Midnight blue

#281a5e

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

This is Midnight blue, a strong blue at 252 degrees. Deep blues like this anchor serious, established brands. Warm oranges and ambers opposite it add energy and grey keeps it professional.

Midnight blue color values

Every conversion for #281a5e, ready to copy. Hex, rgb, hsl, hsv, cmyk, cie-lab, xyz, decimal, web safe and the nearest Pantone.

Hex#281a5e

RGB40, 26, 94

HSL252, 57%, 24%

HSV252, 72%, 37%

CMYK57%, 72%, 0%, 63%

Lab15.48, 26.86, -38.32

XYZ3.26, 2.0, 10.8

Decimal2628190

Web safe#333366

Pantone275 C

Shades of midnight blue

#221650 #1c1242 #19103b #160e34 #130c2d #100b26 #0d091f #0a0718

Tints of midnight blue

#34227b #412a98 #4d32b5 #5e42cb #775fd3 #907cdb #a99ae3 #c1b7eb #dad4f3 #f3f1fb

Colors that go with midnight blue

Complementary#505e1a Analogous#1a2e5e Analogous#4a1a5e Triadic#5e281a Triadic#1a5e28 Split complementary#5e4a1a Split complementary#2e5e1a

Midnight blue in print

It sits in a comfortable part of the gamut and reproduces reliably on press. The cmyk build is 57, 72, 0, 63.

The same color needs a different cmyk build depending on the paper. Here is #281a5e on both.

Coated stockgloss or silk, C

57 72 0 63

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

Uncoated stocknatural or matte, U

56 70 4 69

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.

Midnight blue in css

Copy #281a5e straight into your stylesheet.

.background { background-color: #281a5e; }
.text { color: #281a5e; }
.border { border: 2px solid #281a5e; }

How midnight blue looks on light and dark

Sample text on black

Sample text on white

Text on this color

Midnight blue and accessibility

Contrast ratios for #281a5e against black and white text, measured to the WCAG standard.

Use white text on this color for readable body copy. To test #281a5e against any other color, not just black and white, run the pair through our contrast checker for a live WCAG reading.

Midnight blue on a business card, sticker and pattern

A quick look at how #281a5e sits on real print products. Start any of these in the maker.

Business card

Sticker

Repeat pattern

Building a full palette around midnight 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 midnight blue into a seamless pattern

Four patterns built from #281a5e 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 midnight blue, free and print ready.

Open in pattern maker

How we calculate these values

Here is how the numbers for #281a5e are worked out. 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.