Light steel blue

#9fa9bd

Hex, rgb, cmyk and Pantone values for light steel blue, with shades, tints, matching colors and free print quality patterns.

Light steel blue is a mid blue that reads grounded. A mid blue this balanced is a workhorse for corporate identity. It pairs with warm neutrals for balance, or with a brighter accent for contrast.

Light steel blue color values

Every conversion for #9fa9bd, ready to copy. Hex, rgb, hsl, hsv, cmyk, cie-lab, xyz, decimal, web safe and the nearest Pantone.

Hex#9fa9bd

RGB159, 169, 189

HSL220, 19%, 68%

HSV220, 16%, 74%

CMYK16%, 11%, 0%, 26%

Lab69.06, 0.66, -11.44

XYZ37.67, 39.42, 53.77

Decimal10463677

Web safe#9999cc

Pantone535 C

Shades of light steel blue

#8c98b0 #7987a3 #677796 #5a6883 #4d5970 #404a5d #333b4b #262c38 #191d25 #0c0e12

Tints of light steel blue

#a8b1c3 #b0b8c9 #b9c0cf #c1c8d4 #cacfda #d2d7e0 #dbdfe6 #e3e6ec #eceef2 #f4f6f8

Colors that go with light steel blue

Complementary#bdb39f Analogous#9fb8bd Analogous#a49fbd Triadic#bd9fa9 Triadic#a9bd9f Split complementary#bda49f Split complementary#b8bd9f

Light steel blue in print

The cmyk build is well inside gamut, so what you see on screen is close to what prints. The cmyk build is 16, 11, 0, 26.

The same color needs a different cmyk build depending on the paper. Here is #9fa9bd on both.

Coated stockgloss or silk, C

16 11 0 26

Ink sits on the surface, so colors stay bright and close to screen.

Uncoated stocknatural or matte, U

19 14 4 32

The stock absorbs ink and gains dot, so it needs a heavier build and reads a touch softer.

This color converts to cmyk comfortably and should hold on press.

See how it converts in the rgb to cmyk converter, or readrgb vs cmyk for print andwhat the k in cmyk means.

Light steel blue in css

Copy #9fa9bd straight into your stylesheet.

.background { background-color: #9fa9bd; }
.text { color: #9fa9bd; }
.border { border: 2px solid #9fa9bd; }

How light steel blue looks on light and dark

Sample text on black

Sample text on white

Text on this color

Light steel blue and accessibility

Contrast ratios for #9fa9bd against black and white text, measured to the WCAG standard.

Use black text on this color for readable body copy. To test #9fa9bd against any other color, not just black and white, run the pair through ourcontrast checker for a live WCAG reading.

Light steel blue on a business card, sticker and pattern

A quick look at how #9fa9bd sits on real print products. Start any of these in the maker.

Business card

Sticker

Repeat pattern

Building a full palette around light steel blue? Pull matching colors from any photo with thecolor palette generator, or check a design for print with thergb to cmyk converter.

Turn light steel blue into a seamless pattern

Four patterns built from #9fa9bd and its shades, free at print quality. Click any one to keep editing in the pattern maker.

Arches Signature stripes Gem Shingles

Make posters, wallpaper and packaging art from light steel blue, free and print ready.

Open in pattern maker

How we calculate these values

The figures for #9fa9bd come from standard color math, shown so you can check them. We convert from sRGB to each space with the standard formulas, so the codes match what design tools show. Two cmyk builds are shown because coated and uncoated papers behave differently, uncoated soaks up ink and needs more of it to hit the same target. The Pantone figure is the nearest match in our reference set by perceptual distance and it is an approximation, not an exact spot color.