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blue · cool

#66ade4

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

Token name suggestion: True Cobalt

RGB
102, 173, 228
HSL
206°, 70%, 65%
CMYK
55, 24, 0, 11
Luminance
0.3831

#66ade4 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 #2179BD instead. Nearest name is Deep Sky Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(206 70% 65%)rgb(102 173 228)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #66ade4 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#66ade4
Hue
206°
blue
Saturation
70%
vivid
Lightness
65%
balanced
Brightness
89%
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
35.1
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°
Saturation70%
Lightness65%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #66ade4.

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#66ade4
HEX (8-digit)#66ade4ff
RGBrgb(102, 173, 228)
RGBArgba(102, 173, 228, 1)
HSLhsl(206, 70%, 65%)
HSV / HSBhsv(206, 55%, 89%)
HWBhwb(206 40% 11%)
CMYKcmyk(55%, 24%, 0%, 11%)
LABlab(68.3 -6.7 -34.4)
LCHlch(68.3 35.1 258.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.723 0.108 243.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(34.42, 38.31, 78.96)
Decimal6729188
Display P3color(display-p3 0.400 0.678 0.894)
Web-safe#6699CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #66ade4;
background-color: #66ade4;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #66ade4;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#66ade4] bg-[#66ade4]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #66ade4;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.400, green: 0.678, blue: 0.894)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.400, green: 0.678, blue: 0.894, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#66ADE4</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF66ADE4)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF66ADE4)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(228, 173, 102)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(102, 173, 228)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(102, 173, 228)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 102, 173, 228)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.4000f, 0.6784f, 0.8941f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{102,173,228}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #66ade4 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #66ade4 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#13456C, #D3E2EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #66ade4 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: #C9E0F2;
  --brand-300: #A0CCEE;
  --brand-400: #66ade4;
  --brand-500: #4099DD;
  --brand-600: #2585D0;
  --brand-700: #1F6FAD;
  --brand-800: #18598B;
  --brand-900: #164265;
  --brand-950: #0E293F;
  --brand: #66ade4;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C0D9ED;
  --brand-hover: #489DDF;
  --brand-pressed: #298CD9;
}
@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: '#C9E0F2',
        300: '#A0CCEE',
        400: '#66ade4',
        500: '#4099DD',
        600: '#2585D0',
        700: '#1F6FAD',
        800: '#18598B',
        900: '#164265',
        950: '#0E293F',
        DEFAULT: '#66ade4',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3F8FC,
  '100': #E7F1F8,
  '200': #C9E0F2,
  '300': #A0CCEE,
  '400': #66ade4,
  '500': #4099DD,
  '600': #2585D0,
  '700': #1F6FAD,
  '800': #18598B,
  '900': #164265,
  '950': #0E293F,
);
$brand-base: #66ade4;
$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": "#C9E0F2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#A0CCEE", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#66ade4", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#4099DD", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#2585D0", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#1F6FAD", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#18598B", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#164265", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0E293F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #66ade4 · 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: #66ade4 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: #13456C 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
#2179BD · 4.63:1
AA on white−21% L
#2179BD
The quick fox
#195B8E · 7.17:1
AAA on white−32% L
#195B8E
The quick fox
#66ade4 · 8.66:1
AA on blackalready passes
#66ade4
The quick fox
#66ade4 · 8.66:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#66ade4

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #439ADE 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
#66ade4 on white: 2.42:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#66ade4 on black: 8.66:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #66ade4 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #66ade4.

