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blue · cool

#505e6f

a dark, soft blue · cool · closest name: Dim Gray

Token name suggestion: Slate Denim

RGB
80, 94, 111
HSL
213°, 16%, 38%
CMYK
28, 15, 0, 57
Luminance
0.1086

#505e6f is a dark soft blue, 213° on the wheel and 72/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (6.62:1). As text it scores 6.62:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Dim Gray, nearest Tailwind family is gray.

hsl(213 16% 38%)rgb(80 94 111)Base step 700AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #505e6f is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#505e6f
Hue
213°
blue
Saturation
16%
soft
Lightness
38%
dark
Brightness
44%
HSV value
Perceived
36%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1086
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
72/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
White
6.62:1
Closest name
Dim Gray
ΔE2000 10.2
Chroma
11.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.476
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
gray
500 · ΔE 8.4
Web-safe
#666666
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue213° of 360°
Saturation16%
Lightness38%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #505e6f.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool72% 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
Red16%
Green74%
Blue11%

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

Every format

HEX#505e6f
HEX (8-digit)#505e6fff
RGBrgb(80, 94, 111)
RGBArgba(80, 94, 111, 1)
HSLhsl(213, 16%, 38%)
HSV / HSBhsv(213, 28%, 44%)
HWBhwb(213 31% 56%)
CMYKcmyk(28%, 15%, 0%, 57%)
LABlab(39.3 -1.1 -11.4)
LCHlch(39.3 11.5 264.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.476 0.033 253.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(10.18, 10.86, 16.60)
Decimal5267055
Display P3color(display-p3 0.314 0.369 0.435)
Web-safe#666666

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #505e6f;
background-color: #505e6f;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #505e6f;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#505e6f] bg-[#505e6f]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #505e6f;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.314, green: 0.369, blue: 0.435)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.314, green: 0.369, blue: 0.435, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#505E6F</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF505E6F)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF505E6F)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(111, 94, 80)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(80, 94, 111)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(80, 94, 111)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 80, 94, 111)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.3137f, 0.3686f, 0.4353f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{80,94,111}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #505e6f 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #505e6f 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#353F4A, #DBE0E5);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #505e6f 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: #F6F7F8;
  --brand-100: #EEF0F2;
  --brand-200: #D9DDE3;
  --brand-300: #BEC6D0;
  --brand-400: #9DAAB8;
  --brand-500: #7D8DA1;
  --brand-600: #67788E;
  --brand-700: #505e6f;
  --brand-800: #44505F;
  --brand-900: #343C46;
  --brand-950: #21262C;
  --brand: #505e6f;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F6F7F9;
  --brand-border: #D0D6DD;
  --brand-hover: #414D5A;
  --brand-pressed: #323B46;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #181C21;
    --brand-ink: #DBE0E5;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F7F8',
        100: '#EEF0F2',
        200: '#D9DDE3',
        300: '#BEC6D0',
        400: '#9DAAB8',
        500: '#7D8DA1',
        600: '#67788E',
        700: '#505e6f',
        800: '#44505F',
        900: '#343C46',
        950: '#21262C',
        DEFAULT: '#505e6f',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F7F8,
  '100': #EEF0F2,
  '200': #D9DDE3,
  '300': #BEC6D0,
  '400': #9DAAB8,
  '500': #7D8DA1,
  '600': #67788E,
  '700': #505e6f,
  '800': #44505F,
  '900': #343C46,
  '950': #21262C,
);
$brand-base: #505e6f;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F7F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EEF0F2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D9DDE3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#BEC6D0", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#9DAAB8", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7D8DA1", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#67788E", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#505e6f", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#44505F", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#343C46", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#21262C", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #505e6f · 6.62:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 6.62:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 3.17:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #505e6f as text scores 6.62:1 on white and 3.17:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F0F2F4 at 5.90:1.

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
#505e6f · 6.62:1
AA on whitealready passes
#505e6f
The quick fox
#4C5969 · 7.14:1
AAA on white−2% L
#4C5969
The quick fox
#66778D · 4.59:1
AA on black+10% L
#66778D
The quick fox
#8A99AB · 7.23:1
AAA on black+23% L
#8A99AB

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #505E6F 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
#505e6f on white: 6.62:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#505e6f on black: 3.17:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #505e6f as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #505e6f.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White6.62:1AaAa
Slate 506.33:1AaAa
Slate 1006.04:1AaAa
Slate 2005.37:1AaAa
Slate 3004.46:1AaAa
Slate 4002.58:1AaAa
Slate 5001.39:1AaAa
Slate 6001.14:1AaAa
Slate 7001.56:1AaAa
Slate 8002.21:1AaAa
Slate 9002.70:1AaAa
Black3.17:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #585E70
deuteranopia · #545B6F
tritanopia · #476263

