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blue · cool

#a0bade

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Denim

RGB
160, 186, 222
HSL
215°, 48%, 75%
CMYK
28, 16, 0, 13
Luminance
0.4787

#a0bade is a light vivid blue, 215° on the wheel and 97/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.57:1). As text it scores 1.99:1 on white — use #4275BD instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(215 48% 75%)rgb(160 186 222)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #a0bade is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#a0bade
Hue
215°
blue
Saturation
48%
vivid
Lightness
75%
light
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
72%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4787
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
97/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
10.57:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 4
Chroma
20.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.782
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 15.6
Web-safe
#99CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue215° of 360°
Saturation48%
Lightness75%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #a0bade.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool97% 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%
Green73%
Blue11%

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

Every format

HEX#a0bade
HEX (8-digit)#a0badeff
RGBrgb(160, 186, 222)
RGBArgba(160, 186, 222, 1)
HSLhsl(215, 48%, 75%)
HSV / HSBhsv(215, 28%, 87%)
HWBhwb(215 63% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(28%, 16%, 0%, 13%)
LABlab(74.7 -0.7 -20.9)
LCHlch(74.7 20.9 268.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.782 0.059 256.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(45.24, 47.86, 75.95)
Decimal10533598
Display P3color(display-p3 0.627 0.729 0.871)
Web-safe#99CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #a0bade;
background-color: #a0bade;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #a0bade;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#a0bade] bg-[#a0bade]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #a0bade;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.627, green: 0.729, blue: 0.871)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.627, green: 0.729, blue: 0.871, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#A0BADE</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFA0BADE)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFA0BADE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(222, 186, 160)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(160, 186, 222)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(160, 186, 222)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 160, 186, 222)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6275f, 0.7294f, 0.8706f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{160,186,222}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #a0bade 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #a0bade 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#213B5F, #D3DEEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #a0bade 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: #EAEFF5;
  --brand-200: #D0DCEC;
  --brand-300: #a0bade;
  --brand-400: #82A4D4;
  --brand-500: #5886C5;
  --brand-600: #3F71B6;
  --brand-700: #355E97;
  --brand-800: #2A4B79;
  --brand-900: #223958;
  --brand-950: #152437;
  --brand: #a0bade;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F7FA;
  --brand-border: #C2D3EA;
  --brand-hover: #86A7D5;
  --brand-pressed: #6B94CC;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141B24;
    --brand-ink: #D3DEEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4F7FA',
        100: '#EAEFF5',
        200: '#D0DCEC',
        300: '#a0bade',
        400: '#82A4D4',
        500: '#5886C5',
        600: '#3F71B6',
        700: '#355E97',
        800: '#2A4B79',
        900: '#223958',
        950: '#152437',
        DEFAULT: '#a0bade',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4F7FA,
  '100': #EAEFF5,
  '200': #D0DCEC,
  '300': #a0bade,
  '400': #82A4D4,
  '500': #5886C5,
  '600': #3F71B6,
  '700': #355E97,
  '800': #2A4B79,
  '900': #223958,
  '950': #152437,
);
$brand-base: #a0bade;
$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": "#EAEFF5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D0DCEC", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#a0bade", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#82A4D4", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#5886C5", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#3F71B6", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#355E97", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#2A4B79", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#223958", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#152437", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #a0bade · 10.57:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.99:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.57:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #a0bade as text scores 1.99:1 on white and 10.57:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #213B5F at 5.70:1.

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
#4275BD · 4.66:1
AA on white−25% L
#4275BD
The quick fox
#32598F · 7.09:1
AAA on white−37% L
#32598F
The quick fox
#a0bade · 10.57:1
AA on blackalready passes
#a0bade
The quick fox
#a0bade · 10.57:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#a0bade

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #6F96CD 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
#a0bade on white: 1.99:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#a0bade on black: 10.57:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #a0bade as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #a0bade.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.99:1AaAa
Slate 501.90:1AaAa
Slate 1001.81:1AaAa
Slate 2001.61:1AaAa
Slate 3001.34:1AaAa
Slate 4001.29:1AaAa
Slate 5002.40:1AaAa
Slate 6003.82:1AaAa
Slate 7005.21:1AaAa
Slate 8007.37:1AaAa
Slate 9008.99:1AaAa
Black10.57:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #AEBBE0
deuteranopia · #A7B5DD
tritanopia · #8FC2C6

