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blue · cool

#aebaee

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Denim

RGB
174, 186, 238
HSL
229°, 65%, 81%
CMYK
27, 22, 0, 7
Luminance
0.5029

#aebaee is a light vivid blue, 229° on the wheel and 90/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.06:1). As text it scores 1.90:1 on white — use #516BDB instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is blue.

hsl(229 65% 81%)rgb(174 186 238)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

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

Hex
#aebaee
Hue
229°
blue
Saturation
65%
vivid
Lightness
81%
light
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
74%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5029
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
90/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
11.06:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 7.5
Chroma
28.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.798
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
blue
500 · ΔE 20.7
Web-safe
#99CCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue229° of 360°
Saturation65%
Lightness81%
Saturation × lightness field

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

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool90% 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%
Green70%
Blue12%

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

Every format

HEX#aebaee
HEX (8-digit)#aebaeeff
RGBrgb(174, 186, 238)
RGBArgba(174, 186, 238, 1)
HSLhsl(229, 65%, 81%)
HSV / HSBhsv(229, 27%, 93%)
HWBhwb(229 68% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(27%, 22%, 0%, 7%)
LABlab(76.3 7.2 -27.2)
LCHlch(76.3 28.1 284.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.798 0.075 274.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(50.44, 50.29, 87.92)
Decimal11451118
Display P3color(display-p3 0.682 0.729 0.933)
Web-safe#99CCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #aebaee;
background-color: #aebaee;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #aebaee;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#aebaee] bg-[#aebaee]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #aebaee;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.682, green: 0.729, blue: 0.933)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.682, green: 0.729, blue: 0.933, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AEBAEE</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAEBAEE)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAEBAEE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(238, 186, 174)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(174, 186, 238)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(174, 186, 238)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 174, 186, 238)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6824f, 0.7294f, 0.9333f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{174,186,238}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #aebaee 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #aebaee 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#162669, #D3D8EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #aebaee 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: #F3F5FB;
  --brand-100: #E8EBF7;
  --brand-200: #CBD2F1;
  --brand-300: #aebaee;
  --brand-400: #7488E2;
  --brand-500: #4661D8;
  --brand-600: #2A48CA;
  --brand-700: #233CA9;
  --brand-800: #1C3087;
  --brand-900: #182662;
  --brand-950: #0F183D;
  --brand: #aebaee;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F5FA;
  --brand-border: #C0C8ED;
  --brand-hover: #91A1E8;
  --brand-pressed: #7388E2;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141724;
    --brand-ink: #D3D8EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3F5FB',
        100: '#E8EBF7',
        200: '#CBD2F1',
        300: '#aebaee',
        400: '#7488E2',
        500: '#4661D8',
        600: '#2A48CA',
        700: '#233CA9',
        800: '#1C3087',
        900: '#182662',
        950: '#0F183D',
        DEFAULT: '#aebaee',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3F5FB,
  '100': #E8EBF7,
  '200': #CBD2F1,
  '300': #aebaee,
  '400': #7488E2,
  '500': #4661D8,
  '600': #2A48CA,
  '700': #233CA9,
  '800': #1C3087,
  '900': #182662,
  '950': #0F183D,
);
$brand-base: #aebaee;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3F5FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E8EBF7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CBD2F1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#aebaee", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#7488E2", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#4661D8", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#2A48CA", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#233CA9", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#1C3087", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#182662", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0F183D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #aebaee · 11.06:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.90:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.06:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #aebaee as text scores 1.90:1 on white and 11.06:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #162669 at 7.30:1.

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
#516BDB · 4.69:1
AA on white−22% L
#516BDB
The quick fox
#2B4ACE · 7.06:1
AAA on white−32% L
#2B4ACE
The quick fox
#aebaee · 11.06:1
AA on blackalready passes
#aebaee
The quick fox
#aebaee · 11.06:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#aebaee

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #7B8FE3 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
#aebaee on white: 1.90:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#aebaee on black: 11.06:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.90:1AaAa
Slate 501.82:1AaAa
Slate 1001.73:1AaAa
Slate 2001.54:1AaAa
Slate 3001.28:1AaAa
Slate 4001.35:1AaAa
Slate 5002.51:1AaAa
Slate 6003.99:1AaAa
Slate 7005.45:1AaAa
Slate 8007.70:1AaAa
Slate 9009.40:1AaAa
Black11.06:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #ABBFF0
deuteranopia · #A6BAED
tritanopia · #9EC4CC

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. #aebaee 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.

