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blue · cool

#a7adba

a light, muted blue · cool · closest name: Dark Gray

Token name suggestion: Drift Cobalt

RGB
167, 173, 186
HSL
221°, 12%, 69%
CMYK
10, 7, 0, 27
Luminance
0.4165

#a7adba is a light muted blue, 221° on the wheel and 65/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.33:1). As text it scores 2.25:1 on white — use #6C758A instead. Nearest name is Dark Gray, nearest Tailwind family is gray.

hsl(221 12% 69%)rgb(167 173 186)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #a7adba is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#a7adba
Hue
221°
blue
Saturation
12%
muted
Lightness
69%
light
Brightness
73%
HSV value
Perceived
68%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4165
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
65/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
9.33:1
Closest name
Dark Gray
ΔE2000 6.4
Chroma
7.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.747
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
gray
500 · ΔE 20.2
Web-safe
#9999CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue221° of 360°
Saturation12%
Lightness69%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #a7adba.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool65% 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
Red20%
Green72%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#a7adba
HEX (8-digit)#a7adbaff
RGBrgb(167, 173, 186)
RGBArgba(167, 173, 186, 1)
HSLhsl(221, 12%, 69%)
HSV / HSBhsv(221, 10%, 73%)
HWBhwb(221 65% 27%)
CMYKcmyk(10%, 7%, 0%, 27%)
LABlab(70.6 0.5 -7.4)
LCHlch(70.6 7.4 273.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.747 0.020 265.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(39.74, 41.65, 52.39)
Decimal10988986
Display P3color(display-p3 0.655 0.678 0.729)
Web-safe#9999CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #a7adba;
background-color: #a7adba;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #a7adba;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#a7adba] bg-[#a7adba]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #a7adba;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.655, green: 0.678, blue: 0.729)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.655, green: 0.678, blue: 0.729, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#A7ADBA</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFA7ADBA)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFA7ADBA)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(186, 173, 167)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(167, 173, 186)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(167, 173, 186)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 167, 173, 186)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6549f, 0.6784f, 0.7294f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{167,173,186}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #a7adba 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #a7adba 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#383D47, #DDDFE4);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #a7adba 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: #F7F7F8;
  --brand-100: #EEEFF1;
  --brand-200: #DADDE1;
  --brand-300: #C0C4CE;
  --brand-400: #a7adba;
  --brand-500: #818A9C;
  --brand-600: #6C7589;
  --brand-700: #5A6172;
  --brand-800: #484E5B;
  --brand-900: #363B44;
  --brand-950: #22252B;
  --brand: #a7adba;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F7F8;
  --brand-border: #D1D4DB;
  --brand-hover: #939AAA;
  --brand-pressed: #7F889B;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #191B1F;
    --brand-ink: #DDDFE4;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F7F8',
        100: '#EEEFF1',
        200: '#DADDE1',
        300: '#C0C4CE',
        400: '#a7adba',
        500: '#818A9C',
        600: '#6C7589',
        700: '#5A6172',
        800: '#484E5B',
        900: '#363B44',
        950: '#22252B',
        DEFAULT: '#a7adba',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F7F8,
  '100': #EEEFF1,
  '200': #DADDE1,
  '300': #C0C4CE,
  '400': #a7adba,
  '500': #818A9C,
  '600': #6C7589,
  '700': #5A6172,
  '800': #484E5B,
  '900': #363B44,
  '950': #22252B,
);
$brand-base: #a7adba;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F7F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EEEFF1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DADDE1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#C0C4CE", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#a7adba", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#818A9C", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#6C7589", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#5A6172", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#484E5B", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#363B44", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#22252B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #a7adba · 9.33:1
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 · 9.33:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #a7adba as text scores 2.25:1 on white and 9.33:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #383D47 at 4.84:1.

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
#6C758A · 4.62:1
AA on white−21% L
#6C758A
The quick fox
#515867 · 7.14:1
AAA on white−33% L
#515867
The quick fox
#a7adba · 9.33:1
AA on blackalready passes
#a7adba
The quick fox
#a7adba · 9.33:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#a7adba

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #8D95A6 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
#a7adba on white: 2.25:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#a7adba on black: 9.33:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #a7adba as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #a7adba.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.25:1AaAa
Slate 502.15:1AaAa
Slate 1002.05:1AaAa
Slate 2001.83:1AaAa
Slate 3001.52:1AaAa
Slate 4001.14:1AaAa
Slate 5002.11:1AaAa
Slate 6003.37:1AaAa
Slate 7004.60:1AaAa
Slate 8006.50:1AaAa
Slate 9007.93:1AaAa
Black9.33:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A9AEBB
deuteranopia · #A8ACBA
tritanopia · #A3AFB1

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. #a7adba 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.

