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blue · cool

#dfe3f8

a pale, vivid blue · cool · closest name: Lavender

Token name suggestion: Whisper Sapphire

RGB
223, 227, 248
HSL
230°, 64%, 92%
CMYK
10, 9, 0, 3
Luminance
0.7740

#dfe3f8 is a pale vivid blue, 230° on the wheel and 89/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (16.48:1). As text it scores 1.27:1 on white — use #556ADA instead. Nearest name is Lavender, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(230 64% 92%)rgb(223 227 248)Base step 100AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #dfe3f8 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#dfe3f8
Hue
230°
blue
Saturation
64%
vivid
Lightness
92%
pale
Brightness
97%
HSV value
Perceived
90%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.7740
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
89/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
16.48:1
Closest name
Lavender
ΔE2000 1.9
Chroma
11.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.919
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 28.7
Web-safe
#CCCCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue230° of 360°
Saturation64%
Lightness92%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #dfe3f8.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool89% 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
Red20%
Green71%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#dfe3f8
HEX (8-digit)#dfe3f8ff
RGBrgb(223, 227, 248)
RGBArgba(223, 227, 248, 1)
HSLhsl(230, 64%, 92%)
HSV / HSBhsv(230, 10%, 97%)
HWBhwb(230 87% 3%)
CMYKcmyk(10%, 9%, 0%, 3%)
LABlab(90.5 2.6 -10.6)
LCHlch(90.5 11.0 283.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.919 0.029 277.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(74.84, 77.40, 99.79)
Decimal14672888
Display P3color(display-p3 0.875 0.890 0.973)
Web-safe#CCCCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #dfe3f8;
background-color: #dfe3f8;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #dfe3f8;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#dfe3f8] bg-[#dfe3f8]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #dfe3f8;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.875, green: 0.890, blue: 0.973)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.875, green: 0.890, blue: 0.973, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DFE3F8</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDFE3F8)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDFE3F8)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(248, 227, 223)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(223, 227, 248)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(223, 227, 248)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 223, 227, 248)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8745f, 0.8902f, 0.9725f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{223,227,248}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #dfe3f8 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #dfe3f8 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#172469, #D3D7EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #dfe3f8 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: #F4F5FB;
  --brand-100: #dfe3f8;
  --brand-200: #CBD1F1;
  --brand-300: #A3AEEB;
  --brand-400: #7586E1;
  --brand-500: #475ED7;
  --brand-600: #2C45C9;
  --brand-700: #253AA7;
  --brand-800: #1D2E86;
  --brand-900: #192561;
  --brand-950: #10173D;
  --brand: #dfe3f8;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F5FA;
  --brand-border: #C0C7ED;
  --brand-hover: #C2CAF2;
  --brand-pressed: #A5B0EB;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141624;
    --brand-ink: #D3D7EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4F5FB',
        100: '#dfe3f8',
        200: '#CBD1F1',
        300: '#A3AEEB',
        400: '#7586E1',
        500: '#475ED7',
        600: '#2C45C9',
        700: '#253AA7',
        800: '#1D2E86',
        900: '#192561',
        950: '#10173D',
        DEFAULT: '#dfe3f8',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4F5FB,
  '100': #dfe3f8,
  '200': #CBD1F1,
  '300': #A3AEEB,
  '400': #7586E1,
  '500': #475ED7,
  '600': #2C45C9,
  '700': #253AA7,
  '800': #1D2E86,
  '900': #192561,
  '950': #10173D,
);
$brand-base: #dfe3f8;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4F5FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#dfe3f8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CBD1F1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#A3AEEB", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#7586E1", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#475ED7", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#2C45C9", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#253AA7", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#1D2E86", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#192561", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#10173D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #dfe3f8 · 16.48:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.27:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 16.48:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #dfe3f8 as text scores 1.27:1 on white and 16.48:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #172469 at 11.04:1.

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
#556ADA · 4.71:1
AA on white−33% L
#556ADA
The quick fox
#2D47CF · 7.21:1
AAA on white−43% L
#2D47CF
The quick fox
#dfe3f8 · 16.48:1
AA on blackalready passes
#dfe3f8
The quick fox
#dfe3f8 · 16.48:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#dfe3f8

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #7F8FE3 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
#dfe3f8 on white: 1.27:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#dfe3f8 on black: 16.48:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #dfe3f8 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #dfe3f8.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.27:1AaAa
Slate 501.22:1AaAa
Slate 1001.16:1AaAa
Slate 2001.03:1AaAa
Slate 3001.17:1AaAa
Slate 4002.01:1AaAa
Slate 5003.73:1AaAa
Slate 6005.95:1AaAa
Slate 7008.13:1AaAa
Slate 80011.48:1AaAa
Slate 90014.01:1AaAa
Black16.48:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #DEE5F9
deuteranopia · #DCE3F7
tritanopia · #DAE7EA

