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blue · cool

#8397b5

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

Token name suggestion: Studio Sapphire

RGB
131, 151, 181
HSL
216°, 25%, 61%
CMYK
28, 17, 0, 29
Luminance
0.3029

#8397b5 is a balanced soft blue, 216° on the wheel and 84/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.06:1). As text it scores 2.97:1 on white — use #5E779D instead. Nearest name is Light Slate Gray, nearest Tailwind family is blue.

hsl(216 25% 61%)rgb(131 151 181)Base step 500AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #8397b5 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#8397b5
Hue
216°
blue
Saturation
25%
soft
Lightness
61%
balanced
Brightness
71%
HSV value
Perceived
58%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3029
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
84/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
7.06:1
Closest name
Light Slate Gray
ΔE2000 7.1
Chroma
17.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.671
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
blue
500 · ΔE 12.7
Web-safe
#9999CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue216° of 360°
Saturation25%
Lightness61%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #8397b5.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool84% 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
Red16%
Green73%
Blue11%

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

Every format

HEX#8397b5
HEX (8-digit)#8397b5ff
RGBrgb(131, 151, 181)
RGBArgba(131, 151, 181, 1)
HSLhsl(216, 25%, 61%)
HSV / HSBhsv(216, 28%, 71%)
HWBhwb(216 51% 29%)
CMYKcmyk(28%, 17%, 0%, 29%)
LABlab(61.9 -0.1 -17.9)
LCHlch(61.9 17.9 269.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.671 0.050 258.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(28.76, 30.29, 48.04)
Decimal8624053
Display P3color(display-p3 0.514 0.592 0.710)
Web-safe#9999CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #8397b5;
background-color: #8397b5;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #8397b5;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#8397b5] bg-[#8397b5]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #8397b5;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.514, green: 0.592, blue: 0.710)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.514, green: 0.592, blue: 0.710, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#8397B5</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF8397B5)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF8397B5)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(181, 151, 131)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(131, 151, 181)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(131, 151, 181)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 131, 151, 181)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5137f, 0.5922f, 0.7098f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{131,151,181}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #8397b5 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #8397b5 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#303D50, #D9DFE8);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #8397b5 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: #F6F7F9;
  --brand-100: #EDEFF3;
  --brand-200: #D6DCE5;
  --brand-300: #B9C4D5;
  --brand-400: #96A7C0;
  --brand-500: #8397b5;
  --brand-600: #5B7499;
  --brand-700: #4C6180;
  --brand-800: #3D4D66;
  --brand-900: #2F3A4B;
  --brand-950: #1D242F;
  --brand: #8397b5;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5F7F9;
  --brand-border: #CCD4E1;
  --brand-hover: #6D84A8;
  --brand-pressed: #5A7297;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #151B23;
    --brand-ink: #D9DFE8;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F7F9',
        100: '#EDEFF3',
        200: '#D6DCE5',
        300: '#B9C4D5',
        400: '#96A7C0',
        500: '#8397b5',
        600: '#5B7499',
        700: '#4C6180',
        800: '#3D4D66',
        900: '#2F3A4B',
        950: '#1D242F',
        DEFAULT: '#8397b5',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F7F9,
  '100': #EDEFF3,
  '200': #D6DCE5,
  '300': #B9C4D5,
  '400': #96A7C0,
  '500': #8397b5,
  '600': #5B7499,
  '700': #4C6180,
  '800': #3D4D66,
  '900': #2F3A4B,
  '950': #1D242F,
);
$brand-base: #8397b5;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F7F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EDEFF3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D6DCE5", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B9C4D5", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#96A7C0", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#8397b5", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#5B7499", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#4C6180", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#3D4D66", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2F3A4B", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1D242F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #8397b5 · 7.06:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.97:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.06:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #8397b5 as text scores 2.97:1 on white and 7.06:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #303D50 at 3.70:1.

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
#5E779D · 4.56:1
AA on white−12% L
#5E779D
The quick fox
#475A77 · 7.01:1
AAA on white−24% L
#475A77
The quick fox
#8397b5 · 7.06:1
AA on blackalready passes
#8397b5
The quick fox
#8397b5 · 7.06:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#8397b5

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #8094B3 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
#8397b5 on white: 2.97:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#8397b5 on black: 7.06:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #8397b5 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #8397b5.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.97:1AaAa
Slate 502.84:1AaAa
Slate 1002.72:1AaAa
Slate 2002.41:1AaAa
Slate 3002.00:1AaAa
Slate 4001.16:1AaAa
Slate 5001.60:1AaAa
Slate 6002.55:1AaAa
Slate 7003.48:1AaAa
Slate 8004.92:1AaAa
Slate 9006.00:1AaAa
Black7.06:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #8D98B6
deuteranopia · #8893B4
tritanopia · #759DA1

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. #8397b5 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.

