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blue · cool

#68acce

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

Token name suggestion: Signal Harbour

RGB
104, 172, 206
HSL
200°, 51%, 61%
CMYK
50, 17, 0, 19
Luminance
0.3690

#68acce is a balanced vivid blue, 200° on the wheel and 96/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.38:1). As text it scores 2.51:1 on white — use #347DA1 instead. Nearest name is Deep Sky Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(200 51% 61%)rgb(104 172 206)Base step 500AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #68acce is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#68acce
Hue
200°
blue
Saturation
51%
vivid
Lightness
61%
balanced
Brightness
81%
HSV value
Perceived
63%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3690
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
96/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
8.38:1
Closest name
Deep Sky Blue
ΔE2000 8.2
Chroma
26.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.712
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 7.4
Web-safe
#6699CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue200° of 360°
Saturation51%
Lightness61%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #68acce.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool96% 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
Red8%
Green80%
Blue12%

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

Every format

HEX#68acce
HEX (8-digit)#68acceff
RGBrgb(104, 172, 206)
RGBArgba(104, 172, 206, 1)
HSLhsl(200, 51%, 61%)
HSV / HSBhsv(200, 50%, 81%)
HWBhwb(200 41% 19%)
CMYKcmyk(50%, 17%, 0%, 19%)
LABlab(67.2 -12.3 -23.9)
LCHlch(67.2 26.9 242.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.712 0.085 231.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(31.60, 36.90, 63.84)
Decimal6859982
Display P3color(display-p3 0.408 0.675 0.808)
Web-safe#6699CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #68acce;
background-color: #68acce;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #68acce;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#68acce] bg-[#68acce]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #68acce;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.408, green: 0.675, blue: 0.808)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.408, green: 0.675, blue: 0.808, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#68ACCE</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF68ACCE)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF68ACCE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(206, 172, 104)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(104, 172, 206)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(104, 172, 206)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 104, 172, 206)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.4078f, 0.6745f, 0.8078f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{104,172,206}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #68acce 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #68acce 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#1F4B60, #D3E5EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #68acce 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: #F4F8FA;
  --brand-100: #EAF2F6;
  --brand-200: #CFE3ED;
  --brand-300: #AAD0E4;
  --brand-400: #80B9D6;
  --brand-500: #68acce;
  --brand-600: #3C8FB9;
  --brand-700: #32779A;
  --brand-800: #285F7B;
  --brand-900: #20475A;
  --brand-950: #142C38;
  --brand: #68acce;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C1DDEB;
  --brand-hover: #4D9DC5;
  --brand-pressed: #3A8CB4;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141F24;
    --brand-ink: #D3E5EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4F8FA',
        100: '#EAF2F6',
        200: '#CFE3ED',
        300: '#AAD0E4',
        400: '#80B9D6',
        500: '#68acce',
        600: '#3C8FB9',
        700: '#32779A',
        800: '#285F7B',
        900: '#20475A',
        950: '#142C38',
        DEFAULT: '#68acce',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4F8FA,
  '100': #EAF2F6,
  '200': #CFE3ED,
  '300': #AAD0E4,
  '400': #80B9D6,
  '500': #68acce,
  '600': #3C8FB9,
  '700': #32779A,
  '800': #285F7B,
  '900': #20475A,
  '950': #142C38,
);
$brand-base: #68acce;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4F8FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EAF2F6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CFE3ED", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#AAD0E4", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#80B9D6", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#68acce", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#3C8FB9", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#32779A", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#285F7B", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#20475A", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#142C38", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #68acce · 8.38:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.51:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.38:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #68acce as text scores 2.51:1 on white and 8.38:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #1F4B60 at 3.75:1.

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
#347DA1 · 4.57:1
AA on white−19% L
#347DA1
The quick fox
#265C77 · 7.29:1
AAA on white−30% L
#265C77
The quick fox
#68acce · 8.38:1
AA on blackalready passes
#68acce
The quick fox
#68acce · 8.38:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#68acce

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #4D9DC5 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
#68acce on white: 2.51:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#68acce on black: 8.38:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #68acce as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #68acce.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.51:1AaAa
Slate 502.39:1AaAa
Slate 1002.29:1AaAa
Slate 2002.03:1AaAa
Slate 3001.69:1AaAa
Slate 4001.02:1AaAa
Slate 5001.90:1AaAa
Slate 6003.02:1AaAa
Slate 7004.13:1AaAa
Slate 8005.84:1AaAa
Slate 9007.12:1AaAa
Black8.38:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #9BAAD0
deuteranopia · #8D9FCE
tritanopia · #32B5B7

