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blue · cool

#aaa3c2

a light, soft blue · cool · closest name: Thistle

Token name suggestion: Drift Sapphire

RGB
170, 163, 194
HSL
254°, 20%, 70%
CMYK
12, 16, 0, 24
Luminance
0.3864

#aaa3c2 is a light soft blue, 254° on the wheel and 65/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.73:1). As text it scores 2.41:1 on white — use #7A6F9F instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(254 20% 70%)rgb(170 163 194)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #aaa3c2 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#aaa3c2
Hue
254°
blue
Saturation
20%
soft
Lightness
70%
light
Brightness
76%
HSV value
Perceived
66%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3864
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
65/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
8.73:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 10.7
Chroma
17.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.732
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 20.7
Web-safe
#9999CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue254° of 360°
Saturation20%
Lightness70%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #aaa3c2.

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
Red22%
Green68%
Blue10%

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

Every format

HEX#aaa3c2
HEX (8-digit)#aaa3c2ff
RGBrgb(170, 163, 194)
RGBArgba(170, 163, 194, 1)
HSLhsl(254, 20%, 70%)
HSV / HSBhsv(254, 16%, 76%)
HWBhwb(254 64% 24%)
CMYKcmyk(12%, 16%, 0%, 24%)
LABlab(68.5 8.7 -15.0)
LCHlch(68.5 17.3 300.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.732 0.045 295.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(39.41, 38.64, 56.41)
Decimal11183042
Display P3color(display-p3 0.667 0.639 0.761)
Web-safe#9999CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #aaa3c2;
background-color: #aaa3c2;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #aaa3c2;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#aaa3c2] bg-[#aaa3c2]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #aaa3c2;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.667, green: 0.639, blue: 0.761)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.667, green: 0.639, blue: 0.761, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AAA3C2</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAAA3C2)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAAA3C2)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(194, 163, 170)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(170, 163, 194)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(170, 163, 194)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 170, 163, 194)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6667f, 0.6392f, 0.7608f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{170,163,194}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #aaa3c2 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #aaa3c2 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#39334D, #DDDAE7);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #aaa3c2 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: #F7F6F9;
  --brand-100: #EEEDF2;
  --brand-200: #DBD8E4;
  --brand-300: #C1BCD2;
  --brand-400: #aaa3c2;
  --brand-500: #8278A6;
  --brand-600: #6D6293;
  --brand-700: #5B517B;
  --brand-800: #484162;
  --brand-900: #373249;
  --brand-950: #221F2D;
  --brand: #aaa3c2;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F6F9;
  --brand-border: #D2CEDE;
  --brand-hover: #968DB4;
  --brand-pressed: #8278A6;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #191622;
    --brand-ink: #DDDAE7;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F6F9',
        100: '#EEEDF2',
        200: '#DBD8E4',
        300: '#C1BCD2',
        400: '#aaa3c2',
        500: '#8278A6',
        600: '#6D6293',
        700: '#5B517B',
        800: '#484162',
        900: '#373249',
        950: '#221F2D',
        DEFAULT: '#aaa3c2',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F6F9,
  '100': #EEEDF2,
  '200': #DBD8E4,
  '300': #C1BCD2,
  '400': #aaa3c2,
  '500': #8278A6,
  '600': #6D6293,
  '700': #5B517B,
  '800': #484162,
  '900': #373249,
  '950': #221F2D,
);
$brand-base: #aaa3c2;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F6F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EEEDF2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DBD8E4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#C1BCD2", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#aaa3c2", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#8278A6", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#6D6293", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#5B517B", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#484162", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#373249", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#221F2D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #aaa3c2 · 8.73:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.41:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.73:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #aaa3c2 as text scores 2.41:1 on white and 8.73:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #39334D at 4.97:1.

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
#7A6F9F · 4.56:1
AA on white−17% L
#7A6F9F
The quick fox
#5B517B · 7.22:1
AAA on white−30% L
#5B517B
The quick fox
#aaa3c2 · 8.73:1
AA on blackalready passes
#aaa3c2
The quick fox
#aaa3c2 · 8.73:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#aaa3c2

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #968DB4 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
#aaa3c2 on white: 2.41:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#aaa3c2 on black: 8.73:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #aaa3c2 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #aaa3c2.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.41:1AaAa
Slate 502.30:1AaAa
Slate 1002.20:1AaAa
Slate 2001.95:1AaAa
Slate 3001.62:1AaAa
Slate 4001.07:1AaAa
Slate 5001.98:1AaAa
Slate 6003.15:1AaAa
Slate 7004.30:1AaAa
Slate 8006.08:1AaAa
Slate 9007.42:1AaAa
Black8.73:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #9DA7C3
deuteranopia · #9EA7C1
tritanopia · #A6A8AD

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. #aaa3c2 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.

