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blue · cool

#acb9d0

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

Token name suggestion: Morning Cobalt

RGB
172, 185, 208
HSL
218°, 28%, 75%
CMYK
17, 11, 0, 18
Luminance
0.4802

#acb9d0 is a light soft blue, 218° on the wheel and 86/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.60:1). As text it scores 1.98:1 on white — use #5E77A4 instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(218 28% 75%)rgb(172 185 208)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #acb9d0 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#acb9d0
Hue
218°
blue
Saturation
28%
soft
Lightness
75%
light
Brightness
82%
HSV value
Perceived
72%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4802
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
86/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
10.60:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 3.5
Chroma
13.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.783
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 19.4
Web-safe
#99CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue218° of 360°
Saturation28%
Lightness75%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #acb9d0.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool86% 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#acb9d0
HEX (8-digit)#acb9d0ff
RGBrgb(172, 185, 208)
RGBArgba(172, 185, 208, 1)
HSLhsl(218, 28%, 75%)
HSV / HSBhsv(218, 17%, 82%)
HWBhwb(218 67% 18%)
CMYKcmyk(17%, 11%, 0%, 18%)
LABlab(74.8 0.3 -13.1)
LCHlch(74.8 13.1 271.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.783 0.036 261.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(45.74, 48.02, 66.52)
Decimal11319760
Display P3color(display-p3 0.675 0.725 0.816)
Web-safe#99CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #acb9d0;
background-color: #acb9d0;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #acb9d0;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#acb9d0] bg-[#acb9d0]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #acb9d0;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.675, green: 0.725, blue: 0.816)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.675, green: 0.725, blue: 0.816, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#ACB9D0</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFACB9D0)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFACB9D0)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(208, 185, 172)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(172, 185, 208)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(172, 185, 208)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 172, 185, 208)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6745f, 0.7255f, 0.8157f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{172,185,208}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #acb9d0 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #acb9d0 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#2E3B51, #D8DEE9);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #acb9d0 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: #ECEFF3;
  --brand-200: #D6DCE6;
  --brand-300: #acb9d0;
  --brand-400: #94A4C2;
  --brand-500: #7086AE;
  --brand-600: #58719C;
  --brand-700: #4A5E82;
  --brand-800: #3B4B68;
  --brand-900: #2E394D;
  --brand-950: #1D2430;
  --brand: #acb9d0;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5F7F9;
  --brand-border: #CBD3E2;
  --brand-hover: #95A6C3;
  --brand-pressed: #7E93B6;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141A24;
    --brand-ink: #D8DEE9;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F7F9',
        100: '#ECEFF3',
        200: '#D6DCE6',
        300: '#acb9d0',
        400: '#94A4C2',
        500: '#7086AE',
        600: '#58719C',
        700: '#4A5E82',
        800: '#3B4B68',
        900: '#2E394D',
        950: '#1D2430',
        DEFAULT: '#acb9d0',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F7F9,
  '100': #ECEFF3,
  '200': #D6DCE6,
  '300': #acb9d0,
  '400': #94A4C2,
  '500': #7086AE,
  '600': #58719C,
  '700': #4A5E82,
  '800': #3B4B68,
  '900': #2E394D,
  '950': #1D2430,
);
$brand-base: #acb9d0;
$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": "#ECEFF3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D6DCE6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#acb9d0", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#94A4C2", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7086AE", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#58719C", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#4A5E82", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#3B4B68", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2E394D", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1D2430", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #acb9d0 · 10.60:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.98:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.60:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #acb9d0 as text scores 1.98:1 on white and 10.60:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #2E3B51 at 5.70:1.

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
#5E77A4 · 4.52:1
AA on white−24% L
#5E77A4
The quick fox
#45587A · 7.17:1
AAA on white−37% L
#45587A
The quick fox
#acb9d0 · 10.60:1
AA on blackalready passes
#acb9d0
The quick fox
#acb9d0 · 10.60:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#acb9d0

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #8295B8 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
#acb9d0 on white: 1.98:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#acb9d0 on black: 10.60:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #acb9d0 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #acb9d0.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.98:1AaAa
Slate 501.89:1AaAa
Slate 1001.81:1AaAa
Slate 2001.61:1AaAa
Slate 3001.33:1AaAa
Slate 4001.29:1AaAa
Slate 5002.40:1AaAa
Slate 6003.83:1AaAa
Slate 7005.23:1AaAa
Slate 8007.39:1AaAa
Slate 9009.02:1AaAa
Black10.60:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B2BAD1
deuteranopia · #AEB7CF
tritanopia · #A3BEC0

