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blue · cool

#dfe9fe

a pale, electric blue · cool · closest name: Lavender

Token name suggestion: Chalk Cobalt

RGB
223, 233, 254
HSL
221°, 94%, 94%
CMYK
12, 8, 0, 0
Luminance
0.8112

#dfe9fe is a pale electric blue, 221° on the wheel and 94/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (17.22:1). As text it scores 1.22:1 on white — use #286BF8 instead. Nearest name is Lavender, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(221 94% 94%)rgb(223 233 254)Base step 100AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #dfe9fe is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#dfe9fe
Hue
221°
blue
Saturation
94%
electric
Lightness
94%
pale
Brightness
100%
HSV value
Perceived
91%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.8112
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
94/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
17.22:1
Closest name
Lavender
ΔE2000 4.4
Chroma
11.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.933
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 26.4
Web-safe
#CCFFFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue221° of 360°
Saturation94%
Lightness94%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #dfe9fe.

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
Red19%
Green72%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#dfe9fe
HEX (8-digit)#dfe9feff
RGBrgb(223, 233, 254)
RGBArgba(223, 233, 254, 1)
HSLhsl(221, 94%, 94%)
HSV / HSBhsv(221, 12%, 100%)
HWBhwb(221 87% 0%)
CMYKcmyk(12%, 8%, 0%, 0%)
LABlab(92.2 0.7 -11.3)
LCHlch(92.2 11.3 273.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.933 0.030 265.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(77.46, 81.12, 105.32)
Decimal14674430
Display P3color(display-p3 0.875 0.914 0.996)
Web-safe#CCFFFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #dfe9fe;
background-color: #dfe9fe;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #dfe9fe;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#dfe9fe] bg-[#dfe9fe]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #dfe9fe;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.875, green: 0.914, blue: 0.996)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.875, green: 0.914, blue: 0.996, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DFE9FE</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDFE9FE)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDFE9FE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(254, 233, 223)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(223, 233, 254)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(223, 233, 254)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 223, 233, 254)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8745f, 0.9137f, 0.9961f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{223,233,254}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #dfe9fe 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #dfe9fe 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#042B7C, #D3DCEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #dfe9fe 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: #F2F5FD;
  --brand-100: #dfe9fe;
  --brand-200: #C2D4FA;
  --brand-300: #92B4FC;
  --brand-400: #5C8FFA;
  --brand-500: #256AF8;
  --brand-600: #0752ED;
  --brand-700: #0644C6;
  --brand-800: #05379E;
  --brand-900: #082B72;
  --brand-950: #051B47;
  --brand: #dfe9fe;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F6FA;
  --brand-border: #C0CEED;
  --brand-hover: #BCD1FD;
  --brand-pressed: #9AB9FC;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141924;
    --brand-ink: #D3DCEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F2F5FD',
        100: '#dfe9fe',
        200: '#C2D4FA',
        300: '#92B4FC',
        400: '#5C8FFA',
        500: '#256AF8',
        600: '#0752ED',
        700: '#0644C6',
        800: '#05379E',
        900: '#082B72',
        950: '#051B47',
        DEFAULT: '#dfe9fe',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F2F5FD,
  '100': #dfe9fe,
  '200': #C2D4FA,
  '300': #92B4FC,
  '400': #5C8FFA,
  '500': #256AF8,
  '600': #0752ED,
  '700': #0644C6,
  '800': #05379E,
  '900': #082B72,
  '950': #051B47,
);
$brand-base: #dfe9fe;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F2F5FD", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#dfe9fe", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C2D4FA", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#92B4FC", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#5C8FFA", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#256AF8", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#0752ED", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#0644C6", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#05379E", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#082B72", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#051B47", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #dfe9fe · 17.22:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.22:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 17.22:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #dfe9fe as text scores 1.22:1 on white and 17.22:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #042B7C at 10.49:1.

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
#286BF8 · 4.62:1
AA on white−37% L
#286BF8
The quick fox
#074AD7 · 7.07:1
AAA on white−50% L
#074AD7
The quick fox
#dfe9fe · 17.22:1
AA on blackalready passes
#dfe9fe
The quick fox
#dfe9fe · 17.22:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#dfe9fe

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #5E91FA 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
#dfe9fe on white: 1.22:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#dfe9fe on black: 17.22:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #dfe9fe as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #dfe9fe.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.22:1AaAa
Slate 501.17:1AaAa
Slate 1001.11:1AaAa
Slate 2001.01:1AaAa
Slate 3001.22:1AaAa
Slate 4002.10:1AaAa
Slate 5003.90:1AaAa
Slate 6006.22:1AaAa
Slate 7008.49:1AaAa
Slate 80012.00:1AaAa
Slate 90014.64:1AaAa
Black17.22:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #E3EAFF
deuteranopia · #E0E7FD
tritanopia · #D8EDF0

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. #dfe9fe 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.

