Steel blue

#308db2

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

Steel blue is a deep blue that reads weighty. 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 #308db2, ready to copy. Hex, rgb, hsl, hsv, cmyk, cie-lab, xyz, decimal, web safe and the nearest Pantone.

Hex#308db2

RGB48, 141, 178

HSL197, 58%, 44%

HSV197, 73%, 70%

CMYK73%, 21%, 0%, 30%

Lab54.96, -14.65, -27.23

XYZ18.78, 22.89, 45.55

Decimal3182002

Web safe#339999

Pantone640 C

Shades of steel blue

#2c81a3 #287593 #246884 #1f5c74 #1b5065 #174456 #133846 #0f2b37 #0b1f27 #061318

Tints of steel blue

#369ec7 #49a8ce #5eb2d4 #73bcd9 #88c6df #9dd0e5 #b2daea #c7e4f0 #dceef6 #f1f8fb

Colors that go with steel blue

Complementary#b25530 Analogous#30b296 Analogous#304cb2 Triadic#b2308d Triadic#8db230 Split complementary#b2304c Split complementary#b29630

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 73, 21, 0, 30.

The same color needs a different cmyk build depending on the paper. Here is #308db2 on both.

Coated stockgloss or silk, C

73 21 0 30

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

Uncoated stocknatural or matte, U

71 23 4 36

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 #308db2 straight into your stylesheet.

.background { background-color: #308db2; }
.text { color: #308db2; }
.border { border: 2px solid #308db2; }

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 #308db2 against black and white text, measured to the WCAG standard.

Use black text on this color for readable body copy. To test #308db2 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 #308db2 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 #308db2 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 #308db2 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.