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blue · cool

#acaaec

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

Token name suggestion: Morning Denim

RGB
172, 170, 236
HSL
242°, 64%, 80%
CMYK
27, 28, 0, 8
Luminance
0.4358

#acaaec is a light vivid blue, 242° on the wheel and 82/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.72:1). As text it scores 2.16:1 on white — use #6B67DD instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is blue.

hsl(242 64% 80%)rgb(172 170 236)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

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

Hex
#acaaec
Hue
242°
blue
Saturation
64%
vivid
Lightness
80%
light
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
70%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4358
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
82/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
9.72:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 10.4
Chroma
36.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.764
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
blue
500 · ΔE 19.7
Web-safe
#9999FF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue242° of 360°
Saturation64%
Lightness80%
Saturation × lightness field

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

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
Red20%
Green66%
Blue14%

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

Every format

HEX#acaaec
HEX (8-digit)#acaaecff
RGBrgb(172, 170, 236)
RGBArgba(172, 170, 236, 1)
HSLhsl(242, 64%, 80%)
HSV / HSBhsv(242, 28%, 93%)
HWBhwb(242 67% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(27%, 28%, 0%, 8%)
LABlab(71.9 15.0 -32.7)
LCHlch(71.9 36.0 294.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.764 0.094 285.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(46.52, 43.58, 85.30)
Decimal11315948
Display P3color(display-p3 0.675 0.667 0.925)
Web-safe#9999FF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #acaaec;
background-color: #acaaec;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #acaaec;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#acaaec] bg-[#acaaec]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #acaaec;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.675, green: 0.667, blue: 0.925)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.675, green: 0.667, blue: 0.925, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#ACAAEC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFACAAEC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFACAAEC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(236, 170, 172)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(172, 170, 236)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(172, 170, 236)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 172, 170, 236)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6745f, 0.6667f, 0.9255f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{172,170,236}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #acaaec 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #acaaec 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#1A1768, #D3D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #acaaec 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: #F4F4FB;
  --brand-100: #E9E8F7;
  --brand-200: #CCCBF0;
  --brand-300: #acaaec;
  --brand-400: #7975E0;
  --brand-500: #4C48D6;
  --brand-600: #312DC8;
  --brand-700: #2925A7;
  --brand-800: #211E85;
  --brand-900: #1C1961;
  --brand-950: #11103D;
  --brand: #acaaec;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F4FA;
  --brand-border: #C1C0ED;
  --brand-hover: #8F8DE5;
  --brand-pressed: #7370DF;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141424;
    --brand-ink: #D3D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4F4FB',
        100: '#E9E8F7',
        200: '#CCCBF0',
        300: '#acaaec',
        400: '#7975E0',
        500: '#4C48D6',
        600: '#312DC8',
        700: '#2925A7',
        800: '#211E85',
        900: '#1C1961',
        950: '#11103D',
        DEFAULT: '#acaaec',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4F4FB,
  '100': #E9E8F7,
  '200': #CCCBF0,
  '300': #acaaec,
  '400': #7975E0,
  '500': #4C48D6,
  '600': #312DC8,
  '700': #2925A7,
  '800': #211E85,
  '900': #1C1961,
  '950': #11103D,
);
$brand-base: #acaaec;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4F4FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E9E8F7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CCCBF0", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#acaaec", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#7975E0", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#4C48D6", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#312DC8", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#2925A7", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#211E85", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#1C1961", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#11103D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #acaaec · 9.72:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.16:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.72:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #acaaec as text scores 2.16:1 on white and 9.72:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #1A1768 at 7.11:1.

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
#6B67DD · 4.56:1
AA on white−16% L
#6B67DD
The quick fox
#4642D5 · 7.00:1
AAA on white−25% L
#4642D5
The quick fox
#acaaec · 9.72:1
AA on blackalready passes
#acaaec
The quick fox
#acaaec · 9.72:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#acaaec

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #8B89E5 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
#acaaec on white: 2.16:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#acaaec on black: 9.72:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.16:1AaAa
Slate 502.07:1AaAa
Slate 1001.97:1AaAa
Slate 2001.75:1AaAa
Slate 3001.46:1AaAa
Slate 4001.19:1AaAa
Slate 5002.20:1AaAa
Slate 6003.51:1AaAa
Slate 7004.79:1AaAa
Slate 8006.77:1AaAa
Slate 9008.26:1AaAa
Black9.72:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #98B2EF
deuteranopia · #96AEEA
tritanopia · #9DB6C1

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. #acaaec 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.

