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blue · cool

#cadaef

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

Token name suggestion: Mist Denim

RGB
202, 218, 239
HSL
214°, 54%, 87%
CMYK
16, 9, 0, 6
Luminance
0.6893

#cadaef is a pale vivid blue, 214° on the wheel and 98/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (14.79:1). As text it scores 1.42:1 on white — use #3B75C2 instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(214 54% 87%)rgb(202 218 239)Base step 200AAA inkCool

At a glance

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

Hex
#cadaef
Hue
214°
blue
Saturation
54%
vivid
Lightness
87%
pale
Brightness
94%
HSV value
Perceived
85%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6893
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
98/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
14.79:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 5.7
Chroma
12.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.883
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 22.1
Web-safe
#CCCCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue214° of 360°
Saturation54%
Lightness87%
Saturation × lightness field

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

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool98% 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#cadaef
HEX (8-digit)#cadaefff
RGBrgb(202, 218, 239)
RGBArgba(202, 218, 239, 1)
HSLhsl(214, 54%, 87%)
HSV / HSBhsv(214, 15%, 94%)
HWBhwb(214 79% 6%)
CMYKcmyk(16%, 9%, 0%, 6%)
LABlab(86.5 -1.1 -12.1)
LCHlch(86.5 12.1 264.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.883 0.034 255.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(65.00, 68.93, 91.52)
Decimal13294319
Display P3color(display-p3 0.792 0.855 0.937)
Web-safe#CCCCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cadaef;
background-color: #cadaef;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cadaef;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cadaef] bg-[#cadaef]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cadaef;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.792, green: 0.855, blue: 0.937)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.792, green: 0.855, blue: 0.937, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CADAEF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCADAEF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCADAEF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(239, 218, 202)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(202, 218, 239)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(202, 218, 239)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 202, 218, 239)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7922f, 0.8549f, 0.9373f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{202,218,239}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cadaef 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cadaef 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#1E3B62, #D3DFEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cadaef 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: #F4F7FB;
  --brand-100: #E9EFF6;
  --brand-200: #cadaef;
  --brand-300: #A9C3E5;
  --brand-400: #7EA5D8;
  --brand-500: #5387CB;
  --brand-600: #3971BC;
  --brand-700: #2F5F9D;
  --brand-800: #264C7D;
  --brand-900: #1F395B;
  --brand-950: #132439;
  --brand: #cadaef;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F7FA;
  --brand-border: #C0D3EC;
  --brand-hover: #AFC7E7;
  --brand-pressed: #93B4DE;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141B24;
    --brand-ink: #D3DFEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4F7FB',
        100: '#E9EFF6',
        200: '#cadaef',
        300: '#A9C3E5',
        400: '#7EA5D8',
        500: '#5387CB',
        600: '#3971BC',
        700: '#2F5F9D',
        800: '#264C7D',
        900: '#1F395B',
        950: '#132439',
        DEFAULT: '#cadaef',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4F7FB,
  '100': #E9EFF6,
  '200': #cadaef,
  '300': #A9C3E5,
  '400': #7EA5D8,
  '500': #5387CB,
  '600': #3971BC,
  '700': #2F5F9D,
  '800': #264C7D,
  '900': #1F395B,
  '950': #132439,
);
$brand-base: #cadaef;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4F7FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E9EFF6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#cadaef", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#A9C3E5", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#7EA5D8", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#5387CB", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#3971BC", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#2F5F9D", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#264C7D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#1F395B", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#132439", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cadaef · 14.79:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.42:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 14.79:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cadaef as text scores 1.42:1 on white and 14.79:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #1E3B62 at 7.96:1.

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
#3B75C2 · 4.66:1
AA on white−37% L
#3B75C2
The quick fox
#2C5993 · 7.10:1
AAA on white−49% L
#2C5993
The quick fox
#cadaef · 14.79:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cadaef
The quick fox
#cadaef · 14.79:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cadaef

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #6896D1 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
#cadaef on white: 1.42:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cadaef on black: 14.79:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.42:1AaAa
Slate 501.36:1AaAa
Slate 1001.30:1AaAa
Slate 2001.15:1AaAa
Slate 3001.05:1AaAa
Slate 4001.81:1AaAa
Slate 5003.35:1AaAa
Slate 6005.34:1AaAa
Slate 7007.29:1AaAa
Slate 80010.30:1AaAa
Slate 90012.57:1AaAa
Black14.79:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D3DAF0
deuteranopia · #CFD7EF
tritanopia · #C1DEE1

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. #cadaef 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.

