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blue · cool

#7f9bad

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

Token name suggestion: Studio Sapphire

RGB
127, 155, 173
HSL
204°, 22%, 59%
CMYK
27, 10, 0, 32
Luminance
0.3097

#7f9bad is a balanced soft blue, 204° on the wheel and 80/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.19:1). As text it scores 2.92:1 on white — use #5B7A8E instead. Nearest name is Light Slate Gray, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(204 22% 59%)rgb(127 155 173)Base step 500AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #7f9bad is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#7f9bad
Hue
204°
blue
Saturation
22%
soft
Lightness
59%
balanced
Brightness
68%
HSV value
Perceived
59%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3097
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
80/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
7.19:1
Closest name
Light Slate Gray
ΔE2000 6.9
Chroma
13.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.674
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 12.9
Web-safe
#669999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue204° of 360°
Saturation22%
Lightness59%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #7f9bad.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool80% 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%
Green76%
Blue10%

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

Every format

HEX#7f9bad
HEX (8-digit)#7f9badff
RGBrgb(127, 155, 173)
RGBArgba(127, 155, 173, 1)
HSLhsl(204, 22%, 59%)
HSV / HSBhsv(203, 27%, 68%)
HWBhwb(204 50% 32%)
CMYKcmyk(27%, 10%, 0%, 32%)
LABlab(62.5 -5.5 -12.6)
LCHlch(62.5 13.8 246.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.674 0.041 236.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(28.01, 30.97, 44.03)
Decimal8362925
Display P3color(display-p3 0.498 0.608 0.678)
Web-safe#669999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #7f9bad;
background-color: #7f9bad;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #7f9bad;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#7f9bad] bg-[#7f9bad]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #7f9bad;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.498, green: 0.608, blue: 0.678)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.498, green: 0.608, blue: 0.678, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#7F9BAD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF7F9BAD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF7F9BAD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(173, 155, 127)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(127, 155, 173)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(127, 155, 173)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 127, 155, 173)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.4980f, 0.6078f, 0.6784f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{127,155,173}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #7f9bad 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #7f9bad 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#32434E, #DAE2E7);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #7f9bad 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: #F6F8F9;
  --brand-100: #EDF0F2;
  --brand-200: #D7DFE4;
  --brand-300: #BBCAD3;
  --brand-400: #98AFBD;
  --brand-500: #7f9bad;
  --brand-600: #608095;
  --brand-700: #506B7C;
  --brand-800: #405563;
  --brand-900: #31404A;
  --brand-950: #1F282E;
  --brand: #7f9bad;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F8F9;
  --brand-border: #CDD8DF;
  --brand-hover: #698A9F;
  --brand-pressed: #59788B;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #161D22;
    --brand-ink: #DAE2E7;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F8F9',
        100: '#EDF0F2',
        200: '#D7DFE4',
        300: '#BBCAD3',
        400: '#98AFBD',
        500: '#7f9bad',
        600: '#608095',
        700: '#506B7C',
        800: '#405563',
        900: '#31404A',
        950: '#1F282E',
        DEFAULT: '#7f9bad',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F8F9,
  '100': #EDF0F2,
  '200': #D7DFE4,
  '300': #BBCAD3,
  '400': #98AFBD,
  '500': #7f9bad,
  '600': #608095,
  '700': #506B7C,
  '800': #405563,
  '900': #31404A,
  '950': #1F282E,
);
$brand-base: #7f9bad;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F8F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EDF0F2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D7DFE4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#BBCAD3", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#98AFBD", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7f9bad", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#608095", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#506B7C", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#405563", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#31404A", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1F282E", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #7f9bad · 7.19:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.92:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.19:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #7f9bad as text scores 2.92:1 on white and 7.19:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #32434E at 3.51:1.

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
#5B7A8E · 4.55:1
AA on white−13% L
#5B7A8E
The quick fox
#435A69 · 7.23:1
AAA on white−25% L
#435A69
The quick fox
#7f9bad · 7.19:1
AA on blackalready passes
#7f9bad
The quick fox
#7f9bad · 7.19:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#7f9bad

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #7C98AB 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
#7f9bad on white: 2.92:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#7f9bad on black: 7.19:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #7f9bad as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #7f9bad.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.92:1AaAa
Slate 502.79:1AaAa
Slate 1002.66:1AaAa
Slate 2002.37:1AaAa
Slate 3001.97:1AaAa
Slate 4001.14:1AaAa
Slate 5001.63:1AaAa
Slate 6002.60:1AaAa
Slate 7003.55:1AaAa
Slate 8005.01:1AaAa
Slate 9006.12:1AaAa
Black7.19:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #939AAE
deuteranopia · #8D95AD
tritanopia · #71A0A1

