ColorXprez

#9EA3BC

Dusty Blue · light cool blue

About #9EA3BC

#9EA3BC is a muted, light shade in the blue family. On screen it is built from 62% red, 64% green and 74% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 16% cyan, 13% magenta, 0% yellow and 26% black. Its overall feel is cool.

Of the common colour names it is very close to Dusty Blue (ΔE 6.8); Slate Gray comes next. Its complementary colour, directly opposite on the colour wheel, is #BCB79E — a khaki tone that gives the strongest contrast in hue.

Designers tend to use light tones like #9EA3BC for large surfaces, cards and soft highlights. Black text reads best on it at 8.42:1 (a WCAG AAA pass).

Colour codes

HEX
RGB
HSL
HSV / HSB
CMYK
CIELAB
Decimal
CSS
Red158
Green163
Blue188

Closest named colours

Dusty Blue
#8CA3B8 · ΔE 6.8
Slate Gray
#708090 · ΔE 15.8
Taupe
#8B8589 · ΔE 16.5

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

Text on #9EA3BC

WCAG contrast for white and black text on this colour.

White heading text
Body copy set on dusty blue #9EA3BC.
2.49:1Fail
Black heading text
Body copy set on dusty blue #9EA3BC.
8.42:1AAA

Colour-blindness preview

How #9EA3BC appears to people with the three most common types of colour-vision deficiency.

Normal vision
#9EA3BC
Protanopia (no red cones)
#9CA5BD
Deuteranopia (no green cones)
#9BA3BB
Tritanopia (no blue cones)
#97A7AB

Shades, tints & matching colours

Tints and shades

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Split complementary

Tetradic

Similar colours

Frequently asked questions

›What colour is #9EA3BC?

#9EA3BC is a muted, light shade in the blue family. On screen it is built from 62% red, 64% green and 74% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 16% cyan, 13% magenta, 0% yellow and 26% black. Its overall feel is cool.

›What text colour should I use on #9EA3BC?

Use black text. Black on #9EA3BC has a contrast ratio of 8.42:1 (AAA).

›What colours go with #9EA3BC?

Its complementary colour is #BCB79E, and analogous partners are #9EB2BC and #A89EBC.