #451bc9;
background-color: #451bc9;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #451bc9;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#451bc9] bg-[#451bc9]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #451bc9;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.271, green: 0.106, blue: 0.788)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.271, green: 0.106, blue: 0.788, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#451BC9</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF451BC9)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF451BC9)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(201, 27, 69)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(69, 27, 201)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(69, 27, 201)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 69, 27, 201)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.2706f, 0.1059f, 0.7882f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{69,27,201}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #451bc9 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #451bc9 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#270F70, #D9D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #451bc9 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: #F5F3FC;
  --brand-100: #EBE7F9;
  --brand-200: #D2C8F4;
  --brand-300: #B19CF2;
  --brand-400: #8A6BEB;
  --brand-500: #6339E4;
  --brand-600: #451bc9;
  --brand-700: #3E18B4;
  --brand-800: #311390;
  --brand-900: #271268;
  --brand-950: #180B41;
  --brand: #451bc9;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F6F4FA;
  --brand-border: #CBC0ED;
  --brand-hover: #3A17A9;
  --brand-pressed: #2F138A;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #181424;
    --brand-ink: #D9D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F3FC',
        100: '#EBE7F9',
        200: '#D2C8F4',
        300: '#B19CF2',
        400: '#8A6BEB',
        500: '#6339E4',
        600: '#451bc9',
        700: '#3E18B4',
        800: '#311390',
        900: '#271268',
        950: '#180B41',
        DEFAULT: '#451bc9',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F3FC,
  '100': #EBE7F9,
  '200': #D2C8F4,
  '300': #B19CF2,
  '400': #8A6BEB,
  '500': #6339E4,
  '600': #451bc9,
  '700': #3E18B4,
  '800': #311390,
  '900': #271268,
  '950': #180B41,
);
$brand-base: #451bc9;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F3FC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EBE7F9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D2C8F4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B19CF2", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#8A6BEB", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#6339E4", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#451bc9", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#3E18B4", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#311390", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#271268", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#180B41", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #451bc9 · 9.32:1
Use #ffffffAAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 9.32:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Aa
Black text · 2.25:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #451bc9 as text scores 9.32:1 on white and 2.25:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #EDE9FC at 7.84:1.

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
#451bc9 · 9.32:1
AA on whitealready passes
#451bc9
The quick fox
#451bc9 · 9.32:1
AAA on whitealready passes
#451bc9
The quick fox
#7E5CE9 · 4.59:1
AA on black+19% L
#7E5CE9
The quick fox
#9E84EF · 7.00:1
AAA on black+28% L
#9E84EF

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #451BC9 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
#451bc9 on white: 9.32:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#451bc9 on black: 2.25:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #451bc9 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #451bc9.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White9.32:1AaAa
Slate 508.91:1AaAa
Slate 1008.51:1AaAa
Slate 2007.56:1AaAa
Slate 3006.28:1AaAa
Slate 4003.63:1AaAa
Slate 5001.96:1AaAa
Slate 6001.23:1AaAa
Slate 7001.11:1AaAa
Slate 8001.57:1AaAa
Slate 9001.92:1AaAa
Black2.25:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #004DCD
deuteranopia · #0040C6
tritanopia · #005577

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. #451bc9 is pinned to step 600; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F5F3FC
#EBE7F9
#D2C8F4
#B19CF2
#8A6BEB
#6339E4
#451bc9
#3E18B4
#311390
#271268
#180B41
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F5F3FCDarkest = 950 · #180B41Text 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 0.059 280.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.095 280.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.142 280.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.184 280.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.218 280.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.236 280.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.236 280.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.222 280.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.199 280.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.166 280.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.130 280.5);
}

Colors that work with #451bc9

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#F6F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#CBC0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#5E4B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#B8B614
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#270F70
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EDE9FC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#181424
Dark-mode background
Hover#3A17A9
One step down in lightness
Pressed#2F138A
Two steps down
Disabled#A097BD
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#4511E7
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 #451bc9

