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blue · cool

#6dbbed

a light, electric blue · cool · closest name: Light Sky Blue

Token name suggestion: Linen Sapphire

RGB
109, 187, 237
HSL
203°, 78%, 68%
CMYK
54, 21, 0, 7
Luminance
0.4491

#6dbbed is a light electric blue, 203° on the wheel and 97/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.98:1). As text it scores 2.10:1 on white — use #177AB9 instead. Nearest name is Light Sky Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(203 78% 68%)rgb(109 187 237)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #6dbbed is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#6dbbed
Hue
203°
blue
Saturation
78%
electric
Lightness
68%
light
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
68%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4491
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
97/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
9.98:1
Closest name
Light Sky Blue
ΔE2000 5.2
Chroma
33.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.761
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 7.8
Web-safe
#66CCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue203° of 360°
Saturation78%
Lightness68%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #6dbbed.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool97% 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%
Green79%
Blue14%

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

Every format

HEX#6dbbed
HEX (8-digit)#6dbbedff
RGBrgb(109, 187, 237)
RGBArgba(109, 187, 237, 1)
HSLhsl(203, 78%, 68%)
HSV / HSBhsv(203, 54%, 93%)
HWBhwb(203 43% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(54%, 21%, 0%, 7%)
LABlab(72.8 -10.2 -32.2)
LCHlch(72.8 33.8 252.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.761 0.106 238.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(39.36, 44.90, 86.70)
Decimal7191533
Display P3color(display-p3 0.427 0.733 0.929)
Web-safe#66CCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #6dbbed;
background-color: #6dbbed;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #6dbbed;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#6dbbed] bg-[#6dbbed]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #6dbbed;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.427, green: 0.733, blue: 0.929)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.427, green: 0.733, blue: 0.929, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#6DBBED</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF6DBBED)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF6DBBED)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(237, 187, 109)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(109, 187, 237)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(109, 187, 237)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 109, 187, 237)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.4275f, 0.7333f, 0.9294f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{109,187,237}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #6dbbed 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #6dbbed 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#0E4B71, #D3E3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #6dbbed 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: #E6F2F9;
  --brand-200: #C7E3F5;
  --brand-300: #9BD1F3;
  --brand-400: #6dbbed;
  --brand-500: #37A2E6;
  --brand-600: #1B8FDA;
  --brand-700: #1678B6;
  --brand-800: #126091;
  --brand-900: #114769;
  --brand-950: #0B2C42;
  --brand: #6dbbed;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C0DBED;
  --brand-hover: #4DACE9;
  --brand-pressed: #2D9DE5;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141E24;
    --brand-ink: #D3E3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3F8FC',
        100: '#E6F2F9',
        200: '#C7E3F5',
        300: '#9BD1F3',
        400: '#6dbbed',
        500: '#37A2E6',
        600: '#1B8FDA',
        700: '#1678B6',
        800: '#126091',
        900: '#114769',
        950: '#0B2C42',
        DEFAULT: '#6dbbed',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3F8FC,
  '100': #E6F2F9,
  '200': #C7E3F5,
  '300': #9BD1F3,
  '400': #6dbbed,
  '500': #37A2E6,
  '600': #1B8FDA,
  '700': #1678B6,
  '800': #126091,
  '900': #114769,
  '950': #0B2C42,
);
$brand-base: #6dbbed;
$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": "#E6F2F9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C7E3F5", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#9BD1F3", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#6dbbed", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#37A2E6", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#1B8FDA", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#1678B6", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#126091", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#114769", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0B2C42", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #6dbbed · 9.98:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.10:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.98:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #6dbbed as text scores 2.10:1 on white and 9.98:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #0E4B71 at 4.41:1.

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
#177AB9 · 4.65:1
AA on white−27% L
#177AB9
The quick fox
#115C8C · 7.16:1
AAA on white−37% L
#115C8C
The quick fox
#6dbbed · 9.98:1
AA on blackalready passes
#6dbbed
The quick fox
#6dbbed · 9.98:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#6dbbed

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #299BE5 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
#6dbbed on white: 2.10:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#6dbbed on black: 9.98:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #6dbbed as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #6dbbed.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.10:1AaAa
Slate 502.01:1AaAa
Slate 1001.92:1AaAa
Slate 2001.71:1AaAa
Slate 3001.42:1AaAa
Slate 4001.22:1AaAa
Slate 5002.26:1AaAa
Slate 6003.60:1AaAa
Slate 7004.92:1AaAa
Slate 8006.95:1AaAa
Slate 9008.49:1AaAa
Black9.98:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A4BAEF
deuteranopia · #93ADEC
tritanopia · #08C8CC

