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blue · cool

#acabc8

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

Token name suggestion: Morning Sapphire

RGB
172, 171, 200
HSL
242°, 21%, 73%
CMYK
14, 15, 0, 22
Luminance
0.4207

#acabc8 is a light soft blue, 242° on the wheel and 69/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.41:1). As text it scores 2.23:1 on white — use #7270A2 instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is slate.

hsl(242 21% 73%)rgb(172 171 200)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #acabc8 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#acabc8
Hue
242°
blue
Saturation
21%
soft
Lightness
73%
light
Brightness
78%
HSV value
Perceived
69%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4207
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
69/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
9.41:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 10.8
Chroma
15.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.752
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
slate
500 · ΔE 21.5
Web-safe
#9999CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue242° of 360°
Saturation21%
Lightness73%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #acabc8.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool69% 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
Red21%
Green69%
Blue10%

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

Every format

HEX#acabc8
HEX (8-digit)#acabc8ff
RGBrgb(172, 171, 200)
RGBArgba(172, 171, 200, 1)
HSLhsl(242, 21%, 73%)
HSV / HSBhsv(242, 15%, 78%)
HWBhwb(242 67% 22%)
CMYKcmyk(14%, 15%, 0%, 22%)
LABlab(70.9 6.2 -14.6)
LCHlch(70.9 15.9 293.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.752 0.041 286.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(42.00, 42.07, 60.54)
Decimal11316168
Display P3color(display-p3 0.675 0.671 0.784)
Web-safe#9999CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #acabc8;
background-color: #acabc8;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #acabc8;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#acabc8] bg-[#acabc8]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #acabc8;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.675, green: 0.671, blue: 0.784)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.675, green: 0.671, blue: 0.784, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#ACABC8</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFACABC8)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFACABC8)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(200, 171, 172)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(172, 171, 200)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(172, 171, 200)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 172, 171, 200)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6745f, 0.6706f, 0.7843f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{172,171,200}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #acabc8 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #acabc8 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#33324D, #DADAE7);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #acabc8 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: #EDEDF2;
  --brand-200: #D8D8E4;
  --brand-300: #acabc8;
  --brand-400: #9A99BC;
  --brand-500: #7977A6;
  --brand-600: #636194;
  --brand-700: #52517B;
  --brand-800: #424163;
  --brand-900: #323149;
  --brand-950: #1F1F2E;
  --brand: #acabc8;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F6F9;
  --brand-border: #CECEDF;
  --brand-hover: #9795BA;
  --brand-pressed: #8180AC;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #171622;
    --brand-ink: #DADAE7;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F6F9',
        100: '#EDEDF2',
        200: '#D8D8E4',
        300: '#acabc8',
        400: '#9A99BC',
        500: '#7977A6',
        600: '#636194',
        700: '#52517B',
        800: '#424163',
        900: '#323149',
        950: '#1F1F2E',
        DEFAULT: '#acabc8',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F6F9,
  '100': #EDEDF2,
  '200': #D8D8E4,
  '300': #acabc8,
  '400': #9A99BC,
  '500': #7977A6,
  '600': #636194,
  '700': #52517B,
  '800': #424163,
  '900': #323149,
  '950': #1F1F2E,
);
$brand-base: #acabc8;
$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": "#EDEDF2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D8D8E4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#acabc8", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#9A99BC", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7977A6", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#636194", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#52517B", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#424163", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#323149", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1F1F2E", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #acabc8 · 9.41:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.23:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.41:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #acabc8 as text scores 2.23:1 on white and 9.41:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #33324D at 5.52:1.

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
#7270A2 · 4.61:1
AA on white−19% L
#7270A2
The quick fox
#565481 · 7.05:1
AAA on white−31% L
#565481
The quick fox
#acabc8 · 9.41:1
AA on blackalready passes
#acabc8
The quick fox
#acabc8 · 9.41:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#acabc8

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #908FB6 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
#acabc8 on white: 2.23:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#acabc8 on black: 9.41:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #acabc8 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #acabc8.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.23:1AaAa
Slate 502.13:1AaAa
Slate 1002.04:1AaAa
Slate 2001.81:1AaAa
Slate 3001.50:1AaAa
Slate 4001.15:1AaAa
Slate 5002.13:1AaAa
Slate 6003.40:1AaAa
Slate 7004.64:1AaAa
Slate 8006.56:1AaAa
Slate 9008.00:1AaAa
Black9.41:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A4AEC9
deuteranopia · #A4ADC7
tritanopia · #A6B0B4

