Home·Colour name reference

Air force blue

#5D8AA8

HEX#5D8AA8
RGB93, 138, 168
HSL204°, 30%, 51%
CMYK45%, 18%, 0%, 34%
Relative luminance0.23

Text contrast

Aa

On white

3.71:1 Below AA

Aa

On black

5.67:1 Passes AA

Colours that work with it

Complement

#A87B5D

Analogous

#5DA8A0#5D64A8

Triadic

#A85D8A#8AA85D

Shade scale

50100200300400500600700800

Seen with colour blindness

ProtanopiaDeuteranopiaTritanopia

How to read this

  • A hex code writes red, green and blue as two hexadecimal digits each. #ff0000 is red at full strength and the others at zero.
  • HSL states hue (0–360°), saturation and lightness. Nudging a colour brighter means changing one number, which is why it is easier to work with by hand.
  • Text contrast follows WCAG. Body-size text needs 4.5:1 or better, and 21:1 between white and black is the maximum possible.
  • The colour-blindness row computes how this colour appears under three types of colour vision deficiency — the reason never to encode information in colour alone.

Frequently asked questions

Q. What is the hex code for Air force blue?

#5D8AA8. That is 93, 138, 168 in RGB, and hue 204°, saturation 30%, lightness 51% in HSL.

Q. Should text on Air force blue be white or black?

Black. Contrast against white is 3.71:1 and against black 5.67:1, so take the higher one if body-size text has to be readable.

Q. What is the complement of Air force blue?

#A87B5D, sitting 180° across the colour wheel. Side by side the two push against each other hardest, which makes it a good accent but tiring over large areas.

Q. Can I send these CMYK values straight to print?

The computed values are C 45% · M 18% · Y 0% · K 34%. Real printing depends on paper and ink, so check against the printer's swatch book when the colour matters.

Q. Is this colour distinguishable with colour blindness?

It appears as #7071A1 with protanopia, #6E6B9F with deuteranopia and #5F9B9A with tritanopia. Where those values converge with another colour, add a shape or a label instead of relying on hue.

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