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blue · cool

#dfedf8

a pale, vivid blue · cool · closest name: Alice Blue

Token name suggestion: Whisper Cobalt

RGB
223, 237, 248
HSL
206°, 64%, 92%
CMYK
10, 4, 0, 3
Luminance
0.8303

#dfedf8 is a pale vivid blue, 206° on the wheel and 99/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (17.61:1). As text it scores 1.19:1 on white — use #297ABA instead. Nearest name is Alice Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(206 64% 92%)rgb(223 237 248)Base step 100AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #dfedf8 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#dfedf8
Hue
206°
blue
Saturation
64%
vivid
Lightness
92%
pale
Brightness
97%
HSV value
Perceived
92%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.8303
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
99/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
17.61:1
Closest name
Alice Blue
ΔE2000 3.5
Chroma
7.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.939
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 24.4
Web-safe
#CCFFFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue206° 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 #dfedf8.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool99% 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
Red19%
Green73%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#dfedf8
HEX (8-digit)#dfedf8ff
RGBrgb(223, 237, 248)
RGBArgba(223, 237, 248, 1)
HSLhsl(206, 64%, 92%)
HSV / HSBhsv(206, 10%, 97%)
HWBhwb(206 87% 3%)
CMYKcmyk(10%, 4%, 0%, 3%)
LABlab(93.0 -2.5 -6.9)
LCHlch(93.0 7.3 249.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.939 0.021 241.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(77.66, 83.03, 100.72)
Decimal14675448
Display P3color(display-p3 0.875 0.929 0.973)
Web-safe#CCFFFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #dfedf8;
background-color: #dfedf8;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #dfedf8;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#dfedf8] bg-[#dfedf8]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #dfedf8;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.875, green: 0.929, blue: 0.973)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.875, green: 0.929, blue: 0.973, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DFEDF8</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDFEDF8)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDFEDF8)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(248, 237, 223)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(223, 237, 248)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(223, 237, 248)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 223, 237, 248)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8745f, 0.9294f, 0.9725f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{223,237,248}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #dfedf8 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #dfedf8 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#174569, #D3E2EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #dfedf8 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: #F4F8FB;
  --brand-100: #dfedf8;
  --brand-200: #CBE0F1;
  --brand-300: #A3CBEB;
  --brand-400: #75B1E1;
  --brand-500: #4797D7;
  --brand-600: #2C84C9;
  --brand-700: #256EA7;
  --brand-800: #1D5886;
  --brand-900: #194261;
  --brand-950: #10293D;
  --brand: #dfedf8;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C0D9ED;
  --brand-hover: #C2DDF2;
  --brand-pressed: #A5CCEB;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141D24;
    --brand-ink: #D3E2EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4F8FB',
        100: '#dfedf8',
        200: '#CBE0F1',
        300: '#A3CBEB',
        400: '#75B1E1',
        500: '#4797D7',
        600: '#2C84C9',
        700: '#256EA7',
        800: '#1D5886',
        900: '#194261',
        950: '#10293D',
        DEFAULT: '#dfedf8',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4F8FB,
  '100': #dfedf8,
  '200': #CBE0F1,
  '300': #A3CBEB,
  '400': #75B1E1,
  '500': #4797D7,
  '600': #2C84C9,
  '700': #256EA7,
  '800': #1D5886,
  '900': #194261,
  '950': #10293D,
);
$brand-base: #dfedf8;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4F8FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#dfedf8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CBE0F1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#A3CBEB", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#75B1E1", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#4797D7", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#2C84C9", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#256EA7", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#1D5886", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#194261", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#10293D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #dfedf8 · 17.61:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.19:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 17.61:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #dfedf8 as text scores 1.19:1 on white and 17.61:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #174569 at 8.42:1.

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
#297ABA · 4.58:1
AA on white−48% L
#297ABA
The quick fox
#1F5C8C · 7.08:1
AAA on white−59% L
#1F5C8C
The quick fox
#dfedf8 · 17.61:1
AA on blackalready passes
#dfedf8
The quick fox
#dfedf8 · 17.61:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#dfedf8

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #4D9BD8 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
#dfedf8 on white: 1.19:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#dfedf8 on black: 17.61:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #dfedf8 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #dfedf8.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.19:1AaAa
Slate 501.14:1AaAa
Slate 1001.09:1AaAa
Slate 2001.03:1AaAa
Slate 3001.24:1AaAa
Slate 4002.15:1AaAa
Slate 5003.99:1AaAa
Slate 6006.35:1AaAa
Slate 7008.68:1AaAa
Slate 80012.26:1AaAa
Slate 90014.97:1AaAa
Black17.61:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #E9EDF9
deuteranopia · #E5EAF8
tritanopia · #D9F0F0

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. #dfedf8 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.

