Home·Colour name reference

Sky blue

#87CEEB

HEX#87CEEB
RGB135, 206, 235
HSL197°, 71%, 73%
CMYK43%, 12%, 0%, 8%
Relative luminance0.55

Text contrast

Aa

On white

1.74:1 Below AA

Aa

On black

12.06:1 Passes AA

Colours that work with it

Complement

#EBA589

Analogous

#89EBD6#899EEB

Triadic

#EB89CF#CFEB89

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 Sky blue?

#87CEEB. That is 135, 206, 235 in RGB, and hue 197°, saturation 71%, lightness 73% in HSL.

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

Black. Contrast against white is 1.74:1 and against black 12.06:1, so take the higher one if body-size text has to be readable.

Q. What is the complement of Sky blue?

#EBA589, 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 43% · M 12% · Y 0% · K 8%. 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 #A6A6E4 with protanopia, #A29CE2 with deuteranopia and #8BDEDD with tritanopia. Where those values converge with another colour, add a shape or a label instead of relying on hue.

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