Steel blue

#287d9f

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 197 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 #287d9f, ready to copy. Hex, rgb, hsl, hsv, cmyk, cie-lab, xyz, decimal, web safe and the nearest Pantone.

Hex#287d9f

RGB40, 125, 159

HSL197, 60%, 39%

HSV197, 75%, 62%

CMYK75%, 21%, 0%, 38%

Lab49.03, -13.36, -25.45

XYZ14.47, 17.62, 35.44

Decimal2653599

Web safe#336699

Pantone307 C

Shades of steel blue

#257292 #216884 #1e5d77 #1a5369 #17485c #143e4e #103341 #0d2833 #0a1e26 #061318

Tints of steel blue

#2e8fb6 #35a1cc #4dacd2 #64b7d8 #7cc2de #93cde4 #aad8ea #c2e3f0 #d9edf6 #f1f8fb

Colors that go with steel blue

Complementary#9f4a28 Analogous#289f85 Analogous#28429f Triadic#9f287d Triadic#7d9f28 Split complementary#9f2842 Split complementary#9f8528

Steel blue in print

It converts to cmyk cleanly and holds its character from screen to paper. The cmyk build is 75, 21, 0, 38.

The same color needs a different cmyk build depending on the paper. Here is #287d9f on both.

Coated stockgloss or silk, C

75 21 0 38

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

Uncoated stocknatural or matte, U

73 23 4 44

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 #287d9f straight into your stylesheet.

.background { background-color: #287d9f; }
.text { color: #287d9f; }
.border { border: 2px solid #287d9f; }

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 #287d9f against black and white text, measured to the WCAG standard.

Use white text on this color for readable body copy. To test #287d9f 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 #287d9f 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 #287d9f 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 #287d9f are worked out. The rgb, hsl, hsv, cie-lab and xyz values follow the standard conversions from the sRGB color space. 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.