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blue · cool

#453e75

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

Token name suggestion: Shadow Denim

RGB
69, 62, 117
HSL
248°, 31%, 35%
CMYK
41, 47, 0, 54
Luminance
0.0599

#453e75 is a dark soft blue, 248° on the wheel and 76/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (9.55:1). As text it scores 9.55:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Dark Slate Blue, nearest Tailwind family is slate.

hsl(248 31% 35%)rgb(69 62 117)Base step 800AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #453e75 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#453e75
Hue
248°
blue
Saturation
31%
soft
Lightness
35%
dark
Brightness
46%
HSV value
Perceived
28%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.0599
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
76/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
White
9.55:1
Closest name
Dark Slate Blue
ΔE2000 4.7
Chroma
35.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.398
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
slate
500 · ΔE 19.6
Web-safe
#333366
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue248° of 360°
Saturation31%
Lightness35%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #453e75.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool76% 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
Red21%
Green57%
Blue21%

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

Every format

HEX#453e75
HEX (8-digit)#453e75ff
RGBrgb(69, 62, 117)
RGBArgba(69, 62, 117, 1)
HSLhsl(248, 31%, 35%)
HSV / HSBhsv(248, 47%, 46%)
HWBhwb(248 24% 54%)
CMYKcmyk(41%, 47%, 0%, 54%)
LABlab(29.4 17.7 -30.7)
LCHlch(29.4 35.4 300.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.398 0.091 287.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(7.39, 5.99, 17.59)
Decimal4537973
Display P3color(display-p3 0.271 0.243 0.459)
Web-safe#333366

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #453e75;
background-color: #453e75;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #453e75;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#453e75] bg-[#453e75]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #453e75;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.271, green: 0.243, blue: 0.459)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.271, green: 0.243, blue: 0.459, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#453E75</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF453E75)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF453E75)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(117, 62, 69)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(69, 62, 117)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(69, 62, 117)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 69, 62, 117)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.2706f, 0.2431f, 0.4588f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{69,62,117}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #453e75 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #453e75 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#312C53, #D9D7EA);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #453e75 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: #F6F6F9;
  --brand-100: #EDECF3;
  --brand-200: #D7D5E7;
  --brand-300: #BAB6D8;
  --brand-400: #9891C5;
  --brand-500: #756CB1;
  --brand-600: #5E55A0;
  --brand-700: #4F4785;
  --brand-800: #453e75;
  --brand-900: #302C4E;
  --brand-950: #1E1B31;
  --brand: #453e75;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F6F5FA;
  --brand-border: #CDCAE3;
  --brand-hover: #37325E;
  --brand-pressed: #292546;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #161424;
    --brand-ink: #D9D7EA;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F6F9',
        100: '#EDECF3',
        200: '#D7D5E7',
        300: '#BAB6D8',
        400: '#9891C5',
        500: '#756CB1',
        600: '#5E55A0',
        700: '#4F4785',
        800: '#453e75',
        900: '#302C4E',
        950: '#1E1B31',
        DEFAULT: '#453e75',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F6F9,
  '100': #EDECF3,
  '200': #D7D5E7,
  '300': #BAB6D8,
  '400': #9891C5,
  '500': #756CB1,
  '600': #5E55A0,
  '700': #4F4785,
  '800': #453e75,
  '900': #302C4E,
  '950': #1E1B31,
);
$brand-base: #453e75;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F6F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EDECF3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D7D5E7", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#BAB6D8", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#9891C5", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#756CB1", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#5E55A0", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#4F4785", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#453e75", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#302C4E", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1E1B31", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #453e75 · 9.55:1
Use #ffffffAAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 9.55:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Aa
Black text · 2.20:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #453e75 as text scores 9.55:1 on white and 2.20:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #EFEEF6 at 8.29:1.

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
#453e75 · 9.55:1
AA on whitealready passes
#453e75
The quick fox
#453e75 · 9.55:1
AAA on whitealready passes
#453e75
The quick fox
#756DB1 · 4.58:1
AA on black+21% L
#756DB1
The quick fox
#9891C5 · 7.19:1
AAA on black+32% L
#9891C5

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #453E75 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
#453e75 on white: 9.55:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#453e75 on black: 2.20:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #453e75 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #453e75.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White9.55:1AaAa
Slate 509.13:1AaAa
Slate 1008.72:1AaAa
Slate 2007.75:1AaAa
Slate 3006.43:1AaAa
Slate 4003.72:1AaAa
Slate 5002.01:1AaAa
Slate 6001.26:1AaAa
Slate 7001.08:1AaAa
Slate 8001.53:1AaAa
Slate 9001.87:1AaAa
Black2.20:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #2A4777
deuteranopia · #2A4474
tritanopia · #384954

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. #453e75 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.

