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blue · cool

#72befe

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Denim

RGB
114, 190, 254
HSL
207°, 99%, 72%
CMYK
55, 25, 0, 0
Luminance
0.4756

#72befe is a light electric blue, 207° on the wheel and 99/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.51:1). As text it scores 2.00:1 on white — use #0275D6 instead. Nearest name is Light Sky Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(207 99% 72%)rgb(114 190 254)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #72befe is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#72befe
Hue
207°
blue
Saturation
99%
electric
Lightness
72%
light
Brightness
100%
HSV value
Perceived
71%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4756
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
99/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
10.51:1
Closest name
Light Sky Blue
ΔE2000 5.5
Chroma
39.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.778
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 9.2
Web-safe
#66CCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue207° of 360°
Saturation99%
Lightness72%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #72befe.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool99% 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%
Green77%
Blue15%

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

Every format

HEX#72befe
HEX (8-digit)#72befeff
RGBrgb(114, 190, 254)
RGBArgba(114, 190, 254, 1)
HSLhsl(207, 99%, 72%)
HSV / HSBhsv(207, 55%, 100%)
HWBhwb(207 45% 0%)
CMYKcmyk(55%, 25%, 0%, 0%)
LABlab(74.5 -5.7 -38.7)
LCHlch(74.5 39.1 261.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.778 0.119 245.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(43.24, 47.56, 100.65)
Decimal7519998
Display P3color(display-p3 0.447 0.745 0.996)
Web-safe#66CCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #72befe;
background-color: #72befe;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #72befe;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#72befe] bg-[#72befe]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #72befe;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.447, green: 0.745, blue: 0.996)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.447, green: 0.745, blue: 0.996, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#72BEFE</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF72BEFE)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF72BEFE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(254, 190, 114)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(114, 190, 254)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(114, 190, 254)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 114, 190, 254)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.4471f, 0.7451f, 0.9961f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{114,190,254}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #72befe 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #72befe 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#01457F, #D3E2EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #72befe 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: #F1F8FE;
  --brand-100: #E3F1FC;
  --brand-200: #C0E0FB;
  --brand-300: #90CCFE;
  --brand-400: #72befe;
  --brand-500: #2098FD;
  --brand-600: #0285F3;
  --brand-700: #016FCB;
  --brand-800: #0159A2;
  --brand-900: #064275;
  --brand-950: #042949;
  --brand: #72befe;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C0D8ED;
  --brand-hover: #4FAEFE;
  --brand-pressed: #2B9EFE;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141D24;
    --brand-ink: #D3E2EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F1F8FE',
        100: '#E3F1FC',
        200: '#C0E0FB',
        300: '#90CCFE',
        400: '#72befe',
        500: '#2098FD',
        600: '#0285F3',
        700: '#016FCB',
        800: '#0159A2',
        900: '#064275',
        950: '#042949',
        DEFAULT: '#72befe',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F1F8FE,
  '100': #E3F1FC,
  '200': #C0E0FB,
  '300': #90CCFE,
  '400': #72befe,
  '500': #2098FD,
  '600': #0285F3,
  '700': #016FCB,
  '800': #0159A2,
  '900': #064275,
  '950': #042949,
);
$brand-base: #72befe;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F1F8FE", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E3F1FC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C0E0FB", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#90CCFE", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#72befe", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#2098FD", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#0285F3", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#016FCB", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#0159A2", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#064275", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#042949", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #72befe · 10.51:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.00:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.51:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #72befe as text scores 2.00:1 on white and 10.51:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #01457F at 4.87:1.

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
#0275D6 · 4.65:1
AA on white−30% L
#0275D6
The quick fox
#0159A3 · 7.10:1
AAA on white−40% L
#0159A3
The quick fox
#72befe · 10.51:1
AA on blackalready passes
#72befe
The quick fox
#72befe · 10.51:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#72befe

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #1C97FD 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
#72befe on white: 2.00:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#72befe on black: 10.51:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #72befe as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #72befe.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.00:1AaAa
Slate 501.91:1AaAa
Slate 1001.82:1AaAa
Slate 2001.62:1AaAa
Slate 3001.35:1AaAa
Slate 4001.28:1AaAa
Slate 5002.38:1AaAa
Slate 6003.79:1AaAa
Slate 7005.18:1AaAa
Slate 8007.32:1AaAa
Slate 9008.94:1AaAa
Black10.51:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A3BFFF
deuteranopia · #90B1FD
tritanopia · #00CDD4

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. #72befe 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.

