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blue · cool

#acbee9

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

Token name suggestion: Linen Denim

RGB
172, 190, 233
HSL
222°, 58%, 79%
CMYK
26, 19, 0, 9
Luminance
0.5148

#acbee9 is a light vivid blue, 222° on the wheel and 93/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.30:1). As text it scores 1.86:1 on white — use #4B72CF instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(222 58% 79%)rgb(172 190 233)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #acbee9 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#acbee9
Hue
222°
blue
Saturation
58%
vivid
Lightness
79%
light
Brightness
91%
HSV value
Perceived
75%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5148
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
93/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
11.30:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 5.4
Chroma
23.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.802
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 19.2
Web-safe
#99CCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue222° of 360°
Saturation58%
Lightness79%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #acbee9.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool93% 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
Red17%
Green72%
Blue11%

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

Every format

HEX#acbee9
HEX (8-digit)#acbee9ff
RGBrgb(172, 190, 233)
RGBArgba(172, 190, 233, 1)
HSLhsl(222, 58%, 79%)
HSV / HSBhsv(222, 26%, 91%)
HWBhwb(222 67% 9%)
CMYKcmyk(26%, 19%, 0%, 9%)
LABlab(77.0 3.3 -23.4)
LCHlch(77.0 23.6 277.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.802 0.064 267.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(50.13, 51.48, 84.37)
Decimal11321065
Display P3color(display-p3 0.675 0.745 0.914)
Web-safe#99CCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #acbee9;
background-color: #acbee9;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #acbee9;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#acbee9] bg-[#acbee9]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #acbee9;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.675, green: 0.745, blue: 0.914)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.675, green: 0.745, blue: 0.914, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#ACBEE9</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFACBEE9)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFACBEE9)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(233, 190, 172)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(172, 190, 233)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(172, 190, 233)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 172, 190, 233)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6745f, 0.7451f, 0.9137f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{172,190,233}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #acbee9 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #acbee9 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#1B3165, #D3DBEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #acbee9 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: #F4F6FB;
  --brand-100: #E9EDF7;
  --brand-200: #CDD7EF;
  --brand-300: #acbee9;
  --brand-400: #7A97DC;
  --brand-500: #4E74D0;
  --brand-600: #335DC2;
  --brand-700: #2B4EA1;
  --brand-800: #223E81;
  --brand-900: #1C305E;
  --brand-950: #121E3B;
  --brand: #acbee9;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F6FA;
  --brand-border: #C0CDED;
  --brand-hover: #90A8E2;
  --brand-pressed: #7492DA;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141924;
    --brand-ink: #D3DBEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4F6FB',
        100: '#E9EDF7',
        200: '#CDD7EF',
        300: '#acbee9',
        400: '#7A97DC',
        500: '#4E74D0',
        600: '#335DC2',
        700: '#2B4EA1',
        800: '#223E81',
        900: '#1C305E',
        950: '#121E3B',
        DEFAULT: '#acbee9',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4F6FB,
  '100': #E9EDF7,
  '200': #CDD7EF,
  '300': #acbee9,
  '400': #7A97DC,
  '500': #4E74D0,
  '600': #335DC2,
  '700': #2B4EA1,
  '800': #223E81,
  '900': #1C305E,
  '950': #121E3B,
);
$brand-base: #acbee9;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4F6FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E9EDF7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CDD7EF", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#acbee9", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#7A97DC", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#4E74D0", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#335DC2", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#2B4EA1", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#223E81", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#1C305E", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#121E3B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #acbee9 · 11.30:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.86:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.30:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #acbee9 as text scores 1.86:1 on white and 11.30:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #1B3165 at 6.75:1.

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
#4B72CF · 4.56:1
AA on white−24% L
#4B72CF
The quick fox
#2D52AB · 7.23:1
AAA on white−37% L
#2D52AB
The quick fox
#acbee9 · 11.30:1
AA on blackalready passes
#acbee9
The quick fox
#acbee9 · 11.30:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#acbee9

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #7492DA 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
#acbee9 on white: 1.86:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#acbee9 on black: 11.30:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #acbee9 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #acbee9.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.86:1AaAa
Slate 501.78:1AaAa
Slate 1001.70:1AaAa
Slate 2001.51:1AaAa
Slate 3001.25:1AaAa
Slate 4001.38:1AaAa
Slate 5002.56:1AaAa
Slate 6004.08:1AaAa
Slate 7005.57:1AaAa
Slate 8007.87:1AaAa
Slate 9009.60:1AaAa
Black11.30:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B1C1EB
deuteranopia · #ABBCE8
tritanopia · #9CC6CC

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. #acbee9 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.

