#040FAC

sRGB: 4 / 15 / 172

#040FAC belongs to the blue family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 4 red, 15 green and 172 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 236.1° lands in the blue region. Its 95.5% saturation makes it strong in color at this lightness. HSL lightness is 34.5% on a scale from black (0%) to white (100%). Of black and white lettering, white has the clearer light-to-dark separation on this background (12.58:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 4, 15, 172
HSL: 236.07°, 95.45%, 34.51%
HSV / HSB: 236.07°, 97.67%, 67.45%
CMYK (approx.): 97.67%, 91.28%, 0.00%, 32.55%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 7.666, 3.346, 39.273
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 21.378, 54.922, -77.911
WCAG relative luminance: 0.03346
24-bit decimal: 266156

CMYK uses a profile-free approximation. Printed output depends on the press, ink and paper. Lab uses a D65 white point.

Text contrast

Contrast tells you how clearly lettering separates from #040FAC in light and dark. The ratio compares relative luminance, a measure of light weighted for human vision. Identical colors give 1:1 and black against white gives 21:1. A ratio of 2.99:1 falls just below the 3:1 AA minimum for large text. Body text needs at least 4.5:1 because its finer strokes are harder to distinguish.

Black text: 1.67:1

Normal text: Fail
Large text: Fail

White text: 12.58:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

AA and AAA are WCAG accessibility levels. AAA sets a higher bar: 7:1 for normal text and 4.5:1 for large text. Large text begins at 18 pt regular or 14 pt bold. Ratings use the unrounded ratio.

Reference: WCAG text contrast guidance

Palettes & scales

Harmonies rotate the hue. Scales mix the starting color with white, black or middle gray in 20% steps in encoded sRGB.

Complementary

#ACA104 sits half a turn (180°) from #040FAC on the HSL wheel. Keeping saturation and lightness steady while crossing to the opposite hue gives you a contrasting accent. Check text contrast separately before using the pair for lettering.

#040FAC #ACA104

Analogous

#0463AC and #4D04AC sit 30° to either side of #040FAC. The three hues are neighbors on the wheel, so you can change the color of a border or highlight while keeping it close to the original.

#0463AC #040FAC #4D04AC

Triadic

#040FAC, #AC040F and #0FAC04 are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#040FAC #AC040F #0FAC04

Split complementary

Start at #040FAC and look across the wheel. #AC4D04 and #63AC04 sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#040FAC #AC4D04 #63AC04

Square

Starting with #040FAC, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #AC0463, #ACA104, then #04AC4D. Across the square, #040FAC pairs with #ACA104, and #AC0463 with #04AC4D.

#040FAC #AC0463 #ACA104 #04AC4D

Tetradic

#040FAC and #ACA104 are opposites, as are #A104AC and #0FAC04. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#040FAC #A104AC #ACA104 #0FAC04

Tints

Mixing #040FAC with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #363FBD, keeps 80% of the original. By #CDCFEE, the mixture is 80% white.

#040FAC #363FBD #686FCD #9B9FDE #CDCFEE #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #040FAC with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #030C8A, keeps 80% of the original. By #010322, the mixture is 80% black.

#040FAC #030C8A #020967 #020645 #010322 #000000

Tones

Mixing #040FAC with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #1D26A3, keeps 80% of the original. By #676989, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#040FAC #1D26A3 #363C9A #4E5392 #676989 #808080

Copy color codes

Hex, RGB and HSL are three ways to write this screen color. Paste any of them into a CSS color property.

Hex

#040FAC

RGB

rgb(4 15 172)

HSL

hsl(236.071 95.455% 34.510%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #040FAC;
  color: #FFFFFF;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#040FAC uses 4 red, 15 green and 172 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 1.6%

Green 5.9%

Blue 67.5%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #040FAC is 97.7% cyan, 91.3% magenta, 0.0% yellow and 32.5% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 97.7%

Magenta 91.3%

Yellow 0.0%

Black 32.5%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #0011AA. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #01A in CSS. For a modern design, keep #040FAC when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #000099, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand: #0011AA Nearest web-safe: #000099

Gradient to complement

#040FAC #202790 #3C4074 #585858 #74703C #908920 #ACA104

Color vision previews

Compare how #040FAC appears in each simulation. When two chart lines or status indicators become hard to tell apart, a label, shape or line pattern gives readers another way to distinguish them. Individual perception varies.

Protanopia

A red–green color vision deficiency. Without a distinct response from long-wavelength cones, some reds and greens can look alike, and reds can appear darker.

#003CB0

Deuteranopia

A red–green color vision deficiency. Without a distinct response from medium-wavelength cones, some greens can be difficult to distinguish from reds or browns.

#002AAA

Tritanopia

A blue–yellow color vision deficiency. Without a distinct response from short-wavelength cones, blue can resemble green, and yellow can resemble pink.

#004864

Protanomaly (50%)

An altered long-wavelength cone response can make reds appear dimmer and harder to distinguish from greens. This swatch shows the model’s halfway setting.

#0030AE

Deuteranomaly (50%)

An altered medium-wavelength cone response can reduce the visible difference between reds and greens. This swatch shows the model’s halfway setting.

#0026AB

Tritanomaly (50%)

An altered short-wavelength cone response can make blue harder to distinguish from green. This swatch shows the model’s halfway setting.

#002B97

Grayscale (luminance)

This design check removes hue and preserves relative luminance so you can compare light and dark areas.

#333333

Partial grayscale (50% blend)

This design check mixes the original color halfway toward its grayscale equivalent in linear light. Use it to see how a design holds up as color fades.

#242682

Reference: National Eye Institute: Types of Color Vision Deficiency

Technical reference

CAM16 and CIECAM02 below assume D65 white, an average surround, background Y of 20 against white at 100, and adapting luminance of 4.07 cd/m².

Linear sRGB

These channels scale with emitted light. Use them for lighting calculations and physically meaningful blends.

R 0.00121 G 0.00478 B 0.41254

Display P3

P3 displays can reproduce a wider range of reds and greens. These coordinates reproduce this same sRGB swatch on a color-managed P3 display.

R 0.02386 G 0.05764 B 0.64685

Linear Display P3

These P3 channels are proportional to light, before display encoding.

R 0.00185 G 0.00466 B 0.37599

CIE xyY

The x and y coordinates locate chromaticity on a diagram. Y gives relative luminance on a scale where white is 100.

x 0.152 y 0.067 Y 3.346

CMY

Ideal cyan, magenta and yellow are the complements of the encoded red, green and blue channels.

C % 98.431 M % 94.118 Y % 32.549

Binary RGB

Each eight-bit group represents one channel. Together they store the 24-bit hex color.

00000100 00001111 10101100