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blue · cool

#abb8cd

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

Token name suggestion: Linen Harbour

RGB
171, 184, 205
HSL
217°, 25%, 74%
CMYK
17, 10, 0, 20
Luminance
0.4735

#abb8cd is a light soft blue, 217° on the wheel and 83/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.47:1). As text it scores 2.01:1 on white — use #5F779F instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(217 25% 74%)rgb(171 184 205)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #abb8cd is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#abb8cd
Hue
217°
blue
Saturation
25%
soft
Lightness
74%
light
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
72%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4735
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
83/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
10.47:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 3.8
Chroma
12.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.779
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 19.2
Web-safe
#99CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue217° of 360°
Saturation25%
Lightness74%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #abb8cd.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool83% 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
Red18%
Green72%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#abb8cd
HEX (8-digit)#abb8cdff
RGBrgb(171, 184, 205)
RGBArgba(171, 184, 205, 1)
HSLhsl(217, 25%, 74%)
HSV / HSBhsv(217, 17%, 80%)
HWBhwb(217 67% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(17%, 10%, 0%, 20%)
LABlab(74.4 -0.1 -12.1)
LCHlch(74.4 12.1 269.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.779 0.033 260.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(44.95, 47.35, 64.52)
Decimal11253965
Display P3color(display-p3 0.671 0.722 0.804)
Web-safe#99CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #abb8cd;
background-color: #abb8cd;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #abb8cd;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#abb8cd] bg-[#abb8cd]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #abb8cd;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.671, green: 0.722, blue: 0.804)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.671, green: 0.722, blue: 0.804, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#ABB8CD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFABB8CD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFABB8CD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(205, 184, 171)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(171, 184, 205)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(171, 184, 205)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 171, 184, 205)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6706f, 0.7216f, 0.8039f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{171,184,205}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #abb8cd 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #abb8cd 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#303C50, #D9DFE8);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #abb8cd 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: #F6F7F9;
  --brand-100: #EDEFF3;
  --brand-200: #D6DCE5;
  --brand-300: #abb8cd;
  --brand-400: #95A6C0;
  --brand-500: #7288AB;
  --brand-600: #5B7399;
  --brand-700: #4C6080;
  --brand-800: #3D4D66;
  --brand-900: #2F3A4C;
  --brand-950: #1D242F;
  --brand: #abb8cd;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5F7F9;
  --brand-border: #CCD4E1;
  --brand-hover: #95A5C0;
  --brand-pressed: #7E92B2;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #151A23;
    --brand-ink: #D9DFE8;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F7F9',
        100: '#EDEFF3',
        200: '#D6DCE5',
        300: '#abb8cd',
        400: '#95A6C0',
        500: '#7288AB',
        600: '#5B7399',
        700: '#4C6080',
        800: '#3D4D66',
        900: '#2F3A4C',
        950: '#1D242F',
        DEFAULT: '#abb8cd',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F7F9,
  '100': #EDEFF3,
  '200': #D6DCE5,
  '300': #abb8cd,
  '400': #95A6C0,
  '500': #7288AB,
  '600': #5B7399,
  '700': #4C6080,
  '800': #3D4D66,
  '900': #2F3A4C,
  '950': #1D242F,
);
$brand-base: #abb8cd;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F7F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EDEFF3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D6DCE5", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#abb8cd", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#95A6C0", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7288AB", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#5B7399", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#4C6080", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#3D4D66", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2F3A4C", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1D242F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #abb8cd · 10.47:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.01:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.47:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #abb8cd as text scores 2.01:1 on white and 10.47:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #303C50 at 5.55:1.

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
#5F779F · 4.54:1
AA on white−24% L
#5F779F
The quick fox
#465875 · 7.21:1
AAA on white−37% L
#465875
The quick fox
#abb8cd · 10.47:1
AA on blackalready passes
#abb8cd
The quick fox
#abb8cd · 10.47:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#abb8cd

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #8195B4 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
#abb8cd on white: 2.01:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#abb8cd on black: 10.47:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #abb8cd as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #abb8cd.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.01:1AaAa
Slate 501.92:1AaAa
Slate 1001.83:1AaAa
Slate 2001.63:1AaAa
Slate 3001.35:1AaAa
Slate 4001.28:1AaAa
Slate 5002.37:1AaAa
Slate 6003.78:1AaAa
Slate 7005.16:1AaAa
Slate 8007.29:1AaAa
Slate 9008.90:1AaAa
Black10.47:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B1B9CE
deuteranopia · #AEB6CD
tritanopia · #A3BCBF

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. #abb8cd 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.