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. #505e6f is pinned to step 700; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F6F7F8
#EEF0F2
#D9DDE3
#BEC6D0
#9DAAB8
#7D8DA1
#67788E
#505e6f
#44505F
#343C46
#21262C
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #F6F7F8Darkest = 950 · #21262CText 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 0.008 253.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.013 253.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.020 253.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.025 253.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.030 253.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.033 253.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.033 253.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.031 253.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.027 253.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.023 253.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.018 253.4);
}

Colors that work with #505e6f

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#F6F7F9
Tinted page background
Border#D0D6DD
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#607185
Captions on the surface
Accent#73584C
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#353F4A
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F0F2F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#181C21
Dark-mode background
Hover#414D5A
One step down in lightness
Pressed#323B46
Two steps down
Disabled#8796A8
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#4E6786
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 #505e6f

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
  • 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
  • Weight63/100
  • 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#6F6150
Analogous left#506E6F
Analogous right#52506F
Split-complement 1#6F5250
Split-complement 2#6E6F50
Triadic 1#6F505E
Triadic 2#5E6F50
Tetradic#6F506E
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°213°

#505e6f sits at 213°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red31.4%
Green36.9%
Blue43.5%
R · 0–255
80
0x50
G · 0–255
94
0x5e
B · 0–255
111
0x6f

CMYK percentages

Cyan27.9%
Magenta15.3%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)56.5%

Total ink coverage is 100%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#505e6f text on a black background

contrast 3.17:1

Card sample

#505e6f text on a white background

contrast 6.62:1

Card sample

#505e6f on grey

6.04:1

#505e6f on its own surface

6.18:1

#505e6f on its dark surface

2.59:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #505e6f;
Background color
Panel with #505e6f background
background-color: #505e6f;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #505e6f;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(80, 94, 111, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(80, 94, 111, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #505e6f;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #505e6f, #57506F);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #505e6f, #5F506F);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #505e6f;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #505e6f;
caret-color: #505e6f;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #505e6f;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F0F2F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #505e6f;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#505e6f 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #505e6f 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(80, 94, 111, 0.5)
rgb(80 94 111 / 50%)
#505e6f80
hsl(213 16% 38% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #505e6f 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#505e6f1a#EEEFF1
20%#505e6f33#DCDFE2
40%#505e6f66#B9BFC5
60%#505e6f99#969EA9
80%#505e6fcc#737E8C

Gradients from #505e6f

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, #6A7C93, #505e6f 45%, #353F4A);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #505e6f, #4B435D);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #505e6f, #6F6150);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #7B8CA0 0%, #505e6f 45%, #353F4A 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F7F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #668D8B 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #625D81 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #353F4A 0%, transparent 65%), #505e6f;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #505e6f

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.

#505e6f 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 3.17:1 — lift it to #66778D 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.

#505e6f, answered

What color is #505e6f?

#505e6f is a dark soft blue, closest to Dim Gray (ΔE2000 10.2). It sits at 213° on the hue wheel with 16% saturation and 38% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #505e6f?

rgb(80, 94, 111) — 80 red, 94 green and 111 blue out of 255, or 31.4% / 36.9% / 43.5% by channel.

What is #505e6f in HSL and HSV?

hsl(213, 16%, 38%) and hsv(213, 28%, 44%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #505e6f a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1086 and perceived brightness is 36%, so white text on it reaches 6.62:1.

Should I use black or white text on #505e6f?

White. It scores 6.62:1 against #505e6f, versus 3.17:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #505e6f accessible on a white background?

#505e6f on white scores 6.62:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #505e6f?

#6F6150 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #6F5250 and #6E6F50, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #505e6f?

For interface work: #F6F7F9 as the surface, #D0D6DD for borders, #607185 for secondary text, #73584C as an accent and #353F4A for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #506E6F and #52506F stays calm, while #6F6150 is the loudest partner.

What is #505e6f in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(28%, 15%, 0%, 57%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #505e6f warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 72 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #50536F; nudged cooler, #445262.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #505e6f?

The gray family — its 500 step is #6b7280, ΔE2000 8.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #505e6f as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #505e6f in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#505e6f] or text-[#505e6f], 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 #505e6f with 50% opacity?

rgba(80, 94, 111, 0.5), or #505e6f80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #A8AFB7; over black, #282F38.

Is #505e6f a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #666666, ΔE2000 9.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #505e6f 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 #505e6f?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #6A7C93, #505e6f 45%, #353F4A). For more colour, a short hue run to #4B435D keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #505e6f in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #505e6f at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.