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blue · cool

#99afda

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Sapphire

RGB
153, 175, 218
HSL
220°, 47%, 73%
CMYK
30, 20, 0, 15
Luminance
0.4249

#99afda is a light vivid blue, 220° on the wheel and 95/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.50:1). As text it scores 2.21:1 on white — use #4E74BF instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(220 47% 73%)rgb(153 175 218)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #99afda is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#99afda
Hue
220°
blue
Saturation
47%
vivid
Lightness
73%
light
Brightness
85%
HSV value
Perceived
68%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4249
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
95/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
9.50:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 7.2
Chroma
24.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.752
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 16.1
Web-safe
#9999CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue220° of 360°
Saturation47%
Lightness73%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #99afda.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool95% 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
Red16%
Green72%
Blue12%

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

Every format

HEX#99afda
HEX (8-digit)#99afdaff
RGBrgb(153, 175, 218)
RGBArgba(153, 175, 218, 1)
HSLhsl(220, 47%, 73%)
HSV / HSBhsv(220, 30%, 85%)
HWBhwb(220 60% 15%)
CMYKcmyk(30%, 20%, 0%, 15%)
LABlab(71.2 2.3 -24.2)
LCHlch(71.2 24.3 275.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.752 0.067 263.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(41.12, 42.49, 72.35)
Decimal10072026
Display P3color(display-p3 0.600 0.686 0.855)
Web-safe#9999CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #99afda;
background-color: #99afda;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #99afda;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#99afda] bg-[#99afda]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #99afda;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.600, green: 0.686, blue: 0.855)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.600, green: 0.686, blue: 0.855, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#99AFDA</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF99AFDA)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF99AFDA)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(218, 175, 153)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(153, 175, 218)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(153, 175, 218)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 153, 175, 218)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6000f, 0.6863f, 0.8549f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{153,175,218}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #99afda 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #99afda 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#22365E, #D3DCEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #99afda 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: #F5F6FA;
  --brand-100: #EAEEF5;
  --brand-200: #D0D9EC;
  --brand-300: #99afda;
  --brand-400: #839ED2;
  --brand-500: #5A7EC3;
  --brand-600: #4168B4;
  --brand-700: #365796;
  --brand-800: #2B4578;
  --brand-900: #233558;
  --brand-950: #162137;
  --brand: #99afda;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F6FA;
  --brand-border: #C3D0E9;
  --brand-hover: #7F9AD0;
  --brand-pressed: #6486C7;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141924;
    --brand-ink: #D3DCEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F6FA',
        100: '#EAEEF5',
        200: '#D0D9EC',
        300: '#99afda',
        400: '#839ED2',
        500: '#5A7EC3',
        600: '#4168B4',
        700: '#365796',
        800: '#2B4578',
        900: '#233558',
        950: '#162137',
        DEFAULT: '#99afda',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F6FA,
  '100': #EAEEF5,
  '200': #D0D9EC,
  '300': #99afda,
  '400': #839ED2,
  '500': #5A7EC3,
  '600': #4168B4,
  '700': #365796,
  '800': #2B4578,
  '900': #233558,
  '950': #162137,
);
$brand-base: #99afda;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F6FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EAEEF5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D0D9EC", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#99afda", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#839ED2", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#5A7EC3", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#4168B4", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#365796", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#2B4578", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#233558", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#162137", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #99afda · 9.50:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.21:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.50:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #99afda as text scores 2.21:1 on white and 9.50:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #22365E at 5.41:1.

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
#4E74BF · 4.59:1
AA on white−20% L
#4E74BF
The quick fox
#365695 · 7.19:1
AAA on white−33% L
#365695
The quick fox
#99afda · 9.50:1
AA on blackalready passes
#99afda
The quick fox
#99afda · 9.50:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#99afda

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #7794CE 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
#99afda on white: 2.21:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#99afda on black: 9.50:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #99afda as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #99afda.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.21:1AaAa
Slate 502.11:1AaAa
Slate 1002.02:1AaAa
Slate 2001.79:1AaAa
Slate 3001.49:1AaAa
Slate 4001.16:1AaAa
Slate 5002.15:1AaAa
Slate 6003.43:1AaAa
Slate 7004.68:1AaAa
Slate 8006.62:1AaAa
Slate 9008.08:1AaAa
Black9.50:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A1B2DC
deuteranopia · #9BACD9
tritanopia · #87B8BD

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. #99afda 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.

