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blue · cool

#959eb2

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

Token name suggestion: Signal Denim

RGB
149, 158, 178
HSL
221°, 16%, 64%
CMYK
16, 11, 0, 30
Luminance
0.3406

#959eb2 is a balanced soft blue, 221° on the wheel and 70/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.81:1). As text it scores 2.69:1 on white — use #697691 instead. Nearest name is Light Slate Gray, nearest Tailwind family is slate.

hsl(221 16% 64%)rgb(149 158 178)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #959eb2 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#959eb2
Hue
221°
blue
Saturation
16%
soft
Lightness
64%
balanced
Brightness
70%
HSV value
Perceived
62%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3406
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
70/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
7.81:1
Closest name
Light Slate Gray
ΔE2000 9
Chroma
11.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.699
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
slate
500 · ΔE 15.6
Web-safe
#999999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue221° of 360°
Saturation16%
Lightness64%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #959eb2.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool70% 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
Red19%
Green72%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#959eb2
HEX (8-digit)#959eb2ff
RGBrgb(149, 158, 178)
RGBArgba(149, 158, 178, 1)
HSLhsl(221, 16%, 64%)
HSV / HSBhsv(221, 16%, 70%)
HWBhwb(221 58% 30%)
CMYKcmyk(16%, 11%, 0%, 30%)
LABlab(65.0 1.0 -11.4)
LCHlch(65.0 11.5 275.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.699 0.031 266.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(32.66, 34.06, 46.96)
Decimal9805490
Display P3color(display-p3 0.584 0.620 0.698)
Web-safe#999999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #959eb2;
background-color: #959eb2;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #959eb2;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#959eb2] bg-[#959eb2]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #959eb2;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.584, green: 0.620, blue: 0.698)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.584, green: 0.620, blue: 0.698, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#959EB2</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF959EB2)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF959EB2)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(178, 158, 149)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(149, 158, 178)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(149, 158, 178)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 149, 158, 178)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5843f, 0.6196f, 0.6980f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{149,158,178}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #959eb2 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #959eb2 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#363C4A, #DCDFE5);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #959eb2 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: #F6F7F8;
  --brand-100: #EEEFF2;
  --brand-200: #D9DCE2;
  --brand-300: #BEC4D0;
  --brand-400: #959eb2;
  --brand-500: #7D88A1;
  --brand-600: #67738E;
  --brand-700: #566076;
  --brand-800: #454D5E;
  --brand-900: #343A46;
  --brand-950: #21242C;
  --brand: #959eb2;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F7F9;
  --brand-border: #D0D4DD;
  --brand-hover: #808BA3;
  --brand-pressed: #6C7894;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #181A20;
    --brand-ink: #DCDFE5;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F7F8',
        100: '#EEEFF2',
        200: '#D9DCE2',
        300: '#BEC4D0',
        400: '#959eb2',
        500: '#7D88A1',
        600: '#67738E',
        700: '#566076',
        800: '#454D5E',
        900: '#343A46',
        950: '#21242C',
        DEFAULT: '#959eb2',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F7F8,
  '100': #EEEFF2,
  '200': #D9DCE2,
  '300': #BEC4D0,
  '400': #959eb2,
  '500': #7D88A1,
  '600': #67738E,
  '700': #566076,
  '800': #454D5E,
  '900': #343A46,
  '950': #21242C,
);
$brand-base: #959eb2;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F7F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EEEFF2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D9DCE2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#BEC4D0", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#959eb2", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7D88A1", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#67738E", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#566076", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#454D5E", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#343A46", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#21242C", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #959eb2 · 7.81:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.69:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.81:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #959eb2 as text scores 2.69:1 on white and 7.81:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #363C4A at 4.11:1.

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
#697691 · 4.56:1
AA on white−15% L
#697691
The quick fox
#50596E · 7.01:1
AAA on white−27% L
#50596E
The quick fox
#959eb2 · 7.81:1
AA on blackalready passes
#959eb2
The quick fox
#959eb2 · 7.81:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#959eb2

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #8993A9 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
#959eb2 on white: 2.69:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#959eb2 on black: 7.81:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #959eb2 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #959eb2.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.69:1AaAa
Slate 502.57:1AaAa
Slate 1002.45:1AaAa
Slate 2002.18:1AaAa
Slate 3001.81:1AaAa
Slate 4001.05:1AaAa
Slate 5001.77:1AaAa
Slate 6002.82:1AaAa
Slate 7003.85:1AaAa
Slate 8005.44:1AaAa
Slate 9006.64:1AaAa
Black7.81:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #989FB3
deuteranopia · #969DB2
tritanopia · #8EA2A4

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. #959eb2 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.

