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blue · cool

#95baec

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

Token name suggestion: Morning Denim

RGB
149, 186, 236
HSL
215°, 70%, 76%
CMYK
37, 21, 0, 8
Luminance
0.4756

#95baec is a light vivid blue, 215° on the wheel and 98/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.51:1). As text it scores 2.00:1 on white — use #2974D9 instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(215 70% 76%)rgb(149 186 236)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #95baec is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#95baec
Hue
215°
blue
Saturation
70%
vivid
Lightness
76%
light
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
72%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4756
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
98/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
10.51:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 6.9
Chroma
28.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.780
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 13.6
Web-safe
#99CCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue215° of 360°
Saturation70%
Lightness76%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #95baec.

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
Red13%
Green74%
Blue13%

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

Every format

HEX#95baec
HEX (8-digit)#95baecff
RGBrgb(149, 186, 236)
RGBArgba(149, 186, 236, 1)
HSLhsl(215, 70%, 76%)
HSV / HSBhsv(214, 37%, 93%)
HWBhwb(215 58% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(37%, 21%, 0%, 8%)
LABlab(74.5 -0.3 -28.9)
LCHlch(74.5 28.9 269.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.780 0.082 256.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(45.09, 47.56, 86.15)
Decimal9812716
Display P3color(display-p3 0.584 0.729 0.925)
Web-safe#99CCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #95baec;
background-color: #95baec;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #95baec;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#95baec] bg-[#95baec]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #95baec;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.584, green: 0.729, blue: 0.925)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.584, green: 0.729, blue: 0.925, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#95BAEC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF95BAEC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF95BAEC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(236, 186, 149)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(149, 186, 236)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(149, 186, 236)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 149, 186, 236)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5843f, 0.7294f, 0.9255f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{149,186,236}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #95baec 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #95baec 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#13396C, #D3DEEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #95baec 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: #F3F7FC;
  --brand-100: #E7EEF8;
  --brand-200: #CADBF2;
  --brand-300: #95baec;
  --brand-400: #70A2E5;
  --brand-500: #4183DD;
  --brand-600: #256ED0;
  --brand-700: #1F5BAD;
  --brand-800: #19498A;
  --brand-900: #163764;
  --brand-950: #0E233F;
  --brand: #95baec;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F7FA;
  --brand-border: #C0D3ED;
  --brand-hover: #77A6E7;
  --brand-pressed: #5893E1;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141B24;
    --brand-ink: #D3DEEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3F7FC',
        100: '#E7EEF8',
        200: '#CADBF2',
        300: '#95baec',
        400: '#70A2E5',
        500: '#4183DD',
        600: '#256ED0',
        700: '#1F5BAD',
        800: '#19498A',
        900: '#163764',
        950: '#0E233F',
        DEFAULT: '#95baec',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3F7FC,
  '100': #E7EEF8,
  '200': #CADBF2,
  '300': #95baec,
  '400': #70A2E5,
  '500': #4183DD,
  '600': #256ED0,
  '700': #1F5BAD,
  '800': #19498A,
  '900': #163764,
  '950': #0E233F,
);
$brand-base: #95baec;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3F7FC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E7EEF8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CADBF2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#95baec", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#70A2E5", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#4183DD", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#256ED0", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#1F5BAD", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#19498A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#163764", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0E233F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #95baec · 10.51:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.00:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.51:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #95baec as text scores 2.00:1 on white and 10.51:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #13396C at 5.75:1.

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
#2974D9 · 4.57:1
AA on white−25% L
#2974D9
The quick fox
#1D56A2 · 7.23:1
AAA on white−38% L
#1D56A2
The quick fox
#95baec · 10.51:1
AA on blackalready passes
#95baec
The quick fox
#95baec · 10.51:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#95baec

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #5D95E2 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
#95baec on white: 2.00:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#95baec on black: 10.51:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #95baec as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #95baec.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.00:1AaAa
Slate 501.91:1AaAa
Slate 1001.82:1AaAa
Slate 2001.62:1AaAa
Slate 3001.35:1AaAa
Slate 4001.28:1AaAa
Slate 5002.38:1AaAa
Slate 6003.79:1AaAa
Slate 7005.18:1AaAa
Slate 8007.32:1AaAa
Slate 9008.94:1AaAa
Black10.51:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A8BCEE
deuteranopia · #9EB4EB
tritanopia · #79C5CB

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. #95baec 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.

