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blue · cool

#8eb3cb

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Sapphire

RGB
142, 179, 203
HSL
204°, 37%, 68%
CMYK
30, 12, 0, 20
Luminance
0.4230

#8eb3cb is a light soft blue, 204° on the wheel and 97/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.46:1). As text it scores 2.22:1 on white — use #487B9C instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(204 37% 68%)rgb(142 179 203)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #8eb3cb is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#8eb3cb
Hue
204°
blue
Saturation
37%
soft
Lightness
68%
light
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
67%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4230
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
97/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
9.46:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 7.9
Chroma
17.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.748
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 12.1
Web-safe
#99CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue204° of 360°
Saturation37%
Lightness68%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #8eb3cb.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool97% 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#8eb3cb
HEX (8-digit)#8eb3cbff
RGBrgb(142, 179, 203)
RGBArgba(142, 179, 203, 1)
HSLhsl(204, 37%, 68%)
HSV / HSBhsv(204, 30%, 80%)
HWBhwb(204 56% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(30%, 12%, 0%, 20%)
LABlab(71.1 -6.8 -16.2)
LCHlch(71.1 17.6 247.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.748 0.053 236.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(38.05, 42.30, 62.65)
Decimal9352139
Display P3color(display-p3 0.557 0.702 0.796)
Web-safe#99CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #8eb3cb;
background-color: #8eb3cb;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #8eb3cb;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#8eb3cb] bg-[#8eb3cb]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #8eb3cb;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.557, green: 0.702, blue: 0.796)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.557, green: 0.702, blue: 0.796, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#8EB3CB</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF8EB3CB)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF8EB3CB)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(203, 179, 142)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(142, 179, 203)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(142, 179, 203)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 142, 179, 203)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5569f, 0.7020f, 0.7961f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{142,179,203}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #8eb3cb 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #8eb3cb 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#284557, #D5E3EC);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #8eb3cb 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: #F5F8FA;
  --brand-100: #EBF1F4;
  --brand-200: #D3E0E9;
  --brand-300: #B2CBDC;
  --brand-400: #8eb3cb;
  --brand-500: #6598B8;
  --brand-600: #4D84A8;
  --brand-700: #406E8C;
  --brand-800: #335870;
  --brand-900: #284252;
  --brand-950: #192933;
  --brand: #8eb3cb;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C7D9E5;
  --brand-hover: #75A2C0;
  --brand-pressed: #5D92B4;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141E24;
    --brand-ink: #D5E3EC;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F8FA',
        100: '#EBF1F4',
        200: '#D3E0E9',
        300: '#B2CBDC',
        400: '#8eb3cb',
        500: '#6598B8',
        600: '#4D84A8',
        700: '#406E8C',
        800: '#335870',
        900: '#284252',
        950: '#192933',
        DEFAULT: '#8eb3cb',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F8FA,
  '100': #EBF1F4,
  '200': #D3E0E9,
  '300': #B2CBDC,
  '400': #8eb3cb,
  '500': #6598B8,
  '600': #4D84A8,
  '700': #406E8C,
  '800': #335870,
  '900': #284252,
  '950': #192933,
);
$brand-base: #8eb3cb;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F8FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EBF1F4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D3E0E9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B2CBDC", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#8eb3cb", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#6598B8", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#4D84A8", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#406E8C", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#335870", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#284252", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#192933", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #8eb3cb · 9.46:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.22:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.46:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #8eb3cb as text scores 2.22:1 on white and 9.46:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #284557 at 4.55:1.

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
#487B9C · 4.58:1
AA on white−23% L
#487B9C
The quick fox
#365C75 · 7.13:1
AAA on white−34% L
#365C75
The quick fox
#8eb3cb · 9.46:1
AA on blackalready passes
#8eb3cb
The quick fox
#8eb3cb · 9.46:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#8eb3cb

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #6799B9 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
#8eb3cb on white: 2.22:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#8eb3cb on black: 9.46:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #8eb3cb as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #8eb3cb.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.22:1AaAa
Slate 502.12:1AaAa
Slate 1002.03:1AaAa
Slate 2001.80:1AaAa
Slate 3001.50:1AaAa
Slate 4001.16:1AaAa
Slate 5002.14:1AaAa
Slate 6003.41:1AaAa
Slate 7004.66:1AaAa
Slate 8006.59:1AaAa
Slate 9008.04:1AaAa
Black9.46:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A8B2CC
deuteranopia · #A0ABCB
tritanopia · #7BB9BB

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. #8eb3cb 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.

