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blue · cool

#afbecf

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Denim

RGB
175, 190, 207
HSL
212°, 25%, 75%
CMYK
16, 8, 0, 19
Luminance
0.5045

#afbecf is a light soft blue, 212° on the wheel and 85/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.09:1). As text it scores 1.89:1 on white — use #5C7899 instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(212 25% 75%)rgb(175 190 207)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

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

Hex
#afbecf
Hue
212°
blue
Saturation
25%
soft
Lightness
75%
light
Brightness
81%
HSV value
Perceived
74%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5045
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
85/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
11.09:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 3.5
Chroma
10.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.795
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 18.6
Web-safe
#99CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue212° of 360°
Saturation25%
Lightness75%
Saturation × lightness field

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

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool85% 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
Red18%
Green73%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#afbecf
HEX (8-digit)#afbecfff
RGBrgb(175, 190, 207)
RGBArgba(175, 190, 207, 1)
HSLhsl(212, 25%, 75%)
HSV / HSBhsv(212, 15%, 81%)
HWBhwb(212 69% 19%)
CMYKcmyk(16%, 8%, 0%, 19%)
LABlab(76.3 -1.6 -10.3)
LCHlch(76.3 10.4 260.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.795 0.029 251.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(47.35, 50.44, 66.26)
Decimal11517647
Display P3color(display-p3 0.686 0.745 0.812)
Web-safe#99CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #afbecf;
background-color: #afbecf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #afbecf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#afbecf] bg-[#afbecf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #afbecf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.686, green: 0.745, blue: 0.812)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.686, green: 0.745, blue: 0.812, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AFBECF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAFBECF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAFBECF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(207, 190, 175)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(175, 190, 207)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(175, 190, 207)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 175, 190, 207)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6863f, 0.7451f, 0.8118f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{175,190,207}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #afbecf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #afbecf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#303F50, #D9E0E8);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #afbecf 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: #F6F7F9;
  --brand-100: #EDF0F3;
  --brand-200: #D7DDE5;
  --brand-300: #afbecf;
  --brand-400: #96AAC0;
  --brand-500: #738DAB;
  --brand-600: #5C7899;
  --brand-700: #4D6480;
  --brand-800: #3D5066;
  --brand-900: #2F3C4B;
  --brand-950: #1D262F;
  --brand: #afbecf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5F7F9;
  --brand-border: #CCD6E0;
  --brand-hover: #99ACC2;
  --brand-pressed: #829AB4;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #151C23;
    --brand-ink: #D9E0E8;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F7F9',
        100: '#EDF0F3',
        200: '#D7DDE5',
        300: '#afbecf',
        400: '#96AAC0',
        500: '#738DAB',
        600: '#5C7899',
        700: '#4D6480',
        800: '#3D5066',
        900: '#2F3C4B',
        950: '#1D262F',
        DEFAULT: '#afbecf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F7F9,
  '100': #EDF0F3,
  '200': #D7DDE5,
  '300': #afbecf,
  '400': #96AAC0,
  '500': #738DAB,
  '600': #5C7899,
  '700': #4D6480,
  '800': #3D5066,
  '900': #2F3C4B,
  '950': #1D262F,
);
$brand-base: #afbecf;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F7F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EDF0F3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D7DDE5", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#afbecf", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#96AAC0", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#738DAB", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#5C7899", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#4D6480", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#3D5066", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2F3C4B", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1D262F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #afbecf · 11.09:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.89:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.09:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #afbecf as text scores 1.89:1 on white and 11.09:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #303F50 at 5.68:1.

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
#5C7899 · 4.56:1
AA on white−27% L
#5C7899
The quick fox
#455A72 · 7.10:1
AAA on white−39% L
#455A72
The quick fox
#afbecf · 11.09:1
AA on blackalready passes
#afbecf
The quick fox
#afbecf · 11.09:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#afbecf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #7F97B2 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
#afbecf on white: 1.89:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#afbecf on black: 11.09:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.89:1AaAa
Slate 501.81:1AaAa
Slate 1001.73:1AaAa
Slate 2001.54:1AaAa
Slate 3001.28:1AaAa
Slate 4001.35:1AaAa
Slate 5002.51:1AaAa
Slate 6004.00:1AaAa
Slate 7005.47:1AaAa
Slate 8007.72:1AaAa
Slate 9009.43:1AaAa
Black11.09:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B8BED0
deuteranopia · #B4BBCF
tritanopia · #A7C2C3

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. #afbecf 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.

