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blue · cool

#adbac4

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

Token name suggestion: Morning Denim

RGB
173, 186, 196
HSL
206°, 16%, 72%
CMYK
12, 5, 0, 23
Luminance
0.4799

#adbac4 is a light soft blue, 206° on the wheel and 73/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.60:1). As text it scores 1.98:1 on white — use #63798A instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(206 16% 72%)rgb(173 186 196)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #adbac4 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#adbac4
Hue
206°
blue
Saturation
16%
soft
Lightness
72%
light
Brightness
77%
HSV value
Perceived
72%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4799
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
73/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
10.60:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 6.6
Chroma
7.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.782
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 18.3
Web-safe
#99CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue206° of 360°
Saturation16%
Lightness72%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #adbac4.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool73% 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
Red19%
Green73%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#adbac4
HEX (8-digit)#adbac4ff
RGBrgb(173, 186, 196)
RGBArgba(173, 186, 196, 1)
HSLhsl(206, 16%, 72%)
HSV / HSBhsv(206, 12%, 77%)
HWBhwb(206 68% 23%)
CMYKcmyk(12%, 5%, 0%, 23%)
LABlab(74.8 -2.5 -6.6)
LCHlch(74.8 7.0 249.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.782 0.020 240.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(44.75, 47.99, 59.12)
Decimal11385540
Display P3color(display-p3 0.678 0.729 0.769)
Web-safe#99CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #adbac4;
background-color: #adbac4;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #adbac4;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#adbac4] bg-[#adbac4]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #adbac4;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.678, green: 0.729, blue: 0.769)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.678, green: 0.729, blue: 0.769, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#ADBAC4</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFADBAC4)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFADBAC4)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(196, 186, 173)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(173, 186, 196)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(173, 186, 196)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 173, 186, 196)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6784f, 0.7294f, 0.7686f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{173,186,196}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #adbac4 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #adbac4 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#35414A, #DBE1E5);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #adbac4 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: #F6F7F8;
  --brand-100: #EEF0F2;
  --brand-200: #D9DEE3;
  --brand-300: #BEC8D0;
  --brand-400: #adbac4;
  --brand-500: #7D91A1;
  --brand-600: #667D8E;
  --brand-700: #556877;
  --brand-800: #44535F;
  --brand-900: #343E46;
  --brand-950: #21272C;
  --brand: #adbac4;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F8F9;
  --brand-border: #D0D7DD;
  --brand-hover: #98A9B5;
  --brand-pressed: #8497A6;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #171D21;
    --brand-ink: #DBE1E5;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F7F8',
        100: '#EEF0F2',
        200: '#D9DEE3',
        300: '#BEC8D0',
        400: '#adbac4',
        500: '#7D91A1',
        600: '#667D8E',
        700: '#556877',
        800: '#44535F',
        900: '#343E46',
        950: '#21272C',
        DEFAULT: '#adbac4',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F7F8,
  '100': #EEF0F2,
  '200': #D9DEE3,
  '300': #BEC8D0,
  '400': #adbac4,
  '500': #7D91A1,
  '600': #667D8E,
  '700': #556877,
  '800': #44535F,
  '900': #343E46,
  '950': #21272C,
);
$brand-base: #adbac4;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F7F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EEF0F2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D9DEE3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#BEC8D0", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#adbac4", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7D91A1", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#667D8E", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#556877", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#44535F", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#343E46", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#21272C", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #adbac4 · 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: #adbac4 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: #35414A at 5.28:1.

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
#63798A · 4.53:1
AA on white−26% L
#63798A
The quick fox
#495A66 · 7.15:1
AAA on white−38% L
#495A66
The quick fox
#adbac4 · 10.60:1
AA on blackalready passes
#adbac4
The quick fox
#adbac4 · 10.60:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#adbac4

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #8497A6 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
#adbac4 on white: 1.98:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#adbac4 on black: 10.60:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #adbac4 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #adbac4.

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 6003.82:1AaAa
Slate 7005.23:1AaAa
Slate 8007.38:1AaAa
Slate 9009.01:1AaAa
Black10.60:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B6BAC5
deuteranopia · #B3B7C4
tritanopia · #A7BCBD

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. #adbac4 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.

