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blue · cool

#afadfc

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

Token name suggestion: Morning Cobalt

RGB
175, 173, 252
HSL
242°, 93%, 83%
CMYK
31, 31, 0, 1
Luminance
0.4603

#afadfc is a light electric blue, 242° on the wheel and 83/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.21:1). As text it scores 2.06:1 on white — use #625EF9 instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is blue.

hsl(242 93% 83%)rgb(175 173 252)Base step 200AAA inkCool

At a glance

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

Hex
#afadfc
Hue
242°
blue
Saturation
93%
electric
Lightness
83%
light
Brightness
99%
HSV value
Perceived
72%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4603
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
83/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
10.21:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 9.5
Chroma
42.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.779
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
blue
500 · ΔE 19.5
Web-safe
#9999FF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue242° of 360°
Saturation93%
Lightness83%
Saturation × lightness field

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

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool83% 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
Red20%
Green65%
Blue15%

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

Every format

HEX#afadfc
HEX (8-digit)#afadfcff
RGBrgb(175, 173, 252)
RGBArgba(175, 173, 252, 1)
HSLhsl(242, 93%, 83%)
HSV / HSBhsv(242, 31%, 99%)
HWBhwb(242 68% 1%)
CMYKcmyk(31%, 31%, 0%, 1%)
LABlab(73.6 18.1 -38.9)
LCHlch(73.6 42.9 294.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.779 0.112 284.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(50.19, 46.03, 98.32)
Decimal11513340
Display P3color(display-p3 0.686 0.678 0.988)
Web-safe#9999FF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #afadfc;
background-color: #afadfc;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #afadfc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#afadfc] bg-[#afadfc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #afadfc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.686, green: 0.678, blue: 0.988)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.686, green: 0.678, blue: 0.988, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AFADFC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAFADFC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAFADFC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(252, 173, 175)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(175, 173, 252)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(175, 173, 252)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 175, 173, 252)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6863f, 0.6784f, 0.9882f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{175,173,252}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #afadfc 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #afadfc 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#07057B, #D3D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #afadfc 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: #F2F2FD;
  --brand-100: #E5E4FB;
  --brand-200: #afadfc;
  --brand-300: #9593FB;
  --brand-400: #615DF9;
  --brand-500: #2C27F7;
  --brand-600: #0E09EC;
  --brand-700: #0C07C5;
  --brand-800: #0A069D;
  --brand-900: #0C0972;
  --brand-950: #070647;
  --brand: #afadfc;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F4FA;
  --brand-border: #C1C0ED;
  --brand-hover: #8D8AFB;
  --brand-pressed: #6C68F9;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141424;
    --brand-ink: #D3D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F2F2FD',
        100: '#E5E4FB',
        200: '#afadfc',
        300: '#9593FB',
        400: '#615DF9',
        500: '#2C27F7',
        600: '#0E09EC',
        700: '#0C07C5',
        800: '#0A069D',
        900: '#0C0972',
        950: '#070647',
        DEFAULT: '#afadfc',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F2F2FD,
  '100': #E5E4FB,
  '200': #afadfc,
  '300': #9593FB,
  '400': #615DF9,
  '500': #2C27F7,
  '600': #0E09EC,
  '700': #0C07C5,
  '800': #0A069D,
  '900': #0C0972,
  '950': #070647,
);
$brand-base: #afadfc;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F2F2FD", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E5E4FB", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#afadfc", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#9593FB", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#615DF9", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#2C27F7", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#0E09EC", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#0C07C5", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#0A069D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#0C0972", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#070647", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #afadfc · 10.21:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.06:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.21:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #afadfc as text scores 2.06:1 on white and 10.21:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #07057B at 7.75:1.

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
#625EF9 · 4.68:1
AA on white−16% L
#625EF9
The quick fox
#3732F7 · 7.09:1
AAA on white−25% L
#3732F7
The quick fox
#afadfc · 10.21:1
AA on blackalready passes
#afadfc
The quick fox
#afadfc · 10.21:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#afadfc

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #8886FB 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
#afadfc on white: 2.06:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#afadfc on black: 10.21:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.06:1AaAa
Slate 501.97:1AaAa
Slate 1001.88:1AaAa
Slate 2001.67:1AaAa
Slate 3001.39:1AaAa
Slate 4001.25:1AaAa
Slate 5002.31:1AaAa
Slate 6003.68:1AaAa
Slate 7005.03:1AaAa
Slate 8007.11:1AaAa
Slate 9008.68:1AaAa
Black10.21:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #96B7FF
deuteranopia · #94B2FA
tritanopia · #9CBBC9