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. #a0bade 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
#EAEFF5
#D0DCEC
#a0bade
#82A4D4
#5886C5
#3F71B6
#355E97
#2A4B79
#223958
#152437
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F4F7FADarkest = 950 · #152437Text 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 0.015 256.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.024 256.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.035 256.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.046 256.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.054 256.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.059 256.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.059 256.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.055 256.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.050 256.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.041 256.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.032 256.6);
}

Colors that work with #a0bade

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#C2D3EA
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B6C9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#9C5430
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#213B5F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#ECF1F8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141B24
Dark-mode background
Hover#86A7D5
One step down in lightness
Pressed#6B94CC
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F4F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#AAC4E9
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 #a0bade

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 #213B5F
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #6F96CD

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
  • Weight25/100
  • 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#DEC4A0
Analogous left#A0D9DE
Analogous right#A5A0DE
Split-complement 1#DEA5A0
Split-complement 2#D9DEA0
Triadic 1#DEA0BA
Triadic 2#BADEA0
Tetradic#DEA0D9
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°215°

#a0bade sits at 215°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red62.7%
Green72.9%
Blue87.1%
R · 0–255
160
0xa0
G · 0–255
186
0xba
B · 0–255
222
0xde

CMYK percentages

Cyan27.9%
Magenta16.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)12.9%

Total ink coverage is 57%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#a0bade text on a black background

contrast 10.57:1

Card sample

#a0bade text on a white background

contrast 1.99:1

Card sample

#a0bade on grey

1.81:1

#a0bade on its own surface

1.85:1

#a0bade on its dark surface

8.72:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #a0bade;
Background color
Panel with #a0bade background
background-color: #a0bade;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #a0bade;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(160, 186, 222, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(160, 186, 222, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #a0bade;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #a0bade, #AFA0DE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #a0bade, #BFA0DE);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #a0bade;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #a0bade;
caret-color: #a0bade;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #a0bade;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #ECF1F8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #a0bade;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#a0bade 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #a0bade 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(160, 186, 222, 0.5)
rgb(160 186 222 / 50%)
#a0bade80
hsl(215 48% 75% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #a0bade 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#a0bade1a#F6F8FC
20%#a0bade33#ECF1F8
40%#a0bade66#D9E3F2
60%#a0bade99#C6D6EB
80%#a0badecc#B3C8E5

Gradients from #a0bade

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, #CDDBEE, #a0bade 45%, #213B5F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #a0bade, #A389D6);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #a0bade, #DEC4A0);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E4EBF6 0%, #a0bade 45%, #213B5F 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%, #C6EBEB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #BEB7E6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #213B5F 0%, transparent 65%), #a0bade;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #a0bade

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.

#a0bade 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 10.57:1.

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.

#a0bade, answered

What color is #a0bade?

#a0bade is a light vivid blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 4). It sits at 215° on the hue wheel with 48% saturation and 75% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #a0bade?

rgb(160, 186, 222) — 160 red, 186 green and 222 blue out of 255, or 62.7% / 72.9% / 87.1% by channel.

What is #a0bade in HSL and HSV?

hsl(215, 48%, 75%) and hsv(215, 28%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #a0bade a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4787 and perceived brightness is 72%, so black text on it reaches 10.57:1.

Should I use black or white text on #a0bade?

Black. It scores 10.57:1 against #a0bade, versus 1.99:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #a0bade accessible on a white background?

#a0bade on white scores 1.99:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #4275BD to reach 4.5:1, or #32598F for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #a0bade?

#DEC4A0 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DEA5A0 and #D9DEA0, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #a0bade?

For interface work: #F4F7FA as the surface, #C2D3EA for borders, #4B6C9B for secondary text, #9C5430 as an accent and #213B5F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #A0D9DE and #A5A0DE stays calm, while #DEC4A0 is the loudest partner.

What is #a0bade in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(28%, 16%, 0%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #a0bade warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 97 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #A0A3DE; nudged cooler, #8CAFD9.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #a0bade?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 15.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #a0bade as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #a0bade in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#a0bade] or text-[#a0bade], 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 #a0bade with 50% opacity?

rgba(160, 186, 222, 0.5), or #a0bade80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D0DDEF; over black, #505D6F.

Is #a0bade a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCCC, ΔE2000 17.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #a0bade 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 #a0bade?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #CDDBEE, #a0bade 45%, #213B5F). For more colour, a short hue run to #A389D6 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #a0bade in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #a0bade at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.