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blue · cool

#aaa9da

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Cobalt

RGB
170, 169, 218
HSL
241°, 40%, 76%
CMYK
22, 23, 0, 15
Luminance
0.4198

#aaa9da is a light soft blue, 241° on the wheel and 83/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.40:1). As text it scores 2.23:1 on white — use #6E6CC0 instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is blue.

hsl(241 40% 76%)rgb(170 169 218)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #aaa9da is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#aaa9da
Hue
241°
blue
Saturation
40%
soft
Lightness
76%
light
Brightness
85%
HSV value
Perceived
69%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4198
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
83/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
9.40:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 11.4
Chroma
26.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.753
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
blue
500 · ΔE 20.9
Web-safe
#9999CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue241° of 360°
Saturation40%
Lightness76%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #aaa9da.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool83% 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
Red20%
Green68%
Blue12%

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

Every format

HEX#aaa9da
HEX (8-digit)#aaa9daff
RGBrgb(170, 169, 218)
RGBArgba(170, 169, 218, 1)
HSLhsl(241, 40%, 76%)
HSV / HSBhsv(241, 22%, 85%)
HWBhwb(241 66% 15%)
CMYKcmyk(22%, 23%, 0%, 15%)
LABlab(70.9 10.7 -24.6)
LCHlch(70.9 26.8 293.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.753 0.070 285.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(43.42, 41.98, 72.13)
Decimal11184602
Display P3color(display-p3 0.667 0.663 0.855)
Web-safe#9999CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #aaa9da;
background-color: #aaa9da;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #aaa9da;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#aaa9da] bg-[#aaa9da]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #aaa9da;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.667, green: 0.663, blue: 0.855)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.667, green: 0.663, blue: 0.855, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AAA9DA</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAAA9DA)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAAA9DA)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(218, 169, 170)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(170, 169, 218)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(170, 169, 218)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 170, 169, 218)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6667f, 0.6627f, 0.8549f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{170,169,218}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #aaa9da 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #aaa9da 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#272659, #D5D4ED);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #aaa9da 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: #F5F5FA;
  --brand-100: #EBEBF4;
  --brand-200: #D3D2E9;
  --brand-300: #aaa9da;
  --brand-400: #8B89CC;
  --brand-500: #6462BB;
  --brand-600: #4C4AAB;
  --brand-700: #3F3D8F;
  --brand-800: #323172;
  --brand-900: #282754;
  --brand-950: #191834;
  --brand: #aaa9da;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F4FA;
  --brand-border: #C7C6E6;
  --brand-hover: #9190CF;
  --brand-pressed: #7977C5;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141424;
    --brand-ink: #D5D4ED;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F5FA',
        100: '#EBEBF4',
        200: '#D3D2E9',
        300: '#aaa9da',
        400: '#8B89CC',
        500: '#6462BB',
        600: '#4C4AAB',
        700: '#3F3D8F',
        800: '#323172',
        900: '#282754',
        950: '#191834',
        DEFAULT: '#aaa9da',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F5FA,
  '100': #EBEBF4,
  '200': #D3D2E9,
  '300': #aaa9da,
  '400': #8B89CC,
  '500': #6462BB,
  '600': #4C4AAB,
  '700': #3F3D8F,
  '800': #323172,
  '900': #282754,
  '950': #191834,
);
$brand-base: #aaa9da;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F5FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EBEBF4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D3D2E9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#aaa9da", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#8B89CC", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#6462BB", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#4C4AAB", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#3F3D8F", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#323172", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#282754", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#191834", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #aaa9da · 9.40:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.23:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.40:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #aaa9da as text scores 2.23:1 on white and 9.40:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #272659 at 6.23:1.

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
#6E6CC0 · 4.60:1
AA on white−17% L
#6E6CC0
The quick fox
#4D4BAE · 7.16:1
AAA on white−27% L
#4D4BAE
The quick fox
#aaa9da · 9.40:1
AA on blackalready passes
#aaa9da
The quick fox
#aaa9da · 9.40:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#aaa9da

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #8E8DCE 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
#aaa9da on white: 2.23:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#aaa9da on black: 9.40:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #aaa9da as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #aaa9da.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.23:1AaAa
Slate 502.14:1AaAa
Slate 1002.04:1AaAa
Slate 2001.81:1AaAa
Slate 3001.51:1AaAa
Slate 4001.15:1AaAa
Slate 5002.13:1AaAa
Slate 6003.39:1AaAa
Slate 7004.63:1AaAa
Slate 8006.55:1AaAa
Slate 9007.99:1AaAa
Black9.40:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #9DAFDC
deuteranopia · #9BACD9
tritanopia · #9FB1BA

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. #aaa9da 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.