#F6F7F9
#EDEFF3
#D6DCE5
#abb8cd
#95A6C0
#7288AB
#5B7399
#4C6080
#3D4D66
#2F3A4C
#1D242F
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F6F7F9Darkest = 950 · #1D242FText 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 0.008 260.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.013 260.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.020 260.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.026 260.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.031 260.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.033 260.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.033 260.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.031 260.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.028 260.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.023 260.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.018 260.0);
}

Colors that work with #abb8cd

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#F5F7F9
Tinted page background
Border#CCD4E1
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#566C90
Captions on the surface
Accent#845E48
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#303C50
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EFF1F5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#151A23
Dark-mode background
Hover#95A5C0
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7E92B2
Two steps down
Disabled#F2F3F6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B2C1DA
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 #abb8cd

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 #303C50
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #8195B4

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
  • Weight26/100
  • 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#CDC0AB
Analogous left#ABC9CD
Analogous right#AFABCD
Split-complement 1#CDAFAB
Split-complement 2#C9CDAB
Triadic 1#CDABB8
Triadic 2#B8CDAB
Tetradic#CDABC9
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°217°

#abb8cd sits at 217°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red67.1%
Green72.2%
Blue80.4%
R · 0–255
171
0xab
G · 0–255
184
0xb8
B · 0–255
205
0xcd

CMYK percentages

Cyan16.6%
Magenta10.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)19.6%

Total ink coverage is 46%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#abb8cd text on a black background

contrast 10.47:1

Card sample

#abb8cd text on a white background

contrast 2.01:1

Card sample

#abb8cd on grey

1.83:1

#abb8cd on its own surface

1.87:1

#abb8cd on its dark surface

8.70:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #abb8cd;
Background color
Panel with #abb8cd background
background-color: #abb8cd;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #abb8cd;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(171, 184, 205, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(171, 184, 205, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #abb8cd;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #abb8cd, #B5ABCD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #abb8cd, #BDABCD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #abb8cd;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #abb8cd;
caret-color: #abb8cd;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #abb8cd;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EFF1F5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #abb8cd;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#abb8cd 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #abb8cd 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(171, 184, 205, 0.5)
rgb(171 184 205 / 50%)
#abb8cd80
hsl(217 25% 74% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #abb8cd 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#abb8cd1a#F7F8FA
20%#abb8cd33#EEF1F5
40%#abb8cd66#DDE3EB
60%#abb8cd99#CDD4E1
80%#abb8cdcc#BCC6D7

Gradients from #abb8cd

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, #D1D8E4, #abb8cd 45%, #303C50);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #abb8cd, #A798C2);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #abb8cd, #CDC0AB);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E4E9EF 0%, #abb8cd 45%, #303C50 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5F7F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #CBDFE0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C3BED8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #303C50 0%, transparent 65%), #abb8cd;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #abb8cd

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.

#abb8cd 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 10.47:1.

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.

#abb8cd, answered

What color is #abb8cd?

#abb8cd is a light soft blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 3.8). It sits at 217° on the hue wheel with 25% saturation and 74% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #abb8cd?

rgb(171, 184, 205) — 171 red, 184 green and 205 blue out of 255, or 67.1% / 72.2% / 80.4% by channel.

What is #abb8cd in HSL and HSV?

hsl(217, 25%, 74%) and hsv(217, 17%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #abb8cd a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4735 and perceived brightness is 72%, so black text on it reaches 10.47:1.

Should I use black or white text on #abb8cd?

Black. It scores 10.47:1 against #abb8cd, versus 2.01:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #abb8cd accessible on a white background?

#abb8cd on white scores 2.01:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #5F779F to reach 4.5:1, or #465875 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #abb8cd?

#CDC0AB sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CDAFAB and #C9CDAB, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #abb8cd?

For interface work: #F5F7F9 as the surface, #CCD4E1 for borders, #566C90 for secondary text, #845E48 as an accent and #303C50 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #ABC9CD and #AFABCD stays calm, while #CDC0AB is the loudest partner.

What is #abb8cd in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(17%, 10%, 0%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #abb8cd warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 83 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #ABABCD; nudged cooler, #99ADC5.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #abb8cd?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 19.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #abb8cd as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #abb8cd in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#abb8cd] or text-[#abb8cd], 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 #abb8cd with 50% opacity?

rgba(171, 184, 205, 0.5), or #abb8cd80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D5DCE6; over black, #565C67.

Is #abb8cd a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCCC, ΔE2000 16.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #abb8cd 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 #abb8cd?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D1D8E4, #abb8cd 45%, #303C50). For more colour, a short hue run to #A798C2 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #abb8cd in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #abb8cd at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.