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blue · cool

#96bade

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Denim

RGB
150, 186, 222
HSL
210°, 52%, 73%
CMYK
32, 16, 0, 13
Luminance
0.4688

#96bade is a light vivid blue, 210° on the wheel and 100/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.38:1). As text it scores 2.02:1 on white — use #3978B6 instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(210 52% 73%)rgb(150 186 222)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #96bade is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#96bade
Hue
210°
blue
Saturation
52%
vivid
Lightness
73%
light
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
71%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4688
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
100/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
10.38:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 5.5
Chroma
22.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.775
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 12.9
Web-safe
#99CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue210° of 360°
Saturation52%
Lightness73%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #96bade.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool100% 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%
Green75%
Blue11%

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

Every format

HEX#96bade
HEX (8-digit)#96badeff
RGBrgb(150, 186, 222)
RGBArgba(150, 186, 222, 1)
HSLhsl(210, 52%, 73%)
HSV / HSBhsv(210, 32%, 87%)
HWBhwb(210 59% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(32%, 16%, 0%, 13%)
LABlab(74.1 -3.6 -21.9)
LCHlch(74.1 22.2 260.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.775 0.065 248.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(43.32, 46.87, 75.86)
Decimal9878238
Display P3color(display-p3 0.588 0.729 0.871)
Web-safe#99CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #96bade;
background-color: #96bade;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #96bade;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#96bade] bg-[#96bade]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #96bade;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.588, green: 0.729, blue: 0.871)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.588, green: 0.729, blue: 0.871, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#96BADE</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF96BADE)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF96BADE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(222, 186, 150)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(150, 186, 222)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(150, 186, 222)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 150, 186, 222)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5882f, 0.7294f, 0.8706f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{150,186,222}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #96bade 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #96bade 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#1E4061, #D3E0EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #96bade 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: #F4F7FA;
  --brand-100: #E9F0F6;
  --brand-200: #CFDEED;
  --brand-300: #96bade;
  --brand-400: #7FABD7;
  --brand-500: #548FC9;
  --brand-600: #3B7ABA;
  --brand-700: #31669B;
  --brand-800: #27527C;
  --brand-900: #203D5B;
  --brand-950: #142639;
  --brand: #96bade;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F7FA;
  --brand-border: #C1D6EB;
  --brand-hover: #7BA8D5;
  --brand-pressed: #5F96CD;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141C24;
    --brand-ink: #D3E0EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4F7FA',
        100: '#E9F0F6',
        200: '#CFDEED',
        300: '#96bade',
        400: '#7FABD7',
        500: '#548FC9',
        600: '#3B7ABA',
        700: '#31669B',
        800: '#27527C',
        900: '#203D5B',
        950: '#142639',
        DEFAULT: '#96bade',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4F7FA,
  '100': #E9F0F6,
  '200': #CFDEED,
  '300': #96bade,
  '400': #7FABD7,
  '500': #548FC9,
  '600': #3B7ABA,
  '700': #31669B,
  '800': #27527C,
  '900': #203D5B,
  '950': #142639,
);
$brand-base: #96bade;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4F7FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E9F0F6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CFDEED", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#96bade", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#7FABD7", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#548FC9", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#3B7ABA", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#31669B", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#27527C", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#203D5B", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#142639", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #96bade · 10.38:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.02:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.38:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #96bade as text scores 2.02:1 on white and 10.38:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #1E4061 at 5.29:1.

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
#3978B6 · 4.63:1
AA on white−26% L
#3978B6
The quick fox
#2B5987 · 7.29:1
AAA on white−38% L
#2B5987
The quick fox
#96bade · 10.38:1
AA on blackalready passes
#96bade
The quick fox
#96bade · 10.38:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#96bade

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #6399CE 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
#96bade on white: 2.02:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#96bade on black: 10.38:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #96bade as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #96bade.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.02:1AaAa
Slate 501.93:1AaAa
Slate 1001.85:1AaAa
Slate 2001.64:1AaAa
Slate 3001.36:1AaAa
Slate 4001.27:1AaAa
Slate 5002.35:1AaAa
Slate 6003.74:1AaAa
Slate 7005.12:1AaAa
Slate 8007.23:1AaAa
Slate 9008.82:1AaAa
Black10.38:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #ACBAE0
deuteranopia · #A3B3DD
tritanopia · #80C2C6

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. #96bade 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.

