Steel blue

#4c8ead

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

Steel blue is a mid blue that reads balanced. 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 #4c8ead, ready to copy. Hex, rgb, hsl, hsv, cmyk, cie-lab, xyz, decimal, web safe and the nearest Pantone.

Hex#4c8ead

RGB76, 142, 173

HSL199, 39%, 49%

HSV199, 56%, 68%

CMYK56%, 18%, 0%, 32%

Lab55.99, -11.92, -22.71

XYZ20.2, 23.9, 43.08

Decimal5017261

Web safe#339999

Pantone640 C

Shades of steel blue

#45829e #3f758f #38697f #315c70 #2b5061 #244352 #1d3743 #172a34 #101e24 #091115

Tints of steel blue

#5b99b7 #6ba4be #7caec6 #8db9cd #9ec3d4 #afcedc #c0d8e3 #d1e2eb #e2edf2 #f3f7fa

Colors that go with steel blue

Complementary#ad6b4c Analogous#4cad9b Analogous#4c5ead Triadic#ad4c8e Triadic#8ead4c Split complementary#ad4c5e Split complementary#ad9b4c

Steel blue in print

It converts to cmyk cleanly and holds its character from screen to paper. The cmyk build is 56, 18, 0, 32.

The same color needs a different cmyk build depending on the paper. Here is #4c8ead on both.

Coated stockgloss or silk, C

56 18 0 32

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

Uncoated stocknatural or matte, U

56 21 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 #4c8ead straight into your stylesheet.

.background { background-color: #4c8ead; }
.text { color: #4c8ead; }
.border { border: 2px solid #4c8ead; }

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 #4c8ead against black and white text, measured to the WCAG standard.

Use black text on this color for readable body copy. To test #4c8ead 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 #4c8ead 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 #4c8ead 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 #4c8ead are worked out. 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. The Pantone figure is the nearest match in our reference set by perceptual distance and it is an approximation, not an exact spot color.