#F2F5FD
#dfe9fe
#C2D4FA
#92B4FC
#5C8FFA
#256AF8
#0752ED
#0644C6
#05379E
#082B72
#051B47
Base = 100Lightest = 50 · #F2F5FDDarkest = 950 · #051B47Text 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 0.008 265.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.012 265.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.018 265.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.024 265.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.028 265.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.030 265.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.030 265.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.029 265.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.026 265.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.021 265.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.017 265.3);
}

Colors that work with #dfe9fe

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#4B659B
Captions on the surface
Accent#CC5700
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#042B7C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E6EEFE
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141924
Dark-mode background
Hover#BCD1FD
One step down in lightness
Pressed#9AB9FC
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F4F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D6E3FF
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 #dfe9fe

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 #042B7C
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #5E91FA

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
  • Weight7/100
  • 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#FEF4DF
Analogous left#DFF8FE
Analogous right#E4DFFE
Split-complement 1#FEE4DF
Split-complement 2#F8FEDF
Triadic 1#FEDFE9
Triadic 2#E9FEDF
Tetradic#FEDFF8
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°221°

#dfe9fe sits at 221°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red87.5%
Green91.4%
Blue99.6%
R · 0–255
223
0xdf
G · 0–255
233
0xe9
B · 0–255
254
0xfe

CMYK percentages

Cyan12.2%
Magenta8.3%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)0.4%

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

Color previews

#dfe9fe text on a black background

contrast 17.22:1

Card sample

#dfe9fe text on a white background

contrast 1.22:1

Card sample

#dfe9fe on grey

1.11:1

#dfe9fe on its own surface

1.13:1

#dfe9fe on its dark surface

14.42:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #dfe9fe;
Background color
Panel with #dfe9fe background
background-color: #dfe9fe;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #dfe9fe;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(223, 233, 254, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(223, 233, 254, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #dfe9fe;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #dfe9fe, #EADFFE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dfe9fe, #F1DFFE);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #dfe9fe;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #dfe9fe;
caret-color: #dfe9fe;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #dfe9fe;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E6EEFE;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #dfe9fe;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#dfe9fe 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #dfe9fe 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(223, 233, 254, 0.5)
rgb(223 233 254 / 50%)
#dfe9fe80
hsl(221 94% 94% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #dfe9fe 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#dfe9fe1a#FCFDFF
20%#dfe9fe33#F9FBFF
40%#dfe9fe66#F2F6FF
60%#dfe9fe99#ECF2FE
80%#dfe9fecc#E5EDFE

Gradients from #dfe9fe

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, #EBF1FE, #dfe9fe 45%, #042B7C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #dfe9fe, #DBC1FD);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dfe9fe, #FEF4DF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F0F5FF 0%, #dfe9fe 45%, #042B7C 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%, #FFFFFF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #FDFDFF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #042B7C 0%, transparent 65%), #dfe9fe;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #dfe9fe

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.

#dfe9fe 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 17.22:1.

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.

#dfe9fe, answered

What color is #dfe9fe?

#dfe9fe is a pale electric blue, closest to Lavender (ΔE2000 4.4). It sits at 221° on the hue wheel with 94% saturation and 94% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #dfe9fe?

rgb(223, 233, 254) — 223 red, 233 green and 254 blue out of 255, or 87.5% / 91.4% / 99.6% by channel.

What is #dfe9fe in HSL and HSV?

hsl(221, 94%, 94%) and hsv(221, 12%, 100%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #dfe9fe a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.8112 and perceived brightness is 91%, so black text on it reaches 17.22:1.

Should I use black or white text on #dfe9fe?

Black. It scores 17.22:1 against #dfe9fe, versus 1.22:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #dfe9fe accessible on a white background?

#dfe9fe on white scores 1.22:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #286BF8 to reach 4.5:1, or #074AD7 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #dfe9fe?

#FEF4DF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #FEE4DF and #F8FEDF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #dfe9fe?

For interface work: #F4F6FA as the surface, #C0CEED for borders, #4B659B for secondary text, #CC5700 as an accent and #042B7C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DFF8FE and #E4DFFE stays calm, while #FEF4DF is the loudest partner.

What is #dfe9fe in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(12%, 8%, 0%, 0%). 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 #dfe9fe 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 #E0DFFE; nudged cooler, #DFEDFE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #dfe9fe?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 26.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #dfe9fe as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #dfe9fe in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#dfe9fe] or text-[#dfe9fe], 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 #dfe9fe with 50% opacity?

rgba(223, 233, 254, 0.5), or #dfe9fe80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EFF4FF; over black, #70757F.

Is #dfe9fe a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCFFFF, ΔE2000 17 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #dfe9fe 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 #dfe9fe?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #EBF1FE, #dfe9fe 45%, #042B7C). For more colour, a short hue run to #DBC1FD keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #dfe9fe in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #dfe9fe at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.