#F4F7FA
#E9F0F6
#CFDEED
#96bade
#7FABD7
#548FC9
#3B7ABA
#31669B
#27527C
#203D5B
#142639
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F4F7FADarkest = 950 · #142639Text 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 0.016 248.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.026 248.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.039 248.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.051 248.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.060 248.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.065 248.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.065 248.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.061 248.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.054 248.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.045 248.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.036 248.7);
}

Colors that work with #96bade

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#C1D6EB
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B739B
Captions on the surface
Accent#A0482C
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#1E4061
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#ECF2F9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141C24
Dark-mode background
Hover#7BA8D5
One step down in lightness
Pressed#5F96CD
Two steps down
Disabled#EFF2F5
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#9FC4E9
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 #96bade

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 #1E4061
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #6399CE

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
  • Weight27/100
  • 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#DEBA96
Analogous left#96DEDE
Analogous right#9696DE
Split-complement 1#DE9696
Split-complement 2#DEDE96
Triadic 1#DE96BA
Triadic 2#BADE96
Tetradic#DE96DE
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°210°

#96bade sits at 210°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red58.8%
Green72.9%
Blue87.1%
R · 0–255
150
0x96
G · 0–255
186
0xba
B · 0–255
222
0xde

CMYK percentages

Cyan32.4%
Magenta16.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)12.9%

Total ink coverage is 61%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#96bade text on a black background

contrast 10.38:1

Card sample

#96bade text on a white background

contrast 2.02:1

Card sample

#96bade on grey

1.85:1

#96bade on its own surface

1.88:1

#96bade on its dark surface

8.50:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #96bade;
Background color
Panel with #96bade background
background-color: #96bade;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #96bade;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(150, 186, 222, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(150, 186, 222, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #96bade;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #96bade, #A296DE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #96bade, #B496DE);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #96bade;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #96bade;
caret-color: #96bade;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #96bade;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #ECF2F9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #96bade;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#96bade 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #96bade 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(150, 186, 222, 0.5)
rgb(150 186 222 / 50%)
#96bade80
hsl(210 52% 73% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #96bade 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#96bade1a#F5F8FC
20%#96bade33#EAF1F8
40%#96bade66#D5E3F2
60%#96bade99#C0D6EB
80%#96badecc#ABC8E5

Gradients from #96bade

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, #C4D8ED, #96bade 45%, #1E4061);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #96bade, #957FD7);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #96bade, #DEBA96);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #DCE8F4 0%, #96bade 45%, #1E4061 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%, #BDEAE6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #B2ADE5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #1E4061 0%, transparent 65%), #96bade;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #96bade

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.

#96bade 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 10.38:1.

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.

#96bade, answered

What color is #96bade?

#96bade is a light vivid blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 5.5). It sits at 210° on the hue wheel with 52% saturation and 73% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #96bade?

rgb(150, 186, 222) — 150 red, 186 green and 222 blue out of 255, or 58.8% / 72.9% / 87.1% by channel.

What is #96bade in HSL and HSV?

hsl(210, 52%, 73%) and hsv(210, 32%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #96bade a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4688 and perceived brightness is 71%, so black text on it reaches 10.38:1.

Should I use black or white text on #96bade?

Black. It scores 10.38:1 against #96bade, versus 2.02:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #96bade accessible on a white background?

#96bade on white scores 2.02:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #3978B6 to reach 4.5:1, or #2B5987 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #96bade?

#DEBA96 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DE9696 and #DEDE96, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #96bade?

For interface work: #F4F7FA as the surface, #C1D6EB for borders, #4B739B for secondary text, #A0482C as an accent and #1E4061 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #96DEDE and #9696DE stays calm, while #DEBA96 is the loudest partner.

What is #96bade in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(32%, 16%, 0%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #96bade warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 100 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #969FDE; nudged cooler, #81ABDA.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #96bade?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 12.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #96bade as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #96bade in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#96bade] or text-[#96bade], 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 #96bade with 50% opacity?

rgba(150, 186, 222, 0.5), or #96bade80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #CBDDEF; over black, #4B5D6F.

Is #96bade a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCCC, ΔE2000 15.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #96bade 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 #96bade?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C4D8ED, #96bade 45%, #1E4061). For more colour, a short hue run to #957FD7 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #96bade in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #96bade at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.