Steel blue

#448ac2

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

This is Steel blue, a soft blue at 207 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 #448ac2, ready to copy. Hex, rgb, hsl, hsv, cmyk, cie-lab, xyz, decimal, web safe and the nearest Pantone.

Hex#448ac2

RGB68, 138, 194

HSL207, 51%, 51%

HSV207, 65%, 76%

CMYK65%, 29%, 0%, 24%

Lab55.38, -4.4, -35.65

XYZ21.21, 23.3, 54.42

Decimal4491970

Web safe#3399cc

Pantone2925 C

Shades of steel blue

#3b7eb4 #3572a3 #2f6691 #2a5a80 #244d6e #1e415d #19354b #13293a #0d1c29 #081017

Tints of steel blue

#5595c8 #67a0cd #78abd3 #89b5d9 #9bc0de #accbe4 #bdd6ea #cfe1ef #e0ecf5 #f2f7fb

Colors that go with steel blue

Complementary#c27c44 Analogous#44c2bb Analogous#444bc2 Triadic#c2448a Triadic#8ac244 Split complementary#c2444b Split complementary#c2bb44

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 65, 29, 0, 24.

The same color needs a different cmyk build depending on the paper. Here is #448ac2 on both.

Coated stockgloss or silk, C

65 29 0 24

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

Uncoated stocknatural or matte, U

64 31 4 30

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 #448ac2 straight into your stylesheet.

.background { background-color: #448ac2; }
.text { color: #448ac2; }
.border { border: 2px solid #448ac2; }

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 #448ac2 against black and white text, measured to the WCAG standard.

Use black text on this color for readable body copy. To test #448ac2 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 #448ac2 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 #448ac2 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 #448ac2 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.