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blue · cool

#aabdf0

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

Token name suggestion: Morning Cobalt

RGB
170, 189, 240
HSL
224°, 70%, 80%
CMYK
29, 21, 0, 6
Luminance
0.5123

#aabdf0 is a light vivid blue, 224° on the wheel and 92/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.25:1). As text it scores 1.87:1 on white — use #4670DE instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(224 70% 80%)rgb(170 189 240)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #aabdf0 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#aabdf0
Hue
224°
blue
Saturation
70%
vivid
Lightness
80%
light
Brightness
94%
HSV value
Perceived
75%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5123
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
92/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
11.25:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 6.5
Chroma
27.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.802
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 19.1
Web-safe
#99CCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue224° of 360°
Saturation70%
Lightness80%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #aabdf0.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool92% 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
Red17%
Green71%
Blue12%

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

Every format

HEX#aabdf0
HEX (8-digit)#aabdf0ff
RGBrgb(170, 189, 240)
RGBArgba(170, 189, 240, 1)
HSLhsl(224, 70%, 80%)
HSV / HSBhsv(224, 29%, 94%)
HWBhwb(224 67% 6%)
CMYKcmyk(29%, 21%, 0%, 6%)
LABlab(76.8 4.9 -27.4)
LCHlch(76.8 27.9 280.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.802 0.076 268.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(50.50, 51.23, 89.65)
Decimal11189744
Display P3color(display-p3 0.667 0.741 0.941)
Web-safe#99CCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #aabdf0;
background-color: #aabdf0;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #aabdf0;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#aabdf0] bg-[#aabdf0]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #aabdf0;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.667, green: 0.741, blue: 0.941)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.667, green: 0.741, blue: 0.941, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AABDF0</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAABDF0)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAABDF0)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(240, 189, 170)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(170, 189, 240)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(170, 189, 240)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 170, 189, 240)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6667f, 0.7412f, 0.9412f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{170,189,240}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #aabdf0 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #aabdf0 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#132B6C, #D3DAEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #aabdf0 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: #F3F5FC;
  --brand-100: #E7ECF8;
  --brand-200: #C9D5F2;
  --brand-300: #aabdf0;
  --brand-400: #7090E6;
  --brand-500: #406BDD;
  --brand-600: #2553D0;
  --brand-700: #1F45AD;
  --brand-800: #18388B;
  --brand-900: #162B65;
  --brand-950: #0E1B3F;
  --brand: #aabdf0;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F6FA;
  --brand-border: #C0CCED;
  --brand-hover: #8CA5EB;
  --brand-pressed: #6D8EE5;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141824;
    --brand-ink: #D3DAEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3F5FC',
        100: '#E7ECF8',
        200: '#C9D5F2',
        300: '#aabdf0',
        400: '#7090E6',
        500: '#406BDD',
        600: '#2553D0',
        700: '#1F45AD',
        800: '#18388B',
        900: '#162B65',
        950: '#0E1B3F',
        DEFAULT: '#aabdf0',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3F5FC,
  '100': #E7ECF8,
  '200': #C9D5F2,
  '300': #aabdf0,
  '400': #7090E6,
  '500': #406BDD,
  '600': #2553D0,
  '700': #1F45AD,
  '800': #18388B,
  '900': #162B65,
  '950': #0E1B3F,
);
$brand-base: #aabdf0;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3F5FC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E7ECF8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C9D5F2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#aabdf0", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#7090E6", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#406BDD", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#2553D0", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#1F45AD", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#18388B", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#162B65", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0E1B3F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #aabdf0 · 11.25:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.87:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.25:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #aabdf0 as text scores 1.87:1 on white and 11.25:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #132B6C at 7.07:1.

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
#4670DE · 4.53:1
AA on white−23% L
#4670DE
The quick fox
#234FC5 · 7.01:1
AAA on white−35% L
#234FC5
The quick fox
#aabdf0 · 11.25:1
AA on blackalready passes
#aabdf0
The quick fox
#aabdf0 · 11.25:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#aabdf0

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #7291E6 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
#aabdf0 on white: 1.87:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#aabdf0 on black: 11.25:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #aabdf0 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #aabdf0.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.87:1AaAa
Slate 501.78:1AaAa
Slate 1001.70:1AaAa
Slate 2001.51:1AaAa
Slate 3001.26:1AaAa
Slate 4001.37:1AaAa
Slate 5002.55:1AaAa
Slate 6004.06:1AaAa
Slate 7005.55:1AaAa
Slate 8007.83:1AaAa
Slate 9009.56:1AaAa
Black11.25:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #ADC1F2
deuteranopia · #A7BBEF
tritanopia · #97C7CE

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. #aabdf0 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.