#F7F6F9
#EEEDF2
#DBD8E4
#C1BCD2
#aaa3c2
#8278A6
#6D6293
#5B517B
#484162
#373249
#221F2D
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F7F6F9Darkest = 950 · #221F2DText 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 0.011 295.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.018 295.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.027 295.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.035 295.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.041 295.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.045 295.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.045 295.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.042 295.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.038 295.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.031 295.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.025 295.6);
}

Colors that work with #aaa3c2

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#F6F6F9
Tinted page background
Border#D2CEDE
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#665B8A
Captions on the surface
Accent#7F7D4D
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#39334D
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F1F0F5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#191622
Dark-mode background
Hover#968DB4
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8278A6
Two steps down
Disabled#E8E6EF
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B2A9D1
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 #aaa3c2

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 #39334D
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #968DB4

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
  • Weight30/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • ApproachabilityBalanced

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#BBC2A3
Analogous left#A3ACC2
Analogous right#B9A3C2
Split-complement 1#C2B9A3
Split-complement 2#ACC2A3
Triadic 1#C2AAA3
Triadic 2#A3C2AA
Tetradic#C2A3AC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°254°

#aaa3c2 sits at 254°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red66.7%
Green63.9%
Blue76.1%
R · 0–255
170
0xaa
G · 0–255
163
0xa3
B · 0–255
194
0xc2

CMYK percentages

Cyan12.4%
Magenta16.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)23.9%

Total ink coverage is 52%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#aaa3c2 text on a black background

contrast 8.73:1

Card sample

#aaa3c2 text on a white background

contrast 2.41:1

Card sample

#aaa3c2 on grey

2.20:1

#aaa3c2 on its own surface

2.23:1

#aaa3c2 on its dark surface

7.40:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #aaa3c2;
Background color
Panel with #aaa3c2 background
background-color: #aaa3c2;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #aaa3c2;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(170, 163, 194, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(170, 163, 194, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #aaa3c2;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #aaa3c2, #BFA3C2);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #aaa3c2, #C2A3BE);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #aaa3c2;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #aaa3c2;
caret-color: #aaa3c2;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #aaa3c2;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F1F0F5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #aaa3c2;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#aaa3c2 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #aaa3c2 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(170, 163, 194, 0.5)
rgb(170 163 194 / 50%)
#aaa3c280
hsl(254 20% 70% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #aaa3c2 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#aaa3c21a#F7F6F9
20%#aaa3c233#EEEDF3
40%#aaa3c266#DDDAE7
60%#aaa3c299#CCC8DA
80%#aaa3c2cc#BBB5CE

Gradients from #aaa3c2

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, #CCC8DA, #aaa3c2 45%, #39334D);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #aaa3c2, #B591B6);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #aaa3c2, #BBC2A3);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #DDDAE7 0%, #aaa3c2 45%, #39334D 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F6F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #C2C9D6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C9B5CE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #39334D 0%, transparent 65%), #aaa3c2;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #aaa3c2

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.

#aaa3c2 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 8.73:1.

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.

#aaa3c2, answered

What color is #aaa3c2?

#aaa3c2 is a light soft blue, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 10.7). It sits at 254° on the hue wheel with 20% saturation and 70% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #aaa3c2?

rgb(170, 163, 194) — 170 red, 163 green and 194 blue out of 255, or 66.7% / 63.9% / 76.1% by channel.

What is #aaa3c2 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(254, 20%, 70%) and hsv(254, 16%, 76%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #aaa3c2 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3864 and perceived brightness is 66%, so black text on it reaches 8.73:1.

Should I use black or white text on #aaa3c2?

Black. It scores 8.73:1 against #aaa3c2, versus 2.41:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #aaa3c2 accessible on a white background?

#aaa3c2 on white scores 2.41:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7A6F9F to reach 4.5:1, or #5B517B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #aaa3c2?

#BBC2A3 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #C2B9A3 and #ACC2A3, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #aaa3c2?

For interface work: #F6F6F9 as the surface, #D2CEDE for borders, #665B8A for secondary text, #7F7D4D as an accent and #39334D for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #A3ACC2 and #B9A3C2 stays calm, while #BBC2A3 is the loudest partner.

What is #aaa3c2 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(12%, 16%, 0%, 24%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #aaa3c2 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 #B5A3C2; nudged cooler, #A1A6C4.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #aaa3c2?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 20.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #aaa3c2 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #aaa3c2 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#aaa3c2] or text-[#aaa3c2], 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 #aaa3c2 with 50% opacity?

rgba(170, 163, 194, 0.5), or #aaa3c280 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D5D1E1; over black, #555261.

Is #aaa3c2 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999CC, ΔE2000 7.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #aaa3c2 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 #aaa3c2?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #CCC8DA, #aaa3c2 45%, #39334D). For more colour, a short hue run to #B591B6 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #aaa3c2 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #aaa3c2 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.