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blue · cool

#88cdfc

a light, electric blue · cool · “Light Sky Blue”

Token name suggestion: Morning Cobalt

RGB
136, 205, 252
HSL
204°, 95%, 76%
CMYK
46, 19, 0, 1
Luminance
0.5593

#88cdfc is a light electric blue, 204° on the wheel and 98/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.19:1). As text it scores 1.72:1 on white — use #0579C7 instead. Nearest name is Light Sky Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(204 95% 76%)rgb(136 205 252)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #88cdfc is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#88cdfc
Hue
204°
blue
Saturation
95%
electric
Lightness
76%
light
Brightness
99%
HSV value
Perceived
76%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5593
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
98/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
12.19:1
Closest name
Light Sky Blue
ΔE2000 1
Chroma
31.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.820
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 12.6
Web-safe
#99CCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue204° of 360°
Saturation95%
Lightness76%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #88cdfc.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool98% 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
Red9%
Green78%
Blue13%

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

Every format

HEX#88cdfc
HEX (8-digit)#88cdfcff
RGBrgb(136, 205, 252)
RGBArgba(136, 205, 252, 1)
HSLhsl(204, 95%, 76%)
HSV / HSBhsv(204, 46%, 99%)
HWBhwb(204 53% 1%)
CMYKcmyk(46%, 19%, 0%, 1%)
LABlab(79.6 -9.5 -29.8)
LCHlch(79.6 31.3 252.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.820 0.096 239.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(49.55, 55.92, 100.26)
Decimal8965628
Display P3color(display-p3 0.533 0.804 0.988)
Web-safe#99CCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #88cdfc;
background-color: #88cdfc;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #88cdfc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#88cdfc] bg-[#88cdfc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #88cdfc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.533, green: 0.804, blue: 0.988)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.533, green: 0.804, blue: 0.988, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#88CDFC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF88CDFC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF88CDFC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(252, 205, 136)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(136, 205, 252)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(136, 205, 252)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 136, 205, 252)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5333f, 0.8039f, 0.9882f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{136,205,252}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #88cdfc 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #88cdfc 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#034B7C, #D3E3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #88cdfc 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: #F1F8FD;
  --brand-100: #E4F2FB;
  --brand-200: #C2E3FA;
  --brand-300: #88cdfc;
  --brand-400: #5BBAFB;
  --brand-500: #24A3FA;
  --brand-600: #0691EF;
  --brand-700: #0578C7;
  --brand-800: #04609F;
  --brand-900: #084773;
  --brand-950: #052D48;
  --brand: #88cdfc;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C0DAED;
  --brand-hover: #65BEFB;
  --brand-pressed: #42B0FA;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141E24;
    --brand-ink: #D3E3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F1F8FD',
        100: '#E4F2FB',
        200: '#C2E3FA',
        300: '#88cdfc',
        400: '#5BBAFB',
        500: '#24A3FA',
        600: '#0691EF',
        700: '#0578C7',
        800: '#04609F',
        900: '#084773',
        950: '#052D48',
        DEFAULT: '#88cdfc',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F1F8FD,
  '100': #E4F2FB,
  '200': #C2E3FA,
  '300': #88cdfc,
  '400': #5BBAFB,
  '500': #24A3FA,
  '600': #0691EF,
  '700': #0578C7,
  '800': #04609F,
  '900': #084773,
  '950': #052D48,
);
$brand-base: #88cdfc;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F1F8FD", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E4F2FB", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C2E3FA", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#88cdfc", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#5BBAFB", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#24A3FA", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#0691EF", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#0578C7", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#04609F", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#084773", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#052D48", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #88cdfc · 12.19:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.72:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.19:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #88cdfc as text scores 1.72:1 on white and 12.19:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #034B7C at 5.29:1.

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
#0579C7 · 4.60:1
AA on white−36% L
#0579C7
The quick fox
#045B96 · 7.14:1
AAA on white−46% L
#045B96
The quick fox
#88cdfc · 12.19:1
AA on blackalready passes
#88cdfc
The quick fox
#88cdfc · 12.19:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#88cdfc

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #0C99F9 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
#88cdfc on white: 1.72:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#88cdfc on black: 12.19:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #88cdfc as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #88cdfc.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.72:1AaAa
Slate 501.65:1AaAa
Slate 1001.57:1AaAa
Slate 2001.40:1AaAa
Slate 3001.16:1AaAa
Slate 4001.49:1AaAa
Slate 5002.76:1AaAa
Slate 6004.40:1AaAa
Slate 7006.01:1AaAa
Slate 8008.49:1AaAa
Slate 90010.36:1AaAa
Black12.19:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B8CCFE
deuteranopia · #A8C0FB
tritanopia · #54D9DC

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. #88cdfc 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.

