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blue · cool

#a7bcfd

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

Token name suggestion: Linen Harbour

RGB
167, 188, 253
HSL
225°, 96%, 82%
CMYK
34, 26, 0, 1
Luminance
0.5127

#a7bcfd is a light electric blue, 225° on the wheel and 92/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.25:1). As text it scores 1.87:1 on white — use #3969FB instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(225 96% 82%)rgb(167 188 253)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #a7bcfd is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#a7bcfd
Hue
225°
blue
Saturation
96%
electric
Lightness
82%
light
Brightness
99%
HSV value
Perceived
75%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5127
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
92/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
11.25:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 7.5
Chroma
35.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.803
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 18.8
Web-safe
#99CCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue225° of 360°
Saturation96%
Lightness82%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #a7bcfd.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool92% 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
Red16%
Green70%
Blue14%

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

Every format

HEX#a7bcfd
HEX (8-digit)#a7bcfdff
RGBrgb(167, 188, 253)
RGBArgba(167, 188, 253, 1)
HSLhsl(225, 96%, 82%)
HSV / HSBhsv(225, 34%, 99%)
HWBhwb(225 65% 1%)
CMYKcmyk(34%, 26%, 0%, 1%)
LABlab(76.8 7.8 -34.4)
LCHlch(76.8 35.3 282.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.803 0.095 270.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(51.64, 51.27, 100.08)
Decimal10992893
Display P3color(display-p3 0.655 0.737 0.992)
Web-safe#99CCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #a7bcfd;
background-color: #a7bcfd;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #a7bcfd;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#a7bcfd] bg-[#a7bcfd]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #a7bcfd;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.655, green: 0.737, blue: 0.992)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.655, green: 0.737, blue: 0.992, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#A7BCFD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFA7BCFD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFA7BCFD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(253, 188, 167)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(167, 188, 253)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(167, 188, 253)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 167, 188, 253)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6549f, 0.7373f, 0.9922f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{167,188,253}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #a7bcfd 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #a7bcfd 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#03217D, #D3D9EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #a7bcfd 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: #F1F4FD;
  --brand-100: #E4EAFC;
  --brand-200: #C1CFFA;
  --brand-300: #a7bcfd;
  --brand-400: #5A82FB;
  --brand-500: #2458FA;
  --brand-600: #053FEF;
  --brand-700: #0434C8;
  --brand-800: #042AA0;
  --brand-900: #072273;
  --brand-950: #051548;
  --brand: #a7bcfd;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F6FA;
  --brand-border: #C0CBED;
  --brand-hover: #84A2FC;
  --brand-pressed: #6187FB;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141824;
    --brand-ink: #D3D9EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F1F4FD',
        100: '#E4EAFC',
        200: '#C1CFFA',
        300: '#a7bcfd',
        400: '#5A82FB',
        500: '#2458FA',
        600: '#053FEF',
        700: '#0434C8',
        800: '#042AA0',
        900: '#072273',
        950: '#051548',
        DEFAULT: '#a7bcfd',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F1F4FD,
  '100': #E4EAFC,
  '200': #C1CFFA,
  '300': #a7bcfd,
  '400': #5A82FB,
  '500': #2458FA,
  '600': #053FEF,
  '700': #0434C8,
  '800': #042AA0,
  '900': #072273,
  '950': #051548,
);
$brand-base: #a7bcfd;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F1F4FD", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E4EAFC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C1CFFA", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#a7bcfd", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#5A82FB", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#2458FA", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#053FEF", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#0434C8", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#042AA0", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#072273", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#051548", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #a7bcfd · 11.25:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.87:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.25:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #a7bcfd as text scores 1.87:1 on white and 11.25:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #03217D at 7.42:1.

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
#3969FB · 4.58:1
AA on white−22% L
#3969FB
The quick fox
#053FF1 · 7.03:1
AAA on white−34% L
#053FF1
The quick fox
#a7bcfd · 11.25:1
AA on blackalready passes
#a7bcfd
The quick fox
#a7bcfd · 11.25:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#a7bcfd

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #6B8FFC 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
#a7bcfd on white: 1.87:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#a7bcfd on black: 11.25:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #a7bcfd as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #a7bcfd.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.87:1AaAa
Slate 501.78:1AaAa
Slate 1001.70:1AaAa
Slate 2001.51:1AaAa
Slate 3001.26:1AaAa
Slate 4001.37:1AaAa
Slate 5002.55:1AaAa
Slate 6004.06:1AaAa
Slate 7005.55:1AaAa
Slate 8007.84:1AaAa
Slate 9009.57:1AaAa
Black11.25:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A7C2FF
deuteranopia · #A0BAFB
tritanopia · #8EC9D3

