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blue · cool

#c2bdfb

a pale, electric blue · cool · closest name: Light Steel Blue

Token name suggestion: Mist Cobalt

RGB
194, 189, 251
HSL
245°, 89%, 86%
CMYK
23, 25, 0, 2
Luminance
0.5483

#c2bdfb is a pale electric blue, 245° on the wheel and 81/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.97:1). As text it scores 1.75:1 on white — use #695DF5 instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is blue.

hsl(245 89% 86%)rgb(194 189 251)Base step 200AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #c2bdfb is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#c2bdfb
Hue
245°
blue
Saturation
89%
electric
Lightness
86%
pale
Brightness
98%
HSV value
Perceived
78%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5483
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
81/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
11.97:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 10
Chroma
33.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.824
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
blue
500 · ΔE 24.3
Web-safe
#CCCCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue245° of 360°
Saturation89%
Lightness86%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #c2bdfb.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool81% 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
Red21%
Green66%
Blue13%

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

Every format

HEX#c2bdfb
HEX (8-digit)#c2bdfbff
RGBrgb(194, 189, 251)
RGBArgba(194, 189, 251, 1)
HSLhsl(245, 89%, 86%)
HSV / HSBhsv(245, 25%, 98%)
HWBhwb(245 74% 2%)
CMYKcmyk(23%, 25%, 0%, 2%)
LABlab(78.9 14.5 -29.9)
LCHlch(78.9 33.3 295.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.824 0.086 288.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(57.85, 54.83, 98.78)
Decimal12762619
Display P3color(display-p3 0.761 0.741 0.984)
Web-safe#CCCCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #c2bdfb;
background-color: #c2bdfb;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #c2bdfb;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#c2bdfb] bg-[#c2bdfb]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #c2bdfb;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.761, green: 0.741, blue: 0.984)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.761, green: 0.741, blue: 0.984, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#C2BDFB</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFC2BDFB)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFC2BDFB)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(251, 189, 194)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(194, 189, 251)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(194, 189, 251)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 194, 189, 251)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7608f, 0.7412f, 0.9843f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{194,189,251}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #c2bdfb 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #c2bdfb 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#100778, #D5D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #c2bdfb 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: #F3F2FD;
  --brand-100: #E7E5FB;
  --brand-200: #c2bdfb;
  --brand-300: #9D95F9;
  --brand-400: #6C60F5;
  --brand-500: #3B2BF2;
  --brand-600: #1F0EE7;
  --brand-700: #1A0CC0;
  --brand-800: #15099A;
  --brand-900: #130B6F;
  --brand-950: #0C0745;
  --brand: #c2bdfb;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5F4FA;
  --brand-border: #C3C0ED;
  --brand-hover: #A39BF9;
  --brand-pressed: #847AF7;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #151424;
    --brand-ink: #D5D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3F2FD',
        100: '#E7E5FB',
        200: '#c2bdfb',
        300: '#9D95F9',
        400: '#6C60F5',
        500: '#3B2BF2',
        600: '#1F0EE7',
        700: '#1A0CC0',
        800: '#15099A',
        900: '#130B6F',
        950: '#0C0745',
        DEFAULT: '#c2bdfb',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3F2FD,
  '100': #E7E5FB,
  '200': #c2bdfb,
  '300': #9D95F9,
  '400': #6C60F5,
  '500': #3B2BF2,
  '600': #1F0EE7,
  '700': #1A0CC0,
  '800': #15099A,
  '900': #130B6F,
  '950': #0C0745,
);
$brand-base: #c2bdfb;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3F2FD", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E7E5FB", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#c2bdfb", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#9D95F9", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#6C60F5", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#3B2BF2", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#1F0EE7", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#1A0CC0", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#15099A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#130B6F", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0C0745", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #c2bdfb · 11.97:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.75:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.97:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #c2bdfb as text scores 1.75:1 on white and 11.97:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #100778 at 9.04:1.

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
#695DF5 · 4.68:1
AA on white−20% L
#695DF5
The quick fox
#4132F3 · 7.06:1
AAA on white−29% L
#4132F3
The quick fox
#c2bdfb · 11.97:1
AA on blackalready passes
#c2bdfb
The quick fox
#c2bdfb · 11.97:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#c2bdfb

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #8D83F8 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
#c2bdfb on white: 1.75:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#c2bdfb on black: 11.97:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #c2bdfb as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #c2bdfb.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.75:1AaAa
Slate 501.68:1AaAa
Slate 1001.60:1AaAa
Slate 2001.42:1AaAa
Slate 3001.18:1AaAa
Slate 4001.46:1AaAa
Slate 5002.71:1AaAa
Slate 6004.32:1AaAa
Slate 7005.90:1AaAa
Slate 8008.34:1AaAa
Slate 90010.17:1AaAa
Black11.97:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #ADC5FE
deuteranopia · #ADC2F9
tritanopia · #B6C7D2

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. #c2bdfb 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.