#F3F5FB
#E8EBF7
#CBD2F1
#aebaee
#7488E2
#4661D8
#2A48CA
#233CA9
#1C3087
#182662
#0F183D
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F3F5FBDarkest = 950 · #0F183DText step on white = 500
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 0.019 274.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.030 274.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.045 274.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.059 274.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.069 274.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.075 274.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.075 274.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.071 274.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.063 274.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.053 274.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.041 274.5);
}

Colors that work with #aebaee

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#F4F5FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0C8ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B5A9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#AD6E1F
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#162669
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EAEDFB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141724
Dark-mode background
Hover#91A1E8
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7388E2
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#BBC6F5
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 #aebaee

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • 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 #162669
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #7B8FE3

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.

This is a confident chroma: strong enough to lead a brand, restrained enough to live in an interface all day. 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-high
  • Weight19/100
  • 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#EEE2AE
Analogous left#AEDAEE
Analogous right#C2AEEE
Split-complement 1#EEC2AE
Split-complement 2#DAEEAE
Triadic 1#EEAEBA
Triadic 2#BAEEAE
Tetradic#EEAEDA
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°229°

#aebaee sits at 229°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red68.2%
Green72.9%
Blue93.3%
R · 0–255
174
0xae
G · 0–255
186
0xba
B · 0–255
238
0xee

CMYK percentages

Cyan26.9%
Magenta21.8%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)6.7%

Total ink coverage is 55%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#aebaee text on a black background

contrast 11.06:1

Card sample

#aebaee text on a white background

contrast 1.90:1

Card sample

#aebaee on grey

1.73:1

#aebaee on its own surface

1.74:1

#aebaee on its dark surface

9.39:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(174, 186, 238, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(174, 186, 238, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #aebaee;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #aebaee, #CDAEEE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

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

Marked up text

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

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #aebaee 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(174, 186, 238, 0.5)
rgb(174 186 238 / 50%)
#aebaee80
hsl(229 65% 81% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #aebaee 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#aebaee1a#F7F8FD
20%#aebaee33#EFF1FC
40%#aebaee66#DFE3F8
60%#aebaee99#CED6F5
80%#aebaeecc#BEC8F1

Gradients from #aebaee

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, #E1E5F9, #aebaee 45%, #162669);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #aebaee, #C495E9);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #aebaee, #EEE2AE);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F2F4FC 0%, #aebaee 45%, #162669 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F5FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #D8F0F7 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D9C7F3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #162669 0%, transparent 65%), #aebaee;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #aebaee

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.

#aebaee 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 11.06:1.

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.

#aebaee, answered

What color is #aebaee?

#aebaee is a light vivid blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 7.5). It sits at 229° on the hue wheel with 65% saturation and 81% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #aebaee?

rgb(174, 186, 238) — 174 red, 186 green and 238 blue out of 255, or 68.2% / 72.9% / 93.3% by channel.

What is #aebaee in HSL and HSV?

hsl(229, 65%, 81%) and hsv(229, 27%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #aebaee a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5029 and perceived brightness is 74%, so black text on it reaches 11.06:1.

Should I use black or white text on #aebaee?

Black. It scores 11.06:1 against #aebaee, versus 1.90:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #aebaee accessible on a white background?

#aebaee on white scores 1.90:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #516BDB to reach 4.5:1, or #2B4ACE for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #aebaee?

#EEE2AE sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #EEC2AE and #DAEEAE, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #aebaee?

For interface work: #F4F5FA as the surface, #C0C8ED for borders, #4B5A9B for secondary text, #AD6E1F as an accent and #162669 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AEDAEE and #C2AEEE stays calm, while #EEE2AE is the loudest partner.

What is #aebaee in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(27%, 22%, 0%, 7%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #aebaee warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 90 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #BAAEEE; nudged cooler, #ADC7EF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #aebaee?

The blue family — its 500 step is #3b82f6, ΔE2000 20.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #aebaee as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #aebaee in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(174, 186, 238, 0.5), or #aebaee80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D7DDF7; over black, #575D77.

Is #aebaee a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCFF, ΔE2000 10.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #aebaee 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 chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #aebaee?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E1E5F9, #aebaee 45%, #162669). For more colour, a short hue run to #C495E9 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #aebaee in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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