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blue · cool

#8cacbc

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

Token name suggestion: True Harbour

RGB
140, 172, 188
HSL
200°, 26%, 64%
CMYK
26, 9, 0, 26
Luminance
0.3871

#8cacbc is a balanced soft blue, 200° on the wheel and 85/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.74:1). As text it scores 2.40:1 on white — use #537B8F instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(200 26% 64%)rgb(140 172 188)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #8cacbc is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#8cacbc
Hue
200°
blue
Saturation
26%
soft
Lightness
64%
balanced
Brightness
74%
HSV value
Perceived
65%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3871
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
85/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
8.74:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 10.1
Chroma
13.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.726
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 12.4
Web-safe
#9999CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue200° of 360°
Saturation26%
Lightness64%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #8cacbc.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool85% 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%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#8cacbc
HEX (8-digit)#8cacbcff
RGBrgb(140, 172, 188)
RGBArgba(140, 172, 188, 1)
HSLhsl(200, 26%, 64%)
HSV / HSBhsv(200, 26%, 74%)
HWBhwb(200 55% 26%)
CMYKcmyk(26%, 9%, 0%, 26%)
LABlab(68.5 -7.2 -11.8)
LCHlch(68.5 13.8 238.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.726 0.042 229.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(34.64, 38.71, 53.21)
Decimal9219260
Display P3color(display-p3 0.549 0.675 0.737)
Web-safe#9999CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #8cacbc;
background-color: #8cacbc;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #8cacbc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#8cacbc] bg-[#8cacbc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #8cacbc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.549, green: 0.675, blue: 0.737)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.549, green: 0.675, blue: 0.737, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#8CACBC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF8CACBC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF8CACBC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(188, 172, 140)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(140, 172, 188)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(140, 172, 188)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 140, 172, 188)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5490f, 0.6745f, 0.7373f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{140,172,188}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #8cacbc 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #8cacbc 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#2F4551, #D8E3E8);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #8cacbc 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: #F6F8F9;
  --brand-100: #EDF1F3;
  --brand-200: #D6E0E6;
  --brand-300: #B8CCD6;
  --brand-400: #8cacbc;
  --brand-500: #7199AC;
  --brand-600: #5A859B;
  --brand-700: #4B6F81;
  --brand-800: #3C5967;
  --brand-900: #2E424C;
  --brand-950: #1D2930;
  --brand: #8cacbc;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5F8F9;
  --brand-border: #CBDAE1;
  --brand-hover: #759CAF;
  --brand-pressed: #5F8BA2;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #151F23;
    --brand-ink: #D8E3E8;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F8F9',
        100: '#EDF1F3',
        200: '#D6E0E6',
        300: '#B8CCD6',
        400: '#8cacbc',
        500: '#7199AC',
        600: '#5A859B',
        700: '#4B6F81',
        800: '#3C5967',
        900: '#2E424C',
        950: '#1D2930',
        DEFAULT: '#8cacbc',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F8F9,
  '100': #EDF1F3,
  '200': #D6E0E6,
  '300': #B8CCD6,
  '400': #8cacbc,
  '500': #7199AC,
  '600': #5A859B,
  '700': #4B6F81,
  '800': #3C5967,
  '900': #2E424C,
  '950': #1D2930,
);
$brand-base: #8cacbc;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F8F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EDF1F3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D6E0E6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B8CCD6", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#8cacbc", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7199AC", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#5A859B", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#4B6F81", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#3C5967", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2E424C", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1D2930", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #8cacbc · 8.74:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.40:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.74:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #8cacbc as text scores 2.40:1 on white and 8.74:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #2F4551 at 4.18:1.

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
#537B8F · 4.57:1
AA on white−20% L
#537B8F
The quick fox
#3E5C6B · 7.12:1
AAA on white−31% L
#3E5C6B
The quick fox
#8cacbc · 8.74:1
AA on blackalready passes
#8cacbc
The quick fox
#8cacbc · 8.74:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#8cacbc

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #7299AD 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
#8cacbc on white: 2.40:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#8cacbc on black: 8.74:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #8cacbc as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #8cacbc.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.40:1AaAa
Slate 502.30:1AaAa
Slate 1002.19:1AaAa
Slate 2001.95:1AaAa
Slate 3001.62:1AaAa
Slate 4001.07:1AaAa
Slate 5001.98:1AaAa
Slate 6003.15:1AaAa
Slate 7004.31:1AaAa
Slate 8006.09:1AaAa
Slate 9007.43:1AaAa
Black8.74:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A4AABD
deuteranopia · #9DA5BC
tritanopia · #7EB1B1

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. #8cacbc 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.