#F1F8FE
#E3F1FC
#C0E0FB
#90CCFE
#72befe
#2098FD
#0285F3
#016FCB
#0159A2
#064275
#042949
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F1F8FEDarkest = 950 · #042949Text 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 0.030 245.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.048 245.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.072 245.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.093 245.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.110 245.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.119 245.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.119 245.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.112 245.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.100 245.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.083 245.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.066 245.6);
}

Colors that work with #72befe

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#C0D8ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B769B
Captions on the surface
Accent#CC2B00
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#01457F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E6F3FF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141D24
Dark-mode background
Hover#4FAEFE
One step down in lightness
Pressed#2B9EFE
Two steps down
Disabled#EDF0F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#86C8FF
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 #72befe

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 #01457F
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #1C97FD

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
  • Weight28/100
  • 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#FEB272
Analogous left#72FEF8
Analogous right#7278FE
Split-complement 1#FE7278
Split-complement 2#FEF872
Triadic 1#FE72BE
Triadic 2#BEFE72
Tetradic#F872FE
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°207°

#72befe sits at 207°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red44.7%
Green74.5%
Blue99.6%
R · 0–255
114
0x72
G · 0–255
190
0xbe
B · 0–255
254
0xfe

CMYK percentages

Cyan55.1%
Magenta25.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)0.4%

Total ink coverage is 81%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#72befe text on a black background

contrast 10.51:1

Card sample

#72befe text on a white background

contrast 2.00:1

Card sample

#72befe on grey

1.82:1

#72befe on its own surface

1.87:1

#72befe on its dark surface

8.54:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #72befe;
Background color
Panel with #72befe background
background-color: #72befe;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #72befe;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(114, 190, 254, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(114, 190, 254, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #72befe;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #72befe, #8372FE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #72befe, #A672FE);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #72befe;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #72befe;
caret-color: #72befe;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #72befe;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E6F3FF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #72befe;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#72befe 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #72befe 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(114, 190, 254, 0.5)
rgb(114 190 254 / 50%)
#72befe80
hsl(207 99% 72% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #72befe 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#72befe1a#F1F9FF
20%#72befe33#E3F2FF
40%#72befe66#C7E5FF
60%#72befe99#AAD8FE
80%#72befecc#8ECBFE

Gradients from #72befe

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, #AFDAFE, #72befe 45%, #01457F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #72befe, #7754FE);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #72befe, #FEB272);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #CDE8FF 0%, #72befe 45%, #01457F 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%, #A5FEF3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #9591FE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #01457F 0%, transparent 65%), #72befe;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #72befe

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.

#72befe 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 10.51:1.

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.

#72befe, answered

What color is #72befe?

#72befe is a light electric blue, closest to Light Sky Blue (ΔE2000 5.5). It sits at 207° on the hue wheel with 99% saturation and 72% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #72befe?

rgb(114, 190, 254) — 114 red, 190 green and 254 blue out of 255, or 44.7% / 74.5% / 99.6% by channel.

What is #72befe in HSL and HSV?

hsl(207, 99%, 72%) and hsv(207, 55%, 100%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #72befe a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4756 and perceived brightness is 71%, so black text on it reaches 10.51:1.

Should I use black or white text on #72befe?

Black. It scores 10.51:1 against #72befe, versus 2.00:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #72befe accessible on a white background?

#72befe on white scores 2.00:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #0275D6 to reach 4.5:1, or #0159A3 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #72befe?

#FEB272 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #FE7278 and #FEF872, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #72befe?

For interface work: #F4F8FA as the surface, #C0D8ED for borders, #4B769B for secondary text, #CC2B00 as an accent and #01457F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #72FEF8 and #7278FE stays calm, while #FEB272 is the loudest partner.

What is #72befe in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(55%, 25%, 0%, 0%). 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 #72befe warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 99 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #728BFE; nudged cooler, #58ACFF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #72befe?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 9.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #72befe as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #72befe in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#72befe] or text-[#72befe], 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 #72befe with 50% opacity?

rgba(114, 190, 254, 0.5), or #72befe80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #B9DFFF; over black, #395F7F.

Is #72befe a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #66CCFF, ΔE2000 6.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #72befe 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 #72befe?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #AFDAFE, #72befe 45%, #01457F). For more colour, a short hue run to #7754FE keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #72befe in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #72befe at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.