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blue · cool

#47aeee

a balanced, electric blue · cool · closest name: Deep Sky Blue

Token name suggestion: Signal Denim

RGB
71, 174, 238
HSL
203°, 83%, 61%
CMYK
70, 27, 0, 7
Luminance
0.3778

#47aeee is a balanced electric blue, 203° on the wheel and 97/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.56:1). As text it scores 2.45:1 on white — use #117CBE instead. Nearest name is Deep Sky Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(203 83% 61%)rgb(71 174 238)Base step 500AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #47aeee is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#47aeee
Hue
203°
blue
Saturation
83%
electric
Lightness
61%
balanced
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
63%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3778
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
97/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
8.56:1
Closest name
Deep Sky Blue
ΔE2000 5.9
Chroma
41.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.718
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 3.4
Web-safe
#3399FF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue203° of 360°
Saturation83%
Lightness61%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #47aeee.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool97% 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
Red4%
Green80%
Blue16%

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

Every format

HEX#47aeee
HEX (8-digit)#47aeeeff
RGBrgb(71, 174, 238)
RGBArgba(71, 174, 238, 1)
HSLhsl(203, 83%, 61%)
HSV / HSBhsv(203, 70%, 93%)
HWBhwb(203 28% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(70%, 27%, 0%, 7%)
LABlab(67.9 -9.5 -40.6)
LCHlch(67.9 41.7 256.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.718 0.133 239.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(33.16, 37.78, 86.42)
Decimal4697838
Display P3color(display-p3 0.278 0.682 0.933)
Web-safe#3399FF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #47aeee;
background-color: #47aeee;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #47aeee;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#47aeee] bg-[#47aeee]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #47aeee;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.278, green: 0.682, blue: 0.933)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.278, green: 0.682, blue: 0.933, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#47AEEE</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF47AEEE)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF47AEEE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(238, 174, 71)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(71, 174, 238)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(71, 174, 238)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 71, 174, 238)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.2784f, 0.6824f, 0.9333f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{71,174,238}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #47aeee 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #47aeee 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#0B4C75, #D3E4EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #47aeee 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: #F2F9FC;
  --brand-100: #E6F2FA;
  --brand-200: #C6E4F6;
  --brand-300: #98D2F6;
  --brand-400: #65BBF1;
  --brand-500: #47aeee;
  --brand-600: #1592E0;
  --brand-700: #117ABB;
  --brand-800: #0E6195;
  --brand-900: #0E486C;
  --brand-950: #092D43;
  --brand: #47aeee;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C0DBED;
  --brand-hover: #26A0EB;
  --brand-pressed: #148EDA;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141E24;
    --brand-ink: #D3E4EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F2F9FC',
        100: '#E6F2FA',
        200: '#C6E4F6',
        300: '#98D2F6',
        400: '#65BBF1',
        500: '#47aeee',
        600: '#1592E0',
        700: '#117ABB',
        800: '#0E6195',
        900: '#0E486C',
        950: '#092D43',
        DEFAULT: '#47aeee',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F2F9FC,
  '100': #E6F2FA,
  '200': #C6E4F6,
  '300': #98D2F6,
  '400': #65BBF1,
  '500': #47aeee,
  '600': #1592E0,
  '700': #117ABB,
  '800': #0E6195,
  '900': #0E486C,
  '950': #092D43,
);
$brand-base: #47aeee;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F2F9FC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E6F2FA", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C6E4F6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#98D2F6", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#65BBF1", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#47aeee", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#1592E0", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#117ABB", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#0E6195", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#0E486C", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#092D43", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#000000", "$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#000000 on #47aeee · 8.56:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.45:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.56:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #47aeee as text scores 2.45:1 on white and 8.56:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #0B4C75 at 3.71:1.

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
#117CBE · 4.52:1
AA on white−20% L
#117CBE
The quick fox
#0D5D8F · 7.05:1
AAA on white−30% L
#0D5D8F
The quick fox
#47aeee · 8.56:1
AA on blackalready passes
#47aeee
The quick fox
#47aeee · 8.56:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#47aeee

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #1D9CEA 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
#47aeee on white: 2.45:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#47aeee on black: 8.56:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #47aeee as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #47aeee.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.45:1AaAa
Slate 502.35:1AaAa
Slate 1002.24:1AaAa
Slate 2001.99:1AaAa
Slate 3001.65:1AaAa
Slate 4001.04:1AaAa
Slate 5001.94:1AaAa
Slate 6003.09:1AaAa
Slate 7004.22:1AaAa
Slate 8005.96:1AaAa
Slate 9007.27:1AaAa
Black8.56:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #90AEF1
deuteranopia · #799EED
tritanopia · #00BEC4

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. #47aeee 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.

