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blue · cool

#98adba

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Cobalt

RGB
152, 173, 186
HSL
203°, 20%, 66%
CMYK
18, 7, 0, 27
Luminance
0.4011

#98adba is a light soft blue, 203° on the wheel and 77/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.02:1). As text it scores 2.33:1 on white — use #5D798A instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(203 20% 66%)rgb(152 173 186)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #98adba is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#98adba
Hue
203°
blue
Saturation
20%
soft
Lightness
66%
light
Brightness
73%
HSV value
Perceived
66%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4011
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
77/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
9.02:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 8.6
Chroma
10.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.736
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 15.2
Web-safe
#9999CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue203° of 360°
Saturation20%
Lightness66%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #98adba.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool77% 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
Red17%
Green75%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#98adba
HEX (8-digit)#98adbaff
RGBrgb(152, 173, 186)
RGBArgba(152, 173, 186, 1)
HSLhsl(203, 20%, 66%)
HSV / HSBhsv(203, 18%, 73%)
HWBhwb(203 60% 27%)
CMYKcmyk(18%, 7%, 0%, 27%)
LABlab(69.5 -4.5 -9.1)
LCHlch(69.5 10.1 243.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.736 0.030 235.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(36.75, 40.11, 52.25)
Decimal10005946
Display P3color(display-p3 0.596 0.678 0.729)
Web-safe#9999CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #98adba;
background-color: #98adba;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #98adba;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#98adba] bg-[#98adba]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #98adba;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.596, green: 0.678, blue: 0.729)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.596, green: 0.678, blue: 0.729, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#98ADBA</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF98ADBA)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF98ADBA)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(186, 173, 152)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(152, 173, 186)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(152, 173, 186)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 152, 173, 186)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5961f, 0.6784f, 0.7294f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{152,173,186}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #98adba 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #98adba 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#33434C, #DAE2E6);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #98adba 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: #EDF0F2;
  --brand-200: #D8DFE4;
  --brand-300: #BCCAD2;
  --brand-400: #98adba;
  --brand-500: #7994A5;
  --brand-600: #628093;
  --brand-700: #526B7A;
  --brand-800: #415562;
  --brand-900: #324048;
  --brand-950: #1F282D;
  --brand: #98adba;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F8F9;
  --brand-border: #CED8DE;
  --brand-hover: #839CAC;
  --brand-pressed: #6D8B9D;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #161D22;
    --brand-ink: #DAE2E6;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F8F9',
        100: '#EDF0F2',
        200: '#D8DFE4',
        300: '#BCCAD2',
        400: '#98adba',
        500: '#7994A5',
        600: '#628093',
        700: '#526B7A',
        800: '#415562',
        900: '#324048',
        950: '#1F282D',
        DEFAULT: '#98adba',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F8F9,
  '100': #EDF0F2,
  '200': #D8DFE4,
  '300': #BCCAD2,
  '400': #98adba,
  '500': #7994A5,
  '600': #628093,
  '700': #526B7A,
  '800': #415562,
  '900': #324048,
  '950': #1F282D,
);
$brand-base: #98adba;
$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": "#EDF0F2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D8DFE4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#BCCAD2", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#98adba", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7994A5", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#628093", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#526B7A", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#415562", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#324048", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1F282D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #98adba · 9.02:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.33:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.02:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #98adba as text scores 2.33:1 on white and 9.02:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #33434C at 4.41:1.

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
#5D798A · 4.60:1
AA on white−21% L
#5D798A
The quick fox
#465C69 · 7.01:1
AAA on white−32% L
#465C69
The quick fox
#98adba · 9.02:1
AA on blackalready passes
#98adba
The quick fox
#98adba · 9.02:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#98adba

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #7D97A8 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
#98adba on white: 2.33:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#98adba on black: 9.02:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #98adba as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #98adba.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.33:1AaAa
Slate 502.22:1AaAa
Slate 1002.12:1AaAa
Slate 2001.89:1AaAa
Slate 3001.57:1AaAa
Slate 4001.10:1AaAa
Slate 5002.04:1AaAa
Slate 6003.26:1AaAa
Slate 7004.45:1AaAa
Slate 8006.28:1AaAa
Slate 9007.67:1AaAa
Black9.02:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A7ACBB
deuteranopia · #A2A8BA
tritanopia · #8FB0B1

