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blue · cool

#697f96

a balanced, soft blue · cool · closest name: Slate Gray

Token name suggestion: Signal Sapphire

RGB
105, 127, 150
HSL
211°, 18%, 50%
CMYK
30, 15, 0, 41
Luminance
0.2038

#697f96 is a balanced soft blue, 211° on the wheel and 75/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (5.08:1). As text it scores 4.14:1 on white — large text only. Nearest name is Slate Gray, nearest Tailwind family is slate.

hsl(211 18% 50%)rgb(105 127 150)Base step 600AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #697f96 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#697f96
Hue
211°
blue
Saturation
18%
soft
Lightness
50%
balanced
Brightness
59%
HSV value
Perceived
49%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.2038
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
75/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
5.08:1
Closest name
Slate Gray
ΔE2000 2.8
Chroma
15.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.588
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
slate
500 · ΔE 4.6
Web-safe
#666699
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue211° of 360°
Saturation18%
Lightness50%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #697f96.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool75% 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
Red15%
Green74%
Blue11%

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

Every format

HEX#697f96
HEX (8-digit)#697f96ff
RGBrgb(105, 127, 150)
RGBArgba(105, 127, 150, 1)
HSLhsl(211, 18%, 50%)
HSV / HSBhsv(211, 30%, 59%)
HWBhwb(211 41% 41%)
CMYKcmyk(30%, 15%, 0%, 41%)
LABlab(52.3 -2.3 -15.0)
LCHlch(52.3 15.2 261.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.588 0.044 249.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(18.92, 20.38, 31.79)
Decimal6913942
Display P3color(display-p3 0.412 0.498 0.588)
Web-safe#666699

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #697f96;
background-color: #697f96;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #697f96;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#697f96] bg-[#697f96]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #697f96;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.412, green: 0.498, blue: 0.588)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.412, green: 0.498, blue: 0.588, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#697F96</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF697F96)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF697F96)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(150, 127, 105)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(105, 127, 150)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(105, 127, 150)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 105, 127, 150)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.4118f, 0.4980f, 0.5882f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{105,127,150}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #697f96 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #697f96 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#353F4B, #DBE0E6);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #697f96 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: #F6F7F8;
  --brand-100: #EEF0F2;
  --brand-200: #D9DEE3;
  --brand-300: #BDC7D1;
  --brand-400: #9CABBA;
  --brand-500: #7B8EA3;
  --brand-600: #697f96;
  --brand-700: #546678;
  --brand-800: #435160;
  --brand-900: #333D47;
  --brand-950: #20262C;
  --brand: #697f96;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F7F9;
  --brand-border: #CFD6DD;
  --brand-hover: #5A6D81;
  --brand-pressed: #4C5B6C;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #171C21;
    --brand-ink: #DBE0E6;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F7F8',
        100: '#EEF0F2',
        200: '#D9DEE3',
        300: '#BDC7D1',
        400: '#9CABBA',
        500: '#7B8EA3',
        600: '#697f96',
        700: '#546678',
        800: '#435160',
        900: '#333D47',
        950: '#20262C',
        DEFAULT: '#697f96',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F7F8,
  '100': #EEF0F2,
  '200': #D9DEE3,
  '300': #BDC7D1,
  '400': #9CABBA,
  '500': #7B8EA3,
  '600': #697f96,
  '700': #546678,
  '800': #435160,
  '900': #333D47,
  '950': #20262C,
);
$brand-base: #697f96;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F7F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EEF0F2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D9DEE3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#BDC7D1", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#9CABBA", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7B8EA3", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#697f96", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#546678", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#435160", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#333D47", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#20262C", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #697f96 · 5.08:1
Use #000000AA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 4.14:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 5.08:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #697f96 as text scores 4.14:1 on white and 5.08:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #353F4B at 2.58:1.

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
#63778D · 4.61:1
AA on white−3% L
#63778D
The quick fox
#4A5969 · 7.18:1
AAA on white−15% L
#4A5969
The quick fox
#697f96 · 5.08:1
AA on blackalready passes
#697f96
The quick fox
#8799AB · 7.17:1
AAA on black+10% L
#8799AB

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #697F96 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
#697f96 on white: 4.14:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#697f96 on black: 5.08:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #697f96 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #697f96.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White4.14:1AaAa
Slate 503.95:1AaAa
Slate 1003.78:1AaAa
Slate 2003.36:1AaAa
Slate 3002.79:1AaAa
Slate 4001.61:1AaAa
Slate 5001.15:1AaAa
Slate 6001.83:1AaAa
Slate 7002.50:1AaAa
Slate 8003.54:1AaAa
Slate 9004.32:1AaAa
Black5.08:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #767F97
deuteranopia · #717B96
tritanopia · #5C8486

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. #697f96 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.