#F5F8FA
#EBF1F4
#D3E0E9
#B2CBDC
#8eb3cb
#6598B8
#4D84A8
#406E8C
#335870
#284252
#192933
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F5F8FADarkest = 950 · #192933Text 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 0.013 236.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.021 236.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.032 236.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.041 236.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.049 236.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.053 236.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.053 236.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.050 236.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.045 236.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.037 236.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.029 236.9);
}

Colors that work with #8eb3cb

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#C7D9E5
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B7B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#8F483D
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#284557
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EEF3F7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141E24
Dark-mode background
Hover#75A2C0
One step down in lightness
Pressed#5D92B4
Two steps down
Disabled#DFE6EA
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#95BED9
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 #8eb3cb

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 #284557
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #6799B9

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
  • Weight32/100
  • 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#CBA68E
Analogous left#8ECBC4
Analogous right#8E94CB
Split-complement 1#CB8E94
Split-complement 2#CBC48E
Triadic 1#CB8EB3
Triadic 2#B3CB8E
Tetradic#C48ECB
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°204°

#8eb3cb sits at 204°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red55.7%
Green70.2%
Blue79.6%
R · 0–255
142
0x8e
G · 0–255
179
0xb3
B · 0–255
203
0xcb

CMYK percentages

Cyan30.0%
Magenta11.8%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)20.4%

Total ink coverage is 62%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#8eb3cb text on a black background

contrast 9.46:1

Card sample

#8eb3cb text on a white background

contrast 2.22:1

Card sample

#8eb3cb on grey

2.03:1

#8eb3cb on its own surface

2.08:1

#8eb3cb on its dark surface

7.62:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #8eb3cb;
Background color
Panel with #8eb3cb background
background-color: #8eb3cb;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #8eb3cb;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(142, 179, 203, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(142, 179, 203, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #8eb3cb;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #8eb3cb, #918ECB);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #8eb3cb, #A18ECB);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #8eb3cb;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #8eb3cb;
caret-color: #8eb3cb;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #8eb3cb;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EEF3F7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #8eb3cb;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#8eb3cb 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #8eb3cb 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(142, 179, 203, 0.5)
rgb(142 179 203 / 50%)
#8eb3cb80
hsl(204 37% 68% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #8eb3cb 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#8eb3cb1a#F4F7FA
20%#8eb3cb33#E8F0F5
40%#8eb3cb66#D2E1EA
60%#8eb3cb99#BBD1E0
80%#8eb3cbcc#A5C2D5

Gradients from #8eb3cb

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, #B8CFDE, #8eb3cb 45%, #284557);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #8eb3cb, #8379C1);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #8eb3cb, #CBA68E);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #CDDDE8 0%, #8eb3cb 45%, #284557 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%, #B1DBD3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #A3A4D5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #284557 0%, transparent 65%), #8eb3cb;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #8eb3cb

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.

#8eb3cb 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 9.46:1.

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.

#8eb3cb, answered

What color is #8eb3cb?

#8eb3cb is a light soft blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 7.9). It sits at 204° on the hue wheel with 37% saturation and 68% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #8eb3cb?

rgb(142, 179, 203) — 142 red, 179 green and 203 blue out of 255, or 55.7% / 70.2% / 79.6% by channel.

What is #8eb3cb in HSL and HSV?

hsl(204, 37%, 68%) and hsv(204, 30%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #8eb3cb a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4230 and perceived brightness is 67%, so black text on it reaches 9.46:1.

Should I use black or white text on #8eb3cb?

Black. It scores 9.46:1 against #8eb3cb, versus 2.22:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #8eb3cb accessible on a white background?

#8eb3cb on white scores 2.22:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #487B9C to reach 4.5:1, or #365C75 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #8eb3cb?

#CBA68E sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CB8E94 and #CBC48E, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #8eb3cb?

For interface work: #F5F8FA as the surface, #C7D9E5 for borders, #4B7B9B for secondary text, #8F483D as an accent and #284557 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #8ECBC4 and #8E94CB stays calm, while #CBA68E is the loudest partner.

What is #8eb3cb in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(30%, 12%, 0%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #8eb3cb warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 97 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #8EC9CB; nudged cooler, #8CADCD.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #8eb3cb?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 12.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #8eb3cb as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #8eb3cb in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#8eb3cb] or text-[#8eb3cb], 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 #8eb3cb with 50% opacity?

rgba(142, 179, 203, 0.5), or #8eb3cb80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C7D9E5; over black, #475A66.

Is #8eb3cb a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCCC, ΔE2000 13 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #8eb3cb 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 #8eb3cb?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #B8CFDE, #8eb3cb 45%, #284557). For more colour, a short hue run to #8379C1 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #8eb3cb in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #8eb3cb at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.