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blue · cool

#536fab

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

Token name suggestion: Atlas Sapphire

RGB
83, 111, 171
HSL
221°, 35%, 50%
CMYK
52, 35, 0, 33
Luminance
0.1615

#536fab is a balanced soft blue, 221° on the wheel and 93/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (4.96:1). As text it scores 4.96:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Royal Blue, nearest Tailwind family is slate.

hsl(221 35% 50%)rgb(83 111 171)Base step 600AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #536fab is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#536fab
Hue
221°
blue
Saturation
35%
soft
Lightness
50%
balanced
Brightness
67%
HSV value
Perceived
44%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1615
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
93/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
White
4.96:1
Closest name
Royal Blue
ΔE2000 6.8
Chroma
36.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.547
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
slate
500 · ΔE 8.1
Web-safe
#666699
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue221° of 360°
Saturation35%
Lightness50%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #536fab.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool93% 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
Red11%
Green70%
Blue18%

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

Every format

HEX#536fab
HEX (8-digit)#536fabff
RGBrgb(83, 111, 171)
RGBArgba(83, 111, 171, 1)
HSLhsl(221, 35%, 50%)
HSV / HSBhsv(221, 51%, 67%)
HWBhwb(221 33% 33%)
CMYKcmyk(52%, 35%, 0%, 33%)
LABlab(47.2 7.2 -35.2)
LCHlch(47.2 36.0 281.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.547 0.100 264.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(16.60, 16.15, 40.76)
Decimal5468075
Display P3color(display-p3 0.325 0.435 0.671)
Web-safe#666699

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #536fab;
background-color: #536fab;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #536fab;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#536fab] bg-[#536fab]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #536fab;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.325, green: 0.435, blue: 0.671)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.325, green: 0.435, blue: 0.671, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#536FAB</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF536FAB)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF536FAB)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(171, 111, 83)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(83, 111, 171)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(83, 111, 171)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 83, 111, 171)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.3255f, 0.4353f, 0.6706f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{83,111,171}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #536fab 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #536fab 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#2A3856, #D6DDEB);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #536fab 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: #F5F7F9;
  --brand-100: #ECEEF4;
  --brand-200: #D4DAE8;
  --brand-300: #B3C0DA;
  --brand-400: #8EA0C8;
  --brand-500: #6881B6;
  --brand-600: #536fab;
  --brand-700: #435989;
  --brand-800: #35476E;
  --brand-900: #2A3651;
  --brand-950: #1A2232;
  --brand: #536fab;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F5F6FA;
  --brand-border: #C8D1E4;
  --brand-hover: #475F93;
  --brand-pressed: #3C507B;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141924;
    --brand-ink: #D6DDEB;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F7F9',
        100: '#ECEEF4',
        200: '#D4DAE8',
        300: '#B3C0DA',
        400: '#8EA0C8',
        500: '#6881B6',
        600: '#536fab',
        700: '#435989',
        800: '#35476E',
        900: '#2A3651',
        950: '#1A2232',
        DEFAULT: '#536fab',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F7F9,
  '100': #ECEEF4,
  '200': #D4DAE8,
  '300': #B3C0DA,
  '400': #8EA0C8,
  '500': #6881B6,
  '600': #536fab,
  '700': #435989,
  '800': #35476E,
  '900': #2A3651,
  '950': #1A2232,
);
$brand-base: #536fab;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F7F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#ECEEF4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D4DAE8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B3C0DA", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#8EA0C8", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#6881B6", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#536fab", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#435989", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#35476E", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2A3651", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1A2232", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #536fab · 4.96:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 4.96:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 4.23:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #536fab as text scores 4.96:1 on white and 4.23:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #EEF1F7 at 4.39:1.

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
#536fab · 4.96:1
AA on whitealready passes
#536fab
The quick fox
#415785 · 7.18:1
AAA on white−11% L
#415785
The quick fox
#5A75AF · 4.60:1
AA on black+2% L
#5A75AF
The quick fox
#8397C3 · 7.18:1
AAA on black+14% L
#8397C3

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #536FAB 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
#536fab on white: 4.96:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#536fab on black: 4.23:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #536fab as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #536fab.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White4.96:1AaAa
Slate 504.75:1AaAa
Slate 1004.53:1AaAa
Slate 2004.03:1AaAa
Slate 3003.34:1AaAa
Slate 4001.94:1AaAa
Slate 5001.04:1AaAa
Slate 6001.53:1AaAa
Slate 7002.09:1AaAa
Slate 8002.95:1AaAa
Slate 9003.60:1AaAa
Black4.23:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #5874AD
deuteranopia · #4E6CAA
tritanopia · #2A7C85

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. #536fab 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.

