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blue · cool

#bfd1eb

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Cobalt

RGB
191, 209, 235
HSL
216°, 52%, 84%
CMYK
19, 11, 0, 8
Luminance
0.6268

#bfd1eb is a light vivid blue, 216° on the wheel and 97/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (13.54:1). As text it scores 1.55:1 on white — use #3F75C3 instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(216 52% 84%)rgb(191 209 235)Base step 200AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bfd1eb is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bfd1eb
Hue
216°
blue
Saturation
52%
vivid
Lightness
84%
light
Brightness
92%
HSV value
Perceived
81%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6268
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
97/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
13.54:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 3.4
Chroma
14.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.855
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 20.9
Web-safe
#CCCCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue216° of 360°
Saturation52%
Lightness84%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bfd1eb.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool97% 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%
Blue10%

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

Every format

HEX#bfd1eb
HEX (8-digit)#bfd1ebff
RGBrgb(191, 209, 235)
RGBArgba(191, 209, 235, 1)
HSLhsl(216, 52%, 84%)
HSV / HSBhsv(215, 19%, 92%)
HWBhwb(216 75% 8%)
CMYKcmyk(19%, 11%, 0%, 8%)
LABlab(83.3 -0.7 -14.8)
LCHlch(83.3 14.8 267.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.855 0.041 257.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(59.28, 62.67, 87.56)
Decimal12571115
Display P3color(display-p3 0.749 0.820 0.922)
Web-safe#CCCCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bfd1eb;
background-color: #bfd1eb;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bfd1eb;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bfd1eb] bg-[#bfd1eb]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bfd1eb;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.749, green: 0.820, blue: 0.922)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.749, green: 0.820, blue: 0.922, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BFD1EB</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBFD1EB)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBFD1EB)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(235, 209, 191)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(191, 209, 235)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(191, 209, 235)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 191, 209, 235)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7490f, 0.8196f, 0.9216f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{191,209,235}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bfd1eb 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bfd1eb 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#1E3A61, #D3DEEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bfd1eb 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: #F4F7FA;
  --brand-100: #E9EFF6;
  --brand-200: #bfd1eb;
  --brand-300: #AAC2E4;
  --brand-400: #7FA3D7;
  --brand-500: #5484CA;
  --brand-600: #3A6FBB;
  --brand-700: #315C9B;
  --brand-800: #274A7C;
  --brand-900: #20385B;
  --brand-950: #142339;
  --brand: #bfd1eb;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F7FA;
  --brand-border: #C1D2EC;
  --brand-hover: #A4BDE2;
  --brand-pressed: #88AADA;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141B24;
    --brand-ink: #D3DEEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4F7FA',
        100: '#E9EFF6',
        200: '#bfd1eb',
        300: '#AAC2E4',
        400: '#7FA3D7',
        500: '#5484CA',
        600: '#3A6FBB',
        700: '#315C9B',
        800: '#274A7C',
        900: '#20385B',
        950: '#142339',
        DEFAULT: '#bfd1eb',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4F7FA,
  '100': #E9EFF6,
  '200': #bfd1eb,
  '300': #AAC2E4,
  '400': #7FA3D7,
  '500': #5484CA,
  '600': #3A6FBB,
  '700': #315C9B,
  '800': #274A7C,
  '900': #20385B,
  '950': #142339,
);
$brand-base: #bfd1eb;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4F7FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E9EFF6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#bfd1eb", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#AAC2E4", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#7FA3D7", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#5484CA", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#3A6FBB", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#315C9B", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#274A7C", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#20385B", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#142339", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bfd1eb · 13.54:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.55:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 13.54:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bfd1eb as text scores 1.55:1 on white and 13.54:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #1E3A61 at 7.38:1.

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
#3F75C3 · 4.62:1
AA on white−33% L
#3F75C3
The quick fox
#2F5996 · 7.02:1
AAA on white−45% L
#2F5996
The quick fox
#bfd1eb · 13.54:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bfd1eb
The quick fox
#bfd1eb · 13.54:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bfd1eb

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #6D96D1 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
#bfd1eb on white: 1.55:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bfd1eb on black: 13.54:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bfd1eb as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bfd1eb.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.55:1AaAa
Slate 501.48:1AaAa
Slate 1001.42:1AaAa
Slate 2001.26:1AaAa
Slate 3001.05:1AaAa
Slate 4001.65:1AaAa
Slate 5003.07:1AaAa
Slate 6004.88:1AaAa
Slate 7006.67:1AaAa
Slate 8009.43:1AaAa
Slate 90011.51:1AaAa
Black13.54:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C8D2EC
deuteranopia · #C4CEEA
tritanopia · #B4D6D9

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. #bfd1eb 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.

