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blue · cool

#9fadcf

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Cobalt

RGB
159, 173, 207
HSL
223°, 33%, 72%
CMYK
23, 16, 0, 19
Luminance
0.4176

#9fadcf is a light soft blue, 223° on the wheel and 91/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.35:1). As text it scores 2.25:1 on white — use #5B73AD instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is blue.

hsl(223 33% 72%)rgb(159 173 207)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #9fadcf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#9fadcf
Hue
223°
blue
Saturation
33%
soft
Lightness
72%
light
Brightness
81%
HSV value
Perceived
68%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4176
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
91/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
9.35:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 7.2
Chroma
19.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.748
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
blue
500 · ΔE 18.5
Web-safe
#9999CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue223° of 360°
Saturation33%
Lightness72%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #9fadcf.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool91% 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
Red18%
Green72%
Blue11%

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

Every format

HEX#9fadcf
HEX (8-digit)#9fadcfff
RGBrgb(159, 173, 207)
RGBArgba(159, 173, 207, 1)
HSLhsl(223, 33%, 72%)
HSV / HSBhsv(223, 23%, 81%)
HWBhwb(223 62% 19%)
CMYKcmyk(23%, 16%, 0%, 19%)
LABlab(70.7 2.5 -18.9)
LCHlch(70.7 19.0 277.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.748 0.052 267.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(40.50, 41.76, 64.95)
Decimal10464719
Display P3color(display-p3 0.624 0.678 0.812)
Web-safe#9999CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #9fadcf;
background-color: #9fadcf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #9fadcf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#9fadcf] bg-[#9fadcf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #9fadcf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.624, green: 0.678, blue: 0.812)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.624, green: 0.678, blue: 0.812, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#9FADCF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF9FADCF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF9FADCF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(207, 173, 159)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(159, 173, 207)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(159, 173, 207)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 159, 173, 207)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6235f, 0.6784f, 0.8118f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{159,173,207}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #9fadcf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #9fadcf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#2B3755, #D6DCEB);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #9fadcf 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: #F5F7F9;
  --brand-100: #ECEEF4;
  --brand-200: #D4DAE8;
  --brand-300: #B4BFDA;
  --brand-400: #9fadcf;
  --brand-500: #697FB4;
  --brand-600: #5269A3;
  --brand-700: #445888;
  --brand-800: #36466D;
  --brand-900: #2A3550;
  --brand-950: #1B2132;
  --brand: #9fadcf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5F6FA;
  --brand-border: #C9D1E4;
  --brand-hover: #8799C3;
  --brand-pressed: #7084B7;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141924;
    --brand-ink: #D6DCEB;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F7F9',
        100: '#ECEEF4',
        200: '#D4DAE8',
        300: '#B4BFDA',
        400: '#9fadcf',
        500: '#697FB4',
        600: '#5269A3',
        700: '#445888',
        800: '#36466D',
        900: '#2A3550',
        950: '#1B2132',
        DEFAULT: '#9fadcf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F7F9,
  '100': #ECEEF4,
  '200': #D4DAE8,
  '300': #B4BFDA,
  '400': #9fadcf,
  '500': #697FB4,
  '600': #5269A3,
  '700': #445888,
  '800': #36466D,
  '900': #2A3550,
  '950': #1B2132,
);
$brand-base: #9fadcf;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F7F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#ECEEF4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D4DAE8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B4BFDA", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#9fadcf", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#697FB4", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#5269A3", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#445888", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#36466D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2A3550", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1B2132", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #9fadcf · 9.35:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.25:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.35:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #9fadcf as text scores 2.25:1 on white and 9.35:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #2B3755 at 5.25:1.

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
#5B73AD · 4.67:1
AA on white−20% L
#5B73AD
The quick fox
#445787 · 7.10:1
AAA on white−32% L
#445787
The quick fox
#9fadcf · 9.35:1
AA on blackalready passes
#9fadcf
The quick fox
#9fadcf · 9.35:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#9fadcf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #8193C0 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
#9fadcf on white: 2.25:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#9fadcf on black: 9.35:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #9fadcf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #9fadcf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.25:1AaAa
Slate 502.15:1AaAa
Slate 1002.05:1AaAa
Slate 2001.82:1AaAa
Slate 3001.51:1AaAa
Slate 4001.14:1AaAa
Slate 5002.12:1AaAa
Slate 6003.37:1AaAa
Slate 7004.61:1AaAa
Slate 8006.52:1AaAa
Slate 9007.95:1AaAa
Black9.35:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A3AFD1
deuteranopia · #9FABCE
tritanopia · #93B4B8

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. #9fadcf 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.

