Skip to content

#bdcdfc

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

RGB
189, 205, 252
HSL
225°, 91%, 87%
CMYK
25, 19, 0, 1
Luminance
0.6151

At a glance

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

Hex
#bdcdfc
Hue
225°
blue
Saturation
91%
electric
Lightness
87%
pale
Brightness
99%
HSV value
Perceived
81%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6151
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
92/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
13.30:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 6.8
Where it sits
Hue225° of 360°
Saturation91%
Lightness87%
Temperature
Warm ← → Cool92% cool

Reads cool. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Every format

HEX#bdcdfc
RGBrgb(189, 205, 252)
HSLhsl(225, 91%, 87%)
CMYKcmyk(25%, 19%, 0%, 1%)
LABlab(82.7 4.6 -24.8)
LCHlch(82.7 25.2 280.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.852 0.068 270.2)
Decimal12439036
Display P3color(display-p3 0.741 0.804 0.988)

Copy-ready code

/* CSS */
color: #bdcdfc;
background-color: #bdcdfc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bdcdfc] bg-[#bdcdfc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bdcdfc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.741, green: 0.804, blue: 0.988)
/* Android */
Color.parseColor("#bdcdfc")
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBDCDFC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(252, 205, 189)

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 #bdcdfc · 13.30:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
White text · 1.58:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 13.30:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bdcdfc as text scores 1.58:1 on white and 13.30:1 on black.

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

Aa
#bdcdfc on white: 1.58:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bdcdfc on black: 13.30:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
true color
protanopia · #BFD1FE
deuteranopia · #BACBFB
tritanopia · #ADD6DD

Color scale — 50 to 950

A Tailwind-shaped ramp built around this exact hex. #bdcdfc 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.

#F2F5FD
#E4EAFB
#bdcdfc
#94AEFA
#5E85F8
#285CF5
#0B43EA
#0938C3
#072D9C
#0A2471
#061646
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F2F5FDDarkest = 950 · #061646
:root {
  --brand-50: #F2F5FD;
  --brand-100: #E4EAFB;
  --brand-200: #bdcdfc;
  --brand-300: #94AEFA;
  --brand-400: #5E85F8;
  --brand-500: #285CF5;
  --brand-600: #0B43EA;
  --brand-700: #0938C3;
  --brand-800: #072D9C;
  --brand-900: #0A2471;
  --brand-950: #061646;
  --brand: #bdcdfc;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
}

Colors that work with #bdcdfc

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#F4F6FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0CBED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B5F9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#C66406
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#06237A
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E7EDFE
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141824
Dark-mode background
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

How to use #bdcdfc

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

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#FCECBD
Analogous left#BDECFC
Analogous right#CDBDFC
Split-complement 1#FCCDBD
Split-complement 2#ECFCBD
Triadic 1#FCBDCD
Triadic 2#CDFCBD
Tetradic#FCBDEC

RGB percentages

Red74.1%
Green80.4%
Blue98.8%

CMYK percentages

Cyan25.0%
Magenta18.7%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)1.2%

Color previews

#bdcdfc text on a black background

contrast 13.30:1

Card sample

#bdcdfc text on a white background

contrast 1.58:1

Card sample

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(189, 205, 252, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(189, 205, 252, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bdcdfc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bdcdfc, #D7BDFC);

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bdcdfc

Shades — darker

Tints — lighter

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.

#bdcdfc 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.

#bdcdfc, answered

What color is #bdcdfc?

#bdcdfc is a pale electric blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 6.8). It sits at 225° on the hue wheel with 91% saturation and 87% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #bdcdfc?

rgb(189, 205, 252) — 189 red, 205 green and 252 blue out of 255, or 74.1% / 80.4% / 98.8% by channel.

Is #bdcdfc a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6151 and perceived brightness is 81%, so black text on it reaches 13.30:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bdcdfc?

Black. It scores 13.30:1 against #bdcdfc, versus 1.58:1 for white — AAA at any size.

What is the complementary color of #bdcdfc?

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

What colors go well with #bdcdfc?

For interface work: #F4F6FA as the surface, #C0CBED for borders, #4B5F9B for secondary text, #C66406 as an accent and #06237A for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BDECFC and #CDBDFC stays calm, while #FCECBD is the loudest partner.

What is #bdcdfc in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(25%, 19%, 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 #bdcdfc warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 92 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C4BDFC; nudged cooler, #BCD7FD.

Work with #bdcdfc in the Color Lab