Blue occupies roughly 180° to 260° of the colour wheel, running from cyan-leaning ocean tones at one end to violet-leaning indigo at the other. The palettes here sit between 189° and 239°. Copy the HEX codes from any scheme below, or use the generator to build a harmonious blue palette around a base colour of your own.
Blue Palette Ideas & HEX Codes
Ocean Blue is the widest set, jumping from a violet-blue #03045E to a pale cyan #CAF0F8. Classic Blue holds one hue (198°–206°) and changes only lightness, which is the safest structure for a brand ramp. Sky Blue is that same ramp with the dark end removed.
Ocean Blue
#03045E
#0077B6
#00B4D8
#90E0EF
#CAF0F8
Classic Blue
#012A4A
#013A63
#01497C
#2A6F97
#61A5C2
Sky Blue
#CAF0F8
#ADE8F4
#90E0EF
#48CAE4
#00B4D8
Anchored to a blue base — press Space or Generate to roll more schemes. Click a swatch to copy its HEX, lock one to keep it while the rest re-roll, then export as CSS, JSON or HEX.
Free, no sign-up Generated in your browser CSS, JSON & HEX export
Drag in the colour area or the hue bar, or type a HEX / RGB value, then build a scheme anchored to it.
What Goes With Blue
Blue is the default trust colour for finance, SaaS and healthcare, so the differentiator is usually what sits beside it: orange or amber for a warm complement, gray for a neutral system, navy for depth without adding a second hue. Keep the pale tints for surfaces and the #01497C end for text — see royal blue for a more saturated version of the same idea.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best HEX codes for a blue palette?
A versatile blue palette spans a range of lightness: a deep anchor like #03045E or #012A4A, a mid brand blue such as #0077B6, a vivid accent like #00B4D8, and light tints (#90E0EF, #CAF0F8) for backgrounds. Staying on a single hue family and stepping lightness keeps it cohesive. The three sets above are worked examples of that: Ocean Blue, Classic Blue and Sky Blue, five codes each. The deepest value on this page is #03045E and the palest is #CAF0F8; put one on the other and you get 14.6:1, enough for body text at any size under WCAG AA and AAA.
Which blue should I use for text and buttons?
Use the dark blue steps, not the bright ones. #01497C gives about 9.3:1 on white and #012A4A more again, so both clear WCAG AA for body text; #00B4D8 is about 2.5:1 and belongs on backgrounds, charts and fills. A workable structure is one dark blue for text, a mid blue such as #0077B6 for buttons, and #CAF0F8 or #90E0EF for surfaces.
How do I use these colours in CSS?
Click Copy CSS for a ready-to-paste :root block with each colour as a custom property (--color-1, --color-2 and so on), or copy a single HEX straight from any swatch above. The Classic Blue row above is a second ready-made option — #012A4A, #61A5C2 and the three steps between them — if you would rather not generate at all. The generator itself rolls around #0077B6, the base blue for this page. Use Copy JSON for an array or Copy HEX for a comma-separated line if custom properties are not how your project stores colour.
What are the RGB and HSL values for blue?
The base blue this page is anchored to is #0077B6, which is rgb(0, 119, 182) and hsl(201, 100%, 36%). A hue of 201 degrees puts it in the blues, and 36% lightness with 100% saturation makes it a mid tone. The colour picker above accepts HEX or R, G and B numbers directly, so you can type any of those in and rebuild the palette around it. The other codes in the sets above are steps around that base: lighter, darker, or nudged a little along the hue.