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blue · cool

#596dec

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

Token name suggestion: True Cobalt

RGB
89, 109, 236
HSL
232°, 80%, 64%
CMYK
62, 54, 0, 8
Luminance
0.1912

#596dec is a balanced electric blue, 232° on the wheel and 88/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (4.82:1). As text it scores 4.35:1 on white — large text only. Nearest name is Royal Blue, nearest Tailwind family is indigo.

hsl(232 80% 64%)rgb(89 109 236)Base step 400AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #596dec is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#596dec
Hue
232°
blue
Saturation
80%
electric
Lightness
64%
balanced
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
49%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1912
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
88/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
4.82:1
Closest name
Royal Blue
ΔE2000 3.9
Chroma
73.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.588
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
indigo
500 · ΔE 3.1
Web-safe
#6666FF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue232° of 360°
Saturation80%
Lightness64%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #596dec.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool88% 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%
Green57%
Blue32%

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

Every format

HEX#596dec
HEX (8-digit)#596decff
RGBrgb(89, 109, 236)
RGBArgba(89, 109, 236, 1)
HSLhsl(232, 80%, 64%)
HSV / HSBhsv(232, 62%, 93%)
HWBhwb(232 35% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(62%, 54%, 0%, 8%)
LABlab(50.8 31.1 -66.5)
LCHlch(50.8 73.5 295.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.588 0.191 272.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(24.72, 19.12, 81.73)
Decimal5860844
Display P3color(display-p3 0.349 0.427 0.925)
Web-safe#6666FF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #596dec;
background-color: #596dec;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #596dec;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#596dec] bg-[#596dec]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #596dec;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.349, green: 0.427, blue: 0.925)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.349, green: 0.427, blue: 0.925, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#596DEC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF596DEC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF596DEC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(236, 109, 89)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(89, 109, 236)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(89, 109, 236)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 89, 109, 236)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.3490f, 0.4275f, 0.9255f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{89,109,236}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #596dec 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #596dec 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#0D1B72, #D3D6EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #596dec 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: #F3F4FC;
  --brand-100: #E6E9F9;
  --brand-200: #C7CDF5;
  --brand-300: #9AA6F3;
  --brand-400: #596dec;
  --brand-500: #364EE8;
  --brand-600: #1934DC;
  --brand-700: #152BB7;
  --brand-800: #112292;
  --brand-900: #101D6A;
  --brand-950: #0A1242;
  --brand: #596dec;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F5FA;
  --brand-border: #C0C6ED;
  --brand-hover: #3951E8;
  --brand-pressed: #1A36E3;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141624;
    --brand-ink: #D3D6EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3F4FC',
        100: '#E6E9F9',
        200: '#C7CDF5',
        300: '#9AA6F3',
        400: '#596dec',
        500: '#364EE8',
        600: '#1934DC',
        700: '#152BB7',
        800: '#112292',
        900: '#101D6A',
        950: '#0A1242',
        DEFAULT: '#596dec',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3F4FC,
  '100': #E6E9F9,
  '200': #C7CDF5,
  '300': #9AA6F3,
  '400': #596dec,
  '500': #364EE8,
  '600': #1934DC,
  '700': #152BB7,
  '800': #112292,
  '900': #101D6A,
  '950': #0A1242,
);
$brand-base: #596dec;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3F4FC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E6E9F9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C7CDF5", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#9AA6F3", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#596dec", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#364EE8", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#1934DC", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#152BB7", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#112292", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#101D6A", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0A1242", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #596dec · 4.82:1
Use #000000AA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 4.35:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 4.82:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #596dec as text scores 4.35:1 on white and 4.82:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #0D1B72 at 3.40:1.

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
#5469EC · 4.56:1
AA on white−1% L
#5469EC
The quick fox
#2641E6 · 7.04:1
AAA on white−11% L
#2641E6
The quick fox
#596dec · 4.82:1
AA on blackalready passes
#596dec
The quick fox
#8291F1 · 7.27:1
AAA on black+9% L
#8291F1

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #596DEC 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
#596dec on white: 4.35:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#596dec on black: 4.82:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #596dec as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #596dec.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White4.35:1AaAa
Slate 504.16:1AaAa
Slate 1003.97:1AaAa
Slate 2003.53:1AaAa
Slate 3002.93:1AaAa
Slate 4001.70:1AaAa
Slate 5001.09:1AaAa
Slate 6001.74:1AaAa
Slate 7002.38:1AaAa
Slate 8003.36:1AaAa
Slate 9004.10:1AaAa
Black4.82:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #0E80F0
deuteranopia · #0073E9
tritanopia · #008BA2

