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blue · cool

#868eee

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Denim

RGB
134, 142, 238
HSL
235°, 75%, 73%
CMYK
44, 40, 0, 7
Luminance
0.3059

#868eee is a light electric blue, 235° on the wheel and 86/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.12:1). As text it scores 2.95:1 on white — use #5E68E8 instead. Nearest name is Cornflower Blue, nearest Tailwind family is blue.

hsl(235 75% 73%)rgb(134 142 238)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #868eee is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#868eee
Hue
235°
blue
Saturation
75%
electric
Lightness
73%
light
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
60%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3059
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
86/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
7.12:1
Closest name
Cornflower Blue
ΔE2000 8.1
Chroma
53.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.682
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
blue
500 · ΔE 10.8
Web-safe
#9999FF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue235° of 360°
Saturation75%
Lightness73%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #868eee.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool86% 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
Red17%
Green63%
Blue20%

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

Every format

HEX#868eee
HEX (8-digit)#868eeeff
RGBrgb(134, 142, 238)
RGBArgba(134, 142, 238, 1)
HSLhsl(235, 75%, 73%)
HSV / HSBhsv(235, 44%, 93%)
HWBhwb(235 53% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(44%, 40%, 0%, 7%)
LABlab(62.2 21.3 -49.4)
LCHlch(62.2 53.8 293.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.682 0.141 278.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(34.93, 30.59, 84.94)
Decimal8818414
Display P3color(display-p3 0.525 0.557 0.933)
Web-safe#9999FF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #868eee;
background-color: #868eee;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #868eee;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#868eee] bg-[#868eee]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #868eee;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.525, green: 0.557, blue: 0.933)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.525, green: 0.557, blue: 0.933, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#868EEE</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF868EEE)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF868EEE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(238, 142, 134)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(134, 142, 238)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(134, 142, 238)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 134, 142, 238)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5255f, 0.5569f, 0.9333f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{134,142,238}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #868eee 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #868eee 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#101770, #D3D5EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #868eee 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: #F3F4FC;
  --brand-100: #E7E8F9;
  --brand-200: #C8CBF4;
  --brand-300: #868eee;
  --brand-400: #6B75EA;
  --brand-500: #3A47E3;
  --brand-600: #1E2CD7;
  --brand-700: #1925B3;
  --brand-800: #141E8F;
  --brand-900: #131968;
  --brand-950: #0C1041;
  --brand: #868eee;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F5FA;
  --brand-border: #C0C3ED;
  --brand-hover: #6671EA;
  --brand-pressed: #4753E5;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141524;
    --brand-ink: #D3D5EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3F4FC',
        100: '#E7E8F9',
        200: '#C8CBF4',
        300: '#868eee',
        400: '#6B75EA',
        500: '#3A47E3',
        600: '#1E2CD7',
        700: '#1925B3',
        800: '#141E8F',
        900: '#131968',
        950: '#0C1041',
        DEFAULT: '#868eee',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3F4FC,
  '100': #E7E8F9,
  '200': #C8CBF4,
  '300': #868eee,
  '400': #6B75EA,
  '500': #3A47E3,
  '600': #1E2CD7,
  '700': #1925B3,
  '800': #141E8F,
  '900': #131968,
  '950': #0C1041,
);
$brand-base: #868eee;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3F4FC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E7E8F9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C8CBF4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#868eee", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#6B75EA", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#3A47E3", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#1E2CD7", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#1925B3", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#141E8F", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#131968", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0C1041", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #868eee · 7.12:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.95:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.12:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #868eee as text scores 2.95:1 on white and 7.12:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #101770 at 5.16:1.

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
#5E68E8 · 4.54:1
AA on white−9% L
#5E68E8
The quick fox
#313EE2 · 7.20:1
AAA on white−19% L
#313EE2
The quick fox
#868eee · 7.12:1
AA on blackalready passes
#868eee
The quick fox
#868eee · 7.12:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#868eee

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #818AED 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
#868eee on white: 2.95:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#868eee on black: 7.12:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #868eee as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #868eee.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.95:1AaAa
Slate 502.82:1AaAa
Slate 1002.69:1AaAa
Slate 2002.39:1AaAa
Slate 3001.99:1AaAa
Slate 4001.15:1AaAa
Slate 5001.61:1AaAa
Slate 6002.57:1AaAa
Slate 7003.51:1AaAa
Slate 8004.96:1AaAa
Slate 9006.05:1AaAa
Black7.12:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #6B9AF2
deuteranopia · #6392EC
tritanopia · #63A2B2

