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blue · cool

#9dbbed

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

Token name suggestion: Linen Sapphire

RGB
157, 187, 237
HSL
218°, 69%, 77%
CMYK
34, 21, 0, 7
Luminance
0.4882

#9dbbed is a light vivid blue, 218° on the wheel and 96/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.76:1). As text it scores 1.95:1 on white — use #3673DA instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(218 69% 77%)rgb(157 187 237)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

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

Hex
#9dbbed
Hue
218°
blue
Saturation
69%
vivid
Lightness
77%
light
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
73%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4882
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
96/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
10.76:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 6.3
Chroma
28.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.788
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 15.5
Web-safe
#99CCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue218° of 360°
Saturation69%
Lightness77%
Saturation × lightness field

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

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool96% 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
Red15%
Green73%
Blue13%

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

Every format

HEX#9dbbed
HEX (8-digit)#9dbbedff
RGBrgb(157, 187, 237)
RGBArgba(157, 187, 237, 1)
HSLhsl(218, 69%, 77%)
HSV / HSBhsv(218, 34%, 93%)
HWBhwb(218 62% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(34%, 21%, 0%, 7%)
LABlab(75.3 1.6 -28.1)
LCHlch(75.3 28.2 273.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.788 0.079 260.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(46.96, 48.82, 87.05)
Decimal10337261
Display P3color(display-p3 0.616 0.733 0.929)
Web-safe#99CCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #9dbbed;
background-color: #9dbbed;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #9dbbed;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#9dbbed] bg-[#9dbbed]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #9dbbed;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.616, green: 0.733, blue: 0.929)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.616, green: 0.733, blue: 0.929, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#9DBBED</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF9DBBED)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF9DBBED)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(237, 187, 157)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(157, 187, 237)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(157, 187, 237)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 157, 187, 237)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6157f, 0.7333f, 0.9294f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{157,187,237}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #9dbbed 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #9dbbed 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#14356C, #D3DDEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #9dbbed 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: #F3F6FB;
  --brand-100: #E7EEF8;
  --brand-200: #CAD9F2;
  --brand-300: #9dbbed;
  --brand-400: #719CE5;
  --brand-500: #417BDC;
  --brand-600: #2665CF;
  --brand-700: #2054AC;
  --brand-800: #19448A;
  --brand-900: #163364;
  --brand-950: #0E203F;
  --brand: #9dbbed;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F7FA;
  --brand-border: #C0D1ED;
  --brand-hover: #7FA6E8;
  --brand-pressed: #6191E2;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141A24;
    --brand-ink: #D3DDEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3F6FB',
        100: '#E7EEF8',
        200: '#CAD9F2',
        300: '#9dbbed',
        400: '#719CE5',
        500: '#417BDC',
        600: '#2665CF',
        700: '#2054AC',
        800: '#19448A',
        900: '#163364',
        950: '#0E203F',
        DEFAULT: '#9dbbed',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3F6FB,
  '100': #E7EEF8,
  '200': #CAD9F2,
  '300': #9dbbed,
  '400': #719CE5,
  '500': #417BDC,
  '600': #2665CF,
  '700': #2054AC,
  '800': #19448A,
  '900': #163364,
  '950': #0E203F,
);
$brand-base: #9dbbed;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3F6FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E7EEF8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CAD9F2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#9dbbed", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#719CE5", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#417BDC", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#2665CF", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#2054AC", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#19448A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#163364", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0E203F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #9dbbed · 10.76:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.95:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.76:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #9dbbed as text scores 1.95:1 on white and 10.76:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #14356C at 6.13:1.

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
#3673DA · 4.54:1
AA on white−24% L
#3673DA
The quick fox
#2055AE · 7.07:1
AAA on white−37% L
#2055AE
The quick fox
#9dbbed · 10.76:1
AA on blackalready passes
#9dbbed
The quick fox
#9dbbed · 10.76:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#9dbbed

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #6594E3 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
#9dbbed on white: 1.95:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#9dbbed on black: 10.76:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.95:1AaAa
Slate 501.86:1AaAa
Slate 1001.78:1AaAa
Slate 2001.58:1AaAa
Slate 3001.31:1AaAa
Slate 4001.31:1AaAa
Slate 5002.44:1AaAa
Slate 6003.88:1AaAa
Slate 7005.31:1AaAa
Slate 8007.50:1AaAa
Slate 9009.15:1AaAa
Black10.76:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #AABEEF
deuteranopia · #A1B6EC
tritanopia · #85C5CC

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. #9dbbed 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.

