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blue · cool

#dbdce1

a pale, muted blue · cool · closest name: Gainsboro

Token name suggestion: Frost Harbour

RGB
219, 220, 225
HSL
230°, 9%, 87%
CMYK
3, 2, 0, 12
Luminance
0.7168

#dbdce1 is a pale muted blue, 230° on the wheel and 60/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (15.34:1). As text it scores 1.37:1 on white — use #727689 instead. Nearest name is Gainsboro, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(230 9% 87%)rgb(219 220 225)Base step 200AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #dbdce1 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#dbdce1
Hue
230°
blue
Saturation
9%
muted
Lightness
87%
pale
Brightness
88%
HSV value
Perceived
86%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.7168
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
60/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
15.34:1
Closest name
Gainsboro
ΔE2000 2.5
Chroma
2.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.895
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 27.5
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue230° of 360°
Saturation9%
Lightness87%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #dbdce1.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool60% 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
Red21%
Green71%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#dbdce1
HEX (8-digit)#dbdce1ff
RGBrgb(219, 220, 225)
RGBArgba(219, 220, 225, 1)
HSLhsl(230, 9%, 87%)
HSV / HSBhsv(230, 3%, 88%)
HWBhwb(230 86% 12%)
CMYKcmyk(3%, 2%, 0%, 12%)
LABlab(87.8 0.6 -2.6)
LCHlch(87.8 2.6 282.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.895 0.007 277.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(68.39, 71.68, 81.45)
Decimal14408929
Display P3color(display-p3 0.859 0.863 0.882)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #dbdce1;
background-color: #dbdce1;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #dbdce1;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#dbdce1] bg-[#dbdce1]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #dbdce1;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.859, green: 0.863, blue: 0.882)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.859, green: 0.863, blue: 0.882, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DBDCE1</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDBDCE1)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDBDCE1)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(225, 220, 219)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(219, 220, 225)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(219, 220, 225)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 219, 220, 225)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8588f, 0.8627f, 0.8824f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{219,220,225}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #dbdce1 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #dbdce1 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#3A3C46, #DEDFE3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #dbdce1 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: #F7F7F8;
  --brand-100: #EFEFF1;
  --brand-200: #dbdce1;
  --brand-300: #C2C3CC;
  --brand-400: #A3A6B3;
  --brand-500: #858899;
  --brand-600: #6F7386;
  --brand-700: #5D606F;
  --brand-800: #4A4D59;
  --brand-900: #383A42;
  --brand-950: #232429;
  --brand: #dbdce1;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F7F7F8;
  --brand-border: #D2D4DA;
  --brand-hover: #C8C9D1;
  --brand-pressed: #B4B6C1;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #191A1F;
    --brand-ink: #DEDFE3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F7F8',
        100: '#EFEFF1',
        200: '#dbdce1',
        300: '#C2C3CC',
        400: '#A3A6B3',
        500: '#858899',
        600: '#6F7386',
        700: '#5D606F',
        800: '#4A4D59',
        900: '#383A42',
        950: '#232429',
        DEFAULT: '#dbdce1',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F7F8,
  '100': #EFEFF1,
  '200': #dbdce1,
  '300': #C2C3CC,
  '400': #A3A6B3,
  '500': #858899,
  '600': #6F7386,
  '700': #5D606F,
  '800': #4A4D59,
  '900': #383A42,
  '950': #232429,
);
$brand-base: #dbdce1;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F7F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EFEFF1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#dbdce1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#C2C3CC", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#A3A6B3", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#858899", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#6F7386", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#5D606F", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#4A4D59", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#383A42", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#232429", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #dbdce1 · 15.34:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.37:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 15.34:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #dbdce1 as text scores 1.37:1 on white and 15.34:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #3A3C46 at 8.01:1.

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
#727689 · 4.50:1
AA on white−38% L
#727689
The quick fox
#545664 · 7.26:1
AAA on white−51% L
#545664
The quick fox
#dbdce1 · 15.34:1
AA on blackalready passes
#dbdce1
The quick fox
#dbdce1 · 15.34:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#dbdce1

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9093A3 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
#dbdce1 on white: 1.37:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#dbdce1 on black: 15.34:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #dbdce1 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #dbdce1.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.37:1AaAa
Slate 501.31:1AaAa
Slate 1001.25:1AaAa
Slate 2001.11:1AaAa
Slate 3001.08:1AaAa
Slate 4001.87:1AaAa
Slate 5003.48:1AaAa
Slate 6005.53:1AaAa
Slate 7007.56:1AaAa
Slate 80010.68:1AaAa
Slate 90013.04:1AaAa
Black15.34:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #DBDCE1
deuteranopia · #DADCE1
tritanopia · #DADDDE

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. #dbdce1 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.

