Steel blue

#18659c

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

This is Steel blue, a strong blue at 205 degrees. 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 #18659c, ready to copy. Hex, rgb, hsl, hsv, cmyk, cie-lab, xyz, decimal, web safe and the nearest Pantone.

Hex#18659c

RGB24, 101, 156

HSL205, 73%, 35%

HSV205, 85%, 61%

CMYK85%, 35%, 0%, 39%

Lab41.06, -2.06, -36.19

XYZ11.03, 11.9, 33.17

Decimal1598876

Web safe#006699

Pantone301 C

Shades of steel blue

#165d8f #145482 #124c75 #104368 #0e3b5b #0c334e #0a2a41 #082234 #061a27 #04111b

Tints of steel blue

#1c77b7 #2088d2 #3297df #4da5e4 #68b3e8 #83c0ec #9ecef0 #b9dcf4 #d4e9f8 #f0f7fd

Colors that go with steel blue

Complementary#9c4f18 Analogous#189c91 Analogous#18239c Triadic#9c1865 Triadic#659c18 Split complementary#9c1823 Split complementary#9c9118

Steel blue in print

The cmyk build is well inside gamut, so what you see on screen is close to what prints. The cmyk build is 85, 35, 0, 39.

The same color needs a different cmyk build depending on the paper. Here is #18659c on both.

Coated stockgloss or silk, C

85 35 0 39

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

Uncoated stocknatural or matte, U

82 36 4 45

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 readrgb vs cmyk for print andwhat the k in cmyk means.

Steel blue in css

Copy #18659c straight into your stylesheet.

.background { background-color: #18659c; }
.text { color: #18659c; }
.border { border: 2px solid #18659c; }

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 #18659c against black and white text, measured to the WCAG standard.

Use white text on this color for readable body copy. To test #18659c against any other color, not just black and white, run the pair through ourcontrast checker for a live WCAG reading.

Steel blue on a business card, sticker and pattern

A quick look at how #18659c 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 thecolor palette generator, or check a design for print with thergb to cmyk converter.

Turn steel blue into a seamless pattern

Four patterns built from #18659c 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

Here is how the numbers for #18659c are worked out. Rgb, hsl, hsv, lab and xyz are derived through the usual sRGB conversion formulas. 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. For Pantone we return the nearest reference by perceptual distance, which gets you close but is not a substitute for a physical swatch book.