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blue · cool

#dce9fc

a pale, electric blue · cool · closest name: Alice Blue

Token name suggestion: Whisper Cobalt

RGB
220, 233, 252
HSL
216°, 84%, 93%
CMYK
13, 8, 0, 1
Luminance
0.8052

#dce9fc is a pale electric blue, 216° on the wheel and 97/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (17.10:1). As text it scores 1.23:1 on white — use #1B70EB instead. Nearest name is Alice Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(216 84% 93%)rgb(220 233 252)Base step 100AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #dce9fc is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#dce9fc
Hue
216°
blue
Saturation
84%
electric
Lightness
93%
pale
Brightness
99%
HSV value
Perceived
91%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.8052
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
97/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
17.10:1
Closest name
Alice Blue
ΔE2000 5.9
Chroma
10.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.930
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 25
Web-safe
#CCFFFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue216° of 360°
Saturation84%
Lightness93%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #dce9fc.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool97% 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%
Green72%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#dce9fc
HEX (8-digit)#dce9fcff
RGBrgb(220, 233, 252)
RGBArgba(220, 233, 252, 1)
HSLhsl(216, 84%, 93%)
HSV / HSBhsv(216, 13%, 99%)
HWBhwb(216 86% 1%)
CMYKcmyk(13%, 8%, 0%, 1%)
LABlab(91.9 -0.6 -10.7)
LCHlch(91.9 10.7 266.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.930 0.029 257.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(76.22, 80.52, 103.60)
Decimal14477820
Display P3color(display-p3 0.863 0.914 0.988)
Web-safe#CCFFFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #dce9fc;
background-color: #dce9fc;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #dce9fc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#dce9fc] bg-[#dce9fc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #dce9fc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.863, green: 0.914, blue: 0.988)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.863, green: 0.914, blue: 0.988, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DCE9FC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDCE9FC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDCE9FC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(252, 233, 220)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(220, 233, 252)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(220, 233, 252)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 220, 233, 252)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8627f, 0.9137f, 0.9882f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{220,233,252}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #dce9fc 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #dce9fc 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#0A3675, #D3DEEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #dce9fc 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: #F2F6FC;
  --brand-100: #dce9fc;
  --brand-200: #C5D9F6;
  --brand-300: #98BEF6;
  --brand-400: #649EF2;
  --brand-500: #307DED;
  --brand-600: #1367E1;
  --brand-700: #1056BC;
  --brand-800: #0D4596;
  --brand-900: #0E346D;
  --brand-950: #092144;
  --brand: #dce9fc;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F7FA;
  --brand-border: #C0D2ED;
  --brand-hover: #BBD4F9;
  --brand-pressed: #9AC0F6;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141A24;
    --brand-ink: #D3DEEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F2F6FC',
        100: '#dce9fc',
        200: '#C5D9F6',
        300: '#98BEF6',
        400: '#649EF2',
        500: '#307DED',
        600: '#1367E1',
        700: '#1056BC',
        800: '#0D4596',
        900: '#0E346D',
        950: '#092144',
        DEFAULT: '#dce9fc',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F2F6FC,
  '100': #dce9fc,
  '200': #C5D9F6,
  '300': #98BEF6,
  '400': #649EF2,
  '500': #307DED,
  '600': #1367E1,
  '700': #1056BC,
  '800': #0D4596,
  '900': #0E346D,
  '950': #092144,
);
$brand-base: #dce9fc;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F2F6FC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#dce9fc", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C5D9F6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#98BEF6", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#649EF2", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#307DED", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#1367E1", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#1056BC", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#0D4596", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#0E346D", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#092144", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #dce9fc · 17.10:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.23:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 17.10:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #dce9fc as text scores 1.23:1 on white and 17.10:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #0A3675 at 9.52:1.

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
#1B70EB · 4.60:1
AA on white−41% L
#1B70EB
The quick fox
#1053B5 · 7.18:1
AAA on white−54% L
#1053B5
The quick fox
#dce9fc · 17.10:1
AA on blackalready passes
#dce9fc
The quick fox
#dce9fc · 17.10:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#dce9fc

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #5493F0 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
#dce9fc on white: 1.23:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#dce9fc on black: 17.10:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #dce9fc as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #dce9fc.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.23:1AaAa
Slate 501.17:1AaAa
Slate 1001.12:1AaAa
Slate 2001.00:1AaAa
Slate 3001.21:1AaAa
Slate 4002.09:1AaAa
Slate 5003.88:1AaAa
Slate 6006.17:1AaAa
Slate 7008.43:1AaAa
Slate 80011.91:1AaAa
Slate 90014.54:1AaAa
Black17.10:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #E3EAFD
deuteranopia · #E0E6FC
tritanopia · #D5EDEF