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. #acb9d0 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
#ECEFF3
#D6DCE6
#acb9d0
#94A4C2
#7086AE
#58719C
#4A5E82
#3B4B68
#2E394D
#1D2430
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F6F7F9Darkest = 950 · #1D2430Text 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 0.009 261.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.014 261.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.021 261.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.028 261.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.033 261.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.036 261.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.036 261.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.034 261.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.030 261.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.025 261.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.020 261.9);
}

Colors that work with #acb9d0

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#CBD3E2
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#536A93
Captions on the surface
Accent#875E45
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#2E3B51
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EFF1F6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141A24
Dark-mode background
Hover#95A6C3
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7E93B6
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F4F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B4C2DD
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 #acb9d0

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 #2E3B51
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #8295B8

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#D0C3AC
Analogous left#ACCBD0
Analogous right#B1ACD0
Split-complement 1#D0B1AC
Split-complement 2#CBD0AC
Triadic 1#D0ACB9
Triadic 2#B9D0AC
Tetradic#D0ACCB
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°218°

#acb9d0 sits at 218°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red67.5%
Green72.5%
Blue81.6%
R · 0–255
172
0xac
G · 0–255
185
0xb9
B · 0–255
208
0xd0

CMYK percentages

Cyan17.3%
Magenta11.1%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)18.4%

Total ink coverage is 47%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#acb9d0 text on a black background

contrast 10.60:1

Card sample

#acb9d0 text on a white background

contrast 1.98:1

Card sample

#acb9d0 on grey

1.81:1

#acb9d0 on its own surface

1.84:1

#acb9d0 on its dark surface

8.82:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #acb9d0;
Background color
Panel with #acb9d0 background
background-color: #acb9d0;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #acb9d0;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(172, 185, 208, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(172, 185, 208, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #acb9d0;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #acb9d0, #B7ACD0);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #acb9d0, #C0ACD0);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #acb9d0;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #acb9d0;
caret-color: #acb9d0;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #acb9d0;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EFF1F6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #acb9d0;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#acb9d0 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #acb9d0 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, 185, 208, 0.5)
rgb(172 185 208 / 50%)
#acb9d080
hsl(218 28% 75% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #acb9d0 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#acb9d01a#F7F8FA
20%#acb9d033#EEF1F6
40%#acb9d066#DEE3EC
60%#acb9d099#CDD5E3
80%#acb9d0cc#BDC7D9

Gradients from #acb9d0

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, #D3DAE6, #acb9d0 45%, #2E3B51);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #acb9d0, #AA98C5);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #acb9d0, #D0C3AC);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E7EAF1 0%, #acb9d0 45%, #2E3B51 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%, #CDE1E2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C6C0DB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #2E3B51 0%, transparent 65%), #acb9d0;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #acb9d0

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.

#acb9d0 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 10.60:1.

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.

#acb9d0, answered

What color is #acb9d0?

#acb9d0 is a light soft blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 3.5). It sits at 218° on the hue wheel with 28% saturation and 75% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #acb9d0?

rgb(172, 185, 208) — 172 red, 185 green and 208 blue out of 255, or 67.5% / 72.5% / 81.6% by channel.

What is #acb9d0 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(218, 28%, 75%) and hsv(218, 17%, 82%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #acb9d0 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4802 and perceived brightness is 72%, so black text on it reaches 10.60:1.

Should I use black or white text on #acb9d0?

Black. It scores 10.60:1 against #acb9d0, versus 1.98:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #acb9d0 accessible on a white background?

#acb9d0 on white scores 1.98:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #5E77A4 to reach 4.5:1, or #45587A for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #acb9d0?

#D0C3AC sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #D0B1AC and #CBD0AC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #acb9d0?

For interface work: #F5F7F9 as the surface, #CBD3E2 for borders, #536A93 for secondary text, #875E45 as an accent and #2E3B51 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #ACCBD0 and #B1ACD0 stays calm, while #D0C3AC is the loudest partner.

What is #acb9d0 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(17%, 11%, 0%, 18%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #acb9d0 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 86 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #ACACD0; nudged cooler, #9AAFC8.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #acb9d0?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 19.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #acb9d0 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #acb9d0 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#acb9d0] or text-[#acb9d0], 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 #acb9d0 with 50% opacity?

rgba(172, 185, 208, 0.5), or #acb9d080 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D6DCE8; over black, #565D68.

Is #acb9d0 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCCC, ΔE2000 17 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #acb9d0 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 #acb9d0?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D3DAE6, #acb9d0 45%, #2E3B51). For more colour, a short hue run to #AA98C5 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #acb9d0 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #acb9d0 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.