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blue · cool

#adabc5

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

Token name suggestion: Linen Sapphire

RGB
173, 171, 197
HSL
245°, 18%, 72%
CMYK
12, 13, 0, 23
Luminance
0.4204

#adabc5 is a light soft blue, 245° on the wheel and 66/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.41:1). As text it scores 2.23:1 on white — use #75729D instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(245 18% 72%)rgb(173 171 197)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #adabc5 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#adabc5
Hue
245°
blue
Saturation
18%
soft
Lightness
72%
light
Brightness
77%
HSV value
Perceived
69%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4204
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
66/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
9.41:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 10.5
Chroma
14.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.751
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 21.5
Web-safe
#9999CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue245° of 360°
Saturation18%
Lightness72%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #adabc5.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool66% 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#adabc5
HEX (8-digit)#adabc5ff
RGBrgb(173, 171, 197)
RGBArgba(173, 171, 197, 1)
HSLhsl(245, 18%, 72%)
HSV / HSBhsv(245, 13%, 77%)
HWBhwb(245 67% 23%)
CMYKcmyk(12%, 13%, 0%, 23%)
LABlab(70.9 5.9 -13.0)
LCHlch(70.9 14.2 294.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.751 0.037 289.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(41.87, 42.04, 58.72)
Decimal11381701
Display P3color(display-p3 0.678 0.671 0.773)
Web-safe#9999CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #adabc5;
background-color: #adabc5;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #adabc5;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#adabc5] bg-[#adabc5]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #adabc5;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.678, green: 0.671, blue: 0.773)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.678, green: 0.671, blue: 0.773, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#ADABC5</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFADABC5)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFADABC5)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(197, 171, 173)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(173, 171, 197)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(173, 171, 197)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 173, 171, 197)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6784f, 0.6706f, 0.7725f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{173,171,197}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #adabc5 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #adabc5 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#36344B, #DCDBE6);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #adabc5 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: #F6F6F8;
  --brand-100: #EEEEF2;
  --brand-200: #D9D9E3;
  --brand-300: #BEBDD1;
  --brand-400: #adabc5;
  --brand-500: #7D7AA3;
  --brand-600: #676491;
  --brand-700: #565379;
  --brand-800: #454361;
  --brand-900: #343348;
  --brand-950: #21202D;
  --brand: #adabc5;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F6F9;
  --brand-border: #D0CFDE;
  --brand-hover: #9996B6;
  --brand-pressed: #8481A8;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #181721;
    --brand-ink: #DCDBE6;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F6F8',
        100: '#EEEEF2',
        200: '#D9D9E3',
        300: '#BEBDD1',
        400: '#adabc5',
        500: '#7D7AA3',
        600: '#676491',
        700: '#565379',
        800: '#454361',
        900: '#343348',
        950: '#21202D',
        DEFAULT: '#adabc5',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F6F8,
  '100': #EEEEF2,
  '200': #D9D9E3,
  '300': #BEBDD1,
  '400': #adabc5,
  '500': #7D7AA3,
  '600': #676491,
  '700': #565379,
  '800': #454361,
  '900': #343348,
  '950': #21202D,
);
$brand-base: #adabc5;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F6F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EEEEF2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D9D9E3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#BEBDD1", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#adabc5", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7D7AA3", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#676491", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#565379", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#454361", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#343348", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#21202D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #adabc5 · 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: #adabc5 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: #36344B at 5.38:1.

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
#75729D · 4.52:1
AA on white−19% L
#75729D
The quick fox
#575479 · 7.12:1
AAA on white−32% L
#575479
The quick fox
#adabc5 · 9.41:1
AA on blackalready passes
#adabc5
The quick fox
#adabc5 · 9.41:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#adabc5

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9390B2 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
#adabc5 on white: 2.23:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#adabc5 on black: 9.41:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #adabc5 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #adabc5.

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 6003.39:1AaAa
Slate 7004.64:1AaAa
Slate 8006.55:1AaAa
Slate 9008.00:1AaAa
Black9.41:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A5AEC6
deuteranopia · #A5ADC4
tritanopia · #A8AFB3

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. #adabc5 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.

