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Color Information

Light Steel Blue #9AB3D3

Complete color analysis with professional format conversions, accessibility metrics, and harmonious color combinations for your design projects.

HEX Format
#9AB3D3
RGB Values
154, 179, 211
HSL Values
214°, 39%, 72%
CMYK Values
27%, 15%, 0%, 17%

Color Variations & Tints

  • #D1DCEB

    Lightness: 87%

  • #BFCFE3

    Lightness: 82%

  • #ADC1DB

    Lightness: 77%

  • #9AB3D3

    Lightness: 72%

    Current color

  • #8AA6CC

    Lightness: 67%

  • #7899C4

    Lightness: 62%

  • #678CBC

    Lightness: 57%

Accessibility

White Text
2.2
FAIL
Black Text
9.8
PASS
WCAG AA
PASS
WCAG AAA
PASS

Accessibility Guide

Contrast Ratios
Higher values (4.5+) ensure better readability for users with visual impairments.
WCAG AA Standard
Minimum requirement: 4.5:1 contrast for normal text, 3:1 for large text.
WCAG AAA Standard
Enhanced level: 7:1 contrast for normal text, 4.5:1 for large text.

Color Harmonies

Six established ways to build a palette around #9AB3D3. Click any swatch to copy its value, or open it to see the full breakdown.

Complementary

The colour directly opposite on the wheel.

#9AB3D3 This color
#D3BB9C
Use it when
Highest possible contrast between two hues. Use it when one element has to stand out against everything else: a call-to-action button, a highlight, a single focal point.
Watch out
Side by side at full saturation the edges appear to vibrate. Give one colour far less area than the other, or take saturation out of one of them.

Split-complementary

Instead of the opposite colour, the two next to it.

#9AB3D3 This color
#D39F9C
#D0D39C
Use it when
Almost the contrast of a complementary pair, but noticeably calmer. A good default when complementary feels too harsh: one dominant colour, two accents.
Watch out
The two accents are close to each other. Keep them apart in the layout, or one will read as a mistake.

Analogous

Direct neighbours on the wheel.

#9CD0D3
#9AB3D3 This color
#9F9CD3
Use it when
Naturally harmonious because the colours share undertones. Works well for backgrounds, gradients and calm interfaces where nothing should shout.
Watch out
Contrast between them is low. Do not rely on hue alone to separate interactive elements - vary lightness as well.

Triadic

Three hues at equal distance, 120 degrees apart.

#9AB3D3 This color
#D39CB4
#B4D39C
Use it when
Vivid and balanced at the same time. Suits playful, illustrative work and anything that needs three clearly distinct categories.
Watch out
Three strong colours are hard to balance. Let one dominate and treat the other two as accents, otherwise the result looks restless.

Tetradic

Four hues forming two complementary pairs.

#9AB3D3 This color
#D39CD0
#D3BB9C
#9CD39F
Use it when
The richest of the classic schemes. Useful when a design genuinely needs four distinct colours, for example a chart with four series.
Watch out
The hardest scheme to control. Choose one lead colour, use the rest sparingly, and watch the balance between warm and cool.

Monochromatic

One hue, stepped through lightness.

#416695
#678CBC
#9CB4D3
#D1DCEB
#E3EAF3
Use it when
Always coherent, because there is only one hue. The natural choice for interface hierarchies, single-series charts and restrained designs.
Watch out
Can read as flat. Add one neutral or a single accent colour wherever something needs to be noticed.

Using this color

The same colour behaves very differently depending on where it sits. Each example below states its contrast ratio, so you can see at a glance what holds up.

As a background

9.76:1 passes AA

Heading on this colour

Body text at black, the more readable of the two options.

Comfortable for body text at any size.

As a button

Primary action Secondary Subtle

The outlined and subtle variants use #4C76AE for the label, a darkened version of this colour so the text stays readable.

As text on white

needs adjusting

The colour itself

Adjusted for readability

At its original lightness this colour does not reach the 4.5:1 minimum on white. #4C76AE keeps the same hue and reaches 4.66:1.

As a section behind cards

Card title

White cards on a coloured band are a safe pattern: the card carries the text, the colour carries the mood.

Read more →

As an accent

Highlighted notice

A coloured edge draws attention without touching legibility.

Body copy with an inline link in the adjusted shade.

Badge Outline

In a gradient

with its neighbour
with its complement

Neighbouring hues blend smoothly. Complements pass through a muddy middle, so keep that gradient short or add a stop.

How others see this colour

Around one in twelve men and one in two hundred women perceive colour differently. Two shades that look distinct to most people can collapse into one for them - which is why meaning should never rest on colour alone.

Normal vision

#9AB3D3

Protanopia

#A8B4D5

about 1% of men

Deuteranopia

#A1AED2

about 1% of men

Tritanopia

#8ABABD

rare, affects both sexes

Use it in code

The same colour in the notations you are likely to need.

CSS 
:root {
  --light-steel-blue: #9ab3d3;
}

.element {
  color: #9ab3d3;
  background-color: rgb(154 179 211 / 10%);
}
Tailwind 
// tailwind.config.js
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      'light-steel-blue': '#9ab3d3',
    },
  },
}
SCSS 
$light-steel-blue: #9ab3d3;
$light-steel-blue-light: lighten($light-steel-blue, 15%);
$light-steel-blue-dark: darken($light-steel-blue, 15%);
Swift 
Color(red: 0.604, green: 0.702, blue: 0.827)
// UIKit
UIColor(red: 0.604, green: 0.702, blue: 0.827, alpha: 1.0)
Android 
<!-- colors.xml -->
<color name="light_steel_blue">#9AB3D3</color>

// Compose
val LightSteelBlue = Color(0xFF9AB3D3)
Other 
hsl(214, 39%, 72%)
rgb(154, 179, 211)
#9AB3D3

Be picky and fine tune your color: colors very near to #9AB3D3

Systematic progression of extremely similar colors. Each color represents a precise step in lightness variation.

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#9AB3D3
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