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blue · cool

#aeb6c2

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Denim

RGB
174, 182, 194
HSL
216°, 14%, 72%
CMYK
10, 6, 0, 24
Luminance
0.4635

#aeb6c2 is a light muted blue, 216° on the wheel and 69/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.27:1). As text it scores 2.04:1 on white — use #6A778C instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(216 14% 72%)rgb(174 182 194)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #aeb6c2 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#aeb6c2
Hue
216°
blue
Saturation
14%
muted
Lightness
72%
light
Brightness
76%
HSV value
Perceived
71%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4635
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
69/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
10.27:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 6.5
Chroma
7.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.774
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 20.5
Web-safe
#99CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue216° of 360°
Saturation14%
Lightness72%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #aeb6c2.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool69% 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
Red19%
Green72%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#aeb6c2
HEX (8-digit)#aeb6c2ff
RGBrgb(174, 182, 194)
RGBArgba(174, 182, 194, 1)
HSLhsl(216, 14%, 72%)
HSV / HSBhsv(216, 10%, 76%)
HWBhwb(216 68% 24%)
CMYKcmyk(10%, 6%, 0%, 24%)
LABlab(73.8 -0.4 -7.0)
LCHlch(73.8 7.0 266.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.774 0.019 258.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(43.92, 46.35, 57.66)
Decimal11450050
Display P3color(display-p3 0.682 0.714 0.761)
Web-safe#99CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #aeb6c2;
background-color: #aeb6c2;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #aeb6c2;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#aeb6c2] bg-[#aeb6c2]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #aeb6c2;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.682, green: 0.714, blue: 0.761)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.682, green: 0.714, blue: 0.761, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AEB6C2</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAEB6C2)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAEB6C2)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(194, 182, 174)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(174, 182, 194)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(174, 182, 194)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 174, 182, 194)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6824f, 0.7137f, 0.7608f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{174,182,194}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #aeb6c2 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #aeb6c2 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#373E49, #DCE0E5);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #aeb6c2 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: #F7F7F8;
  --brand-100: #EEEFF1;
  --brand-200: #DADDE2;
  --brand-300: #BFC5CF;
  --brand-400: #aeb6c2;
  --brand-500: #7F8C9F;
  --brand-600: #69778C;
  --brand-700: #586374;
  --brand-800: #464F5D;
  --brand-900: #353C45;
  --brand-950: #21252B;
  --brand: #aeb6c2;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F7F8;
  --brand-border: #D0D5DC;
  --brand-hover: #9AA4B3;
  --brand-pressed: #8591A3;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #181B20;
    --brand-ink: #DCE0E5;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F7F8',
        100: '#EEEFF1',
        200: '#DADDE2',
        300: '#BFC5CF',
        400: '#aeb6c2',
        500: '#7F8C9F',
        600: '#69778C',
        700: '#586374',
        800: '#464F5D',
        900: '#353C45',
        950: '#21252B',
        DEFAULT: '#aeb6c2',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F7F8,
  '100': #EEEFF1,
  '200': #DADDE2,
  '300': #BFC5CF,
  '400': #aeb6c2,
  '500': #7F8C9F,
  '600': #69778C,
  '700': #586374,
  '800': #464F5D,
  '900': #353C45,
  '950': #21252B,
);
$brand-base: #aeb6c2;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F7F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EEEFF1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DADDE2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#BFC5CF", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#aeb6c2", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7F8C9F", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#69778C", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#586374", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#464F5D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#353C45", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#21252B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #aeb6c2 · 10.27:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.04:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.27:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #aeb6c2 as text scores 2.04:1 on white and 10.27:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #373E49 at 5.27:1.

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
#6A778C · 4.54:1
AA on white−24% L
#6A778C
The quick fox
#4F5A69 · 7.00:1
AAA on white−36% L
#4F5A69
The quick fox
#aeb6c2 · 10.27:1
AA on blackalready passes
#aeb6c2
The quick fox
#aeb6c2 · 10.27:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#aeb6c2

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #8894A6 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
#aeb6c2 on white: 2.04:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#aeb6c2 on black: 10.27:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #aeb6c2 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #aeb6c2.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.04:1AaAa
Slate 501.95:1AaAa
Slate 1001.87:1AaAa
Slate 2001.66:1AaAa
Slate 3001.38:1AaAa
Slate 4001.25:1AaAa
Slate 5002.33:1AaAa
Slate 6003.71:1AaAa
Slate 7005.06:1AaAa
Slate 8007.15:1AaAa
Slate 9008.73:1AaAa
Black10.27:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B2B6C3
deuteranopia · #B0B4C2
tritanopia · #A9B8BA

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. #aeb6c2 is pinned to step 400; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F7F7F8
#EEEFF1
#DADDE2
#BFC5CF
#aeb6c2
#7F8C9F
#69778C
#586374
#464F5D
#353C45
#21252B
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F7F7F8Darkest = 950 · #21252BText 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 0.005 258.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.008 258.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.012 258.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.015 258.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.018 258.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.019 258.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.019 258.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.018 258.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.016 258.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.014 258.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.011 258.4);
}

Colors that work with #aeb6c2

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#F6F7F8
Tinted page background
Border#D0D5DC
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#637083
Captions on the surface
Accent#796053
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#373E49
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F0F2F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#181B20
Dark-mode background
Hover#9AA4B3
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8591A3
Two steps down
Disabled#EEF0F2
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B4BFD1
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 #aeb6c2

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Borders, dividers and quiet backgrounds
  • Long-form reading 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 #373E49
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #8894A6

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.