#F7F7F8
#EEEFF1
#DADDE1
#C0C4CE
#a7adba
#818A9C
#6C7589
#5A6172
#484E5B
#363B44
#22252B
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F7F7F8Darkest = 950 · #22252BText 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 0.005 265.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.008 265.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.012 265.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.015 265.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.018 265.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.020 265.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.020 265.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.019 265.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.017 265.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.014 265.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.011 265.9);
}

Colors that work with #a7adba

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#F6F7F8
Tinted page background
Border#D1D4DB
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#656E81
Captions on the surface
Accent#766456
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#383D47
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F1F2F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#191B1F
Dark-mode background
Hover#939AAA
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7F889B
Two steps down
Disabled#E6E8EB
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#ACB5CA
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 #a7adba

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Borders, dividers and quiet backgrounds
  • Long-form reading 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 #383D47
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #8D95A6

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.

With almost no chroma left, the family association is barely present; treat it as a neutral that happens to lean this way. 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
  • EnergyLow
  • Weight31/100
  • 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#BAB4A7
Analogous left#A7B6BA
Analogous right#AAA7BA
Split-complement 1#BAAAA7
Split-complement 2#B6BAA7
Triadic 1#BAA7AD
Triadic 2#ADBAA7
Tetradic#BAA7B6
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°221°

#a7adba sits at 221°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red65.5%
Green67.8%
Blue72.9%
R · 0–255
167
0xa7
G · 0–255
173
0xad
B · 0–255
186
0xba

CMYK percentages

Cyan10.2%
Magenta7.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)27.1%

Total ink coverage is 44%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#a7adba text on a black background

contrast 9.33:1

Card sample

#a7adba text on a white background

contrast 2.25:1

Card sample

#a7adba on grey

2.05:1

#a7adba on its own surface

2.10:1

#a7adba on its dark surface

7.66:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #a7adba;
Background color
Panel with #a7adba background
background-color: #a7adba;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #a7adba;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(167, 173, 186, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(167, 173, 186, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #a7adba;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #a7adba, #AEA7BA);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #a7adba, #B2A7BA);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #a7adba;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #a7adba;
caret-color: #a7adba;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #a7adba;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F1F2F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #a7adba;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#a7adba 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #a7adba 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(167, 173, 186, 0.5)
rgb(167 173 186 / 50%)
#a7adba80
hsl(221 12% 69% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #a7adba 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#a7adba1a#F6F7F8
20%#a7adba33#EDEFF1
40%#a7adba66#DCDEE3
60%#a7adba99#CACED6
80%#a7adbacc#B9BDC8

Gradients from #a7adba

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, #C9CDD5, #a7adba 45%, #383D47);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #a7adba, #A096AD);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #a7adba, #BAB4A7);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #DADDE2 0%, #a7adba 45%, #383D47 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F7F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #C4CFD0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #BCB8C7 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #383D47 0%, transparent 65%), #a7adba;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #a7adba

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.

#a7adba 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
BackgroundsBordersBody textDividers
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 9.33:1.

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.

#a7adba, answered

What color is #a7adba?

#a7adba is a light muted blue, closest to Dark Gray (ΔE2000 6.4). It sits at 221° on the hue wheel with 12% saturation and 69% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #a7adba?

rgb(167, 173, 186) — 167 red, 173 green and 186 blue out of 255, or 65.5% / 67.8% / 72.9% by channel.

What is #a7adba in HSL and HSV?

hsl(221, 12%, 69%) and hsv(221, 10%, 73%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #a7adba a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4165 and perceived brightness is 68%, so black text on it reaches 9.33:1.

Should I use black or white text on #a7adba?

Black. It scores 9.33:1 against #a7adba, versus 2.25:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #a7adba accessible on a white background?

#a7adba on white scores 2.25:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #6C758A to reach 4.5:1, or #515867 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #a7adba?

#BAB4A7 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BAAAA7 and #B6BAA7, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #a7adba?

For interface work: #F6F7F8 as the surface, #D1D4DB for borders, #656E81 for secondary text, #766456 as an accent and #383D47 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #A7B6BA and #AAA7BA stays calm, while #BAB4A7 is the loudest partner.

What is #a7adba in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(10%, 7%, 0%, 27%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #a7adba warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 65 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #A8A7BA; nudged cooler, #A5B0BC.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #a7adba?

The gray family — its 500 step is #6b7280, ΔE2000 20.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #a7adba as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #a7adba in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#a7adba] or text-[#a7adba], 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 #a7adba with 50% opacity?

rgba(167, 173, 186, 0.5), or #a7adba80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D3D6DD; over black, #54575D.

Is #a7adba a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999CC, ΔE2000 13.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #a7adba 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 low chroma the association is faint; it behaves more like a neutral.

What gradient works with #a7adba?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C9CDD5, #a7adba 45%, #383D47). For more colour, a short hue run to #A096AD keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #a7adba in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #a7adba at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.