Skip to content
blue · cool

#65ade5

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

Token name suggestion: Studio Cobalt

RGB
101, 173, 229
HSL
206°, 71%, 65%
CMYK
56, 25, 0, 10
Luminance
0.3831

#65ade5 is a balanced vivid blue, 206° on the wheel and 98/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.66:1). As text it scores 2.42:1 on white — use #2079BF instead. Nearest name is Deep Sky Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(206 71% 65%)rgb(101 173 229)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #65ade5 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#65ade5
Hue
206°
blue
Saturation
71%
vivid
Lightness
65%
balanced
Brightness
90%
HSV value
Perceived
64%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3831
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
98/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
8.66:1
Closest name
Deep Sky Blue
ΔE2000 7.9
Chroma
35.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.723
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 5.6
Web-safe
#6699CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue206° of 360°
Saturation71%
Lightness65%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #65ade5.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool98% 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
Red7%
Green78%
Blue15%

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

Every format

HEX#65ade5
HEX (8-digit)#65ade5ff
RGBrgb(101, 173, 229)
RGBArgba(101, 173, 229, 1)
HSLhsl(206, 71%, 65%)
HSV / HSBhsv(206, 56%, 90%)
HWBhwb(206 40% 10%)
CMYKcmyk(56%, 25%, 0%, 10%)
LABlab(68.3 -6.7 -35.0)
LCHlch(68.3 35.6 259.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.723 0.109 243.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(34.45, 38.31, 79.69)
Decimal6663653
Display P3color(display-p3 0.396 0.678 0.898)
Web-safe#6699CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #65ade5;
background-color: #65ade5;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #65ade5;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#65ade5] bg-[#65ade5]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #65ade5;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.396, green: 0.678, blue: 0.898)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.396, green: 0.678, blue: 0.898, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#65ADE5</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF65ADE5)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF65ADE5)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(229, 173, 101)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(101, 173, 229)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(101, 173, 229)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 101, 173, 229)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.3961f, 0.6784f, 0.8980f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{101,173,229}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #65ade5 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #65ade5 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#12456D, #D3E2EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #65ade5 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: #F3F8FC;
  --brand-100: #E7F1F8;
  --brand-200: #C9E0F3;
  --brand-300: #9FCCEF;
  --brand-400: #65ade5;
  --brand-500: #3F99DF;
  --brand-600: #2385D1;
  --brand-700: #1D6FAF;
  --brand-800: #18598C;
  --brand-900: #154265;
  --brand-950: #0D293F;
  --brand: #65ade5;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C0D9ED;
  --brand-hover: #469DE0;
  --brand-pressed: #288CDB;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141D24;
    --brand-ink: #D3E2EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3F8FC',
        100: '#E7F1F8',
        200: '#C9E0F3',
        300: '#9FCCEF',
        400: '#65ade5',
        500: '#3F99DF',
        600: '#2385D1',
        700: '#1D6FAF',
        800: '#18598C',
        900: '#154265',
        950: '#0D293F',
        DEFAULT: '#65ade5',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3F8FC,
  '100': #E7F1F8,
  '200': #C9E0F3,
  '300': #9FCCEF,
  '400': #65ade5,
  '500': #3F99DF,
  '600': #2385D1,
  '700': #1D6FAF,
  '800': #18598C,
  '900': #154265,
  '950': #0D293F,
);
$brand-base: #65ade5;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3F8FC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E7F1F8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C9E0F3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#9FCCEF", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#65ade5", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#3F99DF", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#2385D1", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#1D6FAF", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#18598C", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#154265", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0D293F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #65ade5 · 8.66:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.42:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.66:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #65ade5 as text scores 2.42:1 on white and 8.66:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #12456D at 4.13:1.

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
#2079BF · 4.62:1
AA on white−21% L
#2079BF
The quick fox
#185B8F · 7.16:1
AAA on white−32% L
#185B8F
The quick fox
#65ade5 · 8.66:1
AA on blackalready passes
#65ade5
The quick fox
#65ade5 · 8.66:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#65ade5

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #429ADF 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
#65ade5 on white: 2.42:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#65ade5 on black: 8.66:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #65ade5 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #65ade5.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.42:1AaAa
Slate 502.32:1AaAa
Slate 1002.21:1AaAa
Slate 2001.97:1AaAa
Slate 3001.63:1AaAa
Slate 4001.06:1AaAa
Slate 5001.96:1AaAa
Slate 6003.13:1AaAa
Slate 7004.27:1AaAa
Slate 8006.03:1AaAa
Slate 9007.36:1AaAa
Black8.66:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #95AEE8
deuteranopia · #83A1E4
tritanopia · #00BBC0

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. #65ade5 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.