#F6F6F8
#EEEEF2
#D9D9E3
#BEBDD1
#adabc5
#7D7AA3
#676491
#565379
#454361
#343348
#21202D
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F6F6F8Darkest = 950 · #21202DText 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 0.009 289.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.015 289.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.022 289.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.029 289.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.034 289.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.037 289.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.037 289.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.035 289.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.031 289.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.026 289.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.020 289.0);
}

Colors that work with #adabc5

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#D0CFDE
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#615E88
Captions on the surface
Accent#7D744F
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#36344B
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F0F0F5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#181721
Dark-mode background
Hover#9996B6
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8481A8
Two steps down
Disabled#EEEEF3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B4B1D3
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 #adabc5

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 #36344B
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9390B2

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
  • Weight28/100
  • 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#C3C5AB
Analogous left#ABB6C5
Analogous right#BAABC5
Split-complement 1#C5BAAB
Split-complement 2#B6C5AB
Triadic 1#C5ADAB
Triadic 2#ABC5AD
Tetradic#C5ABB6
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°245°

#adabc5 sits at 245°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red67.8%
Green67.1%
Blue77.3%
R · 0–255
173
0xad
G · 0–255
171
0xab
B · 0–255
197
0xc5

CMYK percentages

Cyan12.2%
Magenta13.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)22.7%

Total ink coverage is 48%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#adabc5 text on a black background

contrast 9.41:1

Card sample

#adabc5 text on a white background

contrast 2.23:1

Card sample

#adabc5 on grey

2.04:1

#adabc5 on its own surface

2.07:1

#adabc5 on its dark surface

7.95:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #adabc5;
Background color
Panel with #adabc5 background
background-color: #adabc5;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #adabc5;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(173, 171, 197, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(173, 171, 197, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #adabc5;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #adabc5, #BEABC5);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #adabc5, #C5ABC5);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #adabc5;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #adabc5;
caret-color: #adabc5;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #adabc5;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F0F0F5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #adabc5;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#adabc5 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #adabc5 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(173, 171, 197, 0.5)
rgb(173 171 197 / 50%)
#adabc580
hsl(245 18% 72% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #adabc5 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#adabc51a#F7F7F9
20%#adabc533#EFEEF3
40%#adabc566#DEDDE8
60%#adabc599#CECDDC
80%#adabc5cc#BDBCD1

Gradients from #adabc5

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, #D0CFDE, #adabc5 45%, #36344B);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #adabc5, #B399B9);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #adabc5, #C3C5AB);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E2E1EB 0%, #adabc5 45%, #36344B 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%, #C9D2DA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #CBBDD2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #36344B 0%, transparent 65%), #adabc5;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #adabc5

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.

#adabc5 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.

#adabc5, answered

What color is #adabc5?

#adabc5 is a light soft blue, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 10.5). It sits at 245° on the hue wheel with 18% saturation and 72% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #adabc5?

rgb(173, 171, 197) — 173 red, 171 green and 197 blue out of 255, or 67.8% / 67.1% / 77.3% by channel.

What is #adabc5 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(245, 18%, 72%) and hsv(245, 13%, 77%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #adabc5 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4204 and perceived brightness is 69%, so black text on it reaches 9.41:1.

Should I use black or white text on #adabc5?

Black. It scores 9.41:1 against #adabc5, versus 2.23:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #adabc5 accessible on a white background?

#adabc5 on white scores 2.23:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #75729D to reach 4.5:1, or #575479 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #adabc5?

#C3C5AB sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #C5BAAB and #B6C5AB, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #adabc5?

For interface work: #F6F6F9 as the surface, #D0CFDE for borders, #615E88 for secondary text, #7D744F as an accent and #36344B for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #ABB6C5 and #BAABC5 stays calm, while #C3C5AB is the loudest partner.

What is #adabc5 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(12%, 13%, 0%, 23%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #adabc5 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 66 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #B7ABC5; nudged cooler, #AAB2C7.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #adabc5?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 21.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #adabc5 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #adabc5 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#adabc5] or text-[#adabc5], 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 #adabc5 with 50% opacity?

rgba(173, 171, 197, 0.5), or #adabc580 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D6D5E2; over black, #575663.

Is #adabc5 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999CC, ΔE2000 8.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #adabc5 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 #adabc5?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D0CFDE, #adabc5 45%, #36344B). For more colour, a short hue run to #B399B9 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #adabc5 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #adabc5 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.