#F6F7F8
#EEF0F2
#D9DEE3
#BEC8D0
#adbac4
#7D91A1
#667D8E
#556877
#44535F
#343E46
#21272C
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F6F7F8Darkest = 950 · #21272CText step on white = 700
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 0.005 240.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.008 240.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.012 240.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.016 240.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.019 240.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.020 240.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.020 240.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.019 240.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.017 240.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.014 240.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.011 240.8);
}

Colors that work with #adbac4

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#F6F8F9
Tinted page background
Border#D0D7DD
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#607585
Captions on the surface
Accent#7B5A51
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#35414A
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F0F3F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#171D21
Dark-mode background
Hover#98A9B5
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8497A6
Two steps down
Disabled#EEF1F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B3C5D3
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 #adbac4

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 #35414A
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #8497A6

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#C4B7AD
Analogous left#ADC4C3
Analogous right#ADAFC4
Split-complement 1#C4ADAF
Split-complement 2#C4C3AD
Triadic 1#C4ADBA
Triadic 2#BAC4AD
Tetradic#C3ADC4
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°206°

#adbac4 sits at 206°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red67.8%
Green72.9%
Blue76.9%
R · 0–255
173
0xad
G · 0–255
186
0xba
B · 0–255
196
0xc4

CMYK percentages

Cyan11.7%
Magenta5.1%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)23.1%

Total ink coverage is 40%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#adbac4 text on a black background

contrast 10.60:1

Card sample

#adbac4 text on a white background

contrast 1.98:1

Card sample

#adbac4 on grey

1.81:1

#adbac4 on its own surface

1.86:1

#adbac4 on its dark surface

8.59:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #adbac4;
Background color
Panel with #adbac4 background
background-color: #adbac4;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #adbac4;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(173, 186, 196, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(173, 186, 196, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #adbac4;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #adbac4, #AFADC4);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #adbac4, #B5ADC4);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #adbac4;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #adbac4;
caret-color: #adbac4;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #adbac4;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F0F3F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #adbac4;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#adbac4 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #adbac4 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, 186, 196, 0.5)
rgb(173 186 196 / 50%)
#adbac480
hsl(206 16% 72% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #adbac4 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#adbac41a#F7F8F9
20%#adbac433#EFF1F3
40%#adbac466#DEE3E7
60%#adbac499#CED6DC
80%#adbac4cc#BDC8D0

Gradients from #adbac4

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, #D1D8DE, #adbac4 45%, #35414A);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #adbac4, #A19BB7);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #adbac4, #C4B7AD);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E3E7EB 0%, #adbac4 45%, #35414A 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F8F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #CBD9D7 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #BFBFD1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #35414A 0%, transparent 65%), #adbac4;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #adbac4

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.

#adbac4 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.

#adbac4, answered

What color is #adbac4?

#adbac4 is a light soft blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 6.6). It sits at 206° on the hue wheel with 16% saturation and 72% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #adbac4?

rgb(173, 186, 196) — 173 red, 186 green and 196 blue out of 255, or 67.8% / 72.9% / 76.9% by channel.

What is #adbac4 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(206, 16%, 72%) and hsv(206, 12%, 77%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #adbac4 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4799 and perceived brightness is 72%, so black text on it reaches 10.60:1.

Should I use black or white text on #adbac4?

Black. It scores 10.60:1 against #adbac4, versus 1.98:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #adbac4 accessible on a white background?

#adbac4 on white scores 1.98:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #63798A to reach 4.5:1, or #495A66 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #adbac4?

#C4B7AD sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #C4ADAF and #C4C3AD, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #adbac4?

For interface work: #F6F8F9 as the surface, #D0D7DD for borders, #607585 for secondary text, #7B5A51 as an accent and #35414A for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #ADC4C3 and #ADAFC4 stays calm, while #C4B7AD is the loudest partner.

What is #adbac4 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(12%, 5%, 0%, 23%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #adbac4 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 73 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #ADB2C4; nudged cooler, #9DABBB.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #adbac4?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 18.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #adbac4 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #adbac4 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#adbac4] or text-[#adbac4], 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 #adbac4 with 50% opacity?

rgba(173, 186, 196, 0.5), or #adbac480 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D6DDE2; over black, #575D62.

Is #adbac4 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCCC, ΔE2000 13.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #adbac4 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 #adbac4?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D1D8DE, #adbac4 45%, #35414A). For more colour, a short hue run to #A19BB7 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #adbac4 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #adbac4 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.