Steel blue

#308cb4

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, mid and strong. A mid blue this balanced is a workhorse for corporate identity. Warm oranges and ambers opposite it add energy and grey keeps it professional.

Steel blue color values

Every conversion for #308cb4, ready to copy. Hex, rgb, hsl, hsv, cmyk, cie-lab, xyz, decimal, web safe and the nearest Pantone.

Hex#308cb4

RGB48, 140, 180

HSL198, 58%, 45%

HSV198, 73%, 71%

CMYK73%, 22%, 0%, 29%

Lab54.74, -13.41, -28.72

XYZ18.84, 22.68, 46.56

Decimal3181748

Web safe#3399cc

Pantone640 C

Shades of steel blue

#2c80a4 #287495 #246885 #1f5c76 #1b4f66 #174356 #133747 #0f2b37 #0b1f28 #061318

Tints of steel blue

#369cc9 #4aa7cf #5fb1d4 #74bbda #89c5df #9dcfe5 #b2daeb #c7e4f0 #dceef6 #f1f8fb

Colors that go with steel blue

Complementary#b45830 Analogous#30b49a Analogous#304ab4 Triadic#b4308c Triadic#8cb430 Split complementary#b4304a Split complementary#b49a30

Steel blue in print

It sits in a comfortable part of the gamut and reproduces reliably on press. The cmyk build is 73, 22, 0, 29.

The same color needs a different cmyk build depending on the paper. Here is #308cb4 on both.

Coated stockgloss or silk, C

73 22 0 29

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

Uncoated stocknatural or matte, U

71 24 4 35

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

Steel blue in css

Copy #308cb4 straight into your stylesheet.

.background { background-color: #308cb4; }
.text { color: #308cb4; }
.border { border: 2px solid #308cb4; }

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 #308cb4 against black and white text, measured to the WCAG standard.

Use black text on this color for readable body copy. To test #308cb4 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 #308cb4 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 #308cb4 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 #308cb4 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 value is the closest reference by perceptual color distance and should be treated as a starting point, not a guaranteed match.