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blue · cool

#83acd2

a light, vivid blue · cool · closest name: Cornflower Blue

Token name suggestion: Drift Harbour

RGB
131, 172, 210
HSL
209°, 47%, 67%
CMYK
38, 18, 0, 18
Luminance
0.3898

#83acd2 is a light vivid blue, 209° on the wheel and 100/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.80:1). As text it scores 2.39:1 on white — use #407AAF instead. Nearest name is Cornflower Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(209 47% 67%)rgb(131 172 210)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #83acd2 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#83acd2
Hue
209°
blue
Saturation
47%
vivid
Lightness
67%
light
Brightness
82%
HSV value
Perceived
65%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3898
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
100/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
8.80:1
Closest name
Cornflower Blue
ΔE2000 8
Chroma
24.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.729
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 9.9
Web-safe
#9999CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue209° of 360°
Saturation47%
Lightness67%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #83acd2.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool100% 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
Red12%
Green76%
Blue12%

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

Every format

HEX#83acd2
HEX (8-digit)#83acd2ff
RGBrgb(131, 172, 210)
RGBArgba(131, 172, 210, 1)
HSLhsl(209, 47%, 67%)
HSV / HSBhsv(209, 38%, 82%)
HWBhwb(209 51% 18%)
CMYKcmyk(38%, 18%, 0%, 18%)
LABlab(68.7 -4.3 -23.7)
LCHlch(68.7 24.1 259.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.729 0.071 246.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(35.74, 38.98, 66.60)
Decimal8629458
Display P3color(display-p3 0.514 0.675 0.824)
Web-safe#9999CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #83acd2;
background-color: #83acd2;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #83acd2;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#83acd2] bg-[#83acd2]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #83acd2;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.514, green: 0.675, blue: 0.824)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.514, green: 0.675, blue: 0.824, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#83ACD2</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF83ACD2)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF83ACD2)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(210, 172, 131)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(131, 172, 210)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(131, 172, 210)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 131, 172, 210)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5137f, 0.6745f, 0.8235f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{131,172,210}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #83acd2 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #83acd2 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#22415E, #D3E1EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #83acd2 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: #F5F7FA;
  --brand-100: #EAF0F5;
  --brand-200: #D0DEEB;
  --brand-300: #ADC8E1;
  --brand-400: #83acd2;
  --brand-500: #5A91C3;
  --brand-600: #417CB4;
  --brand-700: #366896;
  --brand-800: #2B5378;
  --brand-900: #233E57;
  --brand-950: #162737;
  --brand: #83acd2;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F7FA;
  --brand-border: #C3D7E9;
  --brand-hover: #699AC8;
  --brand-pressed: #4F89BF;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141C24;
    --brand-ink: #D3E1EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F7FA',
        100: '#EAF0F5',
        200: '#D0DEEB',
        300: '#ADC8E1',
        400: '#83acd2',
        500: '#5A91C3',
        600: '#417CB4',
        700: '#366896',
        800: '#2B5378',
        900: '#233E57',
        950: '#162737',
        DEFAULT: '#83acd2',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F7FA,
  '100': #EAF0F5,
  '200': #D0DEEB,
  '300': #ADC8E1,
  '400': #83acd2,
  '500': #5A91C3,
  '600': #417CB4,
  '700': #366896,
  '800': #2B5378,
  '900': #233E57,
  '950': #162737,
);
$brand-base: #83acd2;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F7FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EAF0F5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D0DEEB", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#ADC8E1", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#83acd2", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#5A91C3", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#417CB4", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#366896", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#2B5378", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#233E57", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#162737", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #83acd2 · 8.80:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.39:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.80:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #83acd2 as text scores 2.39:1 on white and 8.80:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #22415E at 4.43:1.

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
#407AAF · 4.54:1
AA on white−20% L
#407AAF
The quick fox
#2F5B83 · 7.13:1
AAA on white−32% L
#2F5B83
The quick fox
#83acd2 · 8.80:1
AA on blackalready passes
#83acd2
The quick fox
#83acd2 · 8.80:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#83acd2

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #6598C7 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
#83acd2 on white: 2.39:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#83acd2 on black: 8.80:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #83acd2 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #83acd2.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.39:1AaAa
Slate 502.28:1AaAa
Slate 1002.18:1AaAa
Slate 2001.94:1AaAa
Slate 3001.61:1AaAa
Slate 4001.07:1AaAa
Slate 5001.99:1AaAa
Slate 6003.17:1AaAa
Slate 7004.34:1AaAa
Slate 8006.13:1AaAa
Slate 9007.48:1AaAa
Black8.80:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #9DACD4
deuteranopia · #93A4D1
tritanopia · #68B5B8

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. #83acd2 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.