#F1F8FD
#E4F2FB
#C2E3FA
#88cdfc
#5BBAFB
#24A3FA
#0691EF
#0578C7
#04609F
#084773
#052D48
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F1F8FDDarkest = 950 · #052D48Text 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 0.024 239.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.038 239.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.058 239.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.075 239.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.089 239.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.096 239.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.096 239.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.090 239.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.081 239.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.067 239.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.053 239.3);
}

Colors that work with #88cdfc

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#F4F8FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0DAED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B7A9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#CA2002
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#034B7C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E6F5FE
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141E24
Dark-mode background
Hover#65BEFB
One step down in lightness
Pressed#42B0FA
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F5F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#9AD6FF
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 #88cdfc

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 #034B7C
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #0C99F9

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
  • Weight24/100
  • 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#FCB788
Analogous left#88FCF1
Analogous right#8893FC
Split-complement 1#FC8893
Split-complement 2#FCF188
Triadic 1#FC88CD
Triadic 2#CDFC88
Tetradic#F188FC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°204°

#88cdfc sits at 204°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red53.3%
Green80.4%
Blue98.8%
R · 0–255
136
0x88
G · 0–255
205
0xcd
B · 0–255
252
0xfc

CMYK percentages

Cyan46.0%
Magenta18.7%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)1.2%

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

Color previews

#88cdfc text on a black background

contrast 12.19:1

Card sample

#88cdfc text on a white background

contrast 1.72:1

Card sample

#88cdfc on grey

1.57:1

#88cdfc on its own surface

1.61:1

#88cdfc on its dark surface

9.82:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #88cdfc;
Background color
Panel with #88cdfc background
background-color: #88cdfc;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #88cdfc;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(136, 205, 252, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(136, 205, 252, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #88cdfc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #88cdfc, #9088FC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #88cdfc, #AD88FC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #88cdfc;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #88cdfc;
caret-color: #88cdfc;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #88cdfc;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E6F5FE;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #88cdfc;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#88cdfc 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #88cdfc 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(136, 205, 252, 0.5)
rgb(136 205 252 / 50%)
#88cdfc80
hsl(204 95% 76% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #88cdfc 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#88cdfc1a#F3FAFF
20%#88cdfc33#E7F5FE
40%#88cdfc66#CFEBFE
60%#88cdfc99#B8E1FD
80%#88cdfccc#A0D7FD

Gradients from #88cdfc

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, #C4E6FE, #88cdfc 45%, #034B7C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #88cdfc, #816AFB);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #88cdfc, #FCB788);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E2F3FE 0%, #88cdfc 45%, #034B7C 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F8FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #BAFDF1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #A6A7FD 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #034B7C 0%, transparent 65%), #88cdfc;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #88cdfc

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.

#88cdfc 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 12.19:1.

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.

#88cdfc, answered

What color is #88cdfc?

#88cdfc is a light electric blue — the CSS keyword Light Sky Blue. It sits at 204° on the hue wheel with 95% saturation and 76% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #88cdfc?

rgb(136, 205, 252) — 136 red, 205 green and 252 blue out of 255, or 53.3% / 80.4% / 98.8% by channel.

What is #88cdfc in HSL and HSV?

hsl(204, 95%, 76%) and hsv(204, 46%, 99%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #88cdfc a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5593 and perceived brightness is 76%, so black text on it reaches 12.19:1.

Should I use black or white text on #88cdfc?

Black. It scores 12.19:1 against #88cdfc, versus 1.72:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #88cdfc accessible on a white background?

#88cdfc on white scores 1.72:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #0579C7 to reach 4.5:1, or #045B96 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #88cdfc?

#FCB788 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #FC8893 and #FCF188, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #88cdfc?

For interface work: #F4F8FA as the surface, #C0DAED for borders, #4B7A9B for secondary text, #CA2002 as an accent and #034B7C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #88FCF1 and #8893FC stays calm, while #FCB788 is the loudest partner.

What is #88cdfc in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(46%, 19%, 0%, 1%). 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 #88cdfc warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 98 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #88F8FC; nudged cooler, #6EB8FD.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #88cdfc?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 12.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #88cdfc as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #88cdfc in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#88cdfc] or text-[#88cdfc], 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 #88cdfc with 50% opacity?

rgba(136, 205, 252, 0.5), or #88cdfc80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C4E6FE; over black, #44677E.

Is #88cdfc a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCFF, ΔE2000 3.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #88cdfc 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 #88cdfc?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C4E6FE, #88cdfc 45%, #034B7C). For more colour, a short hue run to #816AFB keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #88cdfc in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #88cdfc at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.