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blue · cool

#afd9f6

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Cobalt

RGB
175, 217, 246
HSL
205°, 80%, 83%
CMYK
29, 12, 0, 4
Luminance
0.6539

#afd9f6 is a light electric blue, 205° on the wheel and 98/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (14.08:1). As text it scores 1.49:1 on white — use #1579BE instead. Nearest name is Light Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(205 80% 83%)rgb(175 217 246)Base step 200AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #afd9f6 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#afd9f6
Hue
205°
blue
Saturation
80%
electric
Lightness
83%
light
Brightness
96%
HSV value
Perceived
82%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6539
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
98/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
14.08:1
Closest name
Light Blue
ΔE2000 5.9
Chroma
20.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.865
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 16.5
Web-safe
#99CCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue205° of 360°
Saturation80%
Lightness83%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #afd9f6.

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
Red14%
Green76%
Blue10%

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

Every format

HEX#afd9f6
HEX (8-digit)#afd9f6ff
RGBrgb(175, 217, 246)
RGBArgba(175, 217, 246, 1)
HSLhsl(205, 80%, 83%)
HSV / HSBhsv(205, 29%, 96%)
HWBhwb(205 69% 4%)
CMYKcmyk(29%, 12%, 0%, 4%)
LABlab(84.7 -7.2 -18.6)
LCHlch(84.7 20.0 249.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.865 0.060 238.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(59.12, 65.39, 96.68)
Decimal11524598
Display P3color(display-p3 0.686 0.851 0.965)
Web-safe#99CCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #afd9f6;
background-color: #afd9f6;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #afd9f6;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#afd9f6] bg-[#afd9f6]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #afd9f6;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.686, green: 0.851, blue: 0.965)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.686, green: 0.851, blue: 0.965, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AFD9F6</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAFD9F6)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAFD9F6)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(246, 217, 175)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(175, 217, 246)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(175, 217, 246)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 175, 217, 246)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6863f, 0.8510f, 0.9647f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{175,217,246}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #afd9f6 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #afd9f6 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#0D4973, #D3E3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #afd9f6 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: #F3F8FC;
  --brand-100: #E6F1F9;
  --brand-200: #afd9f6;
  --brand-300: #9ACFF4;
  --brand-400: #68B7EE;
  --brand-500: #359FE8;
  --brand-600: #198CDC;
  --brand-700: #1575B7;
  --brand-800: #105E93;
  --brand-900: #10456A;
  --brand-950: #0A2B42;
  --brand: #afd9f6;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C0DAED;
  --brand-hover: #8FCAF2;
  --brand-pressed: #6FBAEF;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141E24;
    --brand-ink: #D3E3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3F8FC',
        100: '#E6F1F9',
        200: '#afd9f6',
        300: '#9ACFF4',
        400: '#68B7EE',
        500: '#359FE8',
        600: '#198CDC',
        700: '#1575B7',
        800: '#105E93',
        900: '#10456A',
        950: '#0A2B42',
        DEFAULT: '#afd9f6',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3F8FC,
  '100': #E6F1F9,
  '200': #afd9f6,
  '300': #9ACFF4,
  '400': #68B7EE,
  '500': #359FE8,
  '600': #198CDC,
  '700': #1575B7,
  '800': #105E93,
  '900': #10456A,
  '950': #0A2B42,
);
$brand-base: #afd9f6;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3F8FC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E6F1F9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#afd9f6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#9ACFF4", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#68B7EE", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#359FE8", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#198CDC", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#1575B7", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#105E93", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#10456A", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0A2B42", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #afd9f6 · 14.08:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.49:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 14.08:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #afd9f6 as text scores 1.49:1 on white and 14.08:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #0D4973 at 6.35:1.

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
#1579BE · 4.66:1
AA on white−41% L
#1579BE
The quick fox
#105C90 · 7.11:1
AAA on white−51% L
#105C90
The quick fox
#afd9f6 · 14.08:1
AA on blackalready passes
#afd9f6
The quick fox
#afd9f6 · 14.08:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#afd9f6

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #2A9AE7 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
#afd9f6 on white: 1.49:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#afd9f6 on black: 14.08:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #afd9f6 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #afd9f6.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.49:1AaAa
Slate 501.43:1AaAa
Slate 1001.36:1AaAa
Slate 2001.21:1AaAa
Slate 3001.00:1AaAa
Slate 4001.72:1AaAa
Slate 5003.19:1AaAa
Slate 6005.08:1AaAa
Slate 7006.94:1AaAa
Slate 8009.81:1AaAa
Slate 90011.97:1AaAa
Black14.08:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #CCD8F8
deuteranopia · #C3D0F6
tritanopia · #99E0E2

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. #afd9f6 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.