#F6F8F9
#EDF1F3
#D6E0E6
#B8CCD6
#8cacbc
#7199AC
#5A859B
#4B6F81
#3C5967
#2E424C
#1D2930
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F6F8F9Darkest = 950 · #1D2930Text 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 0.011 229.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.017 229.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.025 229.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.033 229.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.039 229.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.042 229.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.042 229.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.040 229.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.035 229.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.029 229.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.023 229.7);
}

Colors that work with #8cacbc

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#F5F8F9
Tinted page background
Border#CBDAE1
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#547D91
Captions on the surface
Accent#854C47
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#2F4551
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EFF3F6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#151F23
Dark-mode background
Hover#759CAF
One step down in lightness
Pressed#5F8BA2
Two steps down
Disabled#D4DFE4
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#91B8CC
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 #8cacbc

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 #2F4551
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #7299AD

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
  • Weight36/100
  • 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#BC9C8C
Analogous left#8CBCB4
Analogous right#8C94BC
Split-complement 1#BC8C94
Split-complement 2#BCB48C
Triadic 1#BC8CAC
Triadic 2#ACBC8C
Tetradic#B48CBC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°200°

#8cacbc sits at 200°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red54.9%
Green67.5%
Blue73.7%
R · 0–255
140
0x8c
G · 0–255
172
0xac
B · 0–255
188
0xbc

CMYK percentages

Cyan25.5%
Magenta8.5%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)26.3%

Total ink coverage is 60%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#8cacbc text on a black background

contrast 8.74:1

Card sample

#8cacbc text on a white background

contrast 2.40:1

Card sample

#8cacbc on grey

2.19:1

#8cacbc on its own surface

2.25:1

#8cacbc on its dark surface

6.98:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #8cacbc;
Background color
Panel with #8cacbc background
background-color: #8cacbc;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(140, 172, 188, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(140, 172, 188, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #8cacbc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #8cacbc, #8C8CBC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #8cacbc, #988CBC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #8cacbc;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #8cacbc;
caret-color: #8cacbc;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #8cacbc;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EFF3F6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #8cacbc;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#8cacbc 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #8cacbc 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(140, 172, 188, 0.5)
rgb(140 172 188 / 50%)
#8cacbc80
hsl(200 26% 64% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #8cacbc 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#8cacbc1a#F4F7F8
20%#8cacbc33#E8EEF2
40%#8cacbc66#D1DEE4
60%#8cacbc99#BACDD7
80%#8cacbccc#A3BDC9

Gradients from #8cacbc

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, #B3C8D3, #8cacbc 45%, #2F4551);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #8cacbc, #7D79B1);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #8cacbc, #BC9C8C);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #C6D6DE 0%, #8cacbc 45%, #2F4551 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5F8F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #ACCFC6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #9FA3C7 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #2F4551 0%, transparent 65%), #8cacbc;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #8cacbc

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.

#8cacbc 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 8.74:1.

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.

#8cacbc, answered

What color is #8cacbc?

#8cacbc is a balanced soft blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 10.1). It sits at 200° on the hue wheel with 26% saturation and 64% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #8cacbc?

rgb(140, 172, 188) — 140 red, 172 green and 188 blue out of 255, or 54.9% / 67.5% / 73.7% by channel.

What is #8cacbc in HSL and HSV?

hsl(200, 26%, 64%) and hsv(200, 26%, 74%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #8cacbc a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3871 and perceived brightness is 65%, so black text on it reaches 8.74:1.

Should I use black or white text on #8cacbc?

Black. It scores 8.74:1 against #8cacbc, versus 2.40:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #8cacbc accessible on a white background?

#8cacbc on white scores 2.40:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #537B8F to reach 4.5:1, or #3E5C6B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #8cacbc?

#BC9C8C sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BC8C94 and #BCB48C, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #8cacbc?

For interface work: #F5F8F9 as the surface, #CBDAE1 for borders, #547D91 for secondary text, #854C47 as an accent and #2F4551 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #8CBCB4 and #8C94BC stays calm, while #BC9C8C is the loudest partner.

What is #8cacbc in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(26%, 9%, 0%, 26%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #8cacbc warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 85 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #8CBCBA; nudged cooler, #8AA4BE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #8cacbc?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 12.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #8cacbc as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #8cacbc in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#8cacbc] or text-[#8cacbc], 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 #8cacbc with 50% opacity?

rgba(140, 172, 188, 0.5), or #8cacbc80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C6D6DE; over black, #46565E.

Is #8cacbc a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999CC, ΔE2000 16.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #8cacbc 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 #8cacbc?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #B3C8D3, #8cacbc 45%, #2F4551). For more colour, a short hue run to #7D79B1 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #8cacbc in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #8cacbc at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.