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blue · cool

#a5abce

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Sapphire

RGB
165, 171, 206
HSL
231°, 30%, 73%
CMYK
20, 17, 0, 19
Luminance
0.4158

#a5abce is a light soft blue, 231° on the wheel and 82/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.32:1). As text it scores 2.25:1 on white — use #6973AE instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is slate.

hsl(231 30% 73%)rgb(165 171 206)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #a5abce is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#a5abce
Hue
231°
blue
Saturation
30%
soft
Lightness
73%
light
Brightness
81%
HSV value
Perceived
68%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4158
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
82/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
9.32:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 9.2
Chroma
19.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.748
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
slate
500 · ΔE 20.7
Web-safe
#9999CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue231° of 360°
Saturation30%
Lightness73%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #a5abce.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool82% 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
Red19%
Green70%
Blue11%

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

Every format

HEX#a5abce
HEX (8-digit)#a5abceff
RGBrgb(165, 171, 206)
RGBArgba(165, 171, 206, 1)
HSLhsl(231, 30%, 73%)
HSV / HSBhsv(231, 20%, 81%)
HWBhwb(231 65% 19%)
CMYKcmyk(20%, 17%, 0%, 19%)
LABlab(70.6 5.3 -18.5)
LCHlch(70.6 19.2 285.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.748 0.051 277.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(41.22, 41.58, 64.23)
Decimal10857422
Display P3color(display-p3 0.647 0.671 0.808)
Web-safe#9999CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #a5abce;
background-color: #a5abce;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #a5abce;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#a5abce] bg-[#a5abce]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #a5abce;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.647, green: 0.671, blue: 0.808)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.647, green: 0.671, blue: 0.808, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#A5ABCE</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFA5ABCE)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFA5ABCE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(206, 171, 165)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(165, 171, 206)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(165, 171, 206)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 165, 171, 206)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6471f, 0.6706f, 0.8078f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{165,171,206}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #a5abce 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #a5abce 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#2D3253, #D7DAE9);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #a5abce 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: #F6F6F9;
  --brand-100: #ECEDF3;
  --brand-200: #D5D8E6;
  --brand-300: #a5abce;
  --brand-400: #9299C4;
  --brand-500: #6E77B0;
  --brand-600: #56619F;
  --brand-700: #485184;
  --brand-800: #3A416A;
  --brand-900: #2D314E;
  --brand-950: #1C1F31;
  --brand: #a5abce;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5F6FA;
  --brand-border: #CACEE2;
  --brand-hover: #8E95C1;
  --brand-pressed: #7780B5;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141624;
    --brand-ink: #D7DAE9;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F6F9',
        100: '#ECEDF3',
        200: '#D5D8E6',
        300: '#a5abce',
        400: '#9299C4',
        500: '#6E77B0',
        600: '#56619F',
        700: '#485184',
        800: '#3A416A',
        900: '#2D314E',
        950: '#1C1F31',
        DEFAULT: '#a5abce',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F6F9,
  '100': #ECEDF3,
  '200': #D5D8E6,
  '300': #a5abce,
  '400': #9299C4,
  '500': #6E77B0,
  '600': #56619F,
  '700': #485184,
  '800': #3A416A,
  '900': #2D314E,
  '950': #1C1F31,
);
$brand-base: #a5abce;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F6F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#ECEDF3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D5D8E6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#a5abce", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#9299C4", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#6E77B0", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#56619F", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#485184", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#3A416A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2D314E", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1C1F31", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #a5abce · 9.32:1
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 · 9.32:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #a5abce as text scores 2.25:1 on white and 9.32:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #2D3253 at 5.50:1.

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
#6973AE · 4.50:1
AA on white−18% L
#6973AE
The quick fox
#4B548A · 7.16:1
AAA on white−31% L
#4B548A
The quick fox
#a5abce · 9.32:1
AA on blackalready passes
#a5abce
The quick fox
#a5abce · 9.32:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#a5abce

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #8A92C0 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
#a5abce on white: 2.25:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#a5abce on black: 9.32:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #a5abce as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #a5abce.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.25:1AaAa
Slate 502.15:1AaAa
Slate 1002.06:1AaAa
Slate 2001.83:1AaAa
Slate 3001.52:1AaAa
Slate 4001.14:1AaAa
Slate 5002.11:1AaAa
Slate 6003.36:1AaAa
Slate 7004.59:1AaAa
Slate 8006.49:1AaAa
Slate 9007.92:1AaAa
Black9.32:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A2AED0
deuteranopia · #9FABCD
tritanopia · #9CB1B7

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. #a5abce 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.

