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blue · cool

#879eb2

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

Token name suggestion: Signal Denim

RGB
135, 158, 178
HSL
208°, 22%, 61%
CMYK
24, 11, 0, 30
Luminance
0.3282

#879eb2 is a balanced soft blue, 208° on the wheel and 81/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.56:1). As text it scores 2.78:1 on white — use #5D7890 instead. Nearest name is Light Slate Gray, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(208 22% 61%)rgb(135 158 178)Base step 500AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #879eb2 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#879eb2
Hue
208°
blue
Saturation
22%
soft
Lightness
61%
balanced
Brightness
70%
HSV value
Perceived
60%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3282
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
81/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
7.56:1
Closest name
Light Slate Gray
ΔE2000 7.3
Chroma
13.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.688
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 13.6
Web-safe
#999999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue208° of 360°
Saturation22%
Lightness61%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #879eb2.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool81% 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%
Green75%
Blue10%

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

Every format

HEX#879eb2
HEX (8-digit)#879eb2ff
RGBrgb(135, 158, 178)
RGBArgba(135, 158, 178, 1)
HSLhsl(208, 22%, 61%)
HSV / HSBhsv(208, 24%, 70%)
HWBhwb(208 53% 30%)
CMYKcmyk(24%, 11%, 0%, 30%)
LABlab(64.0 -3.5 -13.0)
LCHlch(64.0 13.5 255.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.688 0.039 244.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(30.25, 32.82, 46.85)
Decimal8887986
Display P3color(display-p3 0.529 0.620 0.698)
Web-safe#999999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #879eb2;
background-color: #879eb2;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #879eb2;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#879eb2] bg-[#879eb2]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #879eb2;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.529, green: 0.620, blue: 0.698)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.529, green: 0.620, blue: 0.698, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#879EB2</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF879EB2)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF879EB2)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(178, 158, 135)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(135, 158, 178)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(135, 158, 178)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 135, 158, 178)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5294f, 0.6196f, 0.6980f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{135,158,178}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #879eb2 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #879eb2 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#32414E, #DAE1E7);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #879eb2 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: #EDF0F2;
  --brand-200: #D7DEE4;
  --brand-300: #BBC8D3;
  --brand-400: #99ACBD;
  --brand-500: #879eb2;
  --brand-600: #607C95;
  --brand-700: #50687C;
  --brand-800: #405363;
  --brand-900: #313E49;
  --brand-950: #1F272E;
  --brand: #879eb2;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F7F9;
  --brand-border: #CDD7DF;
  --brand-hover: #718CA4;
  --brand-pressed: #5F7B93;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #161C22;
    --brand-ink: #DAE1E7;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F7F9',
        100: '#EDF0F2',
        200: '#D7DEE4',
        300: '#BBC8D3',
        400: '#99ACBD',
        500: '#879eb2',
        600: '#607C95',
        700: '#50687C',
        800: '#405363',
        900: '#313E49',
        950: '#1F272E',
        DEFAULT: '#879eb2',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F7F9,
  '100': #EDF0F2,
  '200': #D7DEE4,
  '300': #BBC8D3,
  '400': #99ACBD,
  '500': #879eb2,
  '600': #607C95,
  '700': #50687C,
  '800': #405363,
  '900': #313E49,
  '950': #1F272E,
);
$brand-base: #879eb2;
$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": "#EDF0F2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D7DEE4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#BBC8D3", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#99ACBD", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#879eb2", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#607C95", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#50687C", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#405363", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#313E49", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1F272E", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #879eb2 · 7.56:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.78:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.56:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #879eb2 as text scores 2.78:1 on white and 7.56:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #32414E at 3.78:1.

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
#5D7890 · 4.61:1
AA on white−15% L
#5D7890
The quick fox
#45596B · 7.26:1
AAA on white−27% L
#45596B
The quick fox
#879eb2 · 7.56:1
AA on blackalready passes
#879eb2
The quick fox
#879eb2 · 7.56:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#879eb2

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #7E97AC 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
#879eb2 on white: 2.78:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#879eb2 on black: 7.56:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #879eb2 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #879eb2.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.78:1AaAa
Slate 502.65:1AaAa
Slate 1002.53:1AaAa
Slate 2002.25:1AaAa
Slate 3001.87:1AaAa
Slate 4001.08:1AaAa
Slate 5001.71:1AaAa
Slate 6002.73:1AaAa
Slate 7003.73:1AaAa
Slate 8005.27:1AaAa
Slate 9006.43:1AaAa
Black7.56:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #969EB3
deuteranopia · #9199B2
tritanopia · #7BA3A4

