Steel blue

#0980bb

Hex, rgb, cmyk and Pantone values for steel blue, with shades, tints, matching colors and free print quality patterns.

Steel blue is a deep blue that reads weighty. Deep blues like this anchor serious, established brands. It pairs with warm neutrals for balance, or with a brighter accent for contrast.

Steel blue color values

Every conversion for #0980bb, ready to copy. Hex, rgb, hsl, hsv, cmyk, cie-lab, xyz, decimal, web safe and the nearest Pantone.

Hex#0980bb

RGB9, 128, 187

HSL200, 91%, 38%

HSV200, 95%, 73%

CMYK95%, 32%, 0%, 27%

Lab50.79, -7.26, -38.96

XYZ16.8, 19.08, 49.81

Decimal622779

Web safe#0099cc

Pantone3005 C

Shades of steel blue

#0875ab #076a9b #07608c #06557c #054a6c #043f5c #04344d #032a3d #021f2d #01141d

Tints of steel blue

#0a93d7 #0ca7f3 #28b1f5 #44bbf6 #61c5f7 #7dd0f9 #99dafa #b5e4fb #d2effd #eef9fe

Colors that go with steel blue

Complementary#bb4409 Analogous#09bb9d Analogous#0927bb Triadic#bb0980 Triadic#80bb09 Split complementary#bb0927 Split complementary#bb9d09

Steel blue in print

It is saturated enough that the cmyk build can shift slightly from screen to press, so proof it. The cmyk build is 95, 32, 0, 27.

The same color needs a different cmyk build depending on the paper. Here is #0980bb on both.

Coated stockgloss or silk, C

95 32 0 27

Ink sits on the surface, so colors stay bright and close to screen.

Uncoated stocknatural or matte, U

91 33 4 33

The stock absorbs ink and gains dot, so it needs a heavier build and reads a touch softer.

This color is saturated enough to sit near the edge of cmyk gamut, so expect a small drop in punch on paper and proof it before a long run.

See how it converts in the rgb to cmyk converter, or read rgb vs cmyk for print and what the k in cmyk means.

Steel blue in css

Copy #0980bb straight into your stylesheet.

.background { background-color: #0980bb; }
.text { color: #0980bb; }
.border { border: 2px solid #0980bb; }

How steel blue looks on light and dark

Sample text on black

Sample text on white

Text on this color

Steel blue and accessibility

Contrast ratios for #0980bb against black and white text, measured to the WCAG standard.

Use black text on this color for readable body copy. To test #0980bb against any other color, not just black and white, run the pair through our contrast checker for a live WCAG reading.

Steel blue on a business card, sticker and pattern

A quick look at how #0980bb sits on real print products. Start any of these in the maker.

Business card

Sticker

Repeat pattern

Building a full palette around steel blue? Pull matching colors from any photo with the color palette generator, or check a design for print with the rgb to cmyk converter.

Turn steel blue into a seamless pattern

Four patterns built from #0980bb and its shades, free at print quality. Click any one to keep editing in the pattern maker.

Arches Signature stripes Gem Shingles

Make posters, wallpaper and packaging art from steel blue, free and print ready.

Open in pattern maker

How we calculate these values

Every value on this page for #0980bb is computed, not guessed. We convert from sRGB to each space with the standard formulas, so the codes match what design tools show. Two cmyk builds are shown because coated and uncoated papers behave differently, uncoated soaks up ink and needs more of it to hit the same target. The Pantone figure is the nearest match in our reference set by perceptual distance and it is an approximation, not an exact spot color.