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. #dfe3f8 is pinned to step 100; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F4F5FB
#dfe3f8
#CBD1F1
#A3AEEB
#7586E1
#475ED7
#2C45C9
#253AA7
#1D2E86
#192561
#10173D
Base = 100Lightest = 50 · #F4F5FBDarkest = 950 · #10173DText step on white = 500
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 0.007 277.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.012 277.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.017 277.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.022 277.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.026 277.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.029 277.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.029 277.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.027 277.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.024 277.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.020 277.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.016 277.2);
}

Colors that work with #dfe3f8

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#F4F5FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0C7ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B579B
Captions on the surface
Accent#AD731F
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#172469
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EAEDFA
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141624
Dark-mode background
Hover#C2CAF2
One step down in lightness
Pressed#A5B0EB
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#DBE0FA
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 #dfe3f8

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 #172469
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #7F8FE3

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
  • Weight8/100
  • 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#F8F4DF
Analogous left#DFF0F8
Analogous right#E8DFF8
Split-complement 1#F8E8DF
Split-complement 2#F0F8DF
Triadic 1#F8DFE3
Triadic 2#E3F8DF
Tetradic#F8DFF0
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°230°

#dfe3f8 sits at 230°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red87.5%
Green89.0%
Blue97.3%
R · 0–255
223
0xdf
G · 0–255
227
0xe3
B · 0–255
248
0xf8

CMYK percentages

Cyan10.1%
Magenta8.5%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)2.7%

Total ink coverage is 21%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#dfe3f8 text on a black background

contrast 16.48:1

Card sample

#dfe3f8 text on a white background

contrast 1.27:1

Card sample

#dfe3f8 on grey

1.16:1

#dfe3f8 on its own surface

1.17:1

#dfe3f8 on its dark surface

14.09:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #dfe3f8;
Background color
Panel with #dfe3f8 background
background-color: #dfe3f8;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #dfe3f8;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(223, 227, 248, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(223, 227, 248, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #dfe3f8;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #dfe3f8, #ECDFF8);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dfe3f8, #F2DFF8);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #dfe3f8;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #dfe3f8;
caret-color: #dfe3f8;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #dfe3f8;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EAEDFA;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #dfe3f8;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#dfe3f8 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #dfe3f8 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(223, 227, 248, 0.5)
rgb(223 227 248 / 50%)
#dfe3f880
hsl(230 64% 92% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #dfe3f8 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#dfe3f81a#FCFCFE
20%#dfe3f833#F9F9FE
40%#dfe3f866#F2F4FC
60%#dfe3f899#ECEEFB
80%#dfe3f8cc#E5E9F9

Gradients from #dfe3f8

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, #EEF0FB, #dfe3f8 45%, #172469);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #dfe3f8, #E0C6F3);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dfe3f8, #F8F4DF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F2F4FC 0%, #dfe3f8 45%, #172469 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F5FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #FFFFFF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #FBF8FE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #172469 0%, transparent 65%), #dfe3f8;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #dfe3f8

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.

#dfe3f8 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 16.48:1.

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.

#dfe3f8, answered

What color is #dfe3f8?

#dfe3f8 is a pale vivid blue, closest to Lavender (ΔE2000 1.9). It sits at 230° on the hue wheel with 64% saturation and 92% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #dfe3f8?

rgb(223, 227, 248) — 223 red, 227 green and 248 blue out of 255, or 87.5% / 89% / 97.3% by channel.

What is #dfe3f8 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(230, 64%, 92%) and hsv(230, 10%, 97%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #dfe3f8 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.7740 and perceived brightness is 90%, so black text on it reaches 16.48:1.

Should I use black or white text on #dfe3f8?

Black. It scores 16.48:1 against #dfe3f8, versus 1.27:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #dfe3f8 accessible on a white background?

#dfe3f8 on white scores 1.27:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #556ADA to reach 4.5:1, or #2D47CF for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #dfe3f8?

#F8F4DF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #F8E8DF and #F0F8DF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #dfe3f8?

For interface work: #F4F5FA as the surface, #C0C7ED for borders, #4B579B for secondary text, #AD731F as an accent and #172469 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DFF0F8 and #E8DFF8 stays calm, while #F8F4DF is the loudest partner.

What is #dfe3f8 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(10%, 9%, 0%, 3%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #dfe3f8 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 89 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #E4DFF8; nudged cooler, #DFEAF8.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #dfe3f8?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 28.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #dfe3f8 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #dfe3f8 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#dfe3f8] or text-[#dfe3f8], 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 #dfe3f8 with 50% opacity?

rgba(223, 227, 248, 0.5), or #dfe3f880 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EFF1FC; over black, #70727C.

Is #dfe3f8 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCFF, ΔE2000 10 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #dfe3f8 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 #dfe3f8?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #EEF0FB, #dfe3f8 45%, #172469). For more colour, a short hue run to #E0C6F3 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #dfe3f8 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #dfe3f8 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.