#F3F8FC
#E6F1F9
#afd9f6
#9ACFF4
#68B7EE
#359FE8
#198CDC
#1575B7
#105E93
#10456A
#0A2B42
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F3F8FCDarkest = 950 · #0A2B42Text 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 0.015 238.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.024 238.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.036 238.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.047 238.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.055 238.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.060 238.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.060 238.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.056 238.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.050 238.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.042 238.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.033 238.5);
}

Colors that work with #afd9f6

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#4B7A9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#BC2C10
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#0D4973
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E8F4FC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141E24
Dark-mode background
Hover#8FCAF2
One step down in lightness
Pressed#6FBAEF
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F5F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#BEE2FB
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 #afd9f6

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 #0D4973
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #2A9AE7

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
  • Weight18/100
  • 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#F6CCAF
Analogous left#AFF6EF
Analogous right#AFB5F6
Split-complement 1#F6AFB5
Split-complement 2#F6EFAF
Triadic 1#F6AFD9
Triadic 2#D9F6AF
Tetradic#EFAFF6
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°205°

#afd9f6 sits at 205°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red68.6%
Green85.1%
Blue96.5%
R · 0–255
175
0xaf
G · 0–255
217
0xd9
B · 0–255
246
0xf6

CMYK percentages

Cyan28.9%
Magenta11.8%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)3.5%

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

Color previews

#afd9f6 text on a black background

contrast 14.08:1

Card sample

#afd9f6 text on a white background

contrast 1.49:1

Card sample

#afd9f6 on grey

1.36:1

#afd9f6 on its own surface

1.40:1

#afd9f6 on its dark surface

11.35:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #afd9f6;
Background color
Panel with #afd9f6 background
background-color: #afd9f6;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #afd9f6;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(175, 217, 246, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(175, 217, 246, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #afd9f6;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #afd9f6, #B4AFF6);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #afd9f6, #C6AFF6);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #afd9f6;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #afd9f6;
caret-color: #afd9f6;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #afd9f6;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E8F4FC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #afd9f6;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#afd9f6 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #afd9f6 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, 217, 246, 0.5)
rgb(175 217 246 / 50%)
#afd9f680
hsl(205 80% 83% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #afd9f6 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#afd9f61a#F7FBFE
20%#afd9f633#EFF7FD
40%#afd9f666#DFF0FB
60%#afd9f699#CFE8FA
80%#afd9f6cc#BFE1F8

Gradients from #afd9f6

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, #E6F3FC, #afd9f6 45%, #0D4973);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #afd9f6, #A293F3);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #afd9f6, #F6CCAF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F1F8FD 0%, #afd9f6 45%, #0D4973 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%, #DDFBF6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #CACBF9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #0D4973 0%, transparent 65%), #afd9f6;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #afd9f6

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.

#afd9f6 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 14.08:1.

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.

#afd9f6, answered

What color is #afd9f6?

#afd9f6 is a light electric blue, closest to Light Blue (ΔE2000 5.9). It sits at 205° on the hue wheel with 80% saturation and 83% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #afd9f6?

rgb(175, 217, 246) — 175 red, 217 green and 246 blue out of 255, or 68.6% / 85.1% / 96.5% by channel.

What is #afd9f6 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(205, 80%, 83%) and hsv(205, 29%, 96%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #afd9f6 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6539 and perceived brightness is 82%, so black text on it reaches 14.08:1.

Should I use black or white text on #afd9f6?

Black. It scores 14.08:1 against #afd9f6, versus 1.49:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #afd9f6 accessible on a white background?

#afd9f6 on white scores 1.49:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #1579BE to reach 4.5:1, or #105C90 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #afd9f6?

#F6CCAF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #F6AFB5 and #F6EFAF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #afd9f6?

For interface work: #F4F8FA as the surface, #C0DAED for borders, #4B7A9B for secondary text, #BC2C10 as an accent and #0D4973 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AFF6EF and #AFB5F6 stays calm, while #F6CCAF is the loudest partner.

What is #afd9f6 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(29%, 12%, 0%, 4%). 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 #afd9f6 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 #AFF3F6; nudged cooler, #97C6F5.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #afd9f6?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 16.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #afd9f6 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #afd9f6 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#afd9f6] or text-[#afd9f6], 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 #afd9f6 with 50% opacity?

rgba(175, 217, 246, 0.5), or #afd9f680 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D7ECFB; over black, #586D7B.

Is #afd9f6 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCFF, ΔE2000 6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #afd9f6 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 #afd9f6?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E6F3FC, #afd9f6 45%, #0D4973). For more colour, a short hue run to #A293F3 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #afd9f6 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #afd9f6 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.