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blue · cool

#babffc

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

Token name suggestion: Whisper Sapphire

RGB
186, 191, 252
HSL
236°, 92%, 86%
CMYK
26, 24, 0, 1
Luminance
0.5473

#babffc is a pale electric blue, 236° on the wheel and 86/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.95:1). As text it scores 1.76:1 on white — use #5864F8 instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is blue.

hsl(236 92% 86%)rgb(186 191 252)Base step 200AAA inkCool

At a glance

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

Hex
#babffc
Hue
236°
blue
Saturation
92%
electric
Lightness
86%
pale
Brightness
99%
HSV value
Perceived
77%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5473
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
86/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
11.95:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 8.5
Chroma
32.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.822
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
blue
500 · ΔE 22.7
Web-safe
#CCCCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue236° of 360°
Saturation92%
Lightness86%
Saturation × lightness field

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

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool86% 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%
Green68%
Blue13%

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

Every format

HEX#babffc
HEX (8-digit)#babffcff
RGBrgb(186, 191, 252)
RGBArgba(186, 191, 252, 1)
HSLhsl(236, 92%, 86%)
HSV / HSBhsv(235, 26%, 99%)
HWBhwb(236 73% 1%)
CMYKcmyk(26%, 24%, 0%, 1%)
LABlab(78.9 11.3 -30.6)
LCHlch(78.9 32.6 290.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.822 0.086 280.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(56.45, 54.73, 99.67)
Decimal12238844
Display P3color(display-p3 0.729 0.749 0.988)
Web-safe#CCCCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #babffc;
background-color: #babffc;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #babffc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#babffc] bg-[#babffc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #babffc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.729, green: 0.749, blue: 0.988)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.729, green: 0.749, blue: 0.988, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BABFFC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBABFFC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBABFFC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(252, 191, 186)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(186, 191, 252)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(186, 191, 252)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 186, 191, 252)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7294f, 0.7490f, 0.9882f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{186,191,252}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #babffc 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #babffc 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#050E7A, #D3D5EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #babffc 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: #F2F3FD;
  --brand-100: #E4E6FB;
  --brand-200: #babffc;
  --brand-300: #939BFA;
  --brand-400: #5E69F8;
  --brand-500: #2837F6;
  --brand-600: #0A1BEB;
  --brand-700: #0816C4;
  --brand-800: #07129C;
  --brand-900: #0A1171;
  --brand-950: #060B47;
  --brand: #babffc;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F5FA;
  --brand-border: #C0C3ED;
  --brand-hover: #989FFB;
  --brand-pressed: #767FF9;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141524;
    --brand-ink: #D3D5EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F2F3FD',
        100: '#E4E6FB',
        200: '#babffc',
        300: '#939BFA',
        400: '#5E69F8',
        500: '#2837F6',
        600: '#0A1BEB',
        700: '#0816C4',
        800: '#07129C',
        900: '#0A1171',
        950: '#060B47',
        DEFAULT: '#babffc',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F2F3FD,
  '100': #E4E6FB,
  '200': #babffc,
  '300': #939BFA,
  '400': #5E69F8,
  '500': #2837F6,
  '600': #0A1BEB,
  '700': #0816C4,
  '800': #07129C,
  '900': #0A1171,
  '950': #060B47,
);
$brand-base: #babffc;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F2F3FD", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E4E6FB", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#babffc", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#939BFA", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#5E69F8", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#2837F6", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#0A1BEB", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#0816C4", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#07129C", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#0A1171", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#060B47", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #babffc · 11.95:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.76:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.95:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #babffc as text scores 1.76:1 on white and 11.95:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #050E7A at 8.85:1.

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
#5864F8 · 4.57:1
AA on white−20% L
#5864F8
The quick fox
#2737F6 · 7.09:1
AAA on white−30% L
#2737F6
The quick fox
#babffc · 11.95:1
AA on blackalready passes
#babffc
The quick fox
#babffc · 11.95:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#babffc

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #7F89F9 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
#babffc on white: 1.76:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#babffc on black: 11.95:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.76:1AaAa
Slate 501.68:1AaAa
Slate 1001.60:1AaAa
Slate 2001.43:1AaAa
Slate 3001.18:1AaAa
Slate 4001.46:1AaAa
Slate 5002.71:1AaAa
Slate 6004.31:1AaAa
Slate 7005.89:1AaAa
Slate 8008.32:1AaAa
Slate 90010.16:1AaAa
Black11.95:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #AEC6FF
deuteranopia · #ABC1FA
tritanopia · #AACAD4

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. #babffc 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.