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. #acabc8 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
#EDEDF2
#D8D8E4
#acabc8
#9A99BC
#7977A6
#636194
#52517B
#424163
#323149
#1F1F2E
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F6F6F9Darkest = 950 · #1F1F2EText 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 0.010 286.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.017 286.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.025 286.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.032 286.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.038 286.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.041 286.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.041 286.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.039 286.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.035 286.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.029 286.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.023 286.9);
}

Colors that work with #acabc8

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#CECEDF
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#5C5B8B
Captions on the surface
Accent#80744C
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#33324D
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F0F0F5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#171622
Dark-mode background
Hover#9795BA
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8180AC
Two steps down
Disabled#EFEFF4
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B3B1D6
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 #acabc8

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 #33324D
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #908FB6

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#C7C8AB
Analogous left#ABB8C8
Analogous right#BAABC8
Split-complement 1#C8BAAB
Split-complement 2#B8C8AB
Triadic 1#C8ACAB
Triadic 2#ABC8AC
Tetradic#C8ABB8
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°242°

#acabc8 sits at 242°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red67.5%
Green67.1%
Blue78.4%
R · 0–255
172
0xac
G · 0–255
171
0xab
B · 0–255
200
0xc8

CMYK percentages

Cyan14.0%
Magenta14.5%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)21.6%

Total ink coverage is 50%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#acabc8 text on a black background

contrast 9.41:1

Card sample

#acabc8 text on a white background

contrast 2.23:1

Card sample

#acabc8 on grey

2.04:1

#acabc8 on its own surface

2.07:1

#acabc8 on its dark surface

8.02:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #acabc8;
Background color
Panel with #acabc8 background
background-color: #acabc8;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #acabc8;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(172, 171, 200, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(172, 171, 200, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #acabc8;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #acabc8, #BFABC8);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #acabc8, #C7ABC8);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #acabc8;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #acabc8;
caret-color: #acabc8;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #acabc8;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F0F0F5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #acabc8;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#acabc8 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #acabc8 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(172, 171, 200, 0.5)
rgb(172 171 200 / 50%)
#acabc880
hsl(242 21% 73% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #acabc8 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#acabc81a#F7F7FA
20%#acabc833#EEEEF4
40%#acabc866#DEDDE9
60%#acabc899#CDCDDE
80%#acabc8cc#BDBCD3

Gradients from #acabc8

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, #D0D0E0, #acabc8 45%, #33324D);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #acabc8, #B498BC);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #acabc8, #C7C8AB);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E3E2EC 0%, #acabc8 45%, #33324D 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%, #CAD4DC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #CBBDD4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #33324D 0%, transparent 65%), #acabc8;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #acabc8

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.

#acabc8 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 9.41:1.

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.

#acabc8, answered

What color is #acabc8?

#acabc8 is a light soft blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 10.8). It sits at 242° on the hue wheel with 21% saturation and 73% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #acabc8?

rgb(172, 171, 200) — 172 red, 171 green and 200 blue out of 255, or 67.5% / 67.1% / 78.4% by channel.

What is #acabc8 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(242, 21%, 73%) and hsv(242, 15%, 78%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #acabc8 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4207 and perceived brightness is 69%, so black text on it reaches 9.41:1.

Should I use black or white text on #acabc8?

Black. It scores 9.41:1 against #acabc8, versus 2.23:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #acabc8 accessible on a white background?

#acabc8 on white scores 2.23:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7270A2 to reach 4.5:1, or #565481 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #acabc8?

#C7C8AB sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #C8BAAB and #B8C8AB, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #acabc8?

For interface work: #F6F6F9 as the surface, #CECEDF for borders, #5C5B8B for secondary text, #80744C as an accent and #33324D for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #ABB8C8 and #BAABC8 stays calm, while #C7C8AB is the loudest partner.

What is #acabc8 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(14%, 15%, 0%, 22%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #acabc8 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 69 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #B7ABC8; nudged cooler, #A9B4C9.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #acabc8?

The slate family — its 500 step is #64748b, ΔE2000 21.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #acabc8 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #acabc8 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#acabc8] or text-[#acabc8], 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 #acabc8 with 50% opacity?

rgba(172, 171, 200, 0.5), or #acabc880 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D6D5E4; over black, #565664.

Is #acabc8 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999CC, ΔE2000 8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #acabc8 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 #acabc8?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D0D0E0, #acabc8 45%, #33324D). For more colour, a short hue run to #B498BC keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #acabc8 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #acabc8 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.