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. #6dbbed 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
#E6F2F9
#C7E3F5
#9BD1F3
#6dbbed
#37A2E6
#1B8FDA
#1678B6
#126091
#114769
#0B2C42
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F3F8FCDarkest = 950 · #0B2C42Text 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 0.026 238.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.042 238.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.063 238.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.082 238.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.097 238.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.106 238.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.106 238.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.099 238.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.089 238.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.074 238.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.058 238.4);
}

Colors that work with #6dbbed

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#C0DBED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B7C9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#B92913
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#0E4B71
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E8F4FC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141E24
Dark-mode background
Hover#4DACE9
One step down in lightness
Pressed#2D9DE5
Two steps down
Disabled#DFE6EB
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#78C5F6
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 #6dbbed

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
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • White text placed on it
  • 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 #0E4B71
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #299BE5

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 lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

It is also the most crowded hue on the web. Distinctiveness has to come from your other choices.

Reads as
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight32/100
  • 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#ED9F6D
Analogous left#6DEDDF
Analogous right#6D7BED
Split-complement 1#ED6D7B
Split-complement 2#EDDF6D
Triadic 1#ED6DBB
Triadic 2#BBED6D
Tetradic#DF6DED
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°203°

#6dbbed sits at 203°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red42.7%
Green73.3%
Blue92.9%
R · 0–255
109
0x6d
G · 0–255
187
0xbb
B · 0–255
237
0xed

CMYK percentages

Cyan54.0%
Magenta21.1%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)7.1%

Total ink coverage is 82%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#6dbbed text on a black background

contrast 9.98:1

Card sample

#6dbbed text on a white background

contrast 2.10:1

Card sample

#6dbbed on grey

1.92:1

#6dbbed on its own surface

1.97:1

#6dbbed on its dark surface

8.04:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #6dbbed;
Background color
Panel with #6dbbed background
background-color: #6dbbed;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #6dbbed;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(109, 187, 237, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(109, 187, 237, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #6dbbed;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #6dbbed, #746DED);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #6dbbed, #946DED);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #6dbbed;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #6dbbed;
caret-color: #6dbbed;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #6dbbed;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E8F4FC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #6dbbed;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#6dbbed 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #6dbbed 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(109, 187, 237, 0.5)
rgb(109 187 237 / 50%)
#6dbbed80
hsl(203 78% 68% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #6dbbed 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#6dbbed1a#F0F8FD
20%#6dbbed33#E2F1FB
40%#6dbbed66#C5E4F8
60%#6dbbed99#A7D6F4
80%#6dbbedcc#8AC9F1

Gradients from #6dbbed

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, #A3D4F4, #6dbbed 45%, #0E4B71);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #6dbbed, #6752EA);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #6dbbed, #ED9F6D);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #BFE1F7 0%, #6dbbed 45%, #0E4B71 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%, #9AF3E1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #888BF0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #0E4B71 0%, transparent 65%), #6dbbed;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #6dbbed

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.

#6dbbed 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
SurfacesBadgesHighlightsEmpty states
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 9.98:1.

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.

#6dbbed, answered

What color is #6dbbed?

#6dbbed is a light electric blue, closest to Light Sky Blue (ΔE2000 5.2). It sits at 203° on the hue wheel with 78% saturation and 68% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #6dbbed?

rgb(109, 187, 237) — 109 red, 187 green and 237 blue out of 255, or 42.7% / 73.3% / 92.9% by channel.

What is #6dbbed in HSL and HSV?

hsl(203, 78%, 68%) and hsv(203, 54%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #6dbbed a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4491 and perceived brightness is 68%, so black text on it reaches 9.98:1.

Should I use black or white text on #6dbbed?

Black. It scores 9.98:1 against #6dbbed, versus 2.10:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #6dbbed accessible on a white background?

#6dbbed on white scores 2.10:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #177AB9 to reach 4.5:1, or #115C8C for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #6dbbed?

#ED9F6D sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #ED6D7B and #EDDF6D, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #6dbbed?

For interface work: #F4F8FA as the surface, #C0DBED for borders, #4B7C9B for secondary text, #B92913 as an accent and #0E4B71 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #6DEDDF and #6D7BED stays calm, while #ED9F6D is the loudest partner.

What is #6dbbed in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(54%, 21%, 0%, 7%). 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 #6dbbed warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 97 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #6DEAED; nudged cooler, #54A4EC.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #6dbbed?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 7.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #6dbbed as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #6dbbed in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#6dbbed] or text-[#6dbbed], 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 #6dbbed with 50% opacity?

rgba(109, 187, 237, 0.5), or #6dbbed80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #B6DDF6; over black, #375E77.

Is #6dbbed a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #66CCFF, ΔE2000 4.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #6dbbed 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 #6dbbed?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #A3D4F4, #6dbbed 45%, #0E4B71). For more colour, a short hue run to #6752EA keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #6dbbed in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #6dbbed at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.