bluecoolCC0 survey name

Carolina Blue #8AB8FE

Carolina Blue is a light, vivid cool color (#8AB8FE; HSL 216° 98% 77%). Name from the public-domain xkcd color survey (CC0), where it was contributed as “carolina blue”.

Use cases: Trust UI · Corporate accents

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Families: Blues · Sky Blues

Color values

FormatValue
HEX#8AB8FE
RGBrgb(138, 184, 254)
HSLhsl(216, 98%, 77%)
HSVhsv(216, 46%, 100%)
OKLCHoklch(77.72% 0.112 258.6)
OKLaboklab(77.72% -0.0222 -0.11)
CMYKcmyk(45.7%, 27.6%, 0%, 0.4%)
XYZxyz(45.5052, 46.8371, 100.3893)
CIE-LABlab(74.1, 2.9, -39.3)
CIE-LCHlch(74.1, 39.4, 274.1°)
Luminance0.468 (WCAG relative)
/* Carolina Blue */ --carolina-blue: #8ab8fe; color: #8ab8fe; background-color: #8ab8fe;

Source: xkcd color survey name (public domain, CC0). CSS keyword: carolinablue.

Collections: Light Blue Shades

Shade scale

Perceptual 50–950 scale, interpolated in CIE-LAB. Step 500 is the base color. Edit in the shade generator →

50
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950

OKLCH ramp (perceptually uniform, modern CSS)

50
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950

Shades (toward black)

#7ca4e1 #6e90c6 #607daa #526a90 #455877 #38465e #2c3647 #202630 #14161b #000000

Tints (toward white)

#98bffe #a5c6ff #b1cdff #bdd4ff #c9dbff #d4e2ff #dfe9ff #eaf0ff #f4f8ff #ffffff

Tones (toward gray)

#90b8f7 #96b7f0 #9cb7e8 #a0b7e1 #a5b7da #a9b7d3 #adb7cc #b0b6c4 #b3b6bd #b6b6b6

Color harmonies

Complementary

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#8AB8FE
#FED08A
#8ab8fe #fed08a

Analogous

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#8AF2FE
#8AB8FE
#968AFE
#8af2fe #8ab8fe #968afe

Triadic

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#8AB8FE
#FE8AB8
#B8FE8A
#8ab8fe #fe8ab8 #b8fe8a

Tetradic

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#8AB8FE
#FE8AF2
#FED08A
#8AFE96
#8ab8fe #fe8af2 #fed08a #8afe96

Square

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#8AB8FE
#FE8AF2
#FED08A
#8AFE96
#8ab8fe #fe8af2 #fed08a #8afe96

Split Complementary

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#8AB8FE
#FE968A
#F2FE8A
#8ab8fe #fe968a #f2fe8a

Monochromatic

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#116EFD
#4D93FD
#8AB8FE
#C7DDFF
#E1EDFF
#116efd #4d93fd #8ab8fe #c7ddff #e1edff

Accessibility & contrast

2.03
#8AB8FE on #FFFFFF
AA text ✗AA large ✗AAA text ✗UI 3:1 ✗
10.37
#8AB8FE on #000000
AA text ✓AA large ✓AAA text ✓UI 3:1 ✓

Best text on carolina blue

10.37
#000000 text

WCAG 2.1: AA needs ≥4.5:1 for normal text, ≥3:1 for large text and UI components; AAA needs ≥7:1 / ≥4.5:1. Open the contrast checker →

Color blindness preview

Simulation using the Machado et al. (2009) physiological model, severity 1.0. This is an approximation of perception — not a medical assessment.

Normal vision
Protanopia (red-blind)
#9EBCFF
Deuteranopia (green-blind)
#90B1FC
Tritanopia (blue-blind)
#5BC7D0

Closest named colors

Nearest matches by CIEDE2000 perceptual distance (ΔE₀₀) across the full color database.

ColorNameΔE₀₀
Pastel Blue #A2BFFE4.50
Light Blue #95D0FC7.75
Sky #82CAFC7.78
Lightskyblue #87CEFA9.05
Cloudy Blue #ACC2D99.44
Lightsteelblue #B0C4DE9.50

Colors that go with carolina blue

Top matches by hue harmony, contrast and saturation compatibility.

Navy Blue #1B2A4A
7.0:1
Same hue family as carolina blue (Δh 5°) — guaranteed harmony
Midnight #03012D
9.9:1
Analogous hue (Δh ≈27°) — neighbors on the color wheel
Grape #6C3461
4.5:1
Text-safe contrast with the anchor (4.51:1, passes WCAG AA)
Deep Brown #410200
8.4:1
Split-complementary angle (Δh ≈146°) — strong but softer than direct complement
7.6:1
Complementary hue (Δh ≈167°) — maximum hue contrast

Values computed from the sRGB color model. CMYK is the naive sRGB conversion without an ICC profile. RGB percentages may differ between color-managed applications.