#F5F6FA
#EAEEF5
#D0D9EC
#99afda
#839ED2
#5A7EC3
#4168B4
#365796
#2B4578
#233558
#162137
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F5F6FADarkest = 950 · #162137Text 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 0.017 263.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.027 263.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.040 263.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.052 263.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.062 263.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.067 263.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.067 263.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.063 263.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.056 263.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.047 263.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.037 263.6);
}

Colors that work with #99afda

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#F4F6FA
Tinted page background
Border#C3D0E9
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B669B
Captions on the surface
Accent#9A5C32
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#22365E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#ECF0F8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141924
Dark-mode background
Hover#7F9AD0
One step down in lightness
Pressed#6486C7
Two steps down
Disabled#EFF1F4
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#A2B9E5
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 #99afda

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 #22365E
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #7794CE

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#DAC499
Analogous left#99CFDA
Analogous right#A399DA
Split-complement 1#DAA399
Split-complement 2#CFDA99
Triadic 1#DA99AF
Triadic 2#AFDA99
Tetradic#DA99CF
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°220°

#99afda sits at 220°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red60.0%
Green68.6%
Blue85.5%
R · 0–255
153
0x99
G · 0–255
175
0xaf
B · 0–255
218
0xda

CMYK percentages

Cyan29.8%
Magenta19.7%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)14.5%

Total ink coverage is 64%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#99afda text on a black background

contrast 9.50:1

Card sample

#99afda text on a white background

contrast 2.21:1

Card sample

#99afda on grey

2.02:1

#99afda on its own surface

2.04:1

#99afda on its dark surface

7.95:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #99afda;
Background color
Panel with #99afda background
background-color: #99afda;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #99afda;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(153, 175, 218, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(153, 175, 218, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #99afda;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #99afda, #AE99DA);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #99afda, #BE99DA);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #99afda;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #99afda;
caret-color: #99afda;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #99afda;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #ECF0F8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #99afda;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#99afda 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #99afda 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(153, 175, 218, 0.5)
rgb(153 175 218 / 50%)
#99afda80
hsl(220 47% 73% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #99afda 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#99afda1a#F5F7FB
20%#99afda33#EBEFF8
40%#99afda66#D6DFF0
60%#99afda99#C2CFE9
80%#99afdacc#ADBFE1

Gradients from #99afda

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, #C6D2EA, #99afda 45%, #22365E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #99afda, #A382D2);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #99afda, #DAC499);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #DCE4F2 0%, #99afda 45%, #22365E 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F6FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #BEE4E8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #BCAFE2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #22365E 0%, transparent 65%), #99afda;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #99afda

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.

#99afda 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 9.50:1.

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.

#99afda, answered

What color is #99afda?

#99afda is a light vivid blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 7.2). It sits at 220° on the hue wheel with 47% saturation and 73% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #99afda?

rgb(153, 175, 218) — 153 red, 175 green and 218 blue out of 255, or 60% / 68.6% / 85.5% by channel.

What is #99afda in HSL and HSV?

hsl(220, 47%, 73%) and hsv(220, 30%, 85%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #99afda a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4249 and perceived brightness is 68%, so black text on it reaches 9.50:1.

Should I use black or white text on #99afda?

Black. It scores 9.50:1 against #99afda, versus 2.21:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #99afda accessible on a white background?

#99afda on white scores 2.21:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #4E74BF to reach 4.5:1, or #365695 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #99afda?

#DAC499 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DAA399 and #CFDA99, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #99afda?

For interface work: #F4F6FA as the surface, #C3D0E9 for borders, #4B669B for secondary text, #9A5C32 as an accent and #22365E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #99CFDA and #A399DA stays calm, while #DAC499 is the loudest partner.

What is #99afda in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(30%, 20%, 0%, 15%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #99afda warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 95 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #9B99DA; nudged cooler, #97B5DB.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #99afda?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 16.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #99afda as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #99afda in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#99afda] or text-[#99afda], 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 #99afda with 50% opacity?

rgba(153, 175, 218, 0.5), or #99afda80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #CCD7ED; over black, #4D586D.

Is #99afda a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999CC, ΔE2000 8.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #99afda 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 #99afda?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C6D2EA, #99afda 45%, #22365E). For more colour, a short hue run to #A382D2 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #99afda in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #99afda at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.