#F4F8FB
#dfedf8
#CBE0F1
#A3CBEB
#75B1E1
#4797D7
#2C84C9
#256EA7
#1D5886
#194261
#10293D
Base = 100Lightest = 50 · #F4F8FBDarkest = 950 · #10293DText step on white = 700
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 0.005 241.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.008 241.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.013 241.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.016 241.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.019 241.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.021 241.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.021 241.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.020 241.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.018 241.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.015 241.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.012 241.4);
}

Colors that work with #dfedf8

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#F4F8FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0D9ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B789B
Captions on the surface
Accent#AD3A1F
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#174569
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EAF3FA
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141D24
Dark-mode background
Hover#C2DDF2
One step down in lightness
Pressed#A5CCEB
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F5F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#DBECFA
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 #dfedf8

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 #174569
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #4D9BD8

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#F8EADF
Analogous left#DFF8F7
Analogous right#DFE1F8
Split-complement 1#F8DFE1
Split-complement 2#F8F7DF
Triadic 1#F8DFED
Triadic 2#EDF8DF
Tetradic#F7DFF8
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°206°

#dfedf8 sits at 206°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red87.5%
Green92.9%
Blue97.3%
R · 0–255
223
0xdf
G · 0–255
237
0xed
B · 0–255
248
0xf8

CMYK percentages

Cyan10.1%
Magenta4.4%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)2.7%

Total ink coverage is 17%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#dfedf8 text on a black background

contrast 17.61:1

Card sample

#dfedf8 text on a white background

contrast 1.19:1

Card sample

#dfedf8 on grey

1.09:1

#dfedf8 on its own surface

1.12:1

#dfedf8 on its dark surface

14.30:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #dfedf8;
Background color
Panel with #dfedf8 background
background-color: #dfedf8;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #dfedf8;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(223, 237, 248, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(223, 237, 248, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #dfedf8;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #dfedf8, #E2DFF8);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dfedf8, #E8DFF8);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #dfedf8;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #dfedf8;
caret-color: #dfedf8;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #dfedf8;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EAF3FA;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #dfedf8;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#dfedf8 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #dfedf8 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, 237, 248, 0.5)
rgb(223 237 248 / 50%)
#dfedf880
hsl(206 64% 92% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #dfedf8 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#dfedf81a#FCFDFE
20%#dfedf833#F9FBFE
40%#dfedf866#F2F8FC
60%#dfedf899#ECF4FB
80%#dfedf8cc#E5F1F9

Gradients from #dfedf8

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, #EEF6FB, #dfedf8 45%, #174569);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #dfedf8, #CFC6F3);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dfedf8, #F8EADF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F2F8FC 0%, #dfedf8 45%, #174569 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F8FA, #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%, #F8F8FE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #174569 0%, transparent 65%), #dfedf8;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #dfedf8

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.

#dfedf8 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 17.61:1.

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.

#dfedf8, answered

What color is #dfedf8?

#dfedf8 is a pale vivid blue, closest to Alice Blue (ΔE2000 3.5). It sits at 206° on the hue wheel with 64% saturation and 92% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #dfedf8?

rgb(223, 237, 248) — 223 red, 237 green and 248 blue out of 255, or 87.5% / 92.9% / 97.3% by channel.

What is #dfedf8 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(206, 64%, 92%) and hsv(206, 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 #dfedf8 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.8303 and perceived brightness is 92%, so black text on it reaches 17.61:1.

Should I use black or white text on #dfedf8?

Black. It scores 17.61:1 against #dfedf8, versus 1.19:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #dfedf8 accessible on a white background?

#dfedf8 on white scores 1.19:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #297ABA to reach 4.5:1, or #1F5C8C for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #dfedf8?

#F8EADF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #F8DFE1 and #F8F7DF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #dfedf8?

For interface work: #F4F8FA as the surface, #C0D9ED for borders, #4B789B for secondary text, #AD3A1F as an accent and #174569 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DFF8F7 and #DFE1F8 stays calm, while #F8EADF is the loudest partner.

What is #dfedf8 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(10%, 4%, 0%, 3%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #dfedf8 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 99 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #DFE4F8; nudged cooler, #CADEF4.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #dfedf8?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 24.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #dfedf8 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #dfedf8 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#dfedf8] or text-[#dfedf8], 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 #dfedf8 with 50% opacity?

rgba(223, 237, 248, 0.5), or #dfedf880 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EFF6FC; over black, #70777C.

Is #dfedf8 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCFFFF, ΔE2000 12.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #dfedf8 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 #dfedf8?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #EEF6FB, #dfedf8 45%, #174569). For more colour, a short hue run to #CFC6F3 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #dfedf8 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #dfedf8 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.