#F4F7FA
#E9EFF6
#bfd1eb
#AAC2E4
#7FA3D7
#5484CA
#3A6FBB
#315C9B
#274A7C
#20385B
#142339
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F4F7FADarkest = 950 · #142339Text 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 0.010 257.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.016 257.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.025 257.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.032 257.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.038 257.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.041 257.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.041 257.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.039 257.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.035 257.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.029 257.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.023 257.5);
}

Colors that work with #bfd1eb

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#F4F7FA
Tinted page background
Border#C1D2EC
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B6B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#A0532C
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#1E3A61
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#ECF1F9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141B24
Dark-mode background
Hover#A4BDE2
One step down in lightness
Pressed#88AADA
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F4F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#CBDBF3
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 #bfd1eb

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 #1E3A61
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #6D96D1

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
  • Weight17/100
  • 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#EBD9BF
Analogous left#BFE7EB
Analogous right#C3BFEB
Split-complement 1#EBC3BF
Split-complement 2#E7EBBF
Triadic 1#EBBFD1
Triadic 2#D1EBBF
Tetradic#EBBFE7
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°216°

#bfd1eb sits at 216°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red74.9%
Green82.0%
Blue92.2%
R · 0–255
191
0xbf
G · 0–255
209
0xd1
B · 0–255
235
0xeb

CMYK percentages

Cyan18.7%
Magenta11.1%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)7.8%

Total ink coverage is 38%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bfd1eb text on a black background

contrast 13.54:1

Card sample

#bfd1eb text on a white background

contrast 1.55:1

Card sample

#bfd1eb on grey

1.42:1

#bfd1eb on its own surface

1.44:1

#bfd1eb on its dark surface

11.17:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bfd1eb;
Background color
Panel with #bfd1eb background
background-color: #bfd1eb;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bfd1eb;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(191, 209, 235, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(191, 209, 235, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bfd1eb;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bfd1eb, #CABFEB);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bfd1eb, #D5BFEB);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bfd1eb;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bfd1eb;
caret-color: #bfd1eb;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bfd1eb;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #ECF1F9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bfd1eb;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bfd1eb 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bfd1eb 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(191, 209, 235, 0.5)
rgb(191 209 235 / 50%)
#bfd1eb80
hsl(216 52% 84% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bfd1eb 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bfd1eb1a#F9FAFD
20%#bfd1eb33#F2F6FB
40%#bfd1eb66#E5EDF7
60%#bfd1eb99#D9E3F3
80%#bfd1ebcc#CCDAEF

Gradients from #bfd1eb

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, #EEF2FA, #bfd1eb 45%, #1E3A61);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bfd1eb, #BCA8E4);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bfd1eb, #EBD9BF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F3F7FB 0%, #bfd1eb 45%, #1E3A61 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F7FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #E6F7F7 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #DBD6F2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #1E3A61 0%, transparent 65%), #bfd1eb;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bfd1eb

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.

#bfd1eb 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 13.54:1.

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.

#bfd1eb, answered

What color is #bfd1eb?

#bfd1eb is a light vivid blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 3.4). It sits at 216° on the hue wheel with 52% saturation and 84% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #bfd1eb?

rgb(191, 209, 235) — 191 red, 209 green and 235 blue out of 255, or 74.9% / 82% / 92.2% by channel.

What is #bfd1eb in HSL and HSV?

hsl(216, 52%, 84%) and hsv(215, 19%, 92%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bfd1eb a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6268 and perceived brightness is 81%, so black text on it reaches 13.54:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bfd1eb?

Black. It scores 13.54:1 against #bfd1eb, versus 1.55:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bfd1eb accessible on a white background?

#bfd1eb on white scores 1.55:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #3F75C3 to reach 4.5:1, or #2F5996 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bfd1eb?

#EBD9BF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #EBC3BF and #E7EBBF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bfd1eb?

For interface work: #F4F7FA as the surface, #C1D2EC for borders, #4B6B9B for secondary text, #A0532C as an accent and #1E3A61 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BFE7EB and #C3BFEB stays calm, while #EBD9BF is the loudest partner.

What is #bfd1eb in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(19%, 11%, 0%, 8%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bfd1eb warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 97 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #BFC1EB; nudged cooler, #AAC6E6.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bfd1eb?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 20.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bfd1eb as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bfd1eb in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bfd1eb] or text-[#bfd1eb], 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 #bfd1eb with 50% opacity?

rgba(191, 209, 235, 0.5), or #bfd1eb80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DFE8F5; over black, #606976.

Is #bfd1eb a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCFF, ΔE2000 9.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bfd1eb 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 #bfd1eb?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #EEF2FA, #bfd1eb 45%, #1E3A61). For more colour, a short hue run to #BCA8E4 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bfd1eb in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bfd1eb at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.