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#cbdafd

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

RGB
203, 218, 253
HSL
222°, 93%, 89%
CMYK
20, 14, 0, 1
Luminance
0.6993

At a glance

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

Hex
#cbdafd
Hue
222°
blue
Saturation
93%
electric
Lightness
89%
pale
Brightness
99%
HSV value
Perceived
85%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6993
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
93/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
14.99:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 7
Where it sits
Hue222° of 360°
Saturation93%
Lightness89%
Temperature
Warm ← → Cool93% cool

Reads cool. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Every format

HEX#cbdafd
RGBrgb(203, 218, 253)
HSLhsl(222, 93%, 89%)
CMYKcmyk(20%, 14%, 0%, 1%)
LABlab(87.0 2.1 -18.7)
LCHlch(87.0 18.8 276.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.888 0.051 267.0)
Decimal13359869
Display P3color(display-p3 0.796 0.855 0.992)

Copy-ready code

/* CSS */
color: #cbdafd;
background-color: #cbdafd;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cbdafd] bg-[#cbdafd]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cbdafd;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.796, green: 0.855, blue: 0.992)
/* Android */
Color.parseColor("#cbdafd")
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCBDAFD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(253, 218, 203)

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 #cbdafd · 14.99:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
White text · 1.40:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 14.99:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cbdafd as text scores 1.40:1 on white and 14.99:1 on black.

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

Aa
#cbdafd on white: 1.40:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cbdafd on black: 14.99:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
true color
protanopia · #D0DCFF
deuteranopia · #CBD8FC
tritanopia · #BFE1E5

Color scale — 50 to 950

A Tailwind-shaped ramp built around this exact hex. #cbdafd 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.

#F2F5FD
#E4EBFB
#cbdafd
#93B2FB
#5D8CF9
#2765F7
#094DEC
#0840C4
#06339D
#092871
#061947
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F2F5FDDarkest = 950 · #061947
:root {
  --brand-50: #F2F5FD;
  --brand-100: #E4EBFB;
  --brand-200: #cbdafd;
  --brand-300: #93B2FB;
  --brand-400: #5D8CF9;
  --brand-500: #2765F7;
  --brand-600: #094DEC;
  --brand-700: #0840C4;
  --brand-800: #06339D;
  --brand-900: #092871;
  --brand-950: #061947;
  --brand: #cbdafd;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
}

Colors that work with #cbdafd

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#F4F6FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0CDED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B639B
Captions on the surface
Accent#C85B04
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#05287B
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E6EEFE
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141924
Dark-mode background
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

How to use #cbdafd

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

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#FDEECB
Analogous left#CBF3FD
Analogous right#D5CBFD
Split-complement 1#FDD5CB
Split-complement 2#F3FDCB
Triadic 1#FDCBDA
Triadic 2#DAFDCB
Tetradic#FDCBF3

RGB percentages

Red79.6%
Green85.5%
Blue99.2%

CMYK percentages

Cyan19.8%
Magenta13.8%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)0.8%

Color previews

#cbdafd text on a black background

contrast 14.99:1

Card sample

#cbdafd text on a white background

contrast 1.40:1

Card sample

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(203, 218, 253, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(203, 218, 253, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cbdafd;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cbdafd, #DDCBFD);

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cbdafd

Shades — darker

Tints — lighter

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.

#cbdafd 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.

#cbdafd, answered

What color is #cbdafd?

#cbdafd is a pale electric blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 7). It sits at 222° on the hue wheel with 93% saturation and 89% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #cbdafd?

rgb(203, 218, 253) — 203 red, 218 green and 253 blue out of 255, or 79.6% / 85.5% / 99.2% by channel.

Is #cbdafd a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6993 and perceived brightness is 85%, so black text on it reaches 14.99:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cbdafd?

Black. It scores 14.99:1 against #cbdafd, versus 1.40:1 for white — AAA at any size.

What is the complementary color of #cbdafd?

#FDEECB sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #FDD5CB and #F3FDCB, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cbdafd?

For interface work: #F4F6FA as the surface, #C0CDED for borders, #4B639B for secondary text, #C85B04 as an accent and #05287B for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CBF3FD and #D5CBFD stays calm, while #FDEECB is the loudest partner.

What is #cbdafd in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(20%, 14%, 0%, 1%). 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 #cbdafd warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 93 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CECBFD; nudged cooler, #CAE1FE.

Work with #cbdafd in the Color Lab