ColorXprez

#9BB8CB

Dusty Blue · light cool blue

About #9BB8CB

#9BB8CB is a muted, light shade in the blue family. On screen it is built from 61% red, 72% green and 80% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 24% cyan, 9% magenta, 0% yellow and 20% black. Its overall feel is cool.

Of the common colour names it is very close to Dusty Blue (ΔE 7.7); Light Blue comes next. Its complementary colour, directly opposite on the colour wheel, is #CBAE9B — a khaki tone that gives the strongest contrast in hue.

Designers tend to use light tones like #9BB8CB for large surfaces, cards and soft highlights. Put black text on top of it — 10.11:1, a WCAG AAA pass.

Colour codes

HEX
RGB
HSL
HSV / HSB
CMYK
CIELAB
Decimal
CSS
Red155
Green184
Blue203

Closest named colours

Dusty Blue
#8CA3B8 · ΔE 7.7
Light Blue
#ADD8E6 · ΔE 11.9
Sky Blue
#87CEEB · ΔE 13.8

ΔE measures visible difference: under 2 is barely noticeable, over 10 is clearly different.

Text on #9BB8CB

WCAG contrast for white and black text on this colour.

White heading text
Body copy set on dusty blue #9BB8CB.
2.08:1Fail
Black heading text
Body copy set on dusty blue #9BB8CB.
10.11:1AAA

Colour-blindness preview

How #9BB8CB appears to people with the three most common types of colour-vision deficiency.

Normal vision
#9BB8CB
Protanopia (no red cones)
#B0B7CC
Deuteranopia (no green cones)
#A9B2CB
Tritanopia (no blue cones)
#8DBDBE

Shades, tints & matching colours

Tints and shades

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Split complementary

Tetradic

Similar colours

Frequently asked questions

›What colour is #9BB8CB?

#9BB8CB is a muted, light shade in the blue family. On screen it is built from 61% red, 72% green and 80% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 24% cyan, 9% magenta, 0% yellow and 20% black. Its overall feel is cool.

›What text colour should I use on #9BB8CB?

Use black text. Black on #9BB8CB has a contrast ratio of 10.11:1 (AAA).

›What colours go with #9BB8CB?

Its complementary colour is #CBAE9B, and analogous partners are #9BCBC6 and #9BA0CB.