Light steel blue

#bbc4e2

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

Light steel blue sits in the blue band, light and soft. Light blues like this feel trustworthy, common in finance and software. Warm oranges and ambers opposite it add energy and grey keeps it professional.

Light steel blue color values

Every conversion for #bbc4e2, ready to copy. Hex, rgb, hsl, hsv, cmyk, cie-lab, xyz, decimal, web safe and the nearest Pantone.

Hex#bbc4e2

RGB187, 196, 226

HSL226, 40%, 81%

HSV226, 17%, 89%

CMYK17%, 13%, 0%, 11%

Lab79.35, 3.03, -15.95

XYZ53.96, 55.54, 79.83

Decimal12305634

Web safe#cccccc

Pantone2708 C

Shades of light steel blue

#a0add7 #8595cb #6b7ec0 #5067b4 #42579b #374881 #2b3966 #202a4b #151b30 #090c15

Tints of light steel blue

#c1c9e4 #c6cee7 #ccd2e9 #d1d7eb #d7dcee #dce1f0 #e2e6f3 #e7ebf5 #edeff7 #f2f4fa

Colors that go with light steel blue

Complementary#e2d9bb Analogous#bbd8e2 Analogous#c5bbe2 Triadic#e2bbc4 Triadic#c4e2bb Split complementary#e2c5bb Split complementary#d8e2bb

Light steel blue in print

It sits in a comfortable part of the gamut and reproduces reliably on press. The cmyk build is 17, 13, 0, 11.

The same color needs a different cmyk build depending on the paper. Here is #bbc4e2 on both.

Coated stockgloss or silk, C

17 13 0 11

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

Uncoated stocknatural or matte, U

20 16 4 17

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 readrgb vs cmyk for print andwhat the k in cmyk means.

Light steel blue in css

Copy #bbc4e2 straight into your stylesheet.

.background { background-color: #bbc4e2; }
.text { color: #bbc4e2; }
.border { border: 2px solid #bbc4e2; }

How light steel blue looks on light and dark

Sample text on black

Sample text on white

Text on this color

Light steel blue and accessibility

Contrast ratios for #bbc4e2 against black and white text, measured to the WCAG standard.

Use black text on this color for readable body copy. To test #bbc4e2 against any other color, not just black and white, run the pair through ourcontrast checker for a live WCAG reading.

Light steel blue on a business card, sticker and pattern

A quick look at how #bbc4e2 sits on real print products. Start any of these in the maker.

Business card

Sticker

Repeat pattern

Building a full palette around light steel blue? Pull matching colors from any photo with thecolor palette generator, or check a design for print with thergb to cmyk converter.

Turn light steel blue into a seamless pattern

Four patterns built from #bbc4e2 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 light steel blue, free and print ready.

Open in pattern maker

How we calculate these values

Here is how the numbers for #bbc4e2 are worked out. The rgb, hsl, hsv, cie-lab and xyz values follow the standard conversions from the sRGB color space. 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.