#F6F6F9
#ECEDF3
#D5D8E6
#a5abce
#9299C4
#6E77B0
#56619F
#485184
#3A416A
#2D314E
#1C1F31
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F6F6F9Darkest = 950 · #1C1F31Text 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 0.013 277.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.020 277.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.030 277.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.040 277.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.047 277.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.051 277.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.051 277.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.048 277.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.043 277.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.036 277.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.028 277.5);
}

Colors that work with #a5abce

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#CACEE2
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#515B95
Captions on the surface
Accent#886D44
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#2D3253
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EEF0F6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141624
Dark-mode background
Hover#8E95C1
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7780B5
Two steps down
Disabled#EFEFF4
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#ACB3DB
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 #a5abce

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 #2D3253
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #8A92C0

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
  • 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#CEC8A5
Analogous left#A5BFCE
Analogous right#B3A5CE
Split-complement 1#CEB3A5
Split-complement 2#BFCEA5
Triadic 1#CEA5AB
Triadic 2#ABCEA5
Tetradic#CEA5BF
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°231°

#a5abce sits at 231°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red64.7%
Green67.1%
Blue80.8%
R · 0–255
165
0xa5
G · 0–255
171
0xab
B · 0–255
206
0xce

CMYK percentages

Cyan19.9%
Magenta17.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)19.2%

Total ink coverage is 56%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#a5abce text on a black background

contrast 9.32:1

Card sample

#a5abce text on a white background

contrast 2.25:1

Card sample

#a5abce on grey

2.06:1

#a5abce on its own surface

2.09:1

#a5abce on its dark surface

7.96:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #a5abce;
Background color
Panel with #a5abce background
background-color: #a5abce;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #a5abce;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(165, 171, 206, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(165, 171, 206, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #a5abce;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #a5abce, #BAA5CE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #a5abce, #C4A5CE);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #a5abce;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #a5abce;
caret-color: #a5abce;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #a5abce;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EEF0F6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #a5abce;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#a5abce 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #a5abce 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(165, 171, 206, 0.5)
rgb(165 171 206 / 50%)
#a5abce80
hsl(231 30% 73% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #a5abce 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#a5abce1a#F6F7FA
20%#a5abce33#EDEEF5
40%#a5abce66#DBDDEB
60%#a5abce99#C9CDE2
80%#a5abcecc#B7BCD8

Gradients from #a5abce

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, #CCD0E3, #a5abce 45%, #2D3253);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #a5abce, #AF91C3);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #a5abce, #CEC8A5);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E0E2EE 0%, #a5abce 45%, #2D3253 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%, #C6D9E0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C7B9D9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #2D3253 0%, transparent 65%), #a5abce;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #a5abce

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.

#a5abce 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 9.32:1.

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.

#a5abce, answered

What color is #a5abce?

#a5abce is a light soft blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 9.2). It sits at 231° on the hue wheel with 30% saturation and 73% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #a5abce?

rgb(165, 171, 206) — 165 red, 171 green and 206 blue out of 255, or 64.7% / 67.1% / 80.8% by channel.

What is #a5abce in HSL and HSV?

hsl(231, 30%, 73%) and hsv(231, 20%, 81%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #a5abce a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4158 and perceived brightness is 68%, so black text on it reaches 9.32:1.

Should I use black or white text on #a5abce?

Black. It scores 9.32:1 against #a5abce, versus 2.25:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #a5abce accessible on a white background?

#a5abce on white scores 2.25:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #6973AE to reach 4.5:1, or #4B548A for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #a5abce?

#CEC8A5 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CEB3A5 and #BFCEA5, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #a5abce?

For interface work: #F5F6FA as the surface, #CACEE2 for borders, #515B95 for secondary text, #886D44 as an accent and #2D3253 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #A5BFCE and #B3A5CE stays calm, while #CEC8A5 is the loudest partner.

What is #a5abce in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(20%, 17%, 0%, 19%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #a5abce warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 82 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #AEA5CE; nudged cooler, #A3B6CF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #a5abce?

The slate family — its 500 step is #64748b, ΔE2000 20.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #a5abce as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #a5abce in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#a5abce] or text-[#a5abce], 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 #a5abce with 50% opacity?

rgba(165, 171, 206, 0.5), or #a5abce80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D2D5E7; over black, #535667.

Is #a5abce a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999CC, ΔE2000 6.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #a5abce 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 #a5abce?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #CCD0E3, #a5abce 45%, #2D3253). For more colour, a short hue run to #AF91C3 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #a5abce in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #a5abce at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.