#F5F7F9
#ECEEF4
#D4DAE8
#B4BFDA
#9fadcf
#697FB4
#5269A3
#445888
#36466D
#2A3550
#1B2132
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F5F7F9Darkest = 950 · #1B2132Text 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 0.013 267.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.021 267.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.031 267.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.040 267.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.047 267.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.052 267.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.052 267.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.049 267.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.043 267.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.036 267.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.028 267.5);
}

Colors that work with #9fadcf

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#F5F6FA
Tinted page background
Border#C9D1E4
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4D6399
Captions on the surface
Accent#8C6340
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#2B3755
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EEF0F6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141924
Dark-mode background
Hover#8799C3
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7084B7
Two steps down
Disabled#ECEEF3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#A7B6DC
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 #9fadcf

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 #2B3755
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #8193C0

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
  • Weight28/100
  • 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#CFC19F
Analogous left#9FC5CF
Analogous right#A99FCF
Split-complement 1#CFA99F
Split-complement 2#C5CF9F
Triadic 1#CF9FAD
Triadic 2#ADCF9F
Tetradic#CF9FC5
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°223°

#9fadcf sits at 223°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red62.4%
Green67.8%
Blue81.2%
R · 0–255
159
0x9f
G · 0–255
173
0xad
B · 0–255
207
0xcf

CMYK percentages

Cyan23.2%
Magenta16.4%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)18.8%

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

Color previews

#9fadcf text on a black background

contrast 9.35:1

Card sample

#9fadcf text on a white background

contrast 2.25:1

Card sample

#9fadcf on grey

2.05:1

#9fadcf on its own surface

2.08:1

#9fadcf on its dark surface

7.83:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #9fadcf;
Background color
Panel with #9fadcf background
background-color: #9fadcf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #9fadcf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(159, 173, 207, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(159, 173, 207, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #9fadcf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #9fadcf, #B19FCF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #9fadcf, #BD9FCF);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #9fadcf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #9fadcf;
caret-color: #9fadcf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #9fadcf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EEF0F6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #9fadcf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#9fadcf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #9fadcf 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(159, 173, 207, 0.5)
rgb(159 173 207 / 50%)
#9fadcf80
hsl(223 33% 72% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #9fadcf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#9fadcf1a#F5F7FA
20%#9fadcf33#ECEFF5
40%#9fadcf66#D9DEEC
60%#9fadcf99#C5CEE2
80%#9fadcfcc#B2BDD9

Gradients from #9fadcf

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, #C8D0E3, #9fadcf 45%, #2B3755);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #9fadcf, #A58BC5);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #9fadcf, #CFC19F);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #DCE1EE 0%, #9fadcf 45%, #2B3755 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5F6FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #C1DCE0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #BFB4D9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #2B3755 0%, transparent 65%), #9fadcf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #9fadcf

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.

#9fadcf 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 9.35:1.

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.

#9fadcf, answered

What color is #9fadcf?

#9fadcf is a light soft blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 7.2). It sits at 223° on the hue wheel with 33% saturation and 72% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #9fadcf?

rgb(159, 173, 207) — 159 red, 173 green and 207 blue out of 255, or 62.4% / 67.8% / 81.2% by channel.

What is #9fadcf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(223, 33%, 72%) and hsv(223, 23%, 81%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #9fadcf a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4176 and perceived brightness is 68%, so black text on it reaches 9.35:1.

Should I use black or white text on #9fadcf?

Black. It scores 9.35:1 against #9fadcf, versus 2.25:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #9fadcf accessible on a white background?

#9fadcf on white scores 2.25:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #5B73AD to reach 4.5:1, or #445787 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #9fadcf?

#CFC19F sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CFA99F and #C5CF9F, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #9fadcf?

For interface work: #F5F6FA as the surface, #C9D1E4 for borders, #4D6399 for secondary text, #8C6340 as an accent and #2B3755 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #9FC5CF and #A99FCF stays calm, while #CFC19F is the loudest partner.

What is #9fadcf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(23%, 16%, 0%, 19%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #9fadcf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 91 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #A39FCF; nudged cooler, #9EB4D0.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #9fadcf?

The blue family — its 500 step is #3b82f6, ΔE2000 18.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #9fadcf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #9fadcf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#9fadcf] or text-[#9fadcf], 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 #9fadcf with 50% opacity?

rgba(159, 173, 207, 0.5), or #9fadcf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #CFD6E7; over black, #505768.

Is #9fadcf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999CC, ΔE2000 7.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #9fadcf 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 #9fadcf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C8D0E3, #9fadcf 45%, #2B3755). For more colour, a short hue run to #A58BC5 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #9fadcf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #9fadcf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.