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blue · cool

#ade2ff

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Denim

RGB
173, 226, 255
HSL
201°, 100%, 84%
CMYK
32, 11, 0, 0
Luminance
0.7050

#ade2ff is a light electric blue, 201° on the wheel and 96/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (15.10:1). As text it scores 1.39:1 on white — use #007ABC instead. Nearest name is Light Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(201 100% 84%)rgb(173 226 255)Base step 200AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ade2ff is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ade2ff
Hue
201°
blue
Saturation
100%
electric
Lightness
84%
light
Brightness
100%
HSV value
Perceived
84%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.7050
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
96/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
15.10:1
Closest name
Light Blue
ΔE2000 5.4
Chroma
22.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.886
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 16.4
Web-safe
#99CCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue201° of 360°
Saturation100%
Lightness84%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ade2ff.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool96% 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
Red13%
Green77%
Blue10%

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

Every format

HEX#ade2ff
HEX (8-digit)#ade2ffff
RGBrgb(173, 226, 255)
RGBArgba(173, 226, 255, 1)
HSLhsl(201, 100%, 84%)
HSV / HSBhsv(201, 32%, 100%)
HWBhwb(201 68% 0%)
CMYKcmyk(32%, 11%, 0%, 0%)
LABlab(87.2 -10.3 -19.5)
LCHlch(87.2 22.1 242.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.886 0.068 232.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(62.47, 70.49, 104.90)
Decimal11395839
Display P3color(display-p3 0.678 0.886 1.000)
Web-safe#99CCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ade2ff;
background-color: #ade2ff;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ade2ff;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ade2ff] bg-[#ade2ff]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ade2ff;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.678, green: 0.886, blue: 1.000)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.678, green: 0.886, blue: 1.000, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#ADE2FF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFADE2FF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFADE2FF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(255, 226, 173)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(173, 226, 255)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(173, 226, 255)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 173, 226, 255)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6784f, 0.8863f, 1.0000f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{173,226,255}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ade2ff 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ade2ff 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#005280, #D3E4EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ade2ff 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: #F1F9FE;
  --brand-100: #E3F3FC;
  --brand-200: #ade2ff;
  --brand-300: #8FD7FF;
  --brand-400: #57C4FF;
  --brand-500: #1FB0FF;
  --brand-600: #009EF5;
  --brand-700: #0084CC;
  --brand-800: #006AA3;
  --brand-900: #054E76;
  --brand-950: #033149;
  --brand: #ade2ff;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C0DDED;
  --brand-hover: #89D5FF;
  --brand-pressed: #65C9FF;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141F24;
    --brand-ink: #D3E4EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F1F9FE',
        100: '#E3F3FC',
        200: '#ade2ff',
        300: '#8FD7FF',
        400: '#57C4FF',
        500: '#1FB0FF',
        600: '#009EF5',
        700: '#0084CC',
        800: '#006AA3',
        900: '#054E76',
        950: '#033149',
        DEFAULT: '#ade2ff',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F1F9FE,
  '100': #E3F3FC,
  '200': #ade2ff,
  '300': #8FD7FF,
  '400': #57C4FF,
  '500': #1FB0FF,
  '600': #009EF5,
  '700': #0084CC,
  '800': #006AA3,
  '900': #054E76,
  '950': #033149,
);
$brand-base: #ade2ff;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F1F9FE", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E3F3FC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#ade2ff", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#8FD7FF", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#57C4FF", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#1FB0FF", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#009EF5", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#0084CC", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#006AA3", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#054E76", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#033149", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ade2ff · 15.10:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.39:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 15.10:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #ade2ff as text scores 1.39:1 on white and 15.10:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #005280 at 6.00:1.

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
#007ABC · 4.66:1
AA on white−47% L
#007ABC
The quick fox
#005C8E · 7.19:1
AAA on white−56% L
#005C8E
The quick fox
#ade2ff · 15.10:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ade2ff
The quick fox
#ade2ff · 15.10:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#ade2ff

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #009BEF 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
#ade2ff on white: 1.39:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ade2ff on black: 15.10:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ade2ff as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ade2ff.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.39:1AaAa
Slate 501.33:1AaAa
Slate 1001.27:1AaAa
Slate 2001.13:1AaAa
Slate 3001.07:1AaAa
Slate 4001.84:1AaAa
Slate 5003.42:1AaAa
Slate 6005.45:1AaAa
Slate 7007.45:1AaAa
Slate 80010.52:1AaAa
Slate 90012.84:1AaAa
Black15.10:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D4E0FF
deuteranopia · #C8D6FF
tritanopia · #92EAEB