#F6F7F9
#EDEFF3
#D6DCE5
#B9C4D5
#96A7C0
#8397b5
#5B7499
#4C6180
#3D4D66
#2F3A4B
#1D242F
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F6F7F9Darkest = 950 · #1D242FText step on white = 600
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 0.013 258.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.020 258.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.030 258.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.039 258.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.046 258.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.050 258.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.050 258.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.047 258.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.042 258.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.035 258.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.028 258.4);
}

Colors that work with #8397b5

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#F5F7F9
Tinted page background
Border#CCD4E1
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#566D90
Captions on the surface
Accent#845D48
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#303D50
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EFF2F5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#151B23
Dark-mode background
Hover#6D84A8
One step down in lightness
Pressed#5A7297
Two steps down
Disabled#CBD2DE
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#87A0C6
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 #8397b5

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 #303D50
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #8094B3

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
  • Weight39/100
  • 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#B5A183
Analogous left#83B0B5
Analogous right#8883B5
Split-complement 1#B58883
Split-complement 2#B0B583
Triadic 1#B58397
Triadic 2#97B583
Tetradic#B583B0
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°216°

#8397b5 sits at 216°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red51.4%
Green59.2%
Blue71.0%
R · 0–255
131
0x83
G · 0–255
151
0x97
B · 0–255
181
0xb5

CMYK percentages

Cyan27.6%
Magenta16.6%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)29.0%

Total ink coverage is 73%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#8397b5 text on a black background

contrast 7.06:1

Card sample

#8397b5 text on a white background

contrast 2.97:1

Card sample

#8397b5 on grey

2.72:1

#8397b5 on its own surface

2.77:1

#8397b5 on its dark surface

5.82:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #8397b5;
Background color
Panel with #8397b5 background
background-color: #8397b5;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #8397b5;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(131, 151, 181, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(131, 151, 181, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #8397b5;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #8397b5, #9083B5);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #8397b5, #9D83B5);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #8397b5;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #8397b5;
caret-color: #8397b5;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #8397b5;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EFF2F5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #8397b5;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#8397b5 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #8397b5 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(131, 151, 181, 0.5)
rgb(131 151 181 / 50%)
#8397b580
hsl(216 25% 61% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #8397b5 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#8397b51a#F3F5F8
20%#8397b533#E6EAF0
40%#8397b566#CDD5E1
60%#8397b599#B5C1D3
80%#8397b5cc#9CACC4

Gradients from #8397b5

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, #A9B7CC, #8397b5 45%, #303D50);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #8397b5, #8470AA);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #8397b5, #B5A183);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #BDC7D7 0%, #8397b5 45%, #303D50 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5F7F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #A3C8C8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #9E96C1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #303D50 0%, transparent 65%), #8397b5;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #8397b5

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.

#8397b5 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 7.06:1.

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.

#8397b5, answered

What color is #8397b5?

#8397b5 is a balanced soft blue, closest to Light Slate Gray (ΔE2000 7.1). It sits at 216° on the hue wheel with 25% saturation and 61% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #8397b5?

rgb(131, 151, 181) — 131 red, 151 green and 181 blue out of 255, or 51.4% / 59.2% / 71% by channel.

What is #8397b5 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(216, 25%, 61%) and hsv(216, 28%, 71%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #8397b5 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3029 and perceived brightness is 58%, so black text on it reaches 7.06:1.

Should I use black or white text on #8397b5?

Black. It scores 7.06:1 against #8397b5, versus 2.97:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #8397b5 accessible on a white background?

#8397b5 on white scores 2.97:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #5E779D to reach 4.5:1, or #475A77 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #8397b5?

#B5A183 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #B58883 and #B0B583, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #8397b5?

For interface work: #F5F7F9 as the surface, #CCD4E1 for borders, #566D90 for secondary text, #845D48 as an accent and #303D50 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #83B0B5 and #8883B5 stays calm, while #B5A183 is the loudest partner.

What is #8397b5 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(28%, 17%, 0%, 29%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #8397b5 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 84 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #8385B5; nudged cooler, #718DAE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #8397b5?

The blue family — its 500 step is #3b82f6, ΔE2000 12.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #8397b5 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #8397b5 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#8397b5] or text-[#8397b5], 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 #8397b5 with 50% opacity?

rgba(131, 151, 181, 0.5), or #8397b580 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C1CBDA; over black, #424C5B.

Is #8397b5 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999CC, ΔE2000 8.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #8397b5 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 #8397b5?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #A9B7CC, #8397b5 45%, #303D50). For more colour, a short hue run to #8470AA keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #8397b5 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #8397b5 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.