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blue · cool

#afd3ed

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

Token name suggestion: Linen Sapphire

RGB
175, 211, 237
HSL
205°, 63%, 81%
CMYK
26, 11, 0, 7
Luminance
0.6182

#afd3ed is a light vivid blue, 205° on the wheel and 98/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (13.36:1). As text it scores 1.57:1 on white — use #297BB6 instead. Nearest name is Light Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(205 63% 81%)rgb(175 211 237)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #afd3ed is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#afd3ed
Hue
205°
blue
Saturation
63%
vivid
Lightness
81%
light
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
80%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6182
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
98/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
13.36:1
Closest name
Light Blue
ΔE2000 5.9
Chroma
17.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.849
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 16.4
Web-safe
#99CCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue205° of 360°
Saturation63%
Lightness81%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #afd3ed.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool98% 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
Red15%
Green75%
Blue10%

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

Every format

HEX#afd3ed
HEX (8-digit)#afd3edff
RGBrgb(175, 211, 237)
RGBArgba(175, 211, 237, 1)
HSLhsl(205, 63%, 81%)
HSV / HSBhsv(205, 26%, 93%)
HWBhwb(205 69% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(26%, 11%, 0%, 7%)
LABlab(82.8 -6.1 -16.7)
LCHlch(82.8 17.8 249.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.849 0.053 239.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(56.26, 61.81, 89.07)
Decimal11523053
Display P3color(display-p3 0.686 0.827 0.929)
Web-safe#99CCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #afd3ed;
background-color: #afd3ed;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #afd3ed;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#afd3ed] bg-[#afd3ed]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #afd3ed;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.686, green: 0.827, blue: 0.929)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.686, green: 0.827, blue: 0.929, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AFD3ED</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAFD3ED)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAFD3ED)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(237, 211, 175)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(175, 211, 237)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(175, 211, 237)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 175, 211, 237)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6863f, 0.8275f, 0.9294f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{175,211,237}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #afd3ed 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #afd3ed 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#174668, #D3E3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #afd3ed 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: #F4F8FB;
  --brand-100: #E8F1F7;
  --brand-200: #CBE1F0;
  --brand-300: #afd3ed;
  --brand-400: #76B3E0;
  --brand-500: #489AD6;
  --brand-600: #2D87C8;
  --brand-700: #2570A7;
  --brand-800: #1E5A85;
  --brand-900: #1A4361;
  --brand-950: #102A3D;
  --brand: #afd3ed;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C0DAED;
  --brand-hover: #92C3E6;
  --brand-pressed: #75B3E0;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141D24;
    --brand-ink: #D3E3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4F8FB',
        100: '#E8F1F7',
        200: '#CBE1F0',
        300: '#afd3ed',
        400: '#76B3E0',
        500: '#489AD6',
        600: '#2D87C8',
        700: '#2570A7',
        800: '#1E5A85',
        900: '#1A4361',
        950: '#102A3D',
        DEFAULT: '#afd3ed',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4F8FB,
  '100': #E8F1F7,
  '200': #CBE1F0,
  '300': #afd3ed,
  '400': #76B3E0,
  '500': #489AD6,
  '600': #2D87C8,
  '700': #2570A7,
  '800': #1E5A85,
  '900': #1A4361,
  '950': #102A3D,
);
$brand-base: #afd3ed;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4F8FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E8F1F7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CBE1F0", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#afd3ed", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#76B3E0", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#489AD6", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#2D87C8", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#2570A7", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#1E5A85", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#1A4361", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#102A3D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #afd3ed · 13.36:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.57:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 13.36:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #afd3ed as text scores 1.57:1 on white and 13.36:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #174668 at 6.33:1.

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
#297BB6 · 4.56:1
AA on white−37% L
#297BB6
The quick fox
#1F5C89 · 7.12:1
AAA on white−48% L
#1F5C89
The quick fox
#afd3ed · 13.36:1
AA on blackalready passes
#afd3ed
The quick fox
#afd3ed · 13.36:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#afd3ed

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #479AD6 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
#afd3ed on white: 1.57:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#afd3ed on black: 13.36:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #afd3ed as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #afd3ed.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.57:1AaAa
Slate 501.50:1AaAa
Slate 1001.43:1AaAa
Slate 2001.27:1AaAa
Slate 3001.06:1AaAa
Slate 4001.63:1AaAa
Slate 5003.03:1AaAa
Slate 6004.82:1AaAa
Slate 7006.59:1AaAa
Slate 8009.31:1AaAa
Slate 90011.36:1AaAa
Black13.36:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C8D2EE
deuteranopia · #C0CBED
tritanopia · #9DDADB

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. #afd3ed 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.

