#4E99BC

sRGB · 78 / 153 / 188

#4E99BC belongs to the azure family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 78 red, 153 green and 188 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 199.1° lands in the azure region. Its 45.1% 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, black has the clearer light-to-dark separation on this background (6.61:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 78, 153, 188
HSL: 199.09°, 45.08%, 52.16%
HSV / HSB: 199.09°, 58.51%, 73.73%
CMYK (approx.): 58.51%, 18.62%, 0.00%, 26.27%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 23.609, 28.032, 51.745
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 59.918, -12.927, -25.172
WCAG relative luminance: 0.28033
24-bit decimal: 5151164

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 #4E99BC 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 · 6.61:1

Normal text: AA
Large text: AAA

White text · 3.18:1

Normal text: Fail
Large text: AA

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. 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

#BC714E sits half a turn (180°) from #4E99BC 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.

#4E99BC #BC714E

Analogous

#4EBCA8 and #4E62BC sit 30° to either side of #4E99BC. 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.

#4EBCA8 #4E99BC #4E62BC

Triadic

#4E99BC, #BC4E99 and #99BC4E are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#4E99BC #BC4E99 #99BC4E

Split complementary

Start at #4E99BC and look across the wheel. #BC4E62 and #BCA84E sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#4E99BC #BC4E62 #BCA84E

Square

Starting with #4E99BC, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #A84EBC, #BC714E, then #62BC4E. Across the square, #4E99BC pairs with #BC714E, and #A84EBC with #62BC4E.

#4E99BC #A84EBC #BC714E #62BC4E

Tetradic

#4E99BC and #BC714E are opposites, as are #714EBC and #99BC4E. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#4E99BC #714EBC #BC714E #99BC4E

Tints

Mixing #4E99BC with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #71ADC9, keeps 80% of the original. By #DCEBF2, the mixture is 80% white.

#4E99BC #71ADC9 #95C2D7 #B8D6E4 #DCEBF2 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #4E99BC with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #3E7A96, keeps 80% of the original. By #101F26, the mixture is 80% black.

#4E99BC #3E7A96 #2F5C71 #1F3D4B #101F26 #000000

Tones

Mixing #4E99BC with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #5894B0, keeps 80% of the original. By #76858C, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#4E99BC #5894B0 #628FA4 #6C8A98 #76858C #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

#4E99BC

RGB

rgb(78 153 188)

HSL

hsl(199.091 45.082% 52.157%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #4E99BC;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#4E99BC uses 78 red, 153 green and 188 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 30.6%

Green 60.0%

Blue 73.7%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #4E99BC is 58.5% cyan, 18.6% magenta, 0.0% yellow and 26.3% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 58.5%

Magenta 18.6%

Yellow 0.0%

Black 26.3%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #5599BB. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #59B in CSS. For a modern design, keep #4E99BC when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #6699CC, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand · #5599BB Nearest web-safe · #6699CC

Gradient to complement

#4E99BC #6092AA #738C97 #858585 #977E73 #AA7860 #BC714E

Color vision previews

Compare how #4E99BC 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.

#8797BE

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.

#788BBC

Tritanopia

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

#00A3A4

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.

#7697BD

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.

#6E91BC

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#479BB4

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#909090

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.

#7595A8

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 0.07619 G 0.31855 B 0.50289

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 0.37990 G 0.59306 B 0.72354

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.11921 G 0.31050 B 0.48225

CIE xyY

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

x 0.228 y 0.271 Y 28.032

CMY

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

C % 69.412 M % 40.000 Y % 26.275

Binary RGB

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

01001110 10011001 10111100