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. #ade2ff is pinned to step 200; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F1F9FE
#E3F3FC
#ade2ff
#8FD7FF
#57C4FF
#1FB0FF
#009EF5
#0084CC
#006AA3
#054E76
#033149
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F1F9FEDarkest = 950 · #033149Text step on white = 800
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 0.017 232.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.027 232.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.041 232.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.053 232.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.062 232.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.068 232.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.068 232.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.063 232.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.057 232.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.047 232.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.037 232.4);
}

Colors that work with #ade2ff

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#F4F8FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0DDED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B7F9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#CC1400
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#005280
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E5F6FF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141F24
Dark-mode background
Hover#89D5FF
One step down in lightness
Pressed#65C9FF
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F5F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C1E9FF
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 #ade2ff

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 #005280
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #009BEF

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
  • Weight16/100
  • 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#FFCAAD
Analogous left#ADFFF3
Analogous right#ADB9FF
Split-complement 1#FFADB9
Split-complement 2#FFF3AD
Triadic 1#FFADE2
Triadic 2#E2FFAD
Tetradic#F3ADFF
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°201°

#ade2ff sits at 201°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red67.8%
Green88.6%
Blue100.0%
R · 0–255
173
0xad
G · 0–255
226
0xe2
B · 0–255
255
0xff

CMYK percentages

Cyan32.2%
Magenta11.4%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)0.0%

Total ink coverage is 44%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ade2ff text on a black background

contrast 15.10:1

Card sample

#ade2ff text on a white background

contrast 1.39:1

Card sample

#ade2ff on grey

1.27:1

#ade2ff on its own surface

1.30:1

#ade2ff on its dark surface

12.07:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ade2ff;
Background color
Panel with #ade2ff background
background-color: #ade2ff;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ade2ff;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(173, 226, 255, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(173, 226, 255, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ade2ff;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ade2ff, #AFADFF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ade2ff, #C3ADFF);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ade2ff;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ade2ff;
caret-color: #ade2ff;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ade2ff;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E5F6FF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ade2ff;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ade2ff 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ade2ff 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(173, 226, 255, 0.5)
rgb(173 226 255 / 50%)
#ade2ff80
hsl(201 100% 84% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ade2ff 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ade2ff1a#F7FCFF
20%#ade2ff33#EFF9FF
40%#ade2ff66#DEF3FF
60%#ade2ff99#CEEEFF
80%#ade2ffcc#BDE8FF

Gradients from #ade2ff

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, #EAF8FF, #ade2ff 45%, #005280);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ade2ff, #9A8EFF);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ade2ff, #FFCAAD);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F0FAFF 0%, #ade2ff 45%, #005280 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F8FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #E0FFF8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #CBCFFF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #005280 0%, transparent 65%), #ade2ff;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ade2ff

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.

#ade2ff 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 15.10:1.

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.

#ade2ff, answered

What color is #ade2ff?

#ade2ff is a light electric blue, closest to Light Blue (ΔE2000 5.4). It sits at 201° on the hue wheel with 100% saturation and 84% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #ade2ff?

rgb(173, 226, 255) — 173 red, 226 green and 255 blue out of 255, or 67.8% / 88.6% / 100% by channel.

What is #ade2ff in HSL and HSV?

hsl(201, 100%, 84%) and hsv(201, 32%, 100%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ade2ff a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.7050 and perceived brightness is 84%, so black text on it reaches 15.10:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ade2ff?

Black. It scores 15.10:1 against #ade2ff, versus 1.39:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #ade2ff accessible on a white background?

#ade2ff on white scores 1.39:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #007ABC to reach 4.5:1, or #005C8E for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ade2ff?

#FFCAAD sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #FFADB9 and #FFF3AD, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ade2ff?

For interface work: #F4F8FA as the surface, #C0DDED for borders, #4B7F9B for secondary text, #CC1400 as an accent and #005280 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #ADFFF3 and #ADB9FF stays calm, while #FFCAAD is the loudest partner.

What is #ade2ff in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(32%, 11%, 0%, 0%). 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 #ade2ff warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 96 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #ADFFFE; nudged cooler, #ADD8FF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ade2ff?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 16.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ade2ff as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ade2ff in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ade2ff] or text-[#ade2ff], 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 #ade2ff with 50% opacity?

rgba(173, 226, 255, 0.5), or #ade2ff80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D6F1FF; over black, #577180.

Is #ade2ff a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCFF, ΔE2000 7.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ade2ff 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 #ade2ff?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #EAF8FF, #ade2ff 45%, #005280). For more colour, a short hue run to #9A8EFF keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ade2ff in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ade2ff at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.