Steel blue

#697eae

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 #697eae, ready to copy. Hex, rgb, hsl, hsv, cmyk, cie-lab, xyz, decimal, web safe and the nearest Pantone.

Hex#697eae

RGB105, 126, 174

HSL222, 30%, 55%

HSV222, 40%, 68%

CMYK40%, 28%, 0%, 32%

Lab52.93, 4.81, -27.88

XYZ20.93, 20.98, 42.99

Decimal6913710

Web safe#666699

Pantone652 C

Shades of steel blue

#5970a5 #506595 #485a85 #3f4f75 #364465 #2e3954 #252e44 #1c2334 #131824 #0b0e14

Tints of steel blue

#778ab5 #8596bd #93a2c4 #a0aecc #aebad3 #bcc5db #cad1e2 #d8ddea #e6e9f1 #f3f5f9

Colors that go with steel blue

Complementary#ae9969 Analogous#69a0ae Analogous#7669ae Triadic#ae697e Triadic#7eae69 Split complementary#ae7769 Split complementary#a0ae69

Steel blue in print

It sits in a comfortable part of the gamut and reproduces reliably on press. The cmyk build is 40, 28, 0, 32.

The same color needs a different cmyk build depending on the paper. Here is #697eae on both.

Coated stockgloss or silk, C

40 28 0 32

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

Uncoated stocknatural or matte, U

41 30 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 #697eae straight into your stylesheet.

.background { background-color: #697eae; }
.text { color: #697eae; }
.border { border: 2px solid #697eae; }

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 #697eae against black and white text, measured to the WCAG standard.

Use black text on this color for readable body copy. To test #697eae 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 #697eae 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 #697eae 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 #697eae are worked out. Rgb, hsl, hsv, lab and xyz are derived through the usual sRGB conversion formulas. 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.