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. #868eee is pinned to step 300; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F3F4FC
#E7E8F9
#C8CBF4
#868eee
#6B75EA
#3A47E3
#1E2CD7
#1925B3
#141E8F
#131968
#0C1041
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F3F4FCDarkest = 950 · #0C1041Text step on white = 500
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 0.035 278.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.056 278.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.084 278.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.110 278.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.130 278.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.141 278.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.141 278.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.132 278.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.118 278.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.099 278.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.077 278.4);
}

Colors that work with #868eee

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#F4F5FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0C3ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B519B
Captions on the surface
Accent#B78215
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#101770
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E9EAFC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141524
Dark-mode background
Hover#6671EA
One step down in lightness
Pressed#4753E5
Two steps down
Disabled#EFF0F5
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#929AF6
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 #868eee

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 #101770
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #818AED

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.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. 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
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight27/100
  • 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#EEE686
Analogous left#86C2EE
Analogous right#B286EE
Split-complement 1#EEB286
Split-complement 2#C2EE86
Triadic 1#EE868E
Triadic 2#8EEE86
Tetradic#EE86C2
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°235°

#868eee sits at 235°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red52.5%
Green55.7%
Blue93.3%
R · 0–255
134
0x86
G · 0–255
142
0x8e
B · 0–255
238
0xee

CMYK percentages

Cyan43.7%
Magenta40.3%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)6.7%

Total ink coverage is 91%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#868eee text on a black background

contrast 7.12:1

Card sample

#868eee text on a white background

contrast 2.95:1

Card sample

#868eee on grey

2.69:1

#868eee on its own surface

2.71:1

#868eee on its dark surface

6.12:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #868eee;
Background color
Panel with #868eee background
background-color: #868eee;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #868eee;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(134, 142, 238, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(134, 142, 238, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #868eee;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #868eee, #C386EE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #868eee, #DD86EE);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #868eee;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #868eee;
caret-color: #868eee;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #868eee;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E9EAFC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #868eee;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#868eee 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #868eee 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(134, 142, 238, 0.5)
rgb(134 142 238 / 50%)
#868eee80
hsl(235 75% 73% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #868eee 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#868eee1a#F3F4FD
20%#868eee33#E7E8FC
40%#868eee66#CFD2F8
60%#868eee99#B6BBF5
80%#868eeecc#9EA5F1

Gradients from #868eee

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, #BBC0F6, #868eee 45%, #101770);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #868eee, #C16BEA);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #868eee, #EEE686);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D6D9F9 0%, #868eee 45%, #101770 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F5FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #B3DEF4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #CAA1F2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #101770 0%, transparent 65%), #868eee;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #868eee

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.

#868eee 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

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

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 7.12:1.

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.

#868eee, answered

What color is #868eee?

#868eee is a light electric blue, closest to Cornflower Blue (ΔE2000 8.1). It sits at 235° on the hue wheel with 75% saturation and 73% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #868eee?

rgb(134, 142, 238) — 134 red, 142 green and 238 blue out of 255, or 52.5% / 55.7% / 93.3% by channel.

What is #868eee in HSL and HSV?

hsl(235, 75%, 73%) and hsv(235, 44%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #868eee a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3059 and perceived brightness is 60%, so black text on it reaches 7.12:1.

Should I use black or white text on #868eee?

Black. It scores 7.12:1 against #868eee, versus 2.95:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #868eee accessible on a white background?

#868eee on white scores 2.95:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #5E68E8 to reach 4.5:1, or #313EE2 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #868eee?

#EEE686 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #EEB286 and #C2EE86, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #868eee?

For interface work: #F4F5FA as the surface, #C0C3ED for borders, #4B519B for secondary text, #B78215 as an accent and #101770 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #86C2EE and #B286EE stays calm, while #EEE686 is the loudest partner.

What is #868eee in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(44%, 40%, 0%, 7%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #868eee warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 86 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #A486EE; nudged cooler, #84A8EF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #868eee?

The blue family — its 500 step is #3b82f6, ΔE2000 10.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #868eee as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #868eee in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#868eee] or text-[#868eee], 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 #868eee with 50% opacity?

rgba(134, 142, 238, 0.5), or #868eee80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C3C7F7; over black, #434777.

Is #868eee a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999FF, ΔE2000 4.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #868eee 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 #868eee?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #BBC0F6, #868eee 45%, #101770). For more colour, a short hue run to #C16BEA keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #868eee in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #868eee at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.