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. #68acce is pinned to step 500; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F4F8FA
#EAF2F6
#CFE3ED
#AAD0E4
#80B9D6
#68acce
#3C8FB9
#32779A
#285F7B
#20475A
#142C38
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F4F8FADarkest = 950 · #142C38Text 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 0.021 231.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.034 231.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.051 231.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.066 231.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.078 231.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.085 231.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.085 231.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.080 231.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.071 231.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.059 231.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.047 231.4);
}

Colors that work with #68acce

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#C1DDEB
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B809B
Captions on the surface
Accent#D26D64
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#1F4B60
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#ECF4F9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141F24
Dark-mode background
Hover#4D9DC5
One step down in lightness
Pressed#3A8CB4
Two steps down
Disabled#C9D6DD
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#6EB7DC
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 #68acce

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 #1F4B60
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #4D9DC5

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
  • Weight39/100
  • 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#CE8A68
Analogous left#68CEBD
Analogous right#6879CE
Split-complement 1#CE6879
Split-complement 2#CEBD68
Triadic 1#CE68AC
Triadic 2#ACCE68
Tetradic#BD68CE
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°200°

#68acce sits at 200°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red40.8%
Green67.5%
Blue80.8%
R · 0–255
104
0x68
G · 0–255
172
0xac
B · 0–255
206
0xce

CMYK percentages

Cyan49.5%
Magenta16.5%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)19.2%

Total ink coverage is 85%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#68acce text on a black background

contrast 8.38:1

Card sample

#68acce text on a white background

contrast 2.51:1

Card sample

#68acce on grey

2.29:1

#68acce on its own surface

2.35:1

#68acce on its dark surface

6.70:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #68acce;
Background color
Panel with #68acce background
background-color: #68acce;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #68acce;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(104, 172, 206, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(104, 172, 206, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #68acce;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #68acce, #6868CE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #68acce, #8268CE);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #68acce;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #68acce;
caret-color: #68acce;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #68acce;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #ECF4F9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #68acce;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#68acce 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #68acce 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(104, 172, 206, 0.5)
rgb(104 172 206 / 50%)
#68acce80
hsl(200 51% 61% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #68acce 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#68acce1a#F0F7FA
20%#68acce33#E1EEF5
40%#68acce66#C3DEEB
60%#68acce99#A4CDE2
80%#68accecc#86BDD8

Gradients from #68acce

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, #96C5DD, #68acce 45%, #1F4B60);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #68acce, #5B51C7);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #68acce, #CE8A68);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #ADD2E5 0%, #68acce 45%, #1F4B60 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%, #8FDBC8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #7F86D6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #1F4B60 0%, transparent 65%), #68acce;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #68acce

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.

#68acce 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 8.38:1.

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.

#68acce, answered

What color is #68acce?

#68acce is a balanced vivid blue, closest to Deep Sky Blue (ΔE2000 8.2). It sits at 200° on the hue wheel with 51% saturation and 61% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #68acce?

rgb(104, 172, 206) — 104 red, 172 green and 206 blue out of 255, or 40.8% / 67.5% / 80.8% by channel.

What is #68acce in HSL and HSV?

hsl(200, 51%, 61%) and hsv(200, 50%, 81%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #68acce a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3690 and perceived brightness is 63%, so black text on it reaches 8.38:1.

Should I use black or white text on #68acce?

Black. It scores 8.38:1 against #68acce, versus 2.51:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #68acce accessible on a white background?

#68acce on white scores 2.51:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #347DA1 to reach 4.5:1, or #265C77 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #68acce?

#CE8A68 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CE6879 and #CEBD68, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #68acce?

For interface work: #F4F8FA as the surface, #C1DDEB for borders, #4B809B for secondary text, #D26D64 as an accent and #1F4B60 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #68CEBD and #6879CE stays calm, while #CE8A68 is the loudest partner.

What is #68acce in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(50%, 17%, 0%, 19%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #68acce warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 96 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #68CECB; nudged cooler, #669FD0.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #68acce?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 7.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #68acce as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #68acce in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#68acce] or text-[#68acce], 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 #68acce with 50% opacity?

rgba(104, 172, 206, 0.5), or #68acce80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #B4D6E7; over black, #345667.

Is #68acce a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #6699CC, ΔE2000 8.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #68acce 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 #68acce?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #96C5DD, #68acce 45%, #1F4B60). For more colour, a short hue run to #5B51C7 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #68acce in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #68acce at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.