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blue · cool

#f3f3f9

a pale, soft blue · cool · closest name: Ghost White

Token name suggestion: Frost Sapphire

RGB
243, 243, 249
HSL
240°, 33%, 97%
CMYK
2, 2, 0, 2
Luminance
0.9000

#f3f3f9 is a pale soft blue, 240° on the wheel and 82/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (19.00:1). As text it scores 1.11:1 on white — use #6F6FB7 instead. Nearest name is Ghost White, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(240 33% 97%)rgb(243 243 249)Base step 50AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #f3f3f9 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#f3f3f9
Hue
240°
blue
Saturation
33%
soft
Lightness
97%
pale
Brightness
98%
HSV value
Perceived
96%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.9000
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
82/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
19.00:1
Closest name
Ghost White
ΔE2000 1.1
Chroma
3.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.966
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 31.6
Web-safe
#FFFFFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue240° of 360°
Saturation33%
Lightness97%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #f3f3f9.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool82% 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#f3f3f9
HEX (8-digit)#f3f3f9ff
RGBrgb(243, 243, 249)
RGBArgba(243, 243, 249, 1)
HSLhsl(240, 33%, 97%)
HSV / HSBhsv(240, 2%, 98%)
HWBhwb(240 95% 2%)
CMYKcmyk(2%, 2%, 0%, 2%)
LABlab(96.0 1.1 -2.9)
LCHlch(96.0 3.1 290.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.966 0.008 286.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(86.11, 90.00, 102.44)
Decimal15987705
Display P3color(display-p3 0.953 0.953 0.976)
Web-safe#FFFFFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #f3f3f9;
background-color: #f3f3f9;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #f3f3f9;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#f3f3f9] bg-[#f3f3f9]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #f3f3f9;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.953, green: 0.953, blue: 0.976)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.953, green: 0.953, blue: 0.976, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#F3F3F9</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFF3F3F9)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFF3F3F9)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(249, 243, 243)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(243, 243, 249)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(243, 243, 249)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 243, 243, 249)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9529f, 0.9529f, 0.9765f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{243,243,249}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #f3f3f9 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #f3f3f9 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#2B2B55, #D6D6EB);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #f3f3f9 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: #f3f3f9;
  --brand-100: #ECECF4;
  --brand-200: #D4D4E8;
  --brand-300: #B4B4DA;
  --brand-400: #8F8FC7;
  --brand-500: #6969B4;
  --brand-600: #5252A3;
  --brand-700: #444488;
  --brand-800: #36366D;
  --brand-900: #2A2A50;
  --brand-950: #1B1B32;
  --brand: #f3f3f9;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5F5FA;
  --brand-border: #C9C9E4;
  --brand-hover: #DBDBED;
  --brand-pressed: #C4C4E1;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141424;
    --brand-ink: #D6D6EB;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#f3f3f9',
        100: '#ECECF4',
        200: '#D4D4E8',
        300: '#B4B4DA',
        400: '#8F8FC7',
        500: '#6969B4',
        600: '#5252A3',
        700: '#444488',
        800: '#36366D',
        900: '#2A2A50',
        950: '#1B1B32',
        DEFAULT: '#f3f3f9',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #f3f3f9,
  '100': #ECECF4,
  '200': #D4D4E8,
  '300': #B4B4DA,
  '400': #8F8FC7,
  '500': #6969B4,
  '600': #5252A3,
  '700': #444488,
  '800': #36366D,
  '900': #2A2A50,
  '950': #1B1B32,
);
$brand-base: #f3f3f9;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#f3f3f9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#ECECF4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D4D4E8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B4B4DA", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#8F8FC7", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#6969B4", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#5252A3", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#444488", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#36366D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2A2A50", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1B1B32", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #f3f3f9 · 19.00:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.11:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 19.00:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #f3f3f9 as text scores 1.11:1 on white and 19.00:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #2B2B55 at 12.03:1.

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
#6F6FB7 · 4.53:1
AA on white−39% L
#6F6FB7
The quick fox
#4F4F9E · 7.13:1
AAA on white−50% L
#4F4F9E
The quick fox
#f3f3f9 · 19.00:1
AA on blackalready passes
#f3f3f9
The quick fox
#f3f3f9 · 19.00:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#f3f3f9

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #8D8DC6 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
#f3f3f9 on white: 1.11:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#f3f3f9 on black: 19.00:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #f3f3f9 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #f3f3f9.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.11:1AaAa
Slate 501.06:1AaAa
Slate 1001.01:1AaAa
Slate 2001.12:1AaAa
Slate 3001.34:1AaAa
Slate 4002.32:1AaAa
Slate 5004.31:1AaAa
Slate 6006.86:1AaAa
Slate 7009.37:1AaAa
Slate 80013.23:1AaAa
Slate 90016.15:1AaAa
Black19.00:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #F2F4F9
deuteranopia · #F2F3F9
tritanopia · #F2F4F5

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. #f3f3f9 is pinned to step 50; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#f3f3f9
#ECECF4
#D4D4E8
#B4B4DA
#8F8FC7
#6969B4
#5252A3
#444488
#36366D
#2A2A50
#1B1B32
Base = 50Lightest = 50 · #f3f3f9Darkest = 950 · #1B1B32Text 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 0.002 286.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.003 286.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.005 286.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.006 286.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.007 286.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.008 286.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.008 286.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.008 286.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.007 286.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.006 286.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.004 286.2);
}

Colors that work with #f3f3f9

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#F5F5FA
Tinted page background
Border#C9C9E4
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4D4D99
Captions on the surface
Accent#887D44
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#2B2B55
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EEEEF6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141424
Dark-mode background
Hover#DBDBED
One step down in lightness
Pressed#C4C4E1
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#E2E2F3
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 #f3f3f9

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary 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 #2B2B55
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #8D8DC6

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.