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
  • Headers, footers and dark-mode surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text on black or near-black surfaces
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • 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.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. 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
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight55/100
  • 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#9FC91B
Analogous left#1B48C9
Analogous right#9C1BC9
Split-complement 1#C99C1B
Split-complement 2#48C91B
Triadic 1#C9451B
Triadic 2#1BC945
Tetradic#C91B48
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°255°

#451bc9 sits at 255°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red27.1%
Green10.6%
Blue78.8%
R · 0–255
69
0x45
G · 0–255
27
0x1b
B · 0–255
201
0xc9

CMYK percentages

Cyan65.7%
Magenta86.6%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)21.2%

Total ink coverage is 174%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#451bc9 text on a black background

contrast 2.25:1

Card sample

#451bc9 text on a white background

contrast 9.32:1

Card sample

#451bc9 on grey

8.51:1

#451bc9 on its own surface

8.54:1

#451bc9 on its dark surface

1.94:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #451bc9;
Background color
Panel with #451bc9 background
background-color: #451bc9;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #451bc9;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(69, 27, 201, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(69, 27, 201, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #451bc9;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #451bc9, #B91BC9);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #451bc9, #C91BAD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #451bc9;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #451bc9;
caret-color: #451bc9;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #451bc9;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EDE9FC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #451bc9;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#451bc9 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #451bc9 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(69, 27, 201, 0.5)
rgb(69 27 201 / 50%)
#451bc980
hsl(255 76% 45% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #451bc9 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#451bc91a#ECE8FA
20%#451bc933#DAD1F4
40%#451bc966#B5A4E9
60%#451bc999#8F76DF
80%#451bc9cc#6A49D4

Gradients from #451bc9

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, #653CE5, #451bc9 45%, #270F70);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #451bc9, #AD17AE);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #451bc9, #9FC91B);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #7A57E8 0%, #451bc9 45%, #270F70 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #3370E4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C021E1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #270F70 0%, transparent 65%), #451bc9;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #451bc9

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.

#451bc9 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

Too dim on dark surfaces at 2.25:1 — lift it to #7E5CE9 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.

#451bc9, answered

What color is #451bc9?

#451bc9 is a dark electric blue, closest to Medium Blue (ΔE2000 4.6). It sits at 255° on the hue wheel with 76% saturation and 45% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #451bc9?

rgb(69, 27, 201) — 69 red, 27 green and 201 blue out of 255, or 27.1% / 10.6% / 78.8% by channel.

What is #451bc9 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(255, 76%, 45%) and hsv(254, 87%, 79%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #451bc9 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.0627 and perceived brightness is 32%, so white text on it reaches 9.32:1.

Should I use black or white text on #451bc9?

White. It scores 9.32:1 against #451bc9, versus 2.25:1 for black — AAA at any size.

Is #451bc9 accessible on a white background?

#451bc9 on white scores 9.32:1, which clears AAA at every size.

What is the complementary color of #451bc9?

#9FC91B sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #C99C1B and #48C91B, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #451bc9?

For interface work: #F6F4FA as the surface, #CBC0ED for borders, #5E4B9B for secondary text, #B8B614 as an accent and #270F70 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #1B48C9 and #9C1BC9 stays calm, while #9FC91B is the loudest partner.

What is #451bc9 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(66%, 87%, 0%, 21%). 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 #451bc9 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 75 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #851BC9; nudged cooler, #192FCB.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #451bc9?

The indigo family — its 500 step is #6366f1, ΔE2000 19.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #451bc9 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #451bc9 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#451bc9] or text-[#451bc9], 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 #451bc9 with 50% opacity?

rgba(69, 27, 201, 0.5), or #451bc980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #A28DE4; over black, #230E65.

Is #451bc9 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #3333CC, ΔE2000 4.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #451bc9 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 #451bc9?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #653CE5, #451bc9 45%, #270F70). For more colour, a short hue run to #AD17AE keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #451bc9 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #451bc9 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.