#F3F7FC
#E7EEF8
#CADBF2
#95baec
#70A2E5
#4183DD
#256ED0
#1F5BAD
#19498A
#163764
#0E233F
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F3F7FCDarkest = 950 · #0E233FText 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 0.021 256.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.033 256.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.049 256.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.064 256.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.076 256.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.082 256.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.082 256.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.077 256.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.069 256.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.058 256.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.045 256.1);
}

Colors that work with #95baec

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#F4F7FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0D3ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B6D9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#B24A1A
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#13396C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E9F1FB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141B24
Dark-mode background
Hover#77A6E7
One step down in lightness
Pressed#5893E1
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F4F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#A1C4F4
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 #95baec

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 #13396C
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #5D95E2

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.

This is a confident chroma: strong enough to lead a brand, restrained enough to live in an interface all day. 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-high
  • Weight25/100
  • 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#ECC795
Analogous left#95E5EC
Analogous right#9C95EC
Split-complement 1#EC9C95
Split-complement 2#E5EC95
Triadic 1#EC95BA
Triadic 2#BAEC95
Tetradic#EC95E5
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°215°

#95baec sits at 215°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red58.4%
Green72.9%
Blue92.5%
R · 0–255
149
0x95
G · 0–255
186
0xba
B · 0–255
236
0xec

CMYK percentages

Cyan36.9%
Magenta21.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)7.5%

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

Color previews

#95baec text on a black background

contrast 10.51:1

Card sample

#95baec text on a white background

contrast 2.00:1

Card sample

#95baec on grey

1.82:1

#95baec on its own surface

1.86:1

#95baec on its dark surface

8.67:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #95baec;
Background color
Panel with #95baec background
background-color: #95baec;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #95baec;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(149, 186, 236, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(149, 186, 236, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #95baec;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #95baec, #AA95EC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #95baec, #C095EC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #95baec;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #95baec;
caret-color: #95baec;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #95baec;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E9F1FB;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #95baec;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#95baec 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #95baec 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, 186, 236, 0.5)
rgb(149 186 236 / 50%)
#95baec80
hsl(215 70% 76% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #95baec 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#95baec1a#F4F8FD
20%#95baec33#EAF1FB
40%#95baec66#D5E3F7
60%#95baec99#BFD6F4
80%#95baeccc#AAC8F0

Gradients from #95baec

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, #C9DCF5, #95baec 45%, #13396C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #95baec, #9E7BE7);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #95baec, #ECC795);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E3EDFA 0%, #95baec 45%, #13396C 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F7FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #C0F4F3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #B9AFF1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #13396C 0%, transparent 65%), #95baec;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #95baec

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.

#95baec 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 10.51:1.

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.

#95baec, answered

What color is #95baec?

#95baec is a light vivid blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 6.9). It sits at 215° on the hue wheel with 70% saturation and 76% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #95baec?

rgb(149, 186, 236) — 149 red, 186 green and 236 blue out of 255, or 58.4% / 72.9% / 92.5% by channel.

What is #95baec in HSL and HSV?

hsl(215, 70%, 76%) and hsv(214, 37%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #95baec a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4756 and perceived brightness is 72%, so black text on it reaches 10.51:1.

Should I use black or white text on #95baec?

Black. It scores 10.51:1 against #95baec, versus 2.00:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #95baec accessible on a white background?

#95baec on white scores 2.00:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #2974D9 to reach 4.5:1, or #1D56A2 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #95baec?

#ECC795 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #EC9C95 and #E5EC95, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #95baec?

For interface work: #F4F7FA as the surface, #C0D3ED for borders, #4B6D9B for secondary text, #B24A1A as an accent and #13396C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #95E5EC and #9C95EC stays calm, while #ECC795 is the loudest partner.

What is #95baec in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(37%, 21%, 0%, 8%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #95baec 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 #959AEC; nudged cooler, #7EAFEA.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #95baec?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 13.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #95baec as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #95baec in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#95baec] or text-[#95baec], 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 #95baec with 50% opacity?

rgba(149, 186, 236, 0.5), or #95baec80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #CADDF6; over black, #4B5D76.

Is #95baec a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCFF, ΔE2000 5.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #95baec 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 #95baec?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C9DCF5, #95baec 45%, #13396C). For more colour, a short hue run to #9E7BE7 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #95baec in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #95baec at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.