#F6F6F9
#EDECF3
#D7D5E7
#BAB6D8
#9891C5
#756CB1
#5E55A0
#4F4785
#453e75
#302C4E
#1E1B31
Base = 800Lightest = 50 · #F6F6F9Darkest = 950 · #1E1B31Text 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 0.023 287.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.036 287.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.054 287.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.071 287.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.083 287.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.091 287.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.091 287.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.085 287.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.076 287.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.063 287.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.050 287.4);
}

Colors that work with #453e75

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#F6F5FA
Tinted page background
Border#CDCAE3
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#585096
Captions on the surface
Accent#79713A
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#312C53
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EFEEF6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#161424
Dark-mode background
Hover#37325E
One step down in lightness
Pressed#292546
Two steps down
Disabled#807AAA
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#453B8C
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 #453e75

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#6E753E
Analogous left#3E5375
Analogous right#603E75
Split-complement 1#75603E
Split-complement 2#53753E
Triadic 1#75453E
Triadic 2#3E7545
Tetradic#753E53
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°248°

#453e75 sits at 248°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red27.1%
Green24.3%
Blue45.9%
R · 0–255
69
0x45
G · 0–255
62
0x3e
B · 0–255
117
0x75

CMYK percentages

Cyan41.0%
Magenta47.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)54.1%

Total ink coverage is 142%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#453e75 text on a black background

contrast 2.20:1

Card sample

#453e75 text on a white background

contrast 9.55:1

Card sample

#453e75 on grey

8.72:1

#453e75 on its own surface

8.80:1

#453e75 on its dark surface

1.90:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #453e75;
Background color
Panel with #453e75 background
background-color: #453e75;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #453e75;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(69, 62, 117, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(69, 62, 117, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #453e75;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #453e75, #6A3E75);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #453e75, #753E73);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #453e75;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #453e75;
caret-color: #453e75;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #453e75;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EFEEF6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #453e75;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#453e75 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #453e75 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, 62, 117, 0.5)
rgb(69 62 117 / 50%)
#453e7580
hsl(248 31% 35% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #453e75 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#453e751a#ECECF1
20%#453e7533#DAD8E3
40%#453e7566#B5B2C8
60%#453e7599#8F8BAC
80%#453e75cc#6A6591

Gradients from #453e75

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, #5D539D, #453e75 45%, #312C53);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #453e75, #5B3361);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #453e75, #6E753E);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #6C63AC 0%, #453e75 45%, #312C53 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F5FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #507096 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #764989 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #312C53 0%, transparent 65%), #453e75;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #453e75

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.

#453e75 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 2.20:1 — lift it to #756DB1 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.

#453e75, answered

What color is #453e75?

#453e75 is a dark soft blue, closest to Dark Slate Blue (ΔE2000 4.7). It sits at 248° on the hue wheel with 31% saturation and 35% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #453e75?

rgb(69, 62, 117) — 69 red, 62 green and 117 blue out of 255, or 27.1% / 24.3% / 45.9% by channel.

What is #453e75 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(248, 31%, 35%) and hsv(248, 47%, 46%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #453e75 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.0599 and perceived brightness is 28%, so white text on it reaches 9.55:1.

Should I use black or white text on #453e75?

White. It scores 9.55:1 against #453e75, versus 2.20:1 for black — AAA at any size.

Is #453e75 accessible on a white background?

#453e75 on white scores 9.55:1, which clears AAA at every size.

What is the complementary color of #453e75?

#6E753E sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #75603E and #53753E, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #453e75?

For interface work: #F6F5FA as the surface, #CDCAE3 for borders, #585096 for secondary text, #79713A as an accent and #312C53 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #3E5375 and #603E75 stays calm, while #6E753E is the loudest partner.

What is #453e75 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(41%, 47%, 0%, 54%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #453e75 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 76 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #593E75; nudged cooler, #3C4A77.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #453e75?

The slate family — its 500 step is #64748b, ΔE2000 19.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #453e75 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #453e75 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#453e75] or text-[#453e75], 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 #453e75 with 50% opacity?

rgba(69, 62, 117, 0.5), or #453e7580 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #A29FBA; over black, #231F3B.

Is #453e75 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #333366, ΔE2000 4.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #453e75 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 #453e75?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #5D539D, #453e75 45%, #312C53). For more colour, a short hue run to #5B3361 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #453e75 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #453e75 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.