Steel blue

#4591ad

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 196 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 #4591ad, ready to copy. Hex, rgb, hsl, hsv, cmyk, cie-lab, xyz, decimal, web safe and the nearest Pantone.

Hex#4591ad

RGB69, 145, 173

HSL196, 43%, 47%

HSV196, 60%, 68%

CMYK60%, 16%, 0%, 32%

Lab56.62, -15.01, -21.77

XYZ20.12, 24.53, 43.21

Decimal4559277

Web safe#339999

Pantone640 C

Shades of steel blue

#3f849e #39788f #336b80 #2d5e71 #275261 #214552 #1b3843 #152c34 #0f1f25 #091216

Tints of steel blue

#519eba #63a8c1 #75b2c8 #87bccf #99c6d6 #abd0dd #bddae5 #cee4ec #e0eef3 #f2f8fa

Colors that go with steel blue

Complementary#ad6145 Analogous#45ad95 Analogous#455dad Triadic#ad4591 Triadic#91ad45 Split complementary#ad455d Split complementary#ad9545

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 60, 16, 0, 32.

The same color needs a different cmyk build depending on the paper. Here is #4591ad on both.

Coated stockgloss or silk, C

60 16 0 32

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

Uncoated stocknatural or matte, U

59 19 4 38

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 #4591ad straight into your stylesheet.

.background { background-color: #4591ad; }
.text { color: #4591ad; }
.border { border: 2px solid #4591ad; }

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 #4591ad against black and white text, measured to the WCAG standard.

Use black text on this color for readable body copy. To test #4591ad 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 #4591ad 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 #4591ad 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 #4591ad is computed, not guessed. 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. For Pantone we return the nearest reference by perceptual distance, which gets you close but is not a substitute for a physical swatch book.