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. #596dec is pinned to step 400; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F3F4FC
#E6E9F9
#C7CDF5
#9AA6F3
#596dec
#364EE8
#1934DC
#152BB7
#112292
#101D6A
#0A1242
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F3F4FCDarkest = 950 · #0A1242Text 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 0.048 272.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.077 272.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.115 272.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.149 272.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.176 272.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.191 272.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.191 272.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.180 272.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.161 272.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.134 272.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.105 272.4);
}

Colors that work with #596dec

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#F4F5FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0C6ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B569B
Captions on the surface
Accent#BB7911
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#0D1B72
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E8EBFC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141624
Dark-mode background
Hover#3951E8
One step down in lightness
Pressed#1A36E3
Two steps down
Disabled#D3D5E3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#6377F6
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 #596dec

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

Works well for
  • Headings from 24px up on white
  • 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
  • Small text on white — under 4.5:1
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
24px / 18.66px bold
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #0D1B72
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 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
  • Weight36/100
  • 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#ECD859
Analogous left#59B7EC
Analogous right#8E59EC
Split-complement 1#EC8E59
Split-complement 2#B7EC59
Triadic 1#EC596D
Triadic 2#6DEC59
Tetradic#EC59B7
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°232°

#596dec sits at 232°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red34.9%
Green42.7%
Blue92.5%
R · 0–255
89
0x59
G · 0–255
109
0x6d
B · 0–255
236
0xec

CMYK percentages

Cyan62.3%
Magenta53.8%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)7.5%

Total ink coverage is 124%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#596dec text on a black background

contrast 4.82:1

Card sample

#596dec text on a white background

contrast 4.35:1

Card sample

#596dec on grey

3.97:1

#596dec on its own surface

4.00:1

#596dec on its dark surface

4.12:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #596dec;
Background color
Panel with #596dec background
background-color: #596dec;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #596dec;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(89, 109, 236, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(89, 109, 236, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #596dec;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #596dec, #A759EC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #596dec, #CC59EC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #596dec;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #596dec;
caret-color: #596dec;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #596dec;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E8EBFC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #596dec;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#596dec 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #596dec 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(89, 109, 236, 0.5)
rgb(89 109 236 / 50%)
#596dec80
hsl(232 80% 64% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #596dec 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#596dec1a#EEF0FD
20%#596dec33#DEE2FB
40%#596dec66#BDC5F7
60%#596dec99#9BA7F4
80%#596deccc#7A8AF0

Gradients from #596dec

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, #909DF2, #596dec 45%, #0D1B72);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #596dec, #A73DE9);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #596dec, #ECD859);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #ABB5F5 0%, #596dec 45%, #0D1B72 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F5FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #87D3F1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #AB74EF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #0D1B72 0%, transparent 65%), #596dec;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #596dec

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.

#596dec 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 4.82:1.

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.

#596dec, answered

What color is #596dec?

#596dec is a balanced electric blue, closest to Royal Blue (ΔE2000 3.9). It sits at 232° on the hue wheel with 80% saturation and 64% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #596dec?

rgb(89, 109, 236) — 89 red, 109 green and 236 blue out of 255, or 34.9% / 42.7% / 92.5% by channel.

What is #596dec in HSL and HSV?

hsl(232, 80%, 64%) and hsv(232, 62%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #596dec a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.1912 and perceived brightness is 49%, so black text on it reaches 4.82:1.

Should I use black or white text on #596dec?

Black. It scores 4.82:1 against #596dec, versus 4.35:1 for white — AA at any size.

Is #596dec accessible on a white background?

#596dec on white scores 4.35:1, which only clears AA for large text — 18.66px bold or 24px regular and up. Darken it to #5469EC to reach 4.5:1, or #2641E6 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #596dec?

#ECD859 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #EC8E59 and #B7EC59, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #596dec?

For interface work: #F4F5FA as the surface, #C0C6ED for borders, #4B569B for secondary text, #BB7911 as an accent and #0D1B72 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #59B7EC and #8E59EC stays calm, while #ECD859 is the loudest partner.

What is #596dec in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(62%, 54%, 0%, 8%). 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 #596dec warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 88 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #7B59EC; nudged cooler, #5788EE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #596dec?

The indigo family — its 500 step is #6366f1, ΔE2000 3.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #596dec as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #596dec in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#596dec] or text-[#596dec], 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 #596dec with 50% opacity?

rgba(89, 109, 236, 0.5), or #596dec80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #ACB6F6; over black, #2D3776.

Is #596dec a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #6666FF, ΔE2000 4.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #596dec 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 #596dec?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #909DF2, #596dec 45%, #0D1B72). For more colour, a short hue run to #A73DE9 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #596dec in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #596dec at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.