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. #a7bcfd is pinned to step 300; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F1F4FD
#E4EAFC
#C1CFFA
#a7bcfd
#5A82FB
#2458FA
#053FEF
#0434C8
#042AA0
#072273
#051548
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F1F4FDDarkest = 950 · #051548Text 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 0.024 270.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.038 270.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.057 270.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.074 270.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.088 270.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.095 270.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.095 270.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.090 270.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.080 270.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.067 270.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.052 270.3);
}

Colors that work with #a7bcfd

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#C0CBED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B5E9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#CC6800
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#03217D
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E6ECFE
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141824
Dark-mode background
Hover#84A2FC
One step down in lightness
Pressed#6187FB
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F4F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#BACBFF
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 #a7bcfd

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 #03217D
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #6B8FFC

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 lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

It is also the most crowded hue on the web. Distinctiveness has to come from your other choices.

Reads as
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight18/100
  • 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#FDE8A7
Analogous left#A7E7FD
Analogous right#BDA7FD
Split-complement 1#FDBDA7
Split-complement 2#E7FDA7
Triadic 1#FDA7BC
Triadic 2#BCFDA7
Tetradic#FDA7E7
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°225°

#a7bcfd sits at 225°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red65.5%
Green73.7%
Blue99.2%
R · 0–255
167
0xa7
G · 0–255
188
0xbc
B · 0–255
253
0xfd

CMYK percentages

Cyan34.0%
Magenta25.7%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)0.8%

Total ink coverage is 61%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#a7bcfd text on a black background

contrast 11.25:1

Card sample

#a7bcfd text on a white background

contrast 1.87:1

Card sample

#a7bcfd on grey

1.70:1

#a7bcfd on its own surface

1.72:1

#a7bcfd on its dark surface

9.49:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #a7bcfd;
Background color
Panel with #a7bcfd background
background-color: #a7bcfd;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #a7bcfd;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(167, 188, 253, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(167, 188, 253, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #a7bcfd;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #a7bcfd, #CBA7FD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #a7bcfd, #E1A7FD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #a7bcfd;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #a7bcfd;
caret-color: #a7bcfd;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #a7bcfd;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E6ECFE;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #a7bcfd;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#a7bcfd 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #a7bcfd 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(167, 188, 253, 0.5)
rgb(167 188 253 / 50%)
#a7bcfd80
hsl(225 96% 82% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #a7bcfd 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#a7bcfd1a#F6F8FF
20%#a7bcfd33#EDF2FF
40%#a7bcfd66#DCE4FE
60%#a7bcfd99#CAD7FE
80%#a7bcfdcc#B9C9FD

Gradients from #a7bcfd

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, #E3EAFE, #a7bcfd 45%, #03217D);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #a7bcfd, #C389FC);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #a7bcfd, #FDE8A7);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F0F4FF 0%, #a7bcfd 45%, #03217D 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%, #D9F8FE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D8C5FE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #03217D 0%, transparent 65%), #a7bcfd;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #a7bcfd

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.

#a7bcfd 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 11.25:1.

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.

#a7bcfd, answered

What color is #a7bcfd?

#a7bcfd is a light electric blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 7.5). It sits at 225° on the hue wheel with 96% saturation and 82% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #a7bcfd?

rgb(167, 188, 253) — 167 red, 188 green and 253 blue out of 255, or 65.5% / 73.7% / 99.2% by channel.

What is #a7bcfd in HSL and HSV?

hsl(225, 96%, 82%) and hsv(225, 34%, 99%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #a7bcfd a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5127 and perceived brightness is 75%, so black text on it reaches 11.25:1.

Should I use black or white text on #a7bcfd?

Black. It scores 11.25:1 against #a7bcfd, versus 1.87:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #a7bcfd accessible on a white background?

#a7bcfd on white scores 1.87:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #3969FB to reach 4.5:1, or #053FF1 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #a7bcfd?

#FDE8A7 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #FDBDA7 and #E7FDA7, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #a7bcfd?

For interface work: #F4F6FA as the surface, #C0CBED for borders, #4B5E9B for secondary text, #CC6800 as an accent and #03217D for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #A7E7FD and #BDA7FD stays calm, while #FDE8A7 is the loudest partner.

What is #a7bcfd in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(34%, 26%, 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 #a7bcfd warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 92 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #B2A7FD; nudged cooler, #A6CAFE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #a7bcfd?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 18.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #a7bcfd as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #a7bcfd in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#a7bcfd] or text-[#a7bcfd], 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 #a7bcfd with 50% opacity?

rgba(167, 188, 253, 0.5), or #a7bcfd80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D3DEFE; over black, #545E7F.

Is #a7bcfd a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCFF, ΔE2000 8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #a7bcfd 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 #a7bcfd?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E3EAFE, #a7bcfd 45%, #03217D). For more colour, a short hue run to #C389FC keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #a7bcfd in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #a7bcfd at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.