#F5F7F9
#ECEEF4
#D4DAE8
#B3C0DA
#8EA0C8
#6881B6
#536fab
#435989
#35476E
#2A3651
#1A2232
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F5F7F9Darkest = 950 · #1A2232Text 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 0.025 264.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.040 264.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.060 264.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.078 264.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.092 264.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.100 264.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.100 264.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.094 264.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.084 264.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.070 264.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.055 264.3);
}

Colors that work with #536fab

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#F5F6FA
Tinted page background
Border#C8D1E4
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B649A
Captions on the surface
Accent#B0784E
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#2A3856
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EEF1F7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141924
Dark-mode background
Hover#475F93
One step down in lightness
Pressed#3C507B
Two steps down
Disabled#A7B1C7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#5576BE
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 #536fab

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

Works well for
  • Body text and links on white
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • 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 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
  • Weight50/100
  • 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#AB8F53
Analogous left#539BAB
Analogous right#6353AB
Split-complement 1#AB6353
Split-complement 2#9BAB53
Triadic 1#AB536F
Triadic 2#6FAB53
Tetradic#AB539B
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°221°

#536fab sits at 221°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red32.5%
Green43.5%
Blue67.1%
R · 0–255
83
0x53
G · 0–255
111
0x6f
B · 0–255
171
0xab

CMYK percentages

Cyan51.5%
Magenta35.1%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)32.9%

Total ink coverage is 120%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#536fab text on a black background

contrast 4.23:1

Card sample

#536fab text on a white background

contrast 4.96:1

Card sample

#536fab on grey

4.53:1

#536fab on its own surface

4.60:1

#536fab on its dark surface

3.54:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #536fab;
Background color
Panel with #536fab background
background-color: #536fab;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #536fab;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(83, 111, 171, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(83, 111, 171, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #536fab;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #536fab, #7253AB);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #536fab, #8853AB);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #536fab;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #536fab;
caret-color: #536fab;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #536fab;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EEF1F7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #536fab;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#536fab 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #536fab 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(83, 111, 171, 0.5)
rgb(83 111 171 / 50%)
#536fab80
hsl(221 35% 50% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #536fab 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#536fab1a#EEF1F7
20%#536fab33#DDE2EE
40%#536fab66#BAC5DD
60%#536fab99#98A9CD
80%#536fabcc#758CBC

Gradients from #536fab

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, #7C91BF, #536fab 45%, #2A3856);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #536fab, #6A4996);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #536fab, #AB8F53);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #90A3C9 0%, #536fab 45%, #2A3856 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5F6FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #75B5BC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #7C67B5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #2A3856 0%, transparent 65%), #536fab;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #536fab

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.

#536fab 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 4.23:1 — lift it to #5A75AF 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.

#536fab, answered

What color is #536fab?

#536fab is a balanced soft blue, closest to Royal Blue (ΔE2000 6.8). It sits at 221° on the hue wheel with 35% saturation and 50% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #536fab?

rgb(83, 111, 171) — 83 red, 111 green and 171 blue out of 255, or 32.5% / 43.5% / 67.1% by channel.

What is #536fab in HSL and HSV?

hsl(221, 35%, 50%) and hsv(221, 51%, 67%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #536fab a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1615 and perceived brightness is 44%, so white text on it reaches 4.96:1.

Should I use black or white text on #536fab?

White. It scores 4.96:1 against #536fab, versus 4.23:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #536fab accessible on a white background?

#536fab on white scores 4.96:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #536fab?

#AB8F53 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #AB6353 and #9BAB53, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #536fab?

For interface work: #F5F6FA as the surface, #C8D1E4 for borders, #4B649A for secondary text, #B0784E as an accent and #2A3856 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #539BAB and #6353AB stays calm, while #AB8F53 is the loudest partner.

What is #536fab in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(52%, 35%, 0%, 33%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #536fab warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 93 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #5753AB; nudged cooler, #5178AD.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #536fab?

The slate family — its 500 step is #64748b, ΔE2000 8.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #536fab as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #536fab in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#536fab] or text-[#536fab], 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 #536fab with 50% opacity?

rgba(83, 111, 171, 0.5), or #536fab80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #A9B7D5; over black, #2A3856.

Is #536fab a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #666699, ΔE2000 8.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #536fab 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 #536fab?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #7C91BF, #536fab 45%, #2A3856). For more colour, a short hue run to #6A4996 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #536fab in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #536fab at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.