Skip to content
blue · cool

#74b7eb

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Sapphire

RGB
116, 183, 235
HSL
206°, 75%, 69%
CMYK
51, 22, 0, 8
Luminance
0.4358

#74b7eb is a light vivid blue, 206° on the wheel and 98/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.72:1). As text it scores 2.16:1 on white — use #1C7AC3 instead. Nearest name is Light Sky Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(206 75% 69%)rgb(116 183 235)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #74b7eb is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#74b7eb
Hue
206°
blue
Saturation
75%
vivid
Lightness
69%
light
Brightness
92%
HSV value
Perceived
68%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4358
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
98/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
9.72:1
Closest name
Light Sky Blue
ΔE2000 6.3
Chroma
33.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.755
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 7.9
Web-safe
#66CCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue206° of 360°
Saturation75%
Lightness69%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #74b7eb.

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
Red9%
Green78%
Blue14%

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

Every format

HEX#74b7eb
HEX (8-digit)#74b7ebff
RGBrgb(116, 183, 235)
RGBArgba(116, 183, 235, 1)
HSLhsl(206, 75%, 69%)
HSV / HSBhsv(206, 51%, 92%)
HWBhwb(206 45% 8%)
CMYKcmyk(51%, 22%, 0%, 8%)
LABlab(71.9 -7.1 -32.5)
LCHlch(71.9 33.3 257.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.755 0.102 243.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(39.13, 43.58, 84.93)
Decimal7649259
Display P3color(display-p3 0.455 0.718 0.922)
Web-safe#66CCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #74b7eb;
background-color: #74b7eb;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #74b7eb;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#74b7eb] bg-[#74b7eb]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #74b7eb;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.455, green: 0.718, blue: 0.922)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.455, green: 0.718, blue: 0.922, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#74B7EB</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF74B7EB)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF74B7EB)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(235, 183, 116)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(116, 183, 235)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(116, 183, 235)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 116, 183, 235)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.4549f, 0.7176f, 0.9216f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{116,183,235}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #74b7eb 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #74b7eb 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#10466F, #D3E2EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #74b7eb 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: #E7F1F9;
  --brand-200: #C8E1F4;
  --brand-300: #9DCCF1;
  --brand-400: #74b7eb;
  --brand-500: #3B99E3;
  --brand-600: #1F86D6;
  --brand-700: #1A70B2;
  --brand-800: #15598F;
  --brand-900: #134367;
  --brand-950: #0C2A41;
  --brand: #74b7eb;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C0D9ED;
  --brand-hover: #55A7E6;
  --brand-pressed: #3697E2;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141D24;
    --brand-ink: #D3E2EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3F8FC',
        100: '#E7F1F9',
        200: '#C8E1F4',
        300: '#9DCCF1',
        400: '#74b7eb',
        500: '#3B99E3',
        600: '#1F86D6',
        700: '#1A70B2',
        800: '#15598F',
        900: '#134367',
        950: '#0C2A41',
        DEFAULT: '#74b7eb',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3F8FC,
  '100': #E7F1F9,
  '200': #C8E1F4,
  '300': #9DCCF1,
  '400': #74b7eb,
  '500': #3B99E3,
  '600': #1F86D6,
  '700': #1A70B2,
  '800': #15598F,
  '900': #134367,
  '950': #0C2A41,
);
$brand-base: #74b7eb;
$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": "#E7F1F9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C8E1F4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#9DCCF1", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#74b7eb", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#3B99E3", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#1F86D6", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#1A70B2", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#15598F", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#134367", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0C2A41", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #74b7eb · 9.72:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.16:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.72:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #74b7eb as text scores 2.16:1 on white and 9.72:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #10466F at 4.57:1.

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
#1C7AC3 · 4.54:1
AA on white−25% L
#1C7AC3
The quick fox
#155C92 · 7.05:1
AAA on white−36% L
#155C92
The quick fox
#74b7eb · 9.72:1
AA on blackalready passes
#74b7eb
The quick fox
#74b7eb · 9.72:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#74b7eb

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #3E9BE3 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
#74b7eb on white: 2.16:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#74b7eb on black: 9.72:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #74b7eb as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #74b7eb.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.16:1AaAa
Slate 502.07:1AaAa
Slate 1001.97:1AaAa
Slate 2001.75:1AaAa
Slate 3001.46:1AaAa
Slate 4001.19:1AaAa
Slate 5002.20:1AaAa
Slate 6003.51:1AaAa
Slate 7004.79:1AaAa
Slate 8006.77:1AaAa
Slate 9008.26:1AaAa
Black9.72:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A1B7ED
deuteranopia · #91ABEA
tritanopia · #34C4C8

