#9DBDFD

sRGB: 157 / 189 / 253

Restless currents command forgotten kingdoms
Restless constellations illuminate forgotten empires
Celestial symphonies shatter the chains of fate

#9DBDFD belongs to the azure family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 157 red, 189 green and 253 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 220.0° lands in the azure region. Its 96.0% saturation makes it strong in color at this lightness. HSL lightness is 80.4% 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 (11.13:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 157, 189, 253
HSL: 220.00°, 96.00%, 80.39%
HSV / HSB: 220.00°, 37.94%, 99.22%
CMYK (approx.): 37.94%, 25.30%, 0.00%, 0.78%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 49.829, 50.654, 100.083
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 76.469, 4.595, -35.017
WCAG relative luminance: 0.50655
24-bit decimal: 10337789

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 #9DBDFD 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: 11.13:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 1.89:1

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

#FDDD9D sits half a turn (180°) from #9DBDFD 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.

#9DBDFD #FDDD9D

Analogous

#9DEDFD and #AD9DFD sit 30° to either side of #9DBDFD. 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.

#9DEDFD #9DBDFD #AD9DFD

Triadic

#9DBDFD, #FD9DBD and #BDFD9D are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#9DBDFD #FD9DBD #BDFD9D

Split complementary

Start at #9DBDFD and look across the wheel. #FDAD9D and #EDFD9D sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#9DBDFD #FDAD9D #EDFD9D

Square

Starting with #9DBDFD, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #FD9DED, #FDDD9D, then #9DFDAD. Across the square, #9DBDFD pairs with #FDDD9D, and #FD9DED with #9DFDAD.

#9DBDFD #FD9DED #FDDD9D #9DFDAD

Tetradic

#9DBDFD and #FDDD9D are opposites, as are #DD9DFD and #BDFD9D. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#9DBDFD #DD9DFD #FDDD9D #BDFD9D

Tints

Mixing #9DBDFD with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #B1CAFD, keeps 80% of the original. By #EBF2FF, the mixture is 80% white.

#9DBDFD #B1CAFD #C4D7FE #D8E5FE #EBF2FF #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #9DBDFD with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #7E97CA, keeps 80% of the original. By #1F2633, the mixture is 80% black.

#9DBDFD #7E97CA #5E7198 #3F4C65 #1F2633 #000000

Tones

Mixing #9DBDFD with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #97B1E4, keeps 80% of the original. By #868C99, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#9DBDFD #97B1E4 #91A5CB #8C98B2 #868C99 #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

#9DBDFD

RGB

rgb(157 189 253)

HSL

hsl(220.000 96.000% 80.392%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #9DBDFD;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#9DBDFD uses 157 red, 189 green and 253 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 61.6%

Green 74.1%

Blue 99.2%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #9DBDFD is 37.9% cyan, 25.3% magenta, 0.0% yellow and 0.8% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 37.9%

Magenta 25.3%

Yellow 0.0%

Black 0.8%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #99BBFF. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #9BF in CSS. For a modern design, keep #9DBDFD when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #99CCFF, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand: #99BBFF Nearest web-safe: #99CCFF

Gradient to complement

#9DBDFD #ADC2ED #BDC8DD #CDCDCD #DDD2BD #EDD8AD #FDDD9D

Color vision previews

Compare how #9DBDFD 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.

#A7C1FF

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.

#9DB9FC

Tritanopia

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

#7ECAD3

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.

#A3BFFE

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.

#9EBBFC

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#98C1EF

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#BDBDBD

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.

#AEBDE0

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 0.33716 G 0.50888 B 0.98225

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 0.64032 G 0.73745 B 0.97176

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.36765 G 0.50318 B 0.93696

CIE xyY

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

x 0.248 y 0.253 Y 50.654

CMY

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

C % 38.431 M % 25.882 Y % 0.784

Binary RGB

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

10011101 10111101 11111101