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. #98adba 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
#EDF0F2
#D8DFE4
#BCCAD2
#98adba
#7994A5
#628093
#526B7A
#415562
#324048
#1F282D
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F6F8F9Darkest = 950 · #1F282DText 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 0.007 235.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.012 235.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.018 235.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.023 235.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.028 235.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.030 235.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.030 235.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.028 235.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.025 235.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.021 235.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.017 235.0);
}

Colors that work with #98adba

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#F6F8F9
Tinted page background
Border#CED8DE
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#5C7889
Captions on the surface
Accent#7E534E
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#33434C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F0F3F5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#161D22
Dark-mode background
Hover#839CAC
One step down in lightness
Pressed#6D8B9D
Two steps down
Disabled#DBE3E7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#9DB9CA
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 #98adba

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 #33434C
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #7D97A8

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
  • Weight34/100
  • 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#BAA598
Analogous left#98BAB6
Analogous right#989CBA
Split-complement 1#BA989C
Split-complement 2#BAB698
Triadic 1#BA98AD
Triadic 2#ADBA98
Tetradic#B698BA
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°203°

#98adba sits at 203°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red59.6%
Green67.8%
Blue72.9%
R · 0–255
152
0x98
G · 0–255
173
0xad
B · 0–255
186
0xba

CMYK percentages

Cyan18.3%
Magenta7.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)27.1%

Total ink coverage is 52%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#98adba text on a black background

contrast 9.02:1

Card sample

#98adba text on a white background

contrast 2.33:1

Card sample

#98adba on grey

2.12:1

#98adba on its own surface

2.19:1

#98adba on its dark surface

7.32:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #98adba;
Background color
Panel with #98adba background
background-color: #98adba;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #98adba;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(152, 173, 186, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(152, 173, 186, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #98adba;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #98adba, #9A98BA);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #98adba, #A298BA);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #98adba;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #98adba;
caret-color: #98adba;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #98adba;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F0F3F5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #98adba;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#98adba 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #98adba 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(152, 173, 186, 0.5)
rgb(152 173 186 / 50%)
#98adba80
hsl(203 20% 66% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #98adba 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#98adba1a#F5F7F8
20%#98adba33#EAEFF1
40%#98adba66#D6DEE3
60%#98adba99#C1CED6
80%#98adbacc#ADBDC8

Gradients from #98adba

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, #BDCAD3, #98adba 45%, #33434C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #98adba, #8B86AE);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #98adba, #BAA598);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #CFD9DF 0%, #98adba 45%, #33434C 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F8F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #B7CFCA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #AAABC6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #33434C 0%, transparent 65%), #98adba;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #98adba

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.

#98adba 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 9.02:1.

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.

#98adba, answered

What color is #98adba?

#98adba is a light soft blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 8.6). It sits at 203° on the hue wheel with 20% saturation and 66% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #98adba?

rgb(152, 173, 186) — 152 red, 173 green and 186 blue out of 255, or 59.6% / 67.8% / 72.9% by channel.

What is #98adba in HSL and HSV?

hsl(203, 20%, 66%) and hsv(203, 18%, 73%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #98adba a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4011 and perceived brightness is 66%, so black text on it reaches 9.02:1.

Should I use black or white text on #98adba?

Black. It scores 9.02:1 against #98adba, versus 2.33:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #98adba accessible on a white background?

#98adba on white scores 2.33:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #5D798A to reach 4.5:1, or #465C69 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #98adba?

#BAA598 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BA989C and #BAB698, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #98adba?

For interface work: #F6F8F9 as the surface, #CED8DE for borders, #5C7889 for secondary text, #7E534E as an accent and #33434C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #98BAB6 and #989CBA stays calm, while #BAA598 is the loudest partner.

What is #98adba in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(18%, 7%, 0%, 27%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #98adba warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 77 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #98BABA; nudged cooler, #96A9BC.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #98adba?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 15.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #98adba as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #98adba in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#98adba] or text-[#98adba], 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 #98adba with 50% opacity?

rgba(152, 173, 186, 0.5), or #98adba80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #CCD6DD; over black, #4C575D.

Is #98adba a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999CC, ΔE2000 15.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #98adba 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 #98adba?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #BDCAD3, #98adba 45%, #33434C). For more colour, a short hue run to #8B86AE keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #98adba in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #98adba at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.