With almost no chroma left, the family association is barely present; treat it as a neutral that happens to lean this way. 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
  • EnergyLow
  • Weight28/100
  • 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#C2BAAE
Analogous left#AEC0C2
Analogous right#B0AEC2
Split-complement 1#C2B0AE
Split-complement 2#C0C2AE
Triadic 1#C2AEB6
Triadic 2#B6C2AE
Tetradic#C2AEC0
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°216°

#aeb6c2 sits at 216°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red68.2%
Green71.4%
Blue76.1%
R · 0–255
174
0xae
G · 0–255
182
0xb6
B · 0–255
194
0xc2

CMYK percentages

Cyan10.3%
Magenta6.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)23.9%

Total ink coverage is 40%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#aeb6c2 text on a black background

contrast 10.27:1

Card sample

#aeb6c2 text on a white background

contrast 2.04:1

Card sample

#aeb6c2 on grey

1.87:1

#aeb6c2 on its own surface

1.91:1

#aeb6c2 on its dark surface

8.44:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #aeb6c2;
Background color
Panel with #aeb6c2 background
background-color: #aeb6c2;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #aeb6c2;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(174, 182, 194, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(174, 182, 194, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #aeb6c2;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #aeb6c2, #B3AEC2);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #aeb6c2, #B8AEC2);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #aeb6c2;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #aeb6c2;
caret-color: #aeb6c2;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #aeb6c2;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F0F2F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #aeb6c2;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#aeb6c2 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #aeb6c2 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(174, 182, 194, 0.5)
rgb(174 182 194 / 50%)
#aeb6c280
hsl(216 14% 72% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #aeb6c2 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#aeb6c21a#F7F8F9
20%#aeb6c233#EFF0F3
40%#aeb6c266#DFE2E7
60%#aeb6c299#CED3DA
80%#aeb6c2cc#BEC5CE

Gradients from #aeb6c2

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, #D1D6DC, #aeb6c2 45%, #373E49);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #aeb6c2, #A59DB5);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #aeb6c2, #C2BAAE);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E2E5EA 0%, #aeb6c2 45%, #373E49 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F7F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #CBD8D8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C2C0CF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #373E49 0%, transparent 65%), #aeb6c2;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #aeb6c2

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.

#aeb6c2 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
BackgroundsBordersBody textDividers
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 10.27:1.

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.

#aeb6c2, answered

What color is #aeb6c2?

#aeb6c2 is a light muted blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 6.5). It sits at 216° on the hue wheel with 14% saturation and 72% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #aeb6c2?

rgb(174, 182, 194) — 174 red, 182 green and 194 blue out of 255, or 68.2% / 71.4% / 76.1% by channel.

What is #aeb6c2 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(216, 14%, 72%) and hsv(216, 10%, 76%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #aeb6c2 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4635 and perceived brightness is 71%, so black text on it reaches 10.27:1.

Should I use black or white text on #aeb6c2?

Black. It scores 10.27:1 against #aeb6c2, versus 2.04:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #aeb6c2 accessible on a white background?

#aeb6c2 on white scores 2.04:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #6A778C to reach 4.5:1, or #4F5A69 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #aeb6c2?

#C2BAAE sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #C2B0AE and #C0C2AE, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #aeb6c2?

For interface work: #F6F7F8 as the surface, #D0D5DC for borders, #637083 for secondary text, #796053 as an accent and #373E49 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AEC0C2 and #B0AEC2 stays calm, while #C2BAAE is the loudest partner.

What is #aeb6c2 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(10%, 6%, 0%, 24%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #aeb6c2 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 69 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #AEAFC2; nudged cooler, #9EAAB9.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #aeb6c2?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 20.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #aeb6c2 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #aeb6c2 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#aeb6c2] or text-[#aeb6c2], 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 #aeb6c2 with 50% opacity?

rgba(174, 182, 194, 0.5), or #aeb6c280 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D7DBE1; over black, #575B61.

Is #aeb6c2 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCCC, ΔE2000 15.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #aeb6c2 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 low chroma the association is faint; it behaves more like a neutral.

What gradient works with #aeb6c2?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D1D6DC, #aeb6c2 45%, #373E49). For more colour, a short hue run to #A59DB5 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #aeb6c2 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #aeb6c2 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.