Home·Colour name reference

Royal blue

#4169E1

HEX#4169E1
RGB65, 105, 225
HSL225°, 73%, 57%
CMYK71%, 53%, 0%, 12%
Relative luminance0.17

Text contrast

Aa

On white

4.85:1 Passes AA

Aa

On black

4.33:1 Below AA

Colours that work with it

Complement

#E1B941

Analogous

#41B9E1#6941E1

Triadic

#E14169#69E141

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 Royal blue?

#4169E1. That is 65, 105, 225 in RGB, and hue 225°, saturation 73%, lightness 57% in HSL.

Q. Should text on Royal blue be white or black?

White. Contrast against white is 4.85:1 and against black 4.33:1, so take the higher one if body-size text has to be readable.

Q. What is the complement of Royal blue?

#E1B941, 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 71% · M 53% · Y 0% · K 12%. 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 #5253C4 with protanopia, #504DBD with deuteranopia and #43ADA8 with tritanopia. Where those values converge with another colour, add a shape or a label instead of relying on hue.

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