#F4F8FB
#E8F1F7
#CBE1F0
#afd3ed
#76B3E0
#489AD6
#2D87C8
#2570A7
#1E5A85
#1A4361
#102A3D
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F4F8FBDarkest = 950 · #102A3DText 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 0.013 239.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.021 239.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.032 239.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.041 239.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.049 239.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.053 239.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.053 239.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.050 239.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.044 239.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.037 239.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.029 239.6);
}

Colors that work with #afd3ed

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#F4F8FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0DAED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B799B
Captions on the surface
Accent#AB3821
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#174668
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EAF4FA
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141D24
Dark-mode background
Hover#92C3E6
One step down in lightness
Pressed#75B3E0
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F5F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#BCDDF5
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 #afd3ed

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 #174668
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #479AD6

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#EDC9AF
Analogous left#AFEDE8
Analogous right#AFB4ED
Split-complement 1#EDAFB4
Split-complement 2#EDE8AF
Triadic 1#EDAFD3
Triadic 2#D3EDAF
Tetradic#E8AFED
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°205°

#afd3ed sits at 205°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red68.6%
Green82.7%
Blue92.9%
R · 0–255
175
0xaf
G · 0–255
211
0xd3
B · 0–255
237
0xed

CMYK percentages

Cyan26.2%
Magenta11.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)7.1%

Total ink coverage is 44%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#afd3ed text on a black background

contrast 13.36:1

Card sample

#afd3ed text on a white background

contrast 1.57:1

Card sample

#afd3ed on grey

1.43:1

#afd3ed on its own surface

1.47:1

#afd3ed on its dark surface

10.86:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #afd3ed;
Background color
Panel with #afd3ed background
background-color: #afd3ed;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #afd3ed;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(175, 211, 237, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(175, 211, 237, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #afd3ed;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #afd3ed, #B4AFED);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #afd3ed, #C4AFED);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #afd3ed;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #afd3ed;
caret-color: #afd3ed;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #afd3ed;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EAF4FA;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #afd3ed;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#afd3ed 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #afd3ed 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, 211, 237, 0.5)
rgb(175 211 237 / 50%)
#afd3ed80
hsl(205 63% 81% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #afd3ed 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#afd3ed1a#F7FBFD
20%#afd3ed33#EFF6FB
40%#afd3ed66#DFEDF8
60%#afd3ed99#CFE5F4
80%#afd3edcc#BFDCF1

Gradients from #afd3ed

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, #E1EEF8, #afd3ed 45%, #174668);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #afd3ed, #A496E7);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #afd3ed, #EDC9AF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F3F8FC 0%, #afd3ed 45%, #174668 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F8FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #D9F6F2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C8C8F3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #174668 0%, transparent 65%), #afd3ed;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #afd3ed

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.

#afd3ed 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 13.36:1.

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.

#afd3ed, answered

What color is #afd3ed?

#afd3ed is a light vivid blue, closest to Light Blue (ΔE2000 5.9). It sits at 205° on the hue wheel with 63% saturation and 81% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #afd3ed?

rgb(175, 211, 237) — 175 red, 211 green and 237 blue out of 255, or 68.6% / 82.7% / 92.9% by channel.

What is #afd3ed in HSL and HSV?

hsl(205, 63%, 81%) and hsv(205, 26%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #afd3ed a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6182 and perceived brightness is 80%, so black text on it reaches 13.36:1.

Should I use black or white text on #afd3ed?

Black. It scores 13.36:1 against #afd3ed, versus 1.57:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #afd3ed accessible on a white background?

#afd3ed on white scores 1.57:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #297BB6 to reach 4.5:1, or #1F5C89 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #afd3ed?

#EDC9AF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #EDAFB4 and #EDE8AF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #afd3ed?

For interface work: #F4F8FA as the surface, #C0DAED for borders, #4B799B for secondary text, #AB3821 as an accent and #174668 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AFEDE8 and #AFB4ED stays calm, while #EDC9AF is the loudest partner.

What is #afd3ed in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(26%, 11%, 0%, 7%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #afd3ed warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 98 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #AFEAED; nudged cooler, #99C1EA.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #afd3ed?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 16.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #afd3ed as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #afd3ed in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#afd3ed] or text-[#afd3ed], 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 #afd3ed with 50% opacity?

rgba(175, 211, 237, 0.5), or #afd3ed80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D7E9F6; over black, #586A77.

Is #afd3ed a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCFF, ΔE2000 6.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #afd3ed 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 #afd3ed?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E1EEF8, #afd3ed 45%, #174668). For more colour, a short hue run to #A496E7 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #afd3ed in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #afd3ed at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.