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. #879eb2 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
#EDF0F2
#D7DEE4
#BBC8D3
#99ACBD
#879eb2
#607C95
#50687C
#405363
#313E49
#1F272E
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F6F7F9Darkest = 950 · #1F272EText 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 0.010 244.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.016 244.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.024 244.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.031 244.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.036 244.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.039 244.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.039 244.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.037 244.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.033 244.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.028 244.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.022 244.6);
}

Colors that work with #879eb2

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#F6F7F9
Tinted page background
Border#CDD7DF
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#5A758C
Captions on the surface
Accent#80574C
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#32414E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EFF2F5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#161C22
Dark-mode background
Hover#718CA4
One step down in lightness
Pressed#5F7B93
Two steps down
Disabled#CBD5DE
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#8BA9C3
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 #879eb2

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 #32414E
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #7E97AC

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#B29B87
Analogous left#87B2B1
Analogous right#8789B2
Split-complement 1#B28789
Split-complement 2#B2B187
Triadic 1#B2879E
Triadic 2#9EB287
Tetradic#B187B2
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°208°

#879eb2 sits at 208°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red52.9%
Green62.0%
Blue69.8%
R · 0–255
135
0x87
G · 0–255
158
0x9e
B · 0–255
178
0xb2

CMYK percentages

Cyan24.2%
Magenta11.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)30.2%

Total ink coverage is 66%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#879eb2 text on a black background

contrast 7.56:1

Card sample

#879eb2 text on a white background

contrast 2.78:1

Card sample

#879eb2 on grey

2.53:1

#879eb2 on its own surface

2.59:1

#879eb2 on its dark surface

6.18:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #879eb2;
Background color
Panel with #879eb2 background
background-color: #879eb2;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #879eb2;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(135, 158, 178, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(135, 158, 178, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #879eb2;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #879eb2, #8D87B2);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #879eb2, #9787B2);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #879eb2;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #879eb2;
caret-color: #879eb2;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #879eb2;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EFF2F5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #879eb2;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#879eb2 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #879eb2 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(135, 158, 178, 0.5)
rgb(135 158 178 / 50%)
#879eb280
hsl(208 22% 61% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #879eb2 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#879eb21a#F3F5F7
20%#879eb233#E7ECF0
40%#879eb266#CFD8E0
60%#879eb299#B7C5D1
80%#879eb2cc#9FB1C1

Gradients from #879eb2

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, #ACBCCA, #879eb2 45%, #32414E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #879eb2, #7F74A6);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #879eb2, #B29B87);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #BFCBD6 0%, #879eb2 45%, #32414E 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F7F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #A6C6C2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #9B9ABE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #32414E 0%, transparent 65%), #879eb2;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #879eb2

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.

#879eb2 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 7.56:1.

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.

#879eb2, answered

What color is #879eb2?

#879eb2 is a balanced soft blue, closest to Light Slate Gray (ΔE2000 7.3). It sits at 208° on the hue wheel with 22% saturation and 61% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #879eb2?

rgb(135, 158, 178) — 135 red, 158 green and 178 blue out of 255, or 52.9% / 62% / 69.8% by channel.

What is #879eb2 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(208, 22%, 61%) and hsv(208, 24%, 70%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #879eb2 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3282 and perceived brightness is 60%, so black text on it reaches 7.56:1.

Should I use black or white text on #879eb2?

Black. It scores 7.56:1 against #879eb2, versus 2.78:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #879eb2 accessible on a white background?

#879eb2 on white scores 2.78:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #5D7890 to reach 4.5:1, or #45596B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #879eb2?

#B29B87 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #B28789 and #B2B187, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #879eb2?

For interface work: #F6F7F9 as the surface, #CDD7DF for borders, #5A758C for secondary text, #80574C as an accent and #32414E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #87B2B1 and #8789B2 stays calm, while #B29B87 is the loudest partner.

What is #879eb2 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(24%, 11%, 0%, 30%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #879eb2 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 81 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #878EB2; nudged cooler, #758FAA.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #879eb2?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 13.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #879eb2 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #879eb2 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#879eb2] or text-[#879eb2], 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 #879eb2 with 50% opacity?

rgba(135, 158, 178, 0.5), or #879eb280 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C3CFD9; over black, #444F59.

Is #879eb2 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #999999, ΔE2000 10.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #879eb2 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 #879eb2?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #ACBCCA, #879eb2 45%, #32414E). For more colour, a short hue run to #7F74A6 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #879eb2 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #879eb2 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.