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 · #95AEE7
deuteranopia · #84A1E3
tritanopia · #00BAC0

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. #66ade4 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
#C9E0F2
#A0CCEE
#66ade4
#4099DD
#2585D0
#1F6FAD
#18598B
#164265
#0E293F
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F3F8FCDarkest = 950 · #0E293FText 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 0.027 243.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.043 243.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.065 243.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.084 243.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.099 243.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.108 243.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.108 243.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.101 243.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.091 243.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.075 243.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.059 243.4);
}

Colors that work with #66ade4

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#B2361A
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#13456C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E9F3FB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141D24
Dark-mode background
Hover#489DDF
One step down in lightness
Pressed#298CD9
Two steps down
Disabled#D6DEE5
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#6FB7EF
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 #66ade4

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 #13456C
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #439ADE

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#E49D66
Analogous left#66E4DC
Analogous right#666EE4
Split-complement 1#E4666E
Split-complement 2#E4DC66
Triadic 1#E466AD
Triadic 2#ADE466
Tetradic#DC66E4
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°206°

#66ade4 sits at 206°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red40.0%
Green67.8%
Blue89.4%
R · 0–255
102
0x66
G · 0–255
173
0xad
B · 0–255
228
0xe4

CMYK percentages

Cyan55.3%
Magenta24.1%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)10.6%

Total ink coverage is 90%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#66ade4 text on a black background

contrast 8.66:1

Card sample

#66ade4 text on a white background

contrast 2.42:1

Card sample

#66ade4 on grey

2.21:1

#66ade4 on its own surface

2.27:1

#66ade4 on its dark surface

7.04:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #66ade4;
Background color
Panel with #66ade4 background
background-color: #66ade4;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #66ade4;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(102, 173, 228, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(102, 173, 228, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #66ade4;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #66ade4, #7366E4);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #66ade4, #9366E4);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #66ade4;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #66ade4;
caret-color: #66ade4;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #66ade4;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E9F3FB;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #66ade4;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#66ade4 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #66ade4 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(102, 173, 228, 0.5)
rgb(102 173 228 / 50%)
#66ade480
hsl(206 70% 65% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #66ade4 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#66ade41a#F0F7FC
20%#66ade433#E0EFFA
40%#66ade466#C2DEF4
60%#66ade499#A3CEEF
80%#66ade4cc#85BDE9

Gradients from #66ade4

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, #9AC9ED, #66ade4 45%, #13456C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #66ade4, #674CDF);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #66ade4, #E49D66);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #B4D7F2 0%, #66ade4 45%, #13456C 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%, #91ECDE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #8280E9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #13456C 0%, transparent 65%), #66ade4;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #66ade4

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.

#66ade4 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.

#66ade4, answered

What color is #66ade4?

#66ade4 is a balanced vivid blue, closest to Deep Sky Blue (ΔE2000 7.9). It sits at 206° on the hue wheel with 70% saturation and 65% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #66ade4?

rgb(102, 173, 228) — 102 red, 173 green and 228 blue out of 255, or 40% / 67.8% / 89.4% by channel.

What is #66ade4 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(206, 70%, 65%) and hsv(206, 55%, 89%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #66ade4 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 #66ade4?

Black. It scores 8.66:1 against #66ade4, versus 2.42:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #66ade4 accessible on a white background?

#66ade4 on white scores 2.42:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #2179BD to reach 4.5:1, or #195B8E for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #66ade4?

#E49D66 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #E4666E and #E4DC66, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #66ade4?

For interface work: #F4F8FA as the surface, #C0D9ED for borders, #4B789B for secondary text, #B2361A as an accent and #13456C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #66E4DC and #666EE4 stays calm, while #E49D66 is the loudest partner.

What is #66ade4 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(55%, 24%, 0%, 11%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #66ade4 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 #667FE4; nudged cooler, #4E99E2.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #66ade4?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 5.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #66ade4 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #66ade4 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#66ade4] or text-[#66ade4], 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 #66ade4 with 50% opacity?

rgba(102, 173, 228, 0.5), or #66ade480 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #B3D6F2; over black, #335772.

Is #66ade4 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 #66ade4 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 #66ade4?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #9AC9ED, #66ade4 45%, #13456C). For more colour, a short hue run to #674CDF keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #66ade4 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #66ade4 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.