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blue · cool

#89abc4

a light, soft blue · cool · closest name: Light Steel Blue

Token name suggestion: Morning Sapphire

RGB
137, 171, 196
HSL
205°, 33%, 65%
CMYK
30, 13, 0, 23
Luminance
0.3843

#89abc4 is a light soft blue, 205° on the wheel and 96/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.69:1). As text it scores 2.42:1 on white — use #4D799A instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(205 33% 65%)rgb(137 171 196)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #89abc4 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#89abc4
Hue
205°
blue
Saturation
33%
soft
Lightness
65%
light
Brightness
77%
HSV value
Perceived
65%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3843
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
96/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
8.69:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 8.9
Chroma
17.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.725
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 11.5
Web-safe
#9999CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue205° of 360°
Saturation33%
Lightness65%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #89abc4.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool96% 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
Red14%
Green76%
Blue10%

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

Every format

HEX#89abc4
HEX (8-digit)#89abc4ff
RGBrgb(137, 171, 196)
RGBArgba(137, 171, 196, 1)
HSLhsl(205, 33%, 65%)
HSV / HSBhsv(205, 30%, 77%)
HWBhwb(205 54% 23%)
CMYKcmyk(30%, 13%, 0%, 23%)
LABlab(68.3 -5.7 -16.5)
LCHlch(68.3 17.5 251.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.725 0.052 240.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(34.84, 38.43, 57.80)
Decimal9022404
Display P3color(display-p3 0.537 0.671 0.769)
Web-safe#9999CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #89abc4;
background-color: #89abc4;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #89abc4;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#89abc4] bg-[#89abc4]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #89abc4;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.537, green: 0.671, blue: 0.769)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.537, green: 0.671, blue: 0.769, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#89ABC4</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF89ABC4)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF89ABC4)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(196, 171, 137)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(137, 171, 196)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(137, 171, 196)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 137, 171, 196)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5373f, 0.6706f, 0.7686f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{137,171,196}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #89abc4 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #89abc4 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#2B4355, #D6E2EB);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #89abc4 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: #F5F8F9;
  --brand-100: #ECF0F4;
  --brand-200: #D4DFE8;
  --brand-300: #B4CADA;
  --brand-400: #89abc4;
  --brand-500: #6995B4;
  --brand-600: #5281A3;
  --brand-700: #446B88;
  --brand-800: #36566D;
  --brand-900: #2A4050;
  --brand-950: #1B2832;
  --brand: #89abc4;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C9D8E4;
  --brand-hover: #719AB8;
  --brand-pressed: #5989AC;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141D24;
    --brand-ink: #D6E2EB;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F8F9',
        100: '#ECF0F4',
        200: '#D4DFE8',
        300: '#B4CADA',
        400: '#89abc4',
        500: '#6995B4',
        600: '#5281A3',
        700: '#446B88',
        800: '#36566D',
        900: '#2A4050',
        950: '#1B2832',
        DEFAULT: '#89abc4',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F8F9,
  '100': #ECF0F4,
  '200': #D4DFE8,
  '300': #B4CADA,
  '400': #89abc4,
  '500': #6995B4,
  '600': #5281A3,
  '700': #446B88,
  '800': #36566D,
  '900': #2A4050,
  '950': #1B2832,
);
$brand-base: #89abc4;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F8F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#ECF0F4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D4DFE8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B4CADA", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#89abc4", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#6995B4", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#5281A3", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#446B88", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#36566D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2A4050", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1B2832", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #89abc4 · 8.69:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.42:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.69:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #89abc4 as text scores 2.42:1 on white and 8.69:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #2B4355 at 4.26:1.

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
#4D799A · 4.65:1
AA on white−20% L
#4D799A
The quick fox
#3A5C75 · 7.08:1
AAA on white−31% L
#3A5C75
The quick fox
#89abc4 · 8.69:1
AA on blackalready passes
#89abc4
The quick fox
#89abc4 · 8.69:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#89abc4

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #6E98B6 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
#89abc4 on white: 2.42:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#89abc4 on black: 8.69:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #89abc4 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #89abc4.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.42:1AaAa
Slate 502.31:1AaAa
Slate 1002.21:1AaAa
Slate 2001.96:1AaAa
Slate 3001.63:1AaAa
Slate 4001.06:1AaAa
Slate 5001.97:1AaAa
Slate 6003.13:1AaAa
Slate 7004.28:1AaAa
Slate 8006.05:1AaAa
Slate 9007.38:1AaAa
Black8.69:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A0AAC5
deuteranopia · #99A4C4
tritanopia · #77B1B3

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. #89abc4 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.

