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blue · cool

#7baac8

a balanced, soft blue · cool · closest name: Cornflower Blue

Token name suggestion: True Denim

RGB
123, 170, 200
HSL
203°, 41%, 63%
CMYK
39, 15, 0, 22
Luminance
0.3713

#7baac8 is a balanced soft blue, 203° on the wheel and 97/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.43:1). As text it scores 2.49:1 on white — use #427BA0 instead. Nearest name is Cornflower Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(203 41% 63%)rgb(123 170 200)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #7baac8 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#7baac8
Hue
203°
blue
Saturation
41%
soft
Lightness
63%
balanced
Brightness
78%
HSV value
Perceived
63%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3713
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
97/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
8.43:1
Closest name
Cornflower Blue
ΔE2000 9.7
Chroma
21.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.715
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 9
Web-safe
#6699CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue203° of 360°
Saturation41%
Lightness63%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #7baac8.

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
Red11%
Green77%
Blue11%

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

Every format

HEX#7baac8
HEX (8-digit)#7baac8ff
RGBrgb(123, 170, 200)
RGBArgba(123, 170, 200, 1)
HSLhsl(203, 41%, 63%)
HSV / HSBhsv(203, 39%, 78%)
HWBhwb(203 48% 22%)
CMYKcmyk(39%, 15%, 0%, 22%)
LABlab(67.4 -8.1 -20.3)
LCHlch(67.4 21.8 248.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.715 0.067 236.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(32.96, 37.13, 60.06)
Decimal8104648
Display P3color(display-p3 0.482 0.667 0.784)
Web-safe#6699CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #7baac8;
background-color: #7baac8;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #7baac8;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#7baac8] bg-[#7baac8]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #7baac8;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.482, green: 0.667, blue: 0.784)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.482, green: 0.667, blue: 0.784, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#7BAAC8</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF7BAAC8)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF7BAAC8)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(200, 170, 123)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(123, 170, 200)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(123, 170, 200)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 123, 170, 200)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.4824f, 0.6667f, 0.7843f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{123,170,200}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #7baac8 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #7baac8 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#25465A, #D4E3ED);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #7baac8 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: #F5F8FA;
  --brand-100: #EBF1F5;
  --brand-200: #D2E0EA;
  --brand-300: #B0CCDE;
  --brand-400: #7baac8;
  --brand-500: #6199BD;
  --brand-600: #4885AD;
  --brand-700: #3C6F90;
  --brand-800: #305973;
  --brand-900: #264254;
  --brand-950: #182935;
  --brand: #7baac8;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C5DAE7;
  --brand-hover: #629ABD;
  --brand-pressed: #4A89B2;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141E24;
    --brand-ink: #D4E3ED;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F8FA',
        100: '#EBF1F5',
        200: '#D2E0EA',
        300: '#B0CCDE',
        400: '#7baac8',
        500: '#6199BD',
        600: '#4885AD',
        700: '#3C6F90',
        800: '#305973',
        900: '#264254',
        950: '#182935',
        DEFAULT: '#7baac8',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F8FA,
  '100': #EBF1F5,
  '200': #D2E0EA,
  '300': #B0CCDE,
  '400': #7baac8,
  '500': #6199BD,
  '600': #4885AD,
  '700': #3C6F90,
  '800': #305973,
  '900': #264254,
  '950': #182935,
);
$brand-base: #7baac8;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F8FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EBF1F5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D2E0EA", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B0CCDE", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#7baac8", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#6199BD", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#4885AD", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#3C6F90", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#305973", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#264254", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#182935", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #7baac8 · 8.43:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.49:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.43:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #7baac8 as text scores 2.49:1 on white and 8.43:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #25465A at 4.01:1.

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
#427BA0 · 4.59:1
AA on white−19% L
#427BA0
The quick fox
#325D78 · 7.06:1
AAA on white−30% L
#325D78
The quick fox
#7baac8 · 8.43:1
AA on blackalready passes
#7baac8
The quick fox
#7baac8 · 8.43:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#7baac8

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #629ABD 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
#7baac8 on white: 2.49:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#7baac8 on black: 8.43:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #7baac8 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #7baac8.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.49:1AaAa
Slate 502.38:1AaAa
Slate 1002.27:1AaAa
Slate 2002.02:1AaAa
Slate 3001.68:1AaAa
Slate 4001.03:1AaAa
Slate 5001.91:1AaAa
Slate 6003.04:1AaAa
Slate 7004.15:1AaAa
Slate 8005.87:1AaAa
Slate 9007.16:1AaAa
Black8.43:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #9DA9CA
deuteranopia · #92A0C8
tritanopia · #5FB2B4

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. #7baac8 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.