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. #7f9bad is pinned to step 500; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F6F8F9
#EDF0F2
#D7DFE4
#BBCAD3
#98AFBD
#7f9bad
#608095
#506B7C
#405563
#31404A
#1F282E
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F6F8F9Darkest = 950 · #1F282EText 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 0.010 236.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.016 236.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.025 236.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.032 236.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.038 236.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.041 236.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.041 236.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.039 236.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.035 236.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.029 236.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.023 236.4);
}

Colors that work with #7f9bad

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#F6F8F9
Tinted page background
Border#CDD8DF
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#5A788C
Captions on the surface
Accent#B1827B
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#32434E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EFF3F5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#161D22
Dark-mode background
Hover#698A9F
One step down in lightness
Pressed#59788B
Two steps down
Disabled#C3D0D9
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#82A7BE
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 #7f9bad

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 #32434E
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #7C98AB

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
  • Weight41/100
  • 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#AD917F
Analogous left#7FADA8
Analogous right#7F84AD
Split-complement 1#AD7F84
Split-complement 2#ADA87F
Triadic 1#AD7F9B
Triadic 2#9BAD7F
Tetradic#A87FAD
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°204°

#7f9bad sits at 204°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red49.8%
Green60.8%
Blue67.8%
R · 0–255
127
0x7f
G · 0–255
155
0x9b
B · 0–255
173
0xad

CMYK percentages

Cyan26.6%
Magenta10.4%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)32.2%

Total ink coverage is 69%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#7f9bad text on a black background

contrast 7.19:1

Card sample

#7f9bad text on a white background

contrast 2.92:1

Card sample

#7f9bad on grey

2.66:1

#7f9bad on its own surface

2.74:1

#7f9bad on its dark surface

5.84:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #7f9bad;
Background color
Panel with #7f9bad background
background-color: #7f9bad;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #7f9bad;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(127, 155, 173, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(127, 155, 173, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #7f9bad;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #7f9bad, #827FAD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #7f9bad, #8D7FAD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #7f9bad;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #7f9bad;
caret-color: #7f9bad;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #7f9bad;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EFF3F5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #7f9bad;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#7f9bad 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #7f9bad 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(127, 155, 173, 0.5)
rgb(127 155 173 / 50%)
#7f9bad80
hsl(204 22% 59% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #7f9bad 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#7f9bad1a#F2F5F7
20%#7f9bad33#E5EBEF
40%#7f9bad66#CCD7DE
60%#7f9bad99#B2C3CE
80%#7f9badcc#99AFBD

Gradients from #7f9bad

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, #A4B8C5, #7f9bad 45%, #32434E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #7f9bad, #746CA1);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #7f9bad, #AD917F);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #B7C7D1 0%, #7f9bad 45%, #32434E 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F8F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #9EC1BA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #9293B9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #32434E 0%, transparent 65%), #7f9bad;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #7f9bad

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.

#7f9bad 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 7.19:1.

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.

#7f9bad, answered

What color is #7f9bad?

#7f9bad is a balanced soft blue, closest to Light Slate Gray (ΔE2000 6.9). It sits at 204° on the hue wheel with 22% saturation and 59% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #7f9bad?

rgb(127, 155, 173) — 127 red, 155 green and 173 blue out of 255, or 49.8% / 60.8% / 67.8% by channel.

What is #7f9bad in HSL and HSV?

hsl(204, 22%, 59%) and hsv(203, 27%, 68%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #7f9bad a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3097 and perceived brightness is 59%, so black text on it reaches 7.19:1.

Should I use black or white text on #7f9bad?

Black. It scores 7.19:1 against #7f9bad, versus 2.92:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #7f9bad accessible on a white background?

#7f9bad on white scores 2.92:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #5B7A8E to reach 4.5:1, or #435A69 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #7f9bad?

#AD917F sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #AD7F84 and #ADA87F, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #7f9bad?

For interface work: #F6F8F9 as the surface, #CDD8DF for borders, #5A788C for secondary text, #B1827B as an accent and #32434E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #7FADA8 and #7F84AD stays calm, while #AD917F is the loudest partner.

What is #7f9bad in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(27%, 10%, 0%, 32%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #7f9bad warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 80 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #7FACAD; nudged cooler, #7D96AF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #7f9bad?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 12.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #7f9bad as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #7f9bad in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#7f9bad] or text-[#7f9bad], 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 #7f9bad with 50% opacity?

rgba(127, 155, 173, 0.5), or #7f9bad80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #BFCDD6; over black, #404E57.

Is #7f9bad a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #669999, ΔE2000 11.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #7f9bad 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 #7f9bad?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #A4B8C5, #7f9bad 45%, #32434E). For more colour, a short hue run to #746CA1 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #7f9bad in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #7f9bad at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.