#F5F5FA
#EBEBF4
#D3D2E9
#aaa9da
#8B89CC
#6462BB
#4C4AAB
#3F3D8F
#323172
#282754
#191834
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F5F5FADarkest = 950 · #191834Text 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 0.018 285.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.028 285.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.042 285.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.055 285.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.064 285.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.070 285.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.070 285.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.066 285.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.059 285.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.049 285.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.039 285.5);
}

Colors that work with #aaa9da

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#F4F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#C7C6E6
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4C4B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#927E3A
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#272659
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EDEDF7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141424
Dark-mode background
Hover#9190CF
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7977C5
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B3B2E5
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 #aaa9da

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 #272659
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #8E8DCE

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 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
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight24/100
  • 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#D9DAA9
Analogous left#A9C1DA
Analogous right#C3A9DA
Split-complement 1#DAC3A9
Split-complement 2#C1DAA9
Triadic 1#DAAAA9
Triadic 2#A9DAAA
Tetradic#DAA9C1
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°241°

#aaa9da sits at 241°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red66.7%
Green66.3%
Blue85.5%
R · 0–255
170
0xaa
G · 0–255
169
0xa9
B · 0–255
218
0xda

CMYK percentages

Cyan22.0%
Magenta22.5%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)14.5%

Total ink coverage is 59%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#aaa9da text on a black background

contrast 9.40:1

Card sample

#aaa9da text on a white background

contrast 2.23:1

Card sample

#aaa9da on grey

2.04:1

#aaa9da on its own surface

2.04:1

#aaa9da on its dark surface

8.13:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #aaa9da;
Background color
Panel with #aaa9da background
background-color: #aaa9da;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #aaa9da;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(170, 169, 218, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(170, 169, 218, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #aaa9da;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #aaa9da, #CBA9DA);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #aaa9da, #D7A9DA);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #aaa9da;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #aaa9da;
caret-color: #aaa9da;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #aaa9da;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EDEDF7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #aaa9da;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#aaa9da 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #aaa9da 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(170, 169, 218, 0.5)
rgb(170 169 218 / 50%)
#aaa9da80
hsl(241 40% 76% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #aaa9da 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#aaa9da1a#F7F6FB
20%#aaa9da33#EEEEF8
40%#aaa9da66#DDDDF0
60%#aaa9da99#CCCBE9
80%#aaa9dacc#BBBAE1

Gradients from #aaa9da

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, #D4D4EC, #aaa9da 45%, #272659);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #aaa9da, #C394D1);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #aaa9da, #D9DAA9);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EAE9F6 0%, #aaa9da 45%, #272659 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #CDDDE9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D5BEE3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #272659 0%, transparent 65%), #aaa9da;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #aaa9da

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.

#aaa9da 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

Converts to four-color process without much drama. Proof it anyway.

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 9.40:1.

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.

#aaa9da, answered

What color is #aaa9da?

#aaa9da is a light soft blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 11.4). It sits at 241° on the hue wheel with 40% saturation and 76% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #aaa9da?

rgb(170, 169, 218) — 170 red, 169 green and 218 blue out of 255, or 66.7% / 66.3% / 85.5% by channel.

What is #aaa9da in HSL and HSV?

hsl(241, 40%, 76%) and hsv(241, 22%, 85%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #aaa9da a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4198 and perceived brightness is 69%, so black text on it reaches 9.40:1.

Should I use black or white text on #aaa9da?

Black. It scores 9.40:1 against #aaa9da, versus 2.23:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #aaa9da accessible on a white background?

#aaa9da on white scores 2.23:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #6E6CC0 to reach 4.5:1, or #4D4BAE for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #aaa9da?

#D9DAA9 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DAC3A9 and #C1DAA9, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #aaa9da?

For interface work: #F4F4FA as the surface, #C7C6E6 for borders, #4C4B9B for secondary text, #927E3A as an accent and #272659 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #A9C1DA and #C3A9DA stays calm, while #D9DAA9 is the loudest partner.

What is #aaa9da in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(22%, 23%, 0%, 15%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #aaa9da warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 83 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #BCA9DA; nudged cooler, #A8BADB.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #aaa9da?

The blue family — its 500 step is #3b82f6, ΔE2000 20.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #aaa9da as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #aaa9da in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#aaa9da] or text-[#aaa9da], 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 #aaa9da with 50% opacity?

rgba(170, 169, 218, 0.5), or #aaa9da80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D5D4ED; over black, #55556D.

Is #aaa9da a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999CC, ΔE2000 4.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #aaa9da 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 #aaa9da?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D4D4EC, #aaa9da 45%, #272659). For more colour, a short hue run to #C394D1 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #aaa9da in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #aaa9da at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.