Steel blue

#4b99bc

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 soft. 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 #4b99bc, ready to copy. Hex, rgb, hsl, hsv, cmyk, cie-lab, xyz, decimal, web safe and the nearest Pantone.

Hex#4b99bc

RGB75, 153, 188

HSL199, 46%, 52%

HSV199, 60%, 74%

CMYK60%, 19%, 0%, 26%

Lab59.81, -13.51, -25.36

XYZ23.37, 27.91, 51.73

Decimal4954556

Web safe#3399cc

Pantone639 C

Shades of steel blue

#418daf #3b7f9e #34718d #2e647c #28566b #22495a #1b3b49 #152d38 #0f2027 #081216

Tints of steel blue

#5ca2c2 #6cacc8 #7db5cf #8ebfd5 #9ec8db #afd2e1 #c0dbe8 #d1e5ee #e1eef4 #f2f8fa

Colors that go with steel blue

Complementary#bc6e4b Analogous#4bbca7 Analogous#4b60bc Triadic#bc4b99 Triadic#99bc4b Split complementary#bc4b60 Split complementary#bca74b

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, 19, 0, 26.

The same color needs a different cmyk build depending on the paper. Here is #4b99bc on both.

Coated stockgloss or silk, C

60 19 0 26

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

Uncoated stocknatural or matte, U

59 21 4 32

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 #4b99bc straight into your stylesheet.

.background { background-color: #4b99bc; }
.text { color: #4b99bc; }
.border { border: 2px solid #4b99bc; }

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 #4b99bc against black and white text, measured to the WCAG standard.

Use black text on this color for readable body copy. To test #4b99bc 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 #4b99bc 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 #4b99bc 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

The figures for #4b99bc come from standard color math, shown so you can check them. The rgb, hsl, hsv, cie-lab and xyz values follow the standard conversions from the sRGB color space. The coated and uncoated cmyk builds differ because uncoated stock absorbs more ink and gains dot, so the same color needs a heavier, slightly duller build on press. The Pantone figure is the nearest match in our reference set by perceptual distance and it is an approximation, not an exact spot color.