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. #afadfc is pinned to step 200; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F2F2FD
#E5E4FB
#afadfc
#9593FB
#615DF9
#2C27F7
#0E09EC
#0C07C5
#0A069D
#0C0972
#070647
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F2F2FDDarkest = 950 · #070647Text step on white = 400
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 0.028 284.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.045 284.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.067 284.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.087 284.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.103 284.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.112 284.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.112 284.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.105 284.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.094 284.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.078 284.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.061 284.6);
}

Colors that work with #afadfc

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#F4F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#C1C0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4D4B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#CA9C02
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#07057B
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E7E6FE
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141424
Dark-mode background
Hover#8D8AFB
One step down in lightness
Pressed#6C68F9
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C0BEFF
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 #afadfc

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 #07057B
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #8886FB

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.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. 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
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight17/100
  • 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#FAFCAD
Analogous left#ADD2FC
Analogous right#D6ADFC
Split-complement 1#FCD6AD
Split-complement 2#D2FCAD
Triadic 1#FCAFAD
Triadic 2#ADFCAF
Tetradic#FCADD2
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°242°

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

RGB percentages

Red68.6%
Green67.8%
Blue98.8%
R · 0–255
175
0xaf
G · 0–255
173
0xad
B · 0–255
252
0xfc

CMYK percentages

Cyan30.6%
Magenta31.3%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)1.2%

Total ink coverage is 63%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#afadfc text on a black background

contrast 10.21:1

Card sample

#afadfc text on a white background

contrast 2.06:1

Card sample

#afadfc on grey

1.88:1

#afadfc on its own surface

1.88:1

#afadfc on its dark surface

8.83:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(175, 173, 252, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(175, 173, 252, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #afadfc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #afadfc, #E4ADFC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #afadfc, #F7ADFC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #afadfc;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #afadfc;
caret-color: #afadfc;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #afadfc;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E7E6FE;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #afadfc;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#afadfc 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #afadfc 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(175, 173, 252, 0.5)
rgb(175 173 252 / 50%)
#afadfc80
hsl(242 93% 83% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #afadfc 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#afadfc1a#F7F7FF
20%#afadfc33#EFEFFE
40%#afadfc66#DFDEFE
60%#afadfc99#CFCEFD
80%#afadfccc#BFBDFD

Gradients from #afadfc

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, #E8E8FE, #afadfc 45%, #07057B);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #afadfc, #E38FFB);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #afadfc, #FAFCAD);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F1F0FE 0%, #afadfc 45%, #07057B 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #DEF0FE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E9CAFD 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #07057B 0%, transparent 65%), #afadfc;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #afadfc

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.

#afadfc 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

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

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 10.21:1.

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.

#afadfc, answered

What color is #afadfc?

#afadfc is a light electric blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 9.5). It sits at 242° on the hue wheel with 93% saturation and 83% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #afadfc?

rgb(175, 173, 252) — 175 red, 173 green and 252 blue out of 255, or 68.6% / 67.8% / 98.8% by channel.

What is #afadfc in HSL and HSV?

hsl(242, 93%, 83%) and hsv(242, 31%, 99%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #afadfc a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4603 and perceived brightness is 72%, so black text on it reaches 10.21:1.

Should I use black or white text on #afadfc?

Black. It scores 10.21:1 against #afadfc, versus 2.06:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #afadfc accessible on a white background?

#afadfc on white scores 2.06:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #625EF9 to reach 4.5:1, or #3732F7 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #afadfc?

#FAFCAD sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #FCD6AD and #D2FCAD, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #afadfc?

For interface work: #F4F4FA as the surface, #C1C0ED for borders, #4D4B9B for secondary text, #CA9C02 as an accent and #07057B for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #ADD2FC and #D6ADFC stays calm, while #FAFCAD is the loudest partner.

What is #afadfc in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(31%, 31%, 0%, 1%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #afadfc warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 83 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CCADFC; nudged cooler, #ACC7FD.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #afadfc?

The blue family — its 500 step is #3b82f6, ΔE2000 19.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #afadfc as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #afadfc in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(175, 173, 252, 0.5), or #afadfc80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D7D6FE; over black, #58577E.

Is #afadfc a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999FF, ΔE2000 6.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #afadfc 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 #afadfc?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E8E8FE, #afadfc 45%, #07057B). For more colour, a short hue run to #E38FFB keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #afadfc in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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