#F4F4FB
#E9E8F7
#CCCBF0
#acaaec
#7975E0
#4C48D6
#312DC8
#2925A7
#211E85
#1C1961
#11103D
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F4F4FBDarkest = 950 · #11103DText 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 0.023 285.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.038 285.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.056 285.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.073 285.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.086 285.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.094 285.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.094 285.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.088 285.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.079 285.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.066 285.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.052 285.3);
}

Colors that work with #acaaec

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#C1C0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4D4B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#AB8D21
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#1A1768
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EBEAFA
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141424
Dark-mode background
Hover#8F8DE5
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7370DF
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B8B6F4
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 #acaaec

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 #1A1768
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #8B89E5

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.

This is a confident chroma: strong enough to lead a brand, restrained enough to live in an interface all day. 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-high
  • Weight20/100
  • 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#EAECAA
Analogous left#AAC9EC
Analogous right#CDAAEC
Split-complement 1#ECCDAA
Split-complement 2#C9ECAA
Triadic 1#ECACAA
Triadic 2#AAECAC
Tetradic#ECAAC9
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°242°

#acaaec sits at 242°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red67.5%
Green66.7%
Blue92.5%
R · 0–255
172
0xac
G · 0–255
170
0xaa
B · 0–255
236
0xec

CMYK percentages

Cyan27.1%
Magenta28.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)7.5%

Total ink coverage is 63%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#acaaec text on a black background

contrast 9.72:1

Card sample

#acaaec text on a white background

contrast 2.16:1

Card sample

#acaaec on grey

1.97:1

#acaaec on its own surface

1.97:1

#acaaec on its dark surface

8.41:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(172, 170, 236, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(172, 170, 236, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #acaaec;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #acaaec, #D8AAEC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #acaaec, #E8AAEC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #acaaec;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

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

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #acaaec 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(172, 170, 236, 0.5)
rgb(172 170 236 / 50%)
#acaaec80
hsl(242 64% 80% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #acaaec 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#acaaec1a#F7F7FD
20%#acaaec33#EEEEFB
40%#acaaec66#DEDDF7
60%#acaaec99#CDCCF4
80%#acaaeccc#BDBBF0

Gradients from #acaaec

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, #DDDCF7, #acaaec 45%, #1A1768);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #acaaec, #D491E6);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #acaaec, #EAECAA);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F3F2FC 0%, #acaaec 45%, #1A1768 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%, #D4E6F5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E0C3F2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #1A1768 0%, transparent 65%), #acaaec;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #acaaec

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.

#acaaec 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 9.72:1.

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.

#acaaec, answered

What color is #acaaec?

#acaaec is a light vivid blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 10.4). It sits at 242° on the hue wheel with 64% saturation and 80% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #acaaec?

rgb(172, 170, 236) — 172 red, 170 green and 236 blue out of 255, or 67.5% / 66.7% / 92.5% by channel.

What is #acaaec in HSL and HSV?

hsl(242, 64%, 80%) and hsv(242, 28%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #acaaec a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4358 and perceived brightness is 70%, so black text on it reaches 9.72:1.

Should I use black or white text on #acaaec?

Black. It scores 9.72:1 against #acaaec, versus 2.16:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #acaaec accessible on a white background?

#acaaec on white scores 2.16:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #6B67DD to reach 4.5:1, or #4642D5 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #acaaec?

#EAECAA sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #ECCDAA and #C9ECAA, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #acaaec?

For interface work: #F4F4FA as the surface, #C1C0ED for borders, #4D4B9B for secondary text, #AB8D21 as an accent and #1A1768 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AAC9EC and #CDAAEC stays calm, while #EAECAA is the loudest partner.

What is #acaaec in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(27%, 28%, 0%, 8%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #acaaec 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 #C4AAEC; nudged cooler, #A9C0ED.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #acaaec?

The blue family — its 500 step is #3b82f6, ΔE2000 19.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #acaaec as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #acaaec in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(172, 170, 236, 0.5), or #acaaec80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D6D5F6; over black, #565576.

Is #acaaec a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999FF, ΔE2000 7.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #acaaec 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 #acaaec?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #DDDCF7, #acaaec 45%, #1A1768). For more colour, a short hue run to #D491E6 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #acaaec in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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