#F4F7FB
#E9EFF6
#cadaef
#A9C3E5
#7EA5D8
#5387CB
#3971BC
#2F5F9D
#264C7D
#1F395B
#132439
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F4F7FBDarkest = 950 · #132439Text 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 0.008 255.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.014 255.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.020 255.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.026 255.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.031 255.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.034 255.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.034 255.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.032 255.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.028 255.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.024 255.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.019 255.2);
}

Colors that work with #cadaef

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#C0D3EC
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B6D9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#A0502C
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#1E3B62
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EBF1F9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141B24
Dark-mode background
Hover#AFC7E7
One step down in lightness
Pressed#93B4DE
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F4F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D7E5F6
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 #cadaef

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 #1E3B62
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #6896D1

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 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
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • 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#EFDFCA
Analogous left#CAEDEF
Analogous right#CDCAEF
Split-complement 1#EFCDCA
Split-complement 2#EDEFCA
Triadic 1#EFCADA
Triadic 2#DAEFCA
Tetradic#EFCAED
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°214°

#cadaef sits at 214°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red79.2%
Green85.5%
Blue93.7%
R · 0–255
202
0xca
G · 0–255
218
0xda
B · 0–255
239
0xef

CMYK percentages

Cyan15.5%
Magenta8.8%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)6.3%

Total ink coverage is 31%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cadaef text on a black background

contrast 14.79:1

Card sample

#cadaef text on a white background

contrast 1.42:1

Card sample

#cadaef on grey

1.30:1

#cadaef on its own surface

1.32:1

#cadaef on its dark surface

12.20:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(202, 218, 239, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(202, 218, 239, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cadaef;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cadaef, #D3CAEF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

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

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cadaef;
caret-color: #cadaef;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cadaef;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EBF1F9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cadaef;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cadaef 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cadaef 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(202, 218, 239, 0.5)
rgb(202 218 239 / 50%)
#cadaef80
hsl(214 54% 87% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cadaef 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cadaef1a#FAFBFD
20%#cadaef33#F4F8FC
40%#cadaef66#EAF0F9
60%#cadaef99#DFE9F5
80%#cadaefcc#D5E1F2

Gradients from #cadaef

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, #EFF4FA, #cadaef 45%, #1E3B62);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cadaef, #C4B3E8);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cadaef, #EFDFCA);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F3F7FB 0%, #cadaef 45%, #1E3B62 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%, #F1FBFB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E5E2F6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #1E3B62 0%, transparent 65%), #cadaef;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cadaef

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.

#cadaef 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

Very light tints can drop out on uncoated stock; check it at 100% size before signing off.

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 14.79:1.

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.

#cadaef, answered

What color is #cadaef?

#cadaef is a pale vivid blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 5.7). It sits at 214° on the hue wheel with 54% saturation and 87% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #cadaef?

rgb(202, 218, 239) — 202 red, 218 green and 239 blue out of 255, or 79.2% / 85.5% / 93.7% by channel.

What is #cadaef in HSL and HSV?

hsl(214, 54%, 87%) and hsv(214, 15%, 94%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cadaef a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6893 and perceived brightness is 85%, so black text on it reaches 14.79:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cadaef?

Black. It scores 14.79:1 against #cadaef, versus 1.42:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cadaef accessible on a white background?

#cadaef on white scores 1.42:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #3B75C2 to reach 4.5:1, or #2C5993 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cadaef?

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

What colors go well with #cadaef?

For interface work: #F4F7FA as the surface, #C0D3EC for borders, #4B6D9B for secondary text, #A0502C as an accent and #1E3B62 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CAEDEF and #CDCAEF stays calm, while #EFDFCA is the loudest partner.

What is #cadaef in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(16%, 9%, 0%, 6%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cadaef warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 98 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CACDEF; nudged cooler, #B6CEEA.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cadaef?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 22.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cadaef as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cadaef in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(202, 218, 239, 0.5), or #cadaef80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E5EDF7; over black, #656D78.

Is #cadaef a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCFF, ΔE2000 10.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cadaef 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 #cadaef?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #EFF4FA, #cadaef 45%, #1E3B62). For more colour, a short hue run to #C4B3E8 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cadaef in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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