#F5F8F9
#ECF0F4
#D4DFE8
#B4CADA
#89abc4
#6995B4
#5281A3
#446B88
#36566D
#2A4050
#1B2832
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F5F8F9Darkest = 950 · #1B2832Text 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 0.013 240.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.021 240.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.031 240.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.041 240.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.048 240.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.052 240.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.052 240.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.049 240.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.044 240.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.036 240.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.029 240.3);
}

Colors that work with #89abc4

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#F5F8FA
Tinted page background
Border#C9D8E4
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4D7999
Captions on the surface
Accent#8C4D40
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#2B4355
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EEF3F6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141D24
Dark-mode background
Hover#719AB8
One step down in lightness
Pressed#5989AC
Two steps down
Disabled#D7E0E6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#8FB6D3
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 #89abc4

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • 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 #2B4355
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #6E98B6

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 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
  • Weight35/100
  • 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#C4A289
Analogous left#89C4BF
Analogous right#898EC4
Split-complement 1#C4898E
Split-complement 2#C4BF89
Triadic 1#C489AB
Triadic 2#ABC489
Tetradic#BF89C4
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°205°

#89abc4 sits at 205°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red53.7%
Green67.1%
Blue76.9%
R · 0–255
137
0x89
G · 0–255
171
0xab
B · 0–255
196
0xc4

CMYK percentages

Cyan30.1%
Magenta12.8%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)23.1%

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

Color previews

#89abc4 text on a black background

contrast 8.69:1

Card sample

#89abc4 text on a white background

contrast 2.42:1

Card sample

#89abc4 on grey

2.21:1

#89abc4 on its own surface

2.27:1

#89abc4 on its dark surface

7.06:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #89abc4;
Background color
Panel with #89abc4 background
background-color: #89abc4;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #89abc4;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(137, 171, 196, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(137, 171, 196, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #89abc4;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #89abc4, #8E89C4);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #89abc4, #9D89C4);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #89abc4;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #89abc4;
caret-color: #89abc4;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #89abc4;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EEF3F6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #89abc4;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#89abc4 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #89abc4 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(137, 171, 196, 0.5)
rgb(137 171 196 / 50%)
#89abc480
hsl(205 33% 65% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #89abc4 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#89abc41a#F3F7F9
20%#89abc433#E7EEF3
40%#89abc466#D0DDE7
60%#89abc499#B8CDDC
80%#89abc4cc#A1BCD0

Gradients from #89abc4

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, #B2C8D8, #89abc4 45%, #2B4355);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #89abc4, #8175BA);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #89abc4, #C4A289);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #C6D7E3 0%, #89abc4 45%, #2B4355 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5F8FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #ABD5CE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #9E9DCE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #2B4355 0%, transparent 65%), #89abc4;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #89abc4

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.

#89abc4 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 8.69:1.

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.

#89abc4, answered

What color is #89abc4?

#89abc4 is a light soft blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 8.9). It sits at 205° on the hue wheel with 33% saturation and 65% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #89abc4?

rgb(137, 171, 196) — 137 red, 171 green and 196 blue out of 255, or 53.7% / 67.1% / 76.9% by channel.

What is #89abc4 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(205, 33%, 65%) and hsv(205, 30%, 77%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #89abc4 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3843 and perceived brightness is 65%, so black text on it reaches 8.69:1.

Should I use black or white text on #89abc4?

Black. It scores 8.69:1 against #89abc4, versus 2.42:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #89abc4 accessible on a white background?

#89abc4 on white scores 2.42:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #4D799A to reach 4.5:1, or #3A5C75 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #89abc4?

#C4A289 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #C4898E and #C4BF89, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #89abc4?

For interface work: #F5F8FA as the surface, #C9D8E4 for borders, #4D7999 for secondary text, #8C4D40 as an accent and #2B4355 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #89C4BF and #898EC4 stays calm, while #C4A289 is the loudest partner.

What is #89abc4 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(30%, 13%, 0%, 23%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #89abc4 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 96 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #89C1C4; nudged cooler, #769ABE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #89abc4?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 11.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #89abc4 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #89abc4 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#89abc4] or text-[#89abc4], 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 #89abc4 with 50% opacity?

rgba(137, 171, 196, 0.5), or #89abc480 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C4D5E2; over black, #455662.

Is #89abc4 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999CC, ΔE2000 13.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #89abc4 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 #89abc4?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #B2C8D8, #89abc4 45%, #2B4355). For more colour, a short hue run to #8175BA keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #89abc4 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #89abc4 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.