#F6F7F9
#EDF0F3
#D7DDE5
#afbecf
#96AAC0
#738DAB
#5C7899
#4D6480
#3D5066
#2F3C4B
#1D262F
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F6F7F9Darkest = 950 · #1D262FText 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 0.007 251.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.012 251.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.018 251.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.023 251.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.027 251.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.029 251.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.029 251.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.028 251.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.025 251.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.021 251.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.016 251.5);
}

Colors that work with #afbecf

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#F5F7F9
Tinted page background
Border#CCD6E0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#56718F
Captions on the surface
Accent#845948
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#303F50
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EFF2F5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#151C23
Dark-mode background
Hover#99ACC2
One step down in lightness
Pressed#829AB4
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F5F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B6C8DC
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 #afbecf

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 #303F50
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #7F97B2

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
  • Weight25/100
  • 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#CFC0AF
Analogous left#AFCECF
Analogous right#B0AFCF
Split-complement 1#CFB0AF
Split-complement 2#CECFAF
Triadic 1#CFAFBE
Triadic 2#BECFAF
Tetradic#CFAFCE
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°212°

#afbecf sits at 212°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red68.6%
Green74.5%
Blue81.2%
R · 0–255
175
0xaf
G · 0–255
190
0xbe
B · 0–255
207
0xcf

CMYK percentages

Cyan15.5%
Magenta8.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)18.8%

Total ink coverage is 43%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#afbecf text on a black background

contrast 11.09:1

Card sample

#afbecf text on a white background

contrast 1.89:1

Card sample

#afbecf on grey

1.73:1

#afbecf on its own surface

1.76:1

#afbecf on its dark surface

9.07:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(175, 190, 207, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(175, 190, 207, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #afbecf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #afbecf, #B5AFCF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

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

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #afbecf;
caret-color: #afbecf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #afbecf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EFF2F5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #afbecf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#afbecf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #afbecf 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(175, 190, 207, 0.5)
rgb(175 190 207 / 50%)
#afbecf80
hsl(212 25% 75% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #afbecf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#afbecf1a#F7F9FA
20%#afbecf33#EFF2F5
40%#afbecf66#DFE5EC
60%#afbecf99#CFD8E2
80%#afbecfcc#BFCBD9

Gradients from #afbecf

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, #D5DDE6, #afbecf 45%, #303F50);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #afbecf, #A79CC4);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #afbecf, #CFC0AF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E8EDF1 0%, #afbecf 45%, #303F50 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5F7F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #CFE2E1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C5C2DA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #303F50 0%, transparent 65%), #afbecf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #afbecf

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.

#afbecf 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 11.09:1.

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.

#afbecf, answered

What color is #afbecf?

#afbecf is a light soft blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 3.5). It sits at 212° on the hue wheel with 25% saturation and 75% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #afbecf?

rgb(175, 190, 207) — 175 red, 190 green and 207 blue out of 255, or 68.6% / 74.5% / 81.2% by channel.

What is #afbecf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(212, 25%, 75%) and hsv(212, 15%, 81%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #afbecf a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5045 and perceived brightness is 74%, so black text on it reaches 11.09:1.

Should I use black or white text on #afbecf?

Black. It scores 11.09:1 against #afbecf, versus 1.89:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #afbecf accessible on a white background?

#afbecf on white scores 1.89:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #5C7899 to reach 4.5:1, or #455A72 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #afbecf?

#CFC0AF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CFB0AF and #CECFAF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #afbecf?

For interface work: #F5F7F9 as the surface, #CCD6E0 for borders, #56718F for secondary text, #845948 as an accent and #303F50 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AFCECF and #B0AFCF stays calm, while #CFC0AF is the loudest partner.

What is #afbecf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(16%, 8%, 0%, 19%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #afbecf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 85 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #AFB2CF; nudged cooler, #9EB1C7.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #afbecf?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 18.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #afbecf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #afbecf in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(175, 190, 207, 0.5), or #afbecf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D7DFE7; over black, #585F68.

Is #afbecf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCCC, ΔE2000 14.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #afbecf 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 #afbecf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D5DDE6, #afbecf 45%, #303F50). For more colour, a short hue run to #A79CC4 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #afbecf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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