#F3F6FB
#E7EEF8
#CAD9F2
#9dbbed
#719CE5
#417BDC
#2665CF
#2054AC
#19448A
#163364
#0E203F
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F3F6FBDarkest = 950 · #0E203FText 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 0.020 260.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.032 260.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.047 260.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.061 260.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.072 260.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.079 260.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.079 260.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.074 260.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.066 260.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.055 260.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.043 260.5);
}

Colors that work with #9dbbed

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#C0D1ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B699B
Captions on the surface
Accent#B0551C
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#14356C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E9F0FB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141A24
Dark-mode background
Hover#7FA6E8
One step down in lightness
Pressed#6191E2
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F4F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#AAC6F5
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 #9dbbed

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 #14356C
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #6594E3

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
  • Weight23/100
  • 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#EDCF9D
Analogous left#9DE3ED
Analogous right#A79DED
Split-complement 1#EDA79D
Split-complement 2#E3ED9D
Triadic 1#ED9DBB
Triadic 2#BBED9D
Tetradic#ED9DE3
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°218°

#9dbbed sits at 218°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red61.6%
Green73.3%
Blue92.9%
R · 0–255
157
0x9d
G · 0–255
187
0xbb
B · 0–255
237
0xed

CMYK percentages

Cyan33.8%
Magenta21.1%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)7.1%

Total ink coverage is 62%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#9dbbed text on a black background

contrast 10.76:1

Card sample

#9dbbed text on a white background

contrast 1.95:1

Card sample

#9dbbed on grey

1.78:1

#9dbbed on its own surface

1.81:1

#9dbbed on its dark surface

8.95:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(157, 187, 237, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(157, 187, 237, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #9dbbed;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #9dbbed, #B49DED);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #9dbbed, #C89DED);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #9dbbed;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #9dbbed;
caret-color: #9dbbed;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #9dbbed;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E9F0FB;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #9dbbed;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#9dbbed 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #9dbbed 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(157, 187, 237, 0.5)
rgb(157 187 237 / 50%)
#9dbbed80
hsl(218 69% 77% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #9dbbed 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#9dbbed1a#F5F8FD
20%#9dbbed33#EBF1FB
40%#9dbbed66#D8E4F8
60%#9dbbed99#C4D6F4
80%#9dbbedcc#B1C9F1

Gradients from #9dbbed

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, #D1DFF7, #9dbbed 45%, #14356C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #9dbbed, #A983E8);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #9dbbed, #EDCF9D);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EBF1FB 0%, #9dbbed 45%, #14356C 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%, #C8F3F5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C3B7F2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #14356C 0%, transparent 65%), #9dbbed;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #9dbbed

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.

#9dbbed 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 10.76:1.

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.

#9dbbed, answered

What color is #9dbbed?

#9dbbed is a light vivid blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 6.3). It sits at 218° on the hue wheel with 69% saturation and 77% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #9dbbed?

rgb(157, 187, 237) — 157 red, 187 green and 237 blue out of 255, or 61.6% / 73.3% / 92.9% by channel.

What is #9dbbed in HSL and HSV?

hsl(218, 69%, 77%) and hsv(218, 34%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #9dbbed a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4882 and perceived brightness is 73%, so black text on it reaches 10.76:1.

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

Black. It scores 10.76:1 against #9dbbed, versus 1.95:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #9dbbed accessible on a white background?

#9dbbed on white scores 1.95:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #3673DA to reach 4.5:1, or #2055AE for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #9dbbed?

#EDCF9D sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #EDA79D and #E3ED9D, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #9dbbed?

For interface work: #F4F7FA as the surface, #C0D1ED for borders, #4B699B for secondary text, #B0551C as an accent and #14356C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #9DE3ED and #A79DED stays calm, while #EDCF9D is the loudest partner.

What is #9dbbed in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(34%, 21%, 0%, 7%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #9dbbed warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 96 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #9D9EED; nudged cooler, #86B3EB.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #9dbbed?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 15.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #9dbbed as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #9dbbed in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(157, 187, 237, 0.5), or #9dbbed80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #CEDDF6; over black, #4F5E77.

Is #9dbbed a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCFF, ΔE2000 6.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #9dbbed 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 #9dbbed?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D1DFF7, #9dbbed 45%, #14356C). For more colour, a short hue run to #A983E8 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #9dbbed in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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