The muted chroma softens the association — it reads considered rather than loud, which suits long-form and data-heavy screens. 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
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight4/100
  • 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#F9F9F3
Analogous left#F3F6F9
Analogous right#F6F3F9
Split-complement 1#F9F6F3
Split-complement 2#F6F9F3
Triadic 1#F9F3F3
Triadic 2#F3F9F3
Tetradic#F9F3F6
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°240°

#f3f3f9 sits at 240°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red95.3%
Green95.3%
Blue97.6%
R · 0–255
243
0xf3
G · 0–255
243
0xf3
B · 0–255
249
0xf9

CMYK percentages

Cyan2.4%
Magenta2.4%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)2.4%

Total ink coverage is 7%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#f3f3f9 text on a black background

contrast 19.00:1

Card sample

#f3f3f9 text on a white background

contrast 1.11:1

Card sample

#f3f3f9 on grey

1.01:1

#f3f3f9 on its own surface

1.02:1

#f3f3f9 on its dark surface

16.45:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #f3f3f9;
Background color
Panel with #f3f3f9 background
background-color: #f3f3f9;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #f3f3f9;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(243, 243, 249, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(243, 243, 249, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #f3f3f9;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #f3f3f9, #F7F3F9);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #f3f3f9, #F9F3F9);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #f3f3f9;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #f3f3f9;
caret-color: #f3f3f9;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #f3f3f9;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EEEEF6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #f3f3f9;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#f3f3f9 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #f3f3f9 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(243, 243, 249, 0.5)
rgb(243 243 249 / 50%)
#f3f3f980
hsl(240 33% 97% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #f3f3f9 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#f3f3f91a#FEFEFE
20%#f3f3f933#FDFDFE
40%#f3f3f966#FAFAFD
60%#f3f3f999#F8F8FB
80%#f3f3f9cc#F5F5FA

Gradients from #f3f3f9

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, #F1F1F8, #f3f3f9 45%, #2B2B55);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #f3f3f9, #EBDFEF);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #f3f3f9, #F9F9F3);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F5F5FA 0%, #f3f3f9 45%, #2B2B55 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5F5FA, #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%, #FFFFFF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #2B2B55 0%, transparent 65%), #f3f3f9;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #f3f3f9

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.

#f3f3f9 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

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

On screens

Very light values are indistinguishable from white on a dim phone screen outdoors. Give it a border if the boundary matters.

In dark mode

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 19.00:1.

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.

#f3f3f9, answered

What color is #f3f3f9?

#f3f3f9 is a pale soft blue, closest to Ghost White (ΔE2000 1.1). It sits at 240° on the hue wheel with 33% saturation and 97% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #f3f3f9?

rgb(243, 243, 249) — 243 red, 243 green and 249 blue out of 255, or 95.3% / 95.3% / 97.6% by channel.

What is #f3f3f9 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(240, 33%, 97%) and hsv(240, 2%, 98%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #f3f3f9 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.9000 and perceived brightness is 96%, so black text on it reaches 19.00:1.

Should I use black or white text on #f3f3f9?

Black. It scores 19.00:1 against #f3f3f9, versus 1.11:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #f3f3f9 accessible on a white background?

#f3f3f9 on white scores 1.11:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #6F6FB7 to reach 4.5:1, or #4F4F9E for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #f3f3f9?

#F9F9F3 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #F9F6F3 and #F6F9F3, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #f3f3f9?

For interface work: #F5F5FA as the surface, #C9C9E4 for borders, #4D4D99 for secondary text, #887D44 as an accent and #2B2B55 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #F3F6F9 and #F6F3F9 stays calm, while #F9F9F3 is the loudest partner.

What is #f3f3f9 in CMYK for printing?

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

Is #f3f3f9 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 82 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #F5F3F9; nudged cooler, #F3F5F9.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #f3f3f9?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 31.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #f3f3f9 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #f3f3f9 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#f3f3f9] or text-[#f3f3f9], 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 #f3f3f9 with 50% opacity?

rgba(243, 243, 249, 0.5), or #f3f3f980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #F9F9FC; over black, #7A7A7D.

Is #f3f3f9 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FFFFFF, ΔE2000 3.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #f3f3f9 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 moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #f3f3f9?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F1F1F8, #f3f3f9 45%, #2B2B55). For more colour, a short hue run to #EBDFEF keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #f3f3f9 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #f3f3f9 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.