#F2F9FC
#E6F2FA
#C6E4F6
#98D2F6
#65BBF1
#47aeee
#1592E0
#117ABB
#0E6195
#0E486C
#092D43
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F2F9FCDarkest = 950 · #092D43Text 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 0.033 239.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.053 239.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.080 239.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.103 239.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.122 239.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.133 239.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.133 239.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.125 239.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.111 239.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.093 239.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.073 239.8);
}

Colors that work with #47aeee

Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.

Text on it#000000
Black wins here
Surface#F4F8FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0DBED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B7C9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#F25A43
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#0B4C75
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E8F5FD
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141E24
Dark-mode background
Hover#26A0EB
One step down in lightness
Pressed#148EDA
Two steps down
Disabled#C9D5DC
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#51B8F9
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 #47aeee

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • 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
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
Not as text
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #0B4C75
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #1D9CEA

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 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
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight39/100
  • 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#EE8747
Analogous left#47EEDB
Analogous right#475BEE
Split-complement 1#EE475B
Split-complement 2#EEDB47
Triadic 1#EE47AE
Triadic 2#AEEE47
Tetradic#DB47EE
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°203°

#47aeee sits at 203°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red27.8%
Green68.2%
Blue93.3%
R · 0–255
71
0x47
G · 0–255
174
0xae
B · 0–255
238
0xee

CMYK percentages

Cyan70.2%
Magenta26.9%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)6.7%

Total ink coverage is 104%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#47aeee text on a black background

contrast 8.56:1

Card sample

#47aeee text on a white background

contrast 2.45:1

Card sample

#47aeee on grey

2.24:1

#47aeee on its own surface

2.30:1

#47aeee on its dark surface

6.90:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #47aeee;
Background color
Panel with #47aeee background
background-color: #47aeee;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #47aeee;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(71, 174, 238, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(71, 174, 238, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #47aeee;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #47aeee, #4F47EE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #47aeee, #7947EE);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #47aeee;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #47aeee;
caret-color: #47aeee;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #47aeee;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E8F5FD;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #47aeee;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#47aeee 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #47aeee 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(71, 174, 238, 0.5)
rgb(71 174 238 / 50%)
#47aeee80
hsl(203 83% 61% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #47aeee 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#47aeee1a#EDF7FD
20%#47aeee33#DAEFFC
40%#47aeee66#B5DFF8
60%#47aeee99#91CEF5
80%#47aeeecc#6CBEF1

Gradients from #47aeee

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, #7FC7F3, #47aeee 45%, #0B4C75);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #47aeee, #452BEB);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #47aeee, #EE8747);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #9BD3F6 0%, #47aeee 45%, #0B4C75 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F8FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #76F2D9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #6368F1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #0B4C75 0%, transparent 65%), #47aeee;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #47aeee

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.

#47aeee 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

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 8.56:1.

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.

#47aeee, answered

What color is #47aeee?

#47aeee is a balanced electric blue, closest to Deep Sky Blue (ΔE2000 5.9). It sits at 203° on the hue wheel with 83% saturation and 61% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #47aeee?

rgb(71, 174, 238) — 71 red, 174 green and 238 blue out of 255, or 27.8% / 68.2% / 93.3% by channel.

What is #47aeee in HSL and HSV?

hsl(203, 83%, 61%) and hsv(203, 70%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #47aeee a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3778 and perceived brightness is 63%, so black text on it reaches 8.56:1.

Should I use black or white text on #47aeee?

Black. It scores 8.56:1 against #47aeee, versus 2.45:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #47aeee accessible on a white background?

#47aeee on white scores 2.45:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #117CBE to reach 4.5:1, or #0D5D8F for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #47aeee?

#EE8747 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #EE475B and #EEDB47, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #47aeee?

For interface work: #F4F8FA as the surface, #C0DBED for borders, #4B7C9B for secondary text, #F25A43 as an accent and #0B4C75 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #47EEDB and #475BEE stays calm, while #EE8747 is the loudest partner.

What is #47aeee in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(70%, 27%, 0%, 7%). 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 #47aeee warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 97 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #47EBEE; nudged cooler, #2D95EE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #47aeee?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 3.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #47aeee as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #47aeee in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#47aeee] or text-[#47aeee], 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 #47aeee with 50% opacity?

rgba(71, 174, 238, 0.5), or #47aeee80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #A3D7F7; over black, #245777.

Is #47aeee a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #3399FF, ΔE2000 8.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #47aeee 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 #47aeee?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #7FC7F3, #47aeee 45%, #0B4C75). For more colour, a short hue run to #452BEB keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #47aeee in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #47aeee at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.