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. #74b7eb 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
#E7F1F9
#C8E1F4
#9DCCF1
#74b7eb
#3B99E3
#1F86D6
#1A70B2
#15598F
#134367
#0C2A41
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F3F8FCDarkest = 950 · #0C2A41Text 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 0.025 243.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.041 243.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.061 243.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.079 243.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.093 243.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.102 243.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.102 243.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.096 243.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.085 243.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.071 243.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.056 243.1);
}

Colors that work with #74b7eb

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#B63316
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#10466F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E9F3FC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141D24
Dark-mode background
Hover#55A7E6
One step down in lightness
Pressed#3697E2
Two steps down
Disabled#E2E8ED
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#7FC1F4
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 #74b7eb

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 #10466F
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #3E9BE3

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 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
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight31/100
  • 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#EBA874
Analogous left#74EBE3
Analogous right#747BEB
Split-complement 1#EB747B
Split-complement 2#EBE374
Triadic 1#EB74B7
Triadic 2#B7EB74
Tetradic#E374EB
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°206°

#74b7eb sits at 206°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red45.5%
Green71.8%
Blue92.2%
R · 0–255
116
0x74
G · 0–255
183
0xb7
B · 0–255
235
0xeb

CMYK percentages

Cyan50.6%
Magenta22.1%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)7.8%

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

Color previews

#74b7eb text on a black background

contrast 9.72:1

Card sample

#74b7eb text on a white background

contrast 2.16:1

Card sample

#74b7eb on grey

1.97:1

#74b7eb on its own surface

2.02:1

#74b7eb on its dark surface

7.89:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #74b7eb;
Background color
Panel with #74b7eb background
background-color: #74b7eb;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #74b7eb;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(116, 183, 235, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(116, 183, 235, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #74b7eb;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #74b7eb, #8074EB);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #74b7eb, #9E74EB);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #74b7eb;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #74b7eb;
caret-color: #74b7eb;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #74b7eb;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E9F3FC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #74b7eb;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#74b7eb 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #74b7eb 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(116, 183, 235, 0.5)
rgb(116 183 235 / 50%)
#74b7eb80
hsl(206 75% 69% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #74b7eb 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#74b7eb1a#F1F8FD
20%#74b7eb33#E3F1FB
40%#74b7eb66#C7E2F7
60%#74b7eb99#ACD4F3
80%#74b7ebcc#90C5EF

Gradients from #74b7eb

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, #A9D3F3, #74b7eb 45%, #10466F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #74b7eb, #7459E7);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #74b7eb, #EBA874);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #C4E1F7 0%, #74b7eb 45%, #10466F 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%, #A1F1E6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #918FEF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #10466F 0%, transparent 65%), #74b7eb;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #74b7eb

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.

#74b7eb 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

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 9.72:1.

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.

#74b7eb, answered

What color is #74b7eb?

#74b7eb is a light vivid blue, closest to Light Sky Blue (ΔE2000 6.3). It sits at 206° on the hue wheel with 75% saturation and 69% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #74b7eb?

rgb(116, 183, 235) — 116 red, 183 green and 235 blue out of 255, or 45.5% / 71.8% / 92.2% by channel.

What is #74b7eb in HSL and HSV?

hsl(206, 75%, 69%) and hsv(206, 51%, 92%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #74b7eb a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4358 and perceived brightness is 68%, so black text on it reaches 9.72:1.

Should I use black or white text on #74b7eb?

Black. It scores 9.72:1 against #74b7eb, versus 2.16:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #74b7eb accessible on a white background?

#74b7eb on white scores 2.16:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #1C7AC3 to reach 4.5:1, or #155C92 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #74b7eb?

#EBA874 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #EB747B and #EBE374, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #74b7eb?

For interface work: #F4F8FA as the surface, #C0D9ED for borders, #4B789B for secondary text, #B63316 as an accent and #10466F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #74EBE3 and #747BEB stays calm, while #EBA874 is the loudest partner.

What is #74b7eb in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(51%, 22%, 0%, 8%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #74b7eb 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 #748BEB; nudged cooler, #5CA4EA.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #74b7eb?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 7.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #74b7eb as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #74b7eb in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#74b7eb] or text-[#74b7eb], 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 #74b7eb with 50% opacity?

rgba(116, 183, 235, 0.5), or #74b7eb80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #BADBF5; over black, #3A5C76.

Is #74b7eb a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #66CCFF, ΔE2000 6.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #74b7eb 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 #74b7eb?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #A9D3F3, #74b7eb 45%, #10466F). For more colour, a short hue run to #7459E7 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #74b7eb in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #74b7eb at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.