#F2F3FD
#E4E6FB
#babffc
#939BFA
#5E69F8
#2837F6
#0A1BEB
#0816C4
#07129C
#0A1171
#060B47
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F2F3FDDarkest = 950 · #060B47Text 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 0.021 280.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.034 280.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.051 280.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.067 280.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.079 280.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.086 280.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.086 280.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.081 280.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.072 280.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.060 280.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.047 280.7);
}

Colors that work with #babffc

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#C0C3ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B519B
Captions on the surface
Accent#C68806
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#050E7A
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E7E8FE
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141524
Dark-mode background
Hover#989FFB
One step down in lightness
Pressed#767FF9
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#CBCFFF
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 #babffc

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 #050E7A
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #7F89F9

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 high lightness makes it recede — a surface colour rather than a statement.

Worth knowing

It is also the most crowded hue on the web. Distinctiveness has to come from your other choices.

Reads as
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight14/100
  • 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#FCF7BA
Analogous left#BAE0FC
Analogous right#D6BAFC
Split-complement 1#FCD6BA
Split-complement 2#E0FCBA
Triadic 1#FCBABF
Triadic 2#BFFCBA
Tetradic#FCBAE0
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°236°

#babffc sits at 236°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red72.9%
Green74.9%
Blue98.8%
R · 0–255
186
0xba
G · 0–255
191
0xbf
B · 0–255
252
0xfc

CMYK percentages

Cyan26.2%
Magenta24.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)1.2%

Total ink coverage is 52%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#babffc text on a black background

contrast 11.95:1

Card sample

#babffc text on a white background

contrast 1.76:1

Card sample

#babffc on grey

1.60:1

#babffc on its own surface

1.61:1

#babffc on its dark surface

10.28:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(186, 191, 252, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(186, 191, 252, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #babffc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #babffc, #E1BAFC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #babffc, #F2BAFC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #babffc;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #babffc;
caret-color: #babffc;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #babffc;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E7E8FE;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #babffc;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#babffc 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #babffc 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(186, 191, 252, 0.5)
rgb(186 191 252 / 50%)
#babffc80
hsl(236 92% 86% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #babffc 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#babffc1a#F8F9FF
20%#babffc33#F1F2FE
40%#babffc66#E3E5FE
60%#babffc99#D6D9FD
80%#babffccc#C8CCFD

Gradients from #babffc

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, #EBEDFE, #babffc 45%, #050E7A);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #babffc, #DC9DFB);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #babffc, #FCF7BA);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F0F1FE 0%, #babffc 45%, #050E7A 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%, #EBF8FE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #EBD7FD 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #050E7A 0%, transparent 65%), #babffc;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #babffc

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.

#babffc 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 11.95:1.

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.

#babffc, answered

What color is #babffc?

#babffc is a pale electric blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 8.5). It sits at 236° on the hue wheel with 92% saturation and 86% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #babffc?

rgb(186, 191, 252) — 186 red, 191 green and 252 blue out of 255, or 72.9% / 74.9% / 98.8% by channel.

What is #babffc in HSL and HSV?

hsl(236, 92%, 86%) and hsv(235, 26%, 99%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #babffc a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5473 and perceived brightness is 77%, so black text on it reaches 11.95:1.

Should I use black or white text on #babffc?

Black. It scores 11.95:1 against #babffc, versus 1.76:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #babffc accessible on a white background?

#babffc on white scores 1.76:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #5864F8 to reach 4.5:1, or #2737F6 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #babffc?

#FCF7BA sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #FCD6BA and #E0FCBA, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #babffc?

For interface work: #F4F5FA as the surface, #C0C3ED for borders, #4B519B for secondary text, #C68806 as an accent and #050E7A for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BAE0FC and #D6BAFC stays calm, while #FCF7BA is the loudest partner.

What is #babffc in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(26%, 24%, 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 #babffc warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 86 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CDBAFC; nudged cooler, #B9D2FD.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #babffc?

The blue family — its 500 step is #3b82f6, ΔE2000 22.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #babffc as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #babffc in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(186, 191, 252, 0.5), or #babffc80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DDDFFE; over black, #5D607E.

Is #babffc a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCFF, ΔE2000 4.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #babffc 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 #babffc?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #EBEDFE, #babffc 45%, #050E7A). For more colour, a short hue run to #DC9DFB keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #babffc in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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