Steel blue

#3983cd

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 210 degrees. A mid blue this balanced is a workhorse for corporate identity. It pairs with warm neutrals for balance, or with a brighter accent for contrast.

Steel blue color values

Every conversion for #3983cd, ready to copy. Hex, rgb, hsl, hsv, cmyk, cie-lab, xyz, decimal, web safe and the nearest Pantone.

Hex#3983cd

RGB57, 131, 205

HSL210, 60%, 51%

HSV210, 72%, 80%

CMYK72%, 36%, 0%, 20%

Lab53.5, 1.84, -44.87

XYZ20.82, 21.51, 60.81

Decimal3769293

Web safe#3399cc

Pantone3005 C

Shades of steel blue

#3077bf #2b6cac #27609a #225587 #1d4975 #193e62 #143250 #10263d #0b1b2b #060f18

Tints of steel blue

#4b8fd2 #5e9ad6 #70a6db #82b1e0 #95bde4 #a7c8e9 #bad4ed #ccdff2 #deebf7 #f1f6fb

Colors that go with steel blue

Complementary#cd8339 Analogous#39cdcd Analogous#3939cd Triadic#cd3983 Triadic#83cd39 Split complementary#cd3939 Split complementary#cdcd39

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 72, 36, 0, 20.

The same color needs a different cmyk build depending on the paper. Here is #3983cd on both.

Coated stockgloss or silk, C

72 36 0 20

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

Uncoated stocknatural or matte, U

70 37 4 26

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 #3983cd straight into your stylesheet.

.background { background-color: #3983cd; }
.text { color: #3983cd; }
.border { border: 2px solid #3983cd; }

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 #3983cd against black and white text, measured to the WCAG standard.

Use black text on this color for readable body copy. To test #3983cd 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 #3983cd 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 #3983cd 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

Every value on this page for #3983cd is computed, not guessed. 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. The Pantone figure is the nearest match in our reference set by perceptual distance and it is an approximation, not an exact spot color.