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blue · cool

#ccdaf8

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

Token name suggestion: Whisper Denim

RGB
204, 218, 248
HSL
221°, 76%, 89%
CMYK
18, 12, 0, 3
Luminance
0.6976

#ccdaf8 is a pale electric blue, 221° on the wheel and 94/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (14.95:1). As text it scores 1.40:1 on white — use #386FE4 instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(221 76% 89%)rgb(204 218 248)Base step 200AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ccdaf8 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ccdaf8
Hue
221°
blue
Saturation
76%
electric
Lightness
89%
pale
Brightness
97%
HSV value
Perceived
85%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6976
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
94/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
14.95:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 6.5
Chroma
16.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.887
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 24.1
Web-safe
#CCCCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue221° of 360°
Saturation76%
Lightness89%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ccdaf8.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool94% 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
Red18%
Green72%
Blue10%

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

Every format

HEX#ccdaf8
HEX (8-digit)#ccdaf8ff
RGBrgb(204, 218, 248)
RGBArgba(204, 218, 248, 1)
HSLhsl(221, 76%, 89%)
HSV / HSBhsv(221, 18%, 97%)
HWBhwb(221 80% 3%)
CMYKcmyk(18%, 12%, 0%, 3%)
LABlab(86.9 1.4 -16.2)
LCHlch(86.9 16.3 274.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.887 0.044 265.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(66.91, 69.76, 98.73)
Decimal13425400
Display P3color(display-p3 0.800 0.855 0.973)
Web-safe#CCCCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ccdaf8;
background-color: #ccdaf8;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ccdaf8;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ccdaf8] bg-[#ccdaf8]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ccdaf8;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.800, green: 0.855, blue: 0.973)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.800, green: 0.855, blue: 0.973, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CCDAF8</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCCDAF8)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCCDAF8)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(248, 218, 204)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(204, 218, 248)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(204, 218, 248)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 204, 218, 248)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8000f, 0.8549f, 0.9725f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{204,218,248}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ccdaf8 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ccdaf8 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#0F2E70, #D3DBEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ccdaf8 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: #F3F6FC;
  --brand-100: #E7ECF9;
  --brand-200: #ccdaf8;
  --brand-300: #9CB7F1;
  --brand-400: #6B94EB;
  --brand-500: #3A70E4;
  --brand-600: #1D59D7;
  --brand-700: #194AB3;
  --brand-800: #143B90;
  --brand-900: #122E68;
  --brand-950: #0C1D41;
  --brand: #ccdaf8;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F6FA;
  --brand-border: #C0CEED;
  --brand-hover: #ACC3F4;
  --brand-pressed: #8DACEF;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141924;
    --brand-ink: #D3DBEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3F6FC',
        100: '#E7ECF9',
        200: '#ccdaf8',
        300: '#9CB7F1',
        400: '#6B94EB',
        500: '#3A70E4',
        600: '#1D59D7',
        700: '#194AB3',
        800: '#143B90',
        900: '#122E68',
        950: '#0C1D41',
        DEFAULT: '#ccdaf8',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3F6FC,
  '100': #E7ECF9,
  '200': #ccdaf8,
  '300': #9CB7F1,
  '400': #6B94EB,
  '500': #3A70E4,
  '600': #1D59D7,
  '700': #194AB3,
  '800': #143B90,
  '900': #122E68,
  '950': #0C1D41,
);
$brand-base: #ccdaf8;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3F6FC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E7ECF9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#ccdaf8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#9CB7F1", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#6B94EB", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#3A70E4", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#1D59D7", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#194AB3", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#143B90", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#122E68", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0C1D41", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ccdaf8 · 14.95:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.40:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 14.95:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #ccdaf8 as text scores 1.40:1 on white and 14.95:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #0F2E70 at 9.09:1.

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
#386FE4 · 4.60:1
AA on white−33% L
#386FE4
The quick fox
#1A4FBF · 7.21:1
AAA on white−46% L
#1A4FBF
The quick fox
#ccdaf8 · 14.95:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ccdaf8
The quick fox
#ccdaf8 · 14.95:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#ccdaf8

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #6992EA 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
#ccdaf8 on white: 1.40:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ccdaf8 on black: 14.95:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ccdaf8 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ccdaf8.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.40:1AaAa
Slate 501.34:1AaAa
Slate 1001.28:1AaAa
Slate 2001.14:1AaAa
Slate 3001.06:1AaAa
Slate 4001.83:1AaAa
Slate 5003.39:1AaAa
Slate 6005.40:1AaAa
Slate 7007.37:1AaAa
Slate 80010.42:1AaAa
Slate 90012.71:1AaAa
Black14.95:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D1DCF9
deuteranopia · #CDD8F7
tritanopia · #C2E0E4

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. #ccdaf8 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.