#F5F7FA
#EAF0F5
#D0DEEB
#ADC8E1
#83acd2
#5A91C3
#417CB4
#366896
#2B5378
#233E57
#162737
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F5F7FADarkest = 950 · #162737Text 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 0.018 246.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.028 246.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.043 246.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.055 246.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.065 246.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.071 246.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.071 246.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.067 246.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.060 246.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.050 246.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.039 246.9);
}

Colors that work with #83acd2

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#F4F7FA
Tinted page background
Border#C3D7E9
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B749B
Captions on the surface
Accent#994B33
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#22415E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#ECF2F8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141C24
Dark-mode background
Hover#699AC8
One step down in lightness
Pressed#4F89BF
Two steps down
Disabled#DCE3E9
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#8BB6DF
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 #83acd2

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 #22415E
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #6598C7

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
  • Weight33/100
  • 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#D2A983
Analogous left#83D2D1
Analogous right#8385D2
Split-complement 1#D28385
Split-complement 2#D2D183
Triadic 1#D283AC
Triadic 2#ACD283
Tetradic#D183D2
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°209°

#83acd2 sits at 209°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red51.4%
Green67.5%
Blue82.4%
R · 0–255
131
0x83
G · 0–255
172
0xac
B · 0–255
210
0xd2

CMYK percentages

Cyan37.6%
Magenta18.1%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)17.6%

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

Color previews

#83acd2 text on a black background

contrast 8.80:1

Card sample

#83acd2 text on a white background

contrast 2.39:1

Card sample

#83acd2 on grey

2.18:1

#83acd2 on its own surface

2.22:1

#83acd2 on its dark surface

7.20:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #83acd2;
Background color
Panel with #83acd2 background
background-color: #83acd2;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #83acd2;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(131, 172, 210, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(131, 172, 210, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #83acd2;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #83acd2, #8F83D2);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #83acd2, #A383D2);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #83acd2;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #83acd2;
caret-color: #83acd2;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #83acd2;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #ECF2F8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #83acd2;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#83acd2 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #83acd2 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, 172, 210, 0.5)
rgb(131 172 210 / 50%)
#83acd280
hsl(209 47% 67% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #83acd2 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#83acd21a#F3F7FB
20%#83acd233#E6EEF6
40%#83acd266#CDDEED
60%#83acd299#B5CDE4
80%#83acd2cc#9CBDDB

Gradients from #83acd2

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, #B0CAE2, #83acd2 45%, #22415E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #83acd2, #826DCA);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #83acd2, #D2A983);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #C7D9EA 0%, #83acd2 45%, #22415E 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F7FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #A9E0DA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #9E9ADA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #22415E 0%, transparent 65%), #83acd2;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #83acd2

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.

#83acd2 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 8.80:1.

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.

#83acd2, answered

What color is #83acd2?

#83acd2 is a light vivid blue, closest to Cornflower Blue (ΔE2000 8). It sits at 209° on the hue wheel with 47% saturation and 67% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #83acd2?

rgb(131, 172, 210) — 131 red, 172 green and 210 blue out of 255, or 51.4% / 67.5% / 82.4% by channel.

What is #83acd2 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(209, 47%, 67%) and hsv(209, 38%, 82%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #83acd2 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3898 and perceived brightness is 65%, so black text on it reaches 8.80:1.

Should I use black or white text on #83acd2?

Black. It scores 8.80:1 against #83acd2, versus 2.39:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #83acd2 accessible on a white background?

#83acd2 on white scores 2.39:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #407AAF to reach 4.5:1, or #2F5B83 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #83acd2?

#D2A983 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #D28385 and #D2D183, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #83acd2?

For interface work: #F4F7FA as the surface, #C3D7E9 for borders, #4B749B for secondary text, #994B33 as an accent and #22415E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #83D2D1 and #8385D2 stays calm, while #D2A983 is the loudest partner.

What is #83acd2 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(38%, 18%, 0%, 18%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #83acd2 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 100 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #838FD2; nudged cooler, #6F9CCD.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #83acd2?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 9.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #83acd2 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #83acd2 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#83acd2] or text-[#83acd2], 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 #83acd2 with 50% opacity?

rgba(131, 172, 210, 0.5), or #83acd280 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C1D6E9; over black, #425669.

Is #83acd2 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999CC, ΔE2000 12.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #83acd2 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 #83acd2?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #B0CAE2, #83acd2 45%, #22415E). For more colour, a short hue run to #826DCA keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #83acd2 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #83acd2 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.