#F5F8FA
#EBF1F5
#D2E0EA
#B0CCDE
#7baac8
#6199BD
#4885AD
#3C6F90
#305973
#264254
#182935
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F5F8FADarkest = 950 · #182935Text 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 0.017 236.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.027 236.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.040 236.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.052 236.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.061 236.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.067 236.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.067 236.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.063 236.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.056 236.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.047 236.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.037 236.9);
}

Colors that work with #7baac8

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#C5DAE7
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B7C9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#944538
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#25465A
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EDF3F8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141E24
Dark-mode background
Hover#629ABD
One step down in lightness
Pressed#4A89B2
Two steps down
Disabled#D1DBE2
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#81B5D6
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 #7baac8

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • 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
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • 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 #25465A
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #629ABD

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
  • Weight37/100
  • 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#C8997B
Analogous left#7BC8BF
Analogous right#7B83C8
Split-complement 1#C87B83
Split-complement 2#C8BF7B
Triadic 1#C87BAA
Triadic 2#AAC87B
Tetradic#BF7BC8
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°203°

#7baac8 sits at 203°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red48.2%
Green66.7%
Blue78.4%
R · 0–255
123
0x7b
G · 0–255
170
0xaa
B · 0–255
200
0xc8

CMYK percentages

Cyan38.5%
Magenta15.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)21.6%

Total ink coverage is 75%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#7baac8 text on a black background

contrast 8.43:1

Card sample

#7baac8 text on a white background

contrast 2.49:1

Card sample

#7baac8 on grey

2.27:1

#7baac8 on its own surface

2.33:1

#7baac8 on its dark surface

6.79:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #7baac8;
Background color
Panel with #7baac8 background
background-color: #7baac8;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #7baac8;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(123, 170, 200, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(123, 170, 200, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #7baac8;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #7baac8, #7F7BC8);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #7baac8, #937BC8);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #7baac8;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #7baac8;
caret-color: #7baac8;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #7baac8;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EDF3F8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #7baac8;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#7baac8 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #7baac8 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(123, 170, 200, 0.5)
rgb(123 170 200 / 50%)
#7baac880
hsl(203 41% 63% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #7baac8 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#7baac81a#F2F7FA
20%#7baac833#E5EEF4
40%#7baac866#CADDE9
60%#7baac899#B0CCDE
80%#7baac8cc#95BBD3

Gradients from #7baac8

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, #A6C6DA, #7baac8 45%, #25465A);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #7baac8, #7265BF);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #7baac8, #C8997B);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #BCD4E3 0%, #7baac8 45%, #25465A 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%, #9FD7CC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #9092D1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #25465A 0%, transparent 65%), #7baac8;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #7baac8

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.

#7baac8 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 8.43:1.

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.

#7baac8, answered

What color is #7baac8?

#7baac8 is a balanced soft blue, closest to Cornflower Blue (ΔE2000 9.7). It sits at 203° on the hue wheel with 41% saturation and 63% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #7baac8?

rgb(123, 170, 200) — 123 red, 170 green and 200 blue out of 255, or 48.2% / 66.7% / 78.4% by channel.

What is #7baac8 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(203, 41%, 63%) and hsv(203, 39%, 78%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #7baac8 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3713 and perceived brightness is 63%, so black text on it reaches 8.43:1.

Should I use black or white text on #7baac8?

Black. It scores 8.43:1 against #7baac8, versus 2.49:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #7baac8 accessible on a white background?

#7baac8 on white scores 2.49:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #427BA0 to reach 4.5:1, or #325D78 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #7baac8?

#C8997B sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #C87B83 and #C8BF7B, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #7baac8?

For interface work: #F4F8FA as the surface, #C5DAE7 for borders, #4B7C9B for secondary text, #944538 as an accent and #25465A for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #7BC8BF and #7B83C8 stays calm, while #C8997B is the loudest partner.

What is #7baac8 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(39%, 15%, 0%, 22%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #7baac8 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 #7BC6C8; nudged cooler, #6796C3.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #7baac8?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #7baac8 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #7baac8 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#7baac8] or text-[#7baac8], 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 #7baac8 with 50% opacity?

rgba(123, 170, 200, 0.5), or #7baac880 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #BDD5E4; over black, #3E5564.

Is #7baac8 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #6699CC, ΔE2000 7.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #7baac8 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 #7baac8?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #A6C6DA, #7baac8 45%, #25465A). For more colour, a short hue run to #7265BF keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #7baac8 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #7baac8 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.