#F6F7F8
#EEEFF2
#D9DCE2
#BEC4D0
#959eb2
#7D88A1
#67738E
#566076
#454D5E
#343A46
#21242C
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F6F7F8Darkest = 950 · #21242CText step on white = 600
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 0.008 266.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.012 266.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.019 266.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.024 266.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.029 266.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.031 266.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.031 266.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.029 266.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.026 266.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.022 266.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.017 266.3);
}

Colors that work with #959eb2

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#D0D4DD
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#616C85
Captions on the surface
Accent#7B6351
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#363C4A
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F0F1F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#181A20
Dark-mode background
Hover#808BA3
One step down in lightness
Pressed#6C7894
Two steps down
Disabled#D6D9E1
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#99A6C3
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 #959eb2

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 #363C4A
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #8993A9

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#B2A995
Analogous left#95ACB2
Analogous right#9A95B2
Split-complement 1#B29A95
Split-complement 2#ACB295
Triadic 1#B2959E
Triadic 2#9EB295
Tetradic#B295AC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°221°

#959eb2 sits at 221°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red58.4%
Green62.0%
Blue69.8%
R · 0–255
149
0x95
G · 0–255
158
0x9e
B · 0–255
178
0xb2

CMYK percentages

Cyan16.3%
Magenta11.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)30.2%

Total ink coverage is 58%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#959eb2 text on a black background

contrast 7.81:1

Card sample

#959eb2 text on a white background

contrast 2.69:1

Card sample

#959eb2 on grey

2.45:1

#959eb2 on its own surface

2.51:1

#959eb2 on its dark surface

6.47:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #959eb2;
Background color
Panel with #959eb2 background
background-color: #959eb2;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #959eb2;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(149, 158, 178, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(149, 158, 178, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #959eb2;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #959eb2, #9F95B2);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #959eb2, #A795B2);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #959eb2;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #959eb2;
caret-color: #959eb2;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #959eb2;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F0F1F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #959eb2;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#959eb2 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #959eb2 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(149, 158, 178, 0.5)
rgb(149 158 178 / 50%)
#959eb280
hsl(221 16% 64% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #959eb2 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#959eb21a#F4F5F7
20%#959eb233#EAECF0
40%#959eb266#D5D8E0
60%#959eb299#BFC5D1
80%#959eb2cc#AAB1C1

Gradients from #959eb2

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, #B8BECC, #959eb2 45%, #363C4A);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #959eb2, #9283A5);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #959eb2, #B2A995);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #CACFD9 0%, #959eb2 45%, #363C4A 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%, #B3C5C7 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #ADA7BF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #363C4A 0%, transparent 65%), #959eb2;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #959eb2

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.

#959eb2 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 7.81:1.

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.

#959eb2, answered

What color is #959eb2?

#959eb2 is a balanced soft blue, closest to Light Slate Gray (ΔE2000 9). It sits at 221° on the hue wheel with 16% saturation and 64% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #959eb2?

rgb(149, 158, 178) — 149 red, 158 green and 178 blue out of 255, or 58.4% / 62% / 69.8% by channel.

What is #959eb2 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(221, 16%, 64%) and hsv(221, 16%, 70%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #959eb2 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3406 and perceived brightness is 62%, so black text on it reaches 7.81:1.

Should I use black or white text on #959eb2?

Black. It scores 7.81:1 against #959eb2, versus 2.69:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #959eb2 accessible on a white background?

#959eb2 on white scores 2.69:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #697691 to reach 4.5:1, or #50596E for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #959eb2?

#B2A995 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #B29A95 and #ACB295, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #959eb2?

For interface work: #F6F7F9 as the surface, #D0D4DD for borders, #616C85 for secondary text, #7B6351 as an accent and #363C4A for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #95ACB2 and #9A95B2 stays calm, while #B2A995 is the loudest partner.

What is #959eb2 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(16%, 11%, 0%, 30%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #959eb2 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 70 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #9795B2; nudged cooler, #93A2B4.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #959eb2?

The slate family — its 500 step is #64748b, ΔE2000 15.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #959eb2 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #959eb2 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#959eb2] or text-[#959eb2], 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 #959eb2 with 50% opacity?

rgba(149, 158, 178, 0.5), or #959eb280 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #CACFD9; over black, #4B4F59.

Is #959eb2 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #999999, ΔE2000 9.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #959eb2 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 #959eb2?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #B8BECC, #959eb2 45%, #363C4A). For more colour, a short hue run to #9283A5 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #959eb2 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #959eb2 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.