#F6F7F8
#EEF0F2
#D9DEE3
#BDC7D1
#9CABBA
#7B8EA3
#697f96
#546678
#435160
#333D47
#20262C
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F6F7F8Darkest = 950 · #20262CText 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 0.011 249.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.017 249.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.026 249.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.034 249.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.040 249.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.044 249.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.044 249.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.041 249.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.037 249.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.031 249.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.024 249.7);
}

Colors that work with #697f96

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#F6F7F9
Tinted page background
Border#CFD6DD
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#5F7287
Captions on the surface
Accent#9B7264
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#353F4B
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F0F2F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#171C21
Dark-mode background
Hover#5A6D81
One step down in lightness
Pressed#4C5B6C
Two steps down
Disabled#ABB7C4
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#6989AA
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 #697f96

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
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • Small text on white — under 4.5:1
  • 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 #353F4B
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#968069
Analogous left#699596
Analogous right#6A6996
Split-complement 1#966A69
Split-complement 2#959669
Triadic 1#96697F
Triadic 2#7F9669
Tetradic#966995
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°211°

#697f96 sits at 211°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red41.2%
Green49.8%
Blue58.8%
R · 0–255
105
0x69
G · 0–255
127
0x7f
B · 0–255
150
0x96

CMYK percentages

Cyan30.0%
Magenta15.3%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)41.2%

Total ink coverage is 87%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#697f96 text on a black background

contrast 5.08:1

Card sample

#697f96 text on a white background

contrast 4.14:1

Card sample

#697f96 on grey

3.78:1

#697f96 on its own surface

3.86:1

#697f96 on its dark surface

4.15:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #697f96;
Background color
Panel with #697f96 background
background-color: #697f96;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #697f96;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(105, 127, 150, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(105, 127, 150, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #697f96;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #697f96, #716996);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #697f96, #7C6996);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #697f96;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #697f96;
caret-color: #697f96;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #697f96;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F0F2F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #697f96;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#697f96 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #697f96 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(105, 127, 150, 0.5)
rgb(105 127 150 / 50%)
#697f9680
hsl(211 18% 50% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #697f96 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#697f961a#F0F2F5
20%#697f9633#E1E5EA
40%#697f9666#C3CCD5
60%#697f9699#A5B2C0
80%#697f96cc#8799AB

Gradients from #697f96

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, #8D9EAF, #697f96 45%, #353F4B);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #697f96, #675C84);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #697f96, #968069);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #9FADBC 0%, #697f96 45%, #353F4B 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F7F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #87ABA8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #7F7BA3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #353F4B 0%, transparent 65%), #697f96;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #697f96

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.

#697f96 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 5.08:1.

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.

#697f96, answered

What color is #697f96?

#697f96 is a balanced soft blue, closest to Slate Gray (ΔE2000 2.8). It sits at 211° on the hue wheel with 18% saturation and 50% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #697f96?

rgb(105, 127, 150) — 105 red, 127 green and 150 blue out of 255, or 41.2% / 49.8% / 58.8% by channel.

What is #697f96 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(211, 18%, 50%) and hsv(211, 30%, 59%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #697f96 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.2038 and perceived brightness is 49%, so black text on it reaches 5.08:1.

Should I use black or white text on #697f96?

Black. It scores 5.08:1 against #697f96, versus 4.14:1 for white — AA at any size.

Is #697f96 accessible on a white background?

#697f96 on white scores 4.14:1, which only clears AA for large text — 18.66px bold or 24px regular and up. Darken it to #63778D to reach 4.5:1, or #4A5969 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #697f96?

#968069 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #966A69 and #959669, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #697f96?

For interface work: #F6F7F9 as the surface, #CFD6DD for borders, #5F7287 for secondary text, #9B7264 as an accent and #353F4B for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #699596 and #6A6996 stays calm, while #968069 is the loudest partner.

What is #697f96 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(30%, 15%, 0%, 41%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #697f96 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 75 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #696F96; nudged cooler, #5C7289.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #697f96?

The slate family — its 500 step is #64748b, ΔE2000 4.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #697f96 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #697f96 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#697f96] or text-[#697f96], 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 #697f96 with 50% opacity?

rgba(105, 127, 150, 0.5), or #697f9680 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #B4BFCB; over black, #35404B.

Is #697f96 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #666699, ΔE2000 12.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #697f96 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 #697f96?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #8D9EAF, #697f96 45%, #353F4B). For more colour, a short hue run to #675C84 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #697f96 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #697f96 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.