#2ABAED

sRGB: 42 / 186 / 237

Distant whispers flourish beyond boundaries
Restless constellations awaken beneath celestial skies
Infinite wonders shatter the chains of fate

#2ABAED belongs to the azure family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 42 red, 186 green and 237 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 195.7° lands in the azure region. Its 84.4% saturation makes it strong in color at this lightness. HSL lightness is 54.7% on a scale from black (0%) to white (100%). Of black and white lettering, black has the clearer light-to-dark separation on this background (9.34:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 42, 186, 237
HSL: 195.69°, 84.42%, 54.71%
HSV / HSB: 195.69°, 82.28%, 92.94%
CMYK (approx.): 82.28%, 21.52%, 0.00%, 7.06%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 33.797, 41.722, 86.395
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 70.679, -19.385, -35.697
WCAG relative luminance: 0.41724
24-bit decimal: 2800365

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 #2ABAED 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: 9.34:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 2.25:1

Normal text: Fail
Large text: Fail

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

#ED5D2A sits half a turn (180°) from #2ABAED 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.

#2ABAED #ED5D2A

Analogous

#2AEDBE and #2A59ED sit 30° to either side of #2ABAED. 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.

#2AEDBE #2ABAED #2A59ED

Triadic

#2ABAED, #ED2ABA and #BAED2A are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#2ABAED #ED2ABA #BAED2A

Split complementary

Start at #2ABAED and look across the wheel. #ED2A59 and #EDBE2A sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#2ABAED #ED2A59 #EDBE2A

Square

Starting with #2ABAED, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #BE2AED, #ED5D2A, then #59ED2A. Across the square, #2ABAED pairs with #ED5D2A, and #BE2AED with #59ED2A.

#2ABAED #BE2AED #ED5D2A #59ED2A

Tetradic

#2ABAED and #ED5D2A are opposites, as are #5D2AED and #BAED2A. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#2ABAED #5D2AED #ED5D2A #BAED2A

Tints

Mixing #2ABAED with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #55C8F1, keeps 80% of the original. By #D4F1FB, the mixture is 80% white.

#2ABAED #55C8F1 #7FD6F4 #AAE3F8 #D4F1FB #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #2ABAED with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #2295BE, keeps 80% of the original. By #08252F, the mixture is 80% black.

#2ABAED #2295BE #19708E #114A5F #08252F #000000

Tones

Mixing #2ABAED with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #3BAED7, keeps 80% of the original. By #6F8C96, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#2ABAED #3BAED7 #4CA3C1 #5E97AC #6F8C96 #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

#2ABAED

RGB

rgb(42 186 237)

HSL

hsl(195.692 84.416% 54.706%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #2ABAED;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#2ABAED uses 42 red, 186 green and 237 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 16.5%

Green 72.9%

Blue 92.9%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #2ABAED is 82.3% cyan, 21.5% magenta, 0.0% yellow and 7.1% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 82.3%

Magenta 21.5%

Yellow 0.0%

Black 7.1%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #22BBEE. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #2BE in CSS. For a modern design, keep #2ABAED when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #33CCFF, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand: #22BBEE Nearest web-safe: #33CCFF

Gradient to complement

#2ABAED #4BABCD #6B9BAC #8C8C8C #AC7C6B #CD6D4B #ED5D2A

Color vision previews

Compare how #2ABAED 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.

#9FB7EF

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.

#86A5EC

Tritanopia

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

#00C8CB

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.

#83B6EE

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.

#76ADED

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#00BDE1

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#ADADAD

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.

#81B4D0

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 0.02315 G 0.49102 B 0.84687

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 0.35948 G 0.71898 B 0.90985

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.10622 G 0.47549 B 0.80704

CIE xyY

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

x 0.209 y 0.258 Y 41.722

CMY

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

C % 83.529 M % 27.059 Y % 7.059

Binary RGB

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

00101010 10111010 11101101