#F3F5FC
#E7ECF8
#C9D5F2
#aabdf0
#7090E6
#406BDD
#2553D0
#1F45AD
#18388B
#162B65
#0E1B3F
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F3F5FCDarkest = 950 · #0E1B3FText step on white = 500
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 0.019 268.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.030 268.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.045 268.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.059 268.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.070 268.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.076 268.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.076 268.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.071 268.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.064 268.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.053 268.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.042 268.8);
}

Colors that work with #aabdf0

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#F4F6FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0CCED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B609B
Captions on the surface
Accent#B1621B
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#132B6C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E9EEFB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141824
Dark-mode background
Hover#8CA5EB
One step down in lightness
Pressed#6D8EE5
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F4F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B7C9F7
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 #aabdf0

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 #132B6C
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #7291E6

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
  • Weight20/100
  • 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#F0DDAA
Analogous left#AAE0F0
Analogous right#BAAAF0
Split-complement 1#F0BAAA
Split-complement 2#E0F0AA
Triadic 1#F0AABD
Triadic 2#BDF0AA
Tetradic#F0AAE0
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°224°

#aabdf0 sits at 224°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red66.7%
Green74.1%
Blue94.1%
R · 0–255
170
0xaa
G · 0–255
189
0xbd
B · 0–255
240
0xf0

CMYK percentages

Cyan29.2%
Magenta21.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)5.9%

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

Color previews

#aabdf0 text on a black background

contrast 11.25:1

Card sample

#aabdf0 text on a white background

contrast 1.87:1

Card sample

#aabdf0 on grey

1.70:1

#aabdf0 on its own surface

1.73:1

#aabdf0 on its dark surface

9.48:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #aabdf0;
Background color
Panel with #aabdf0 background
background-color: #aabdf0;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #aabdf0;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(170, 189, 240, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(170, 189, 240, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #aabdf0;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #aabdf0, #C6AAF0);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #aabdf0, #D7AAF0);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #aabdf0;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #aabdf0;
caret-color: #aabdf0;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #aabdf0;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E9EEFB;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #aabdf0;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#aabdf0 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #aabdf0 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, 189, 240, 0.5)
rgb(170 189 240 / 50%)
#aabdf080
hsl(224 70% 80% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #aabdf0 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#aabdf01a#F7F8FE
20%#aabdf033#EEF2FC
40%#aabdf066#DDE5F9
60%#aabdf099#CCD7F6
80%#aabdf0cc#BBCAF3

Gradients from #aabdf0

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, #DEE5F9, #aabdf0 45%, #132B6C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #aabdf0, #BC90EB);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #aabdf0, #F0DDAA);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F2F5FD 0%, #aabdf0 45%, #132B6C 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F6FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #D5F3F8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D3C4F5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #132B6C 0%, transparent 65%), #aabdf0;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #aabdf0

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.

#aabdf0 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 11.25:1.

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.

#aabdf0, answered

What color is #aabdf0?

#aabdf0 is a light vivid blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 6.5). It sits at 224° on the hue wheel with 70% saturation and 80% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #aabdf0?

rgb(170, 189, 240) — 170 red, 189 green and 240 blue out of 255, or 66.7% / 74.1% / 94.1% by channel.

What is #aabdf0 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(224, 70%, 80%) and hsv(224, 29%, 94%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #aabdf0 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5123 and perceived brightness is 75%, so black text on it reaches 11.25:1.

Should I use black or white text on #aabdf0?

Black. It scores 11.25:1 against #aabdf0, versus 1.87:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #aabdf0 accessible on a white background?

#aabdf0 on white scores 1.87:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #4670DE to reach 4.5:1, or #234FC5 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #aabdf0?

#F0DDAA sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #F0BAAA and #E0F0AA, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #aabdf0?

For interface work: #F4F6FA as the surface, #C0CCED for borders, #4B609B for secondary text, #B1621B as an accent and #132B6C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AAE0F0 and #BAAAF0 stays calm, while #F0DDAA is the loudest partner.

What is #aabdf0 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(29%, 21%, 0%, 6%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #aabdf0 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 92 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #B1AAF0; nudged cooler, #A9C7F1.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #aabdf0?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 19.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #aabdf0 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #aabdf0 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#aabdf0] or text-[#aabdf0], 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 #aabdf0 with 50% opacity?

rgba(170, 189, 240, 0.5), or #aabdf080 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D5DEF8; over black, #555F78.

Is #aabdf0 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCFF, ΔE2000 8.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #aabdf0 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 #aabdf0?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #DEE5F9, #aabdf0 45%, #132B6C). For more colour, a short hue run to #BC90EB keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #aabdf0 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #aabdf0 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.