#F7F7F8
#EFEFF1
#dbdce1
#C2C3CC
#A3A6B3
#858899
#6F7386
#5D606F
#4A4D59
#383A42
#232429
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F7F7F8Darkest = 950 · #232429Text step on white = 600
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 0.002 277.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.003 277.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.004 277.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.005 277.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.006 277.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.007 277.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.007 277.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.006 277.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.006 277.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.005 277.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.004 277.2);
}

Colors that work with #dbdce1

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#F7F7F8
Tinted page background
Border#D2D4DA
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#686C7D
Captions on the surface
Accent#72695A
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#3A3C46
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F1F1F3
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#191A1F
Dark-mode background
Hover#C8C9D1
One step down in lightness
Pressed#B4B6C1
Two steps down
Disabled#F4F4F6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#E4E5ED
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 #dbdce1

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Borders, dividers and quiet backgrounds
  • Long-form reading surfaces
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • 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 #3A3C46
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9093A3

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.

With almost no chroma left, the family association is barely present; treat it as a neutral that happens to lean this way. 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
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyLow
  • Weight13/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • ApproachabilityBalanced

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#E1E0DB
Analogous left#DBDFE1
Analogous right#DDDBE1
Split-complement 1#E1DDDB
Split-complement 2#DFE1DB
Triadic 1#E1DBDC
Triadic 2#DCE1DB
Tetradic#E1DBDF
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°230°

#dbdce1 sits at 230°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red85.9%
Green86.3%
Blue88.2%
R · 0–255
219
0xdb
G · 0–255
220
0xdc
B · 0–255
225
0xe1

CMYK percentages

Cyan2.7%
Magenta2.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)11.8%

Total ink coverage is 17%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#dbdce1 text on a black background

contrast 15.34:1

Card sample

#dbdce1 text on a white background

contrast 1.37:1

Card sample

#dbdce1 on grey

1.25:1

#dbdce1 on its own surface

1.28:1

#dbdce1 on its dark surface

12.69:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #dbdce1;
Background color
Panel with #dbdce1 background
background-color: #dbdce1;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #dbdce1;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(219, 220, 225, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(219, 220, 225, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #dbdce1;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #dbdce1, #DEDBE1);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dbdce1, #E0DBE1);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #dbdce1;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #dbdce1;
caret-color: #dbdce1;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #dbdce1;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F1F1F3;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #dbdce1;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#dbdce1 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #dbdce1 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(219, 220, 225, 0.5)
rgb(219 220 225 / 50%)
#dbdce180
hsl(230 9% 87% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #dbdce1 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#dbdce11a#FBFCFC
20%#dbdce133#F8F8F9
40%#dbdce166#F1F1F3
60%#dbdce199#E9EAED
80%#dbdce1cc#E2E3E7

Gradients from #dbdce1

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, #F4F4F6, #dbdce1 45%, #3A3C46);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #dbdce1, #D0CAD3);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dbdce1, #E1E0DB);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F7F7F8 0%, #dbdce1 45%, #3A3C46 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F7F7F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #F7F8F8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #EDECEF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #3A3C46 0%, transparent 65%), #dbdce1;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #dbdce1

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.

#dbdce1 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
BackgroundsBordersBody textDividers
Print note

Very light tints can drop out on uncoated stock; check it at 100% size before signing off.

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 15.34:1.

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.

#dbdce1, answered

What color is #dbdce1?

#dbdce1 is a pale muted blue, closest to Gainsboro (ΔE2000 2.5). It sits at 230° on the hue wheel with 9% saturation and 87% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #dbdce1?

rgb(219, 220, 225) — 219 red, 220 green and 225 blue out of 255, or 85.9% / 86.3% / 88.2% by channel.

What is #dbdce1 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(230, 9%, 87%) and hsv(230, 3%, 88%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #dbdce1 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.7168 and perceived brightness is 86%, so black text on it reaches 15.34:1.

Should I use black or white text on #dbdce1?

Black. It scores 15.34:1 against #dbdce1, versus 1.37:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #dbdce1 accessible on a white background?

#dbdce1 on white scores 1.37:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #727689 to reach 4.5:1, or #545664 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #dbdce1?

#E1E0DB sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #E1DDDB and #DFE1DB, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #dbdce1?

For interface work: #F7F7F8 as the surface, #D2D4DA for borders, #686C7D for secondary text, #72695A as an accent and #3A3C46 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DBDFE1 and #DDDBE1 stays calm, while #E1E0DB is the loudest partner.

What is #dbdce1 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(3%, 2%, 0%, 12%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #dbdce1 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 60 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #E7E3DF; nudged cooler, #D4D9DE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #dbdce1?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 27.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #dbdce1 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #dbdce1 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#dbdce1] or text-[#dbdce1], 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 #dbdce1 with 50% opacity?

rgba(219, 220, 225, 0.5), or #dbdce180 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EDEEF0; over black, #6E6E71.

Is #dbdce1 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 4.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #dbdce1 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 low chroma the association is faint; it behaves more like a neutral.

What gradient works with #dbdce1?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F4F4F6, #dbdce1 45%, #3A3C46). For more colour, a short hue run to #D0CAD3 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #dbdce1 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #dbdce1 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.