#3D59CD

sRGB: 61 / 89 / 205

#3D59CD belongs to the blue family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 61 red, 89 green and 205 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 228.3° lands in the blue region. Its 59.0% saturation makes it partway between gray and the most vivid version of this hue at this lightness. HSL lightness is 52.2% 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 (5.98:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 61, 89, 205
HSL: 228.33°, 59.02%, 52.16%
HSV / HSB: 228.33°, 70.24%, 80.39%
CMYK (approx.): 70.24%, 56.59%, 0.00%, 19.61%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 16.515, 12.544, 59.311
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 42.068, 28.716, -63.209
WCAG relative luminance: 0.12545
24-bit decimal: 4020685

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 #3D59CD 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: 3.51:1

Normal text: Fail
Large text: AA

White text: 5.98:1

Normal text: AA
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

#CDB13D sits half a turn (180°) from #3D59CD 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.

#3D59CD #CDB13D

Analogous

#3DA1CD and #693DCD sit 30° to either side of #3D59CD. 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.

#3DA1CD #3D59CD #693DCD

Triadic

#3D59CD, #CD3D59 and #59CD3D are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#3D59CD #CD3D59 #59CD3D

Split complementary

Start at #3D59CD and look across the wheel. #CD693D and #A1CD3D sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#3D59CD #CD693D #A1CD3D

Square

Starting with #3D59CD, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #CD3DA1, #CDB13D, then #3DCD69. Across the square, #3D59CD pairs with #CDB13D, and #CD3DA1 with #3DCD69.

#3D59CD #CD3DA1 #CDB13D #3DCD69

Tetradic

#3D59CD and #CDB13D are opposites, as are #B13DCD and #59CD3D. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#3D59CD #B13DCD #CDB13D #59CD3D

Tints

Mixing #3D59CD with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #647AD7, keeps 80% of the original. By #D8DEF5, the mixture is 80% white.

#3D59CD #647AD7 #8B9BE1 #B1BDEB #D8DEF5 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #3D59CD with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #3147A4, keeps 80% of the original. By #0C1229, the mixture is 80% black.

#3D59CD #3147A4 #25357B #182452 #0C1229 #000000

Tones

Mixing #3D59CD with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #4A61BE, keeps 80% of the original. By #73788F, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#3D59CD #4A61BE #5869AE #65709F #73788F #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

#3D59CD

RGB

rgb(61 89 205)

HSL

hsl(228.333 59.016% 52.157%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #3D59CD;
  color: #FFFFFF;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#3D59CD uses 61 red, 89 green and 205 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 23.9%

Green 34.9%

Blue 80.4%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #3D59CD is 70.2% cyan, 56.6% magenta, 0.0% yellow and 19.6% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 70.2%

Magenta 56.6%

Yellow 0.0%

Black 19.6%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #4455CC. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #45C in CSS. For a modern design, keep #3D59CD when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #3366CC, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand: #4455CC Nearest web-safe: #3366CC

Gradient to complement

#3D59CD #5568B5 #6D769D #858585 #9D946D #B5A255 #CDB13D

Color vision previews

Compare how #3D59CD 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.

#006AD1

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.

#005DCB

Tritanopia

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

#00758A

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.

#1063CF

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.

#005DCC

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#2A63B8

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#636363

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.

#535EA3

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 0.04667 G 0.09990 B 0.61050

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 0.26272 G 0.34603 B 0.77597

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.05612 G 0.09813 B 0.56390

CIE xyY

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

x 0.187 y 0.142 Y 12.544

CMY

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

C % 76.078 M % 65.098 Y % 19.608

Binary RGB

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

00111101 01011001 11001101