#F3F2FD
#E7E5FB
#c2bdfb
#9D95F9
#6C60F5
#3B2BF2
#1F0EE7
#1A0CC0
#15099A
#130B6F
#0C0745
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F3F2FDDarkest = 950 · #0C0745Text step on white = 400
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 0.022 288.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.035 288.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.052 288.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.067 288.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.080 288.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.086 288.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.086 288.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.081 288.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.073 288.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.061 288.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.048 288.0);
}

Colors that work with #c2bdfb

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#F5F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#C3C0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#514B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#C3A309
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#100778
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E9E7FE
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#151424
Dark-mode background
Hover#A39BF9
One step down in lightness
Pressed#847AF7
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D2CEFF
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 #c2bdfb

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 #100778
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #8D83F8

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 high lightness makes it recede — a surface colour rather than a statement.

Worth knowing

It is also the most crowded hue on the web. Distinctiveness has to come from your other choices.

Reads as
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight14/100
  • 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#F6FBBD
Analogous left#BDD7FB
Analogous right#E1BDFB
Split-complement 1#FBE1BD
Split-complement 2#D7FBBD
Triadic 1#FBC2BD
Triadic 2#BDFBC2
Tetradic#FBBDD7
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°245°

#c2bdfb sits at 245°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red76.1%
Green74.1%
Blue98.4%
R · 0–255
194
0xc2
G · 0–255
189
0xbd
B · 0–255
251
0xfb

CMYK percentages

Cyan22.7%
Magenta24.7%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)1.6%

Total ink coverage is 49%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#c2bdfb text on a black background

contrast 11.97:1

Card sample

#c2bdfb text on a white background

contrast 1.75:1

Card sample

#c2bdfb on grey

1.60:1

#c2bdfb on its own surface

1.60:1

#c2bdfb on its dark surface

10.34:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #c2bdfb;
Background color
Panel with #c2bdfb background
background-color: #c2bdfb;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #c2bdfb;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(194, 189, 251, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(194, 189, 251, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #c2bdfb;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #c2bdfb, #EBBDFB);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c2bdfb, #FBBDFB);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #c2bdfb;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #c2bdfb;
caret-color: #c2bdfb;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #c2bdfb;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E9E7FE;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #c2bdfb;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#c2bdfb 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #c2bdfb 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(194, 189, 251, 0.5)
rgb(194 189 251 / 50%)
#c2bdfb80
hsl(245 89% 86% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #c2bdfb 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#c2bdfb1a#F9F8FF
20%#c2bdfb33#F3F2FE
40%#c2bdfb66#E7E5FD
60%#c2bdfb99#DAD7FD
80%#c2bdfbcc#CECAFC

Gradients from #c2bdfb

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, #EDECFE, #c2bdfb 45%, #100778);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #c2bdfb, #EAA0F9);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c2bdfb, #F6FBBD);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F2F1FE 0%, #c2bdfb 45%, #100778 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #EDF6FE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #F1DAFD 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #100778 0%, transparent 65%), #c2bdfb;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #c2bdfb

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.

#c2bdfb 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 11.97:1.

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.

#c2bdfb, answered

What color is #c2bdfb?

#c2bdfb is a pale electric blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 10). It sits at 245° on the hue wheel with 89% saturation and 86% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #c2bdfb?

rgb(194, 189, 251) — 194 red, 189 green and 251 blue out of 255, or 76.1% / 74.1% / 98.4% by channel.

What is #c2bdfb in HSL and HSV?

hsl(245, 89%, 86%) and hsv(245, 25%, 98%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #c2bdfb a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5483 and perceived brightness is 78%, so black text on it reaches 11.97:1.

Should I use black or white text on #c2bdfb?

Black. It scores 11.97:1 against #c2bdfb, versus 1.75:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #c2bdfb accessible on a white background?

#c2bdfb on white scores 1.75:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #695DF5 to reach 4.5:1, or #4132F3 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #c2bdfb?

#F6FBBD sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #FBE1BD and #D7FBBD, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #c2bdfb?

For interface work: #F5F4FA as the surface, #C3C0ED for borders, #514B9B for secondary text, #C3A309 as an accent and #100778 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BDD7FB and #E1BDFB stays calm, while #F6FBBD is the loudest partner.

What is #c2bdfb in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(23%, 25%, 0%, 2%). 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 #c2bdfb warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 81 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #D9BDFB; nudged cooler, #BCCFFC.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #c2bdfb?

The blue family — its 500 step is #3b82f6, ΔE2000 24.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #c2bdfb as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #c2bdfb in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#c2bdfb] or text-[#c2bdfb], 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 #c2bdfb with 50% opacity?

rgba(194, 189, 251, 0.5), or #c2bdfb80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E1DEFD; over black, #615F7E.

Is #c2bdfb a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCFF, ΔE2000 4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #c2bdfb 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 #c2bdfb?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #EDECFE, #c2bdfb 45%, #100778). For more colour, a short hue run to #EAA0F9 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #c2bdfb in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #c2bdfb at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.