#F4F6FB
#E9EDF7
#CDD7EF
#acbee9
#7A97DC
#4E74D0
#335DC2
#2B4EA1
#223E81
#1C305E
#121E3B
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F4F6FBDarkest = 950 · #121E3BText step on white = 600
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 0.016 267.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.026 267.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.039 267.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.050 267.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.059 267.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.064 267.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.064 267.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.060 267.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.054 267.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.045 267.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.035 267.2);
}

Colors that work with #acbee9

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#C0CDED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B629B
Captions on the surface
Accent#A56127
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#1B3165
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EBEFFA
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141924
Dark-mode background
Hover#90A8E2
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7492DA
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F4F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B8C9F1
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 #acbee9

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 #1B3165
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #7492DA

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
  • Weight21/100
  • 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#E9D7AC
Analogous left#ACDCE9
Analogous right#B8ACE9
Split-complement 1#E9B8AC
Split-complement 2#DCE9AC
Triadic 1#E9ACBE
Triadic 2#BEE9AC
Tetradic#E9ACDC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°222°

#acbee9 sits at 222°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red67.5%
Green74.5%
Blue91.4%
R · 0–255
172
0xac
G · 0–255
190
0xbe
B · 0–255
233
0xe9

CMYK percentages

Cyan26.2%
Magenta18.5%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)8.6%

Total ink coverage is 53%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#acbee9 text on a black background

contrast 11.30:1

Card sample

#acbee9 text on a white background

contrast 1.86:1

Card sample

#acbee9 on grey

1.70:1

#acbee9 on its own surface

1.72:1

#acbee9 on its dark surface

9.46:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #acbee9;
Background color
Panel with #acbee9 background
background-color: #acbee9;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #acbee9;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(172, 190, 233, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(172, 190, 233, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #acbee9;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #acbee9, #C3ACE9);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #acbee9, #D2ACE9);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #acbee9;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #acbee9;
caret-color: #acbee9;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #acbee9;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EBEFFA;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #acbee9;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#acbee9 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #acbee9 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, 190, 233, 0.5)
rgb(172 190 233 / 50%)
#acbee980
hsl(222 58% 79% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #acbee9 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#acbee91a#F7F9FD
20%#acbee933#EEF2FB
40%#acbee966#DEE5F6
60%#acbee999#CDD8F2
80%#acbee9cc#BDCBED

Gradients from #acbee9

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, #DCE4F6, #acbee9 45%, #1B3165);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #acbee9, #B894E3);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #acbee9, #E9D7AC);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F3F6FC 0%, #acbee9 45%, #1B3165 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%, #D4F0F4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D1C4EF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #1B3165 0%, transparent 65%), #acbee9;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #acbee9

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.

#acbee9 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 11.30:1.

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.

#acbee9, answered

What color is #acbee9?

#acbee9 is a light vivid blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 5.4). It sits at 222° on the hue wheel with 58% saturation and 79% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #acbee9?

rgb(172, 190, 233) — 172 red, 190 green and 233 blue out of 255, or 67.5% / 74.5% / 91.4% by channel.

What is #acbee9 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(222, 58%, 79%) and hsv(222, 26%, 91%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #acbee9 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5148 and perceived brightness is 75%, so black text on it reaches 11.30:1.

Should I use black or white text on #acbee9?

Black. It scores 11.30:1 against #acbee9, versus 1.86:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #acbee9 accessible on a white background?

#acbee9 on white scores 1.86:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #4B72CF to reach 4.5:1, or #2D52AB for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #acbee9?

#E9D7AC sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #E9B8AC and #DCE9AC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #acbee9?

For interface work: #F4F6FA as the surface, #C0CDED for borders, #4B629B for secondary text, #A56127 as an accent and #1B3165 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #ACDCE9 and #B8ACE9 stays calm, while #E9D7AC is the loudest partner.

What is #acbee9 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(26%, 19%, 0%, 9%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #acbee9 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 93 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #B0ACE9; nudged cooler, #ABC6EA.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #acbee9?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 19.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #acbee9 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #acbee9 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#acbee9] or text-[#acbee9], 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 #acbee9 with 50% opacity?

rgba(172, 190, 233, 0.5), or #acbee980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D6DFF4; over black, #565F75.

Is #acbee9 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCFF, ΔE2000 8.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #acbee9 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 #acbee9?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #DCE4F6, #acbee9 45%, #1B3165). For more colour, a short hue run to #B894E3 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #acbee9 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #acbee9 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.