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. #dce9fc is pinned to step 100; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F2F6FC
#dce9fc
#C5D9F6
#98BEF6
#649EF2
#307DED
#1367E1
#1056BC
#0D4596
#0E346D
#092144
Base = 100Lightest = 50 · #F2F6FCDarkest = 950 · #092144Text 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 0.007 257.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.012 257.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.018 257.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.023 257.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.027 257.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.029 257.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.029 257.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.028 257.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.025 257.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.021 257.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.016 257.8);
}

Colors that work with #dce9fc

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#F4F7FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0D2ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B6B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#C14B0B
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#0A3675
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E8F0FD
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141A24
Dark-mode background
Hover#BBD4F9
One step down in lightness
Pressed#9AC0F6
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F4F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D7E7FE
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 #dce9fc

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 #0A3675
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #5493F0

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
  • Weight8/100
  • 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#FCEFDC
Analogous left#DCF9FC
Analogous right#DFDCFC
Split-complement 1#FCDFDC
Split-complement 2#F9FCDC
Triadic 1#FCDCE9
Triadic 2#E9FCDC
Tetradic#FCDCF9
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°216°

#dce9fc sits at 216°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red86.3%
Green91.4%
Blue98.8%
R · 0–255
220
0xdc
G · 0–255
233
0xe9
B · 0–255
252
0xfc

CMYK percentages

Cyan12.7%
Magenta7.5%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)1.2%

Total ink coverage is 21%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#dce9fc text on a black background

contrast 17.10:1

Card sample

#dce9fc text on a white background

contrast 1.23:1

Card sample

#dce9fc on grey

1.12:1

#dce9fc on its own surface

1.14:1

#dce9fc on its dark surface

14.22:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #dce9fc;
Background color
Panel with #dce9fc background
background-color: #dce9fc;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #dce9fc;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(220, 233, 252, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(220, 233, 252, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #dce9fc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #dce9fc, #E4DCFC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dce9fc, #ECDCFC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #dce9fc;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #dce9fc;
caret-color: #dce9fc;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #dce9fc;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E8F0FD;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #dce9fc;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#dce9fc 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #dce9fc 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(220, 233, 252, 0.5)
rgb(220 233 252 / 50%)
#dce9fc80
hsl(216 84% 93% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #dce9fc 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#dce9fc1a#FCFDFF
20%#dce9fc33#F8FBFE
40%#dce9fc66#F1F6FE
60%#dce9fc99#EAF2FD
80%#dce9fccc#E3EDFD

Gradients from #dce9fc

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, #ECF3FD, #dce9fc 45%, #0A3675);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #dce9fc, #D3C0FA);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dce9fc, #FCEFDC);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F1F6FE 0%, #dce9fc 45%, #0A3675 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F7FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #FFFFFF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #F9F8FE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #0A3675 0%, transparent 65%), #dce9fc;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #dce9fc

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.

#dce9fc 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 17.10:1.

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.

#dce9fc, answered

What color is #dce9fc?

#dce9fc is a pale electric blue, closest to Alice Blue (ΔE2000 5.9). It sits at 216° on the hue wheel with 84% saturation and 93% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #dce9fc?

rgb(220, 233, 252) — 220 red, 233 green and 252 blue out of 255, or 86.3% / 91.4% / 98.8% by channel.

What is #dce9fc in HSL and HSV?

hsl(216, 84%, 93%) and hsv(216, 13%, 99%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #dce9fc a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.8052 and perceived brightness is 91%, so black text on it reaches 17.10:1.

Should I use black or white text on #dce9fc?

Black. It scores 17.10:1 against #dce9fc, versus 1.23:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #dce9fc accessible on a white background?

#dce9fc on white scores 1.23:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #1B70EB to reach 4.5:1, or #1053B5 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #dce9fc?

#FCEFDC sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #FCDFDC and #F9FCDC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #dce9fc?

For interface work: #F4F7FA as the surface, #C0D2ED for borders, #4B6B9B for secondary text, #C14B0B as an accent and #0A3675 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DCF9FC and #DFDCFC stays calm, while #FCEFDC is the loudest partner.

What is #dce9fc in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(13%, 8%, 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 #dce9fc warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 97 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #DCDDFC; nudged cooler, #C4DDFB.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #dce9fc?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 25 away. That is a visible difference, so define #dce9fc as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #dce9fc in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#dce9fc] or text-[#dce9fc], 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 #dce9fc with 50% opacity?

rgba(220, 233, 252, 0.5), or #dce9fc80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EEF4FE; over black, #6E757E.

Is #dce9fc a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCFFFF, ΔE2000 15.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #dce9fc 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 #dce9fc?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #ECF3FD, #dce9fc 45%, #0A3675). For more colour, a short hue run to #D3C0FA keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #dce9fc in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #dce9fc at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.