#F3F8FC
#E7F1F8
#C9E0F3
#9FCCEF
#65ade5
#3F99DF
#2385D1
#1D6FAF
#18598C
#154265
#0D293F
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F3F8FCDarkest = 950 · #0D293FText 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 0.027 243.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.044 243.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.066 243.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.085 243.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.101 243.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.109 243.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.109 243.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.103 243.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.092 243.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.077 243.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.060 243.6);
}

Colors that work with #65ade5

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#C0D9ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B789B
Captions on the surface
Accent#B33619
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#12456D
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E9F3FB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141D24
Dark-mode background
Hover#469DE0
One step down in lightness
Pressed#288CDB
Two steps down
Disabled#D6DEE5
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#6EB7F0
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 #65ade5

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 #12456D
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #429ADF

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.

This is a confident chroma: strong enough to lead a brand, restrained enough to live in an interface all day. 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-high
  • Weight35/100
  • 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#E59D65
Analogous left#65E5DD
Analogous right#656DE5
Split-complement 1#E5656D
Split-complement 2#E5DD65
Triadic 1#E565AD
Triadic 2#ADE565
Tetradic#DD65E5
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°206°

#65ade5 sits at 206°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red39.6%
Green67.8%
Blue89.8%
R · 0–255
101
0x65
G · 0–255
173
0xad
B · 0–255
229
0xe5

CMYK percentages

Cyan55.9%
Magenta24.5%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)10.2%

Total ink coverage is 91%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#65ade5 text on a black background

contrast 8.66:1

Card sample

#65ade5 text on a white background

contrast 2.42:1

Card sample

#65ade5 on grey

2.21:1

#65ade5 on its own surface

2.27:1

#65ade5 on its dark surface

7.04:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #65ade5;
Background color
Panel with #65ade5 background
background-color: #65ade5;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #65ade5;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(101, 173, 229, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(101, 173, 229, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #65ade5;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #65ade5, #7265E5);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #65ade5, #9265E5);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #65ade5;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #65ade5;
caret-color: #65ade5;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #65ade5;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E9F3FB;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #65ade5;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#65ade5 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #65ade5 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(101, 173, 229, 0.5)
rgb(101 173 229 / 50%)
#65ade580
hsl(206 71% 65% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #65ade5 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#65ade51a#F0F7FC
20%#65ade533#E0EFFA
40%#65ade566#C1DEF5
60%#65ade599#A3CEEF
80%#65ade5cc#84BDEA

Gradients from #65ade5

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, #99C9EE, #65ade5 45%, #12456D);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #65ade5, #674BE1);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #65ade5, #E59D65);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #B4D7F2 0%, #65ade5 45%, #12456D 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%, #91ECDF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #817FE9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #12456D 0%, transparent 65%), #65ade5;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #65ade5

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.

#65ade5 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

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 8.66:1.

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.

#65ade5, answered

What color is #65ade5?

#65ade5 is a balanced vivid blue, closest to Deep Sky Blue (ΔE2000 7.9). It sits at 206° on the hue wheel with 71% saturation and 65% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #65ade5?

rgb(101, 173, 229) — 101 red, 173 green and 229 blue out of 255, or 39.6% / 67.8% / 89.8% by channel.

What is #65ade5 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(206, 71%, 65%) and hsv(206, 56%, 90%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #65ade5 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3831 and perceived brightness is 64%, so black text on it reaches 8.66:1.

Should I use black or white text on #65ade5?

Black. It scores 8.66:1 against #65ade5, versus 2.42:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #65ade5 accessible on a white background?

#65ade5 on white scores 2.42:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #2079BF to reach 4.5:1, or #185B8F for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #65ade5?

#E59D65 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #E5656D and #E5DD65, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #65ade5?

For interface work: #F4F8FA as the surface, #C0D9ED for borders, #4B789B for secondary text, #B33619 as an accent and #12456D for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #65E5DD and #656DE5 stays calm, while #E59D65 is the loudest partner.

What is #65ade5 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(56%, 25%, 0%, 10%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #65ade5 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 98 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #657EE5; nudged cooler, #4D99E3.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #65ade5?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 5.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #65ade5 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #65ade5 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#65ade5] or text-[#65ade5], 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 #65ade5 with 50% opacity?

rgba(101, 173, 229, 0.5), or #65ade580 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #B2D6F2; over black, #335773.

Is #65ade5 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #6699CC, ΔE2000 6.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #65ade5 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 #65ade5?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #99C9EE, #65ade5 45%, #12456D). For more colour, a short hue run to #674BE1 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #65ade5 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #65ade5 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.