#F3F6FC
#E7ECF9
#ccdaf8
#9CB7F1
#6B94EB
#3A70E4
#1D59D7
#194AB3
#143B90
#122E68
#0C1D41
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F3F6FCDarkest = 950 · #0C1D41Text 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 0.011 265.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.018 265.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.026 265.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.034 265.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.041 265.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.044 265.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.044 265.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.041 265.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.037 265.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.031 265.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.024 265.6);
}

Colors that work with #ccdaf8

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#C0CEED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B649B
Captions on the surface
Accent#B75B15
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#0F2E70
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E9EFFC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141924
Dark-mode background
Hover#ACC3F4
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8DACEF
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F4F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D9E4FC
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 #ccdaf8

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 #0F2E70
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #6992EA

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
  • Weight11/100
  • 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#F8EACC
Analogous left#CCF0F8
Analogous right#D4CCF8
Split-complement 1#F8D4CC
Split-complement 2#F0F8CC
Triadic 1#F8CCDA
Triadic 2#DAF8CC
Tetradic#F8CCF0
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°221°

#ccdaf8 sits at 221°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red80.0%
Green85.5%
Blue97.3%
R · 0–255
204
0xcc
G · 0–255
218
0xda
B · 0–255
248
0xf8

CMYK percentages

Cyan17.7%
Magenta12.1%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)2.7%

Total ink coverage is 33%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ccdaf8 text on a black background

contrast 14.95:1

Card sample

#ccdaf8 text on a white background

contrast 1.40:1

Card sample

#ccdaf8 on grey

1.28:1

#ccdaf8 on its own surface

1.30:1

#ccdaf8 on its dark surface

12.52:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ccdaf8;
Background color
Panel with #ccdaf8 background
background-color: #ccdaf8;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ccdaf8;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(204, 218, 248, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(204, 218, 248, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ccdaf8;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ccdaf8, #DBCCF8);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ccdaf8, #E6CCF8);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ccdaf8;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ccdaf8;
caret-color: #ccdaf8;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ccdaf8;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E9EFFC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ccdaf8;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ccdaf8 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ccdaf8 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(204, 218, 248, 0.5)
rgb(204 218 248 / 50%)
#ccdaf880
hsl(221 76% 89% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ccdaf8 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ccdaf81a#FAFBFE
20%#ccdaf833#F5F8FE
40%#ccdaf866#EBF0FC
60%#ccdaf899#E0E9FB
80%#ccdaf8cc#D6E1F9

Gradients from #ccdaf8

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, #EDF2FD, #ccdaf8 45%, #0F2E70);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ccdaf8, #CEB1F4);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ccdaf8, #F8EACC);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F2F5FD 0%, #ccdaf8 45%, #0F2E70 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F6FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #F9FEFE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #ECE7FC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #0F2E70 0%, transparent 65%), #ccdaf8;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ccdaf8

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.

#ccdaf8 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 14.95:1.

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.

#ccdaf8, answered

What color is #ccdaf8?

#ccdaf8 is a pale electric blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 6.5). It sits at 221° on the hue wheel with 76% saturation and 89% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #ccdaf8?

rgb(204, 218, 248) — 204 red, 218 green and 248 blue out of 255, or 80% / 85.5% / 97.3% by channel.

What is #ccdaf8 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(221, 76%, 89%) and hsv(221, 18%, 97%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ccdaf8 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6976 and perceived brightness is 85%, so black text on it reaches 14.95:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ccdaf8?

Black. It scores 14.95:1 against #ccdaf8, versus 1.40:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #ccdaf8 accessible on a white background?

#ccdaf8 on white scores 1.40:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #386FE4 to reach 4.5:1, or #1A4FBF for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ccdaf8?

#F8EACC sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #F8D4CC and #F0F8CC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ccdaf8?

For interface work: #F4F6FA as the surface, #C0CEED for borders, #4B649B for secondary text, #B75B15 as an accent and #0F2E70 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CCF0F8 and #D4CCF8 stays calm, while #F8EACC is the loudest partner.

What is #ccdaf8 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(18%, 12%, 0%, 3%). 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 #ccdaf8 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 94 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CECCF8; nudged cooler, #CBDFF9.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ccdaf8?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 24.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ccdaf8 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ccdaf8 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ccdaf8] or text-[#ccdaf8], 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 #ccdaf8 with 50% opacity?

rgba(204, 218, 248, 0.5), or #ccdaf880 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E6EDFC; over black, #666D7C.

Is #ccdaf8 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCFF, ΔE2000 7.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ccdaf8 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 #ccdaf8?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #EDF2FD, #ccdaf8 45%, #0F2E70). For more colour, a short hue run to #CEB1F4 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ccdaf8 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ccdaf8 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.