Steel blue

#277fb9

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

Steel blue sits in the blue band, deep and strong. Deep blues like this anchor serious, established brands. Warm oranges and ambers opposite it add energy and grey keeps it professional.

Steel blue color values

Every conversion for #277fb9, ready to copy. Hex, rgb, hsl, hsv, cmyk, cie-lab, xyz, decimal, web safe and the nearest Pantone.

Hex#277fb9

RGB39, 127, 185

HSL204, 65%, 44%

HSV204, 79%, 73%

CMYK79%, 31%, 0%, 27%

Lab50.82, -5.29, -37.73

XYZ17.18, 19.11, 48.68

Decimal2588601

Web safe#3366cc

Pantone3005 C

Shades of steel blue

#2474a9 #206999 #1d5e89 #1a5379 #164869 #133d59 #0f3249 #0c2739 #091c29 #051119

Tints of steel blue

#2c8ecf #3f9ad7 #55a6db #6bb2e0 #82bde5 #98c9e9 #aed4ee #c4e0f3 #daecf7 #f0f7fc

Colors that go with steel blue

Complementary#b96127 Analogous#27b9aa Analogous#2736b9 Triadic#b9277f Triadic#7fb927 Split complementary#b92736 Split complementary#b9aa27

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 79, 31, 0, 27.

The same color needs a different cmyk build depending on the paper. Here is #277fb9 on both.

Coated stockgloss or silk, C

79 31 0 27

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

Uncoated stocknatural or matte, U

77 33 4 33

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

This color converts to cmyk comfortably and should hold on press.

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 #277fb9 straight into your stylesheet.

.background { background-color: #277fb9; }
.text { color: #277fb9; }
.border { border: 2px solid #277fb9; }

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 #277fb9 against black and white text, measured to the WCAG standard.

Use black text on this color for readable body copy. To test #277fb9 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 #277fb9 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 #277fb9 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

The figures for #277fb9 come from standard color math, shown so you can check them. Rgb, hsl, hsv, lab and xyz are derived through the usual sRGB conversion formulas. The uncoated cmyk build carries more ink than the coated one, which is what a printer would compensate for when the same color runs on a rougher stock. The Pantone value is the closest reference by perceptual color distance and should be treated as a starting point, not a guaranteed match.