Crayola crayon color

Crayola Manatee #979AAA

Crayola Manatee is shown here as #979AAA, the commonly published value for the crayon. It is a light grayish blue in the neutral family. In OKLCH it sits at lightness 0.689, chroma 0.024 and hue 277.3°. The nearest CSS named color is darkgray (#A9A9A9), ΔE2000 8.8 away.

Relative luminance
0.3259
OKLCH L · C · h
0.689 · 0.024 · 277.3
Best text
Black 7.51:1
Hue family
Neutral
Inspect this color Check contrast

#979AAA color codes

HEX
#979AAA
RGB
rgb(151, 154, 170)
HSL
hsl(231, 10%, 63%)
OKLCH
oklch(0.689 0.024 277.3)
OKLab
oklab(0.689 0.003 -0.023)
CIELAB (D65)
L* 63.83, a* 2.19, b* -8.70
XYZ (D65)
X 31.57, Y 32.59, Z 42.65
CMYK (naive)
cmyk(11%, 9%, 0%, 33%)

CIELAB and XYZ use the D65 white point; CSS lab() uses D50, so paste the OKLCH or HEX value into stylesheets. CMYK here is a plain formula with no press profile.

Crayola is a trademark of Crayola LLC, which this site is not affiliated with. The value is the commonly published sRGB rendering of the crayon, not a Crayola specification.

Legibility

Contrast: is #979AAA accessible?

Black text on it reaches 7.51:1, passing AAA. White text fails at 2.79:1.

WCAG 2 gives the same ratio whichever color is the text; APCA does not, so its Lc changes sign and size with polarity.

Open the Contrast System

  • Black text on it

    7.51:1

    • AA passes
    • AA large passes
    • AAA passes
    • APCA Lc +50

  • White text on it

    2.79:1

    • AA fails
    • AA large fails
    • AAA fails
    • APCA Lc −59

  • As text on black

    7.51:1

    • AA passes
    • AA large passes
    • AAA passes
    • APCA Lc −48

  • As text on white

    2.79:1

    • AA fails
    • AA large fails
    • AAA fails
    • APCA Lc +53

Nearest versions that pass 4.5:1

  • For text on white

    #737685 4.50:1

    Darkening its OKLCH lightness from 0.69 to 0.57 reaches 4.50:1 on white, keeping the hue.

    Compare both in the Contrast System

  • For text on black

    #979AAA 7.51:1

    It already reaches 7.51:1 on black, so no change is needed.

Checking another pair? Use the Contrast Checker.

Studio

Adjust #979AAA live

Move lightness, chroma and hue in OKLCH, or drag on the map. The map is every lightness and chroma at the current hue: sRGB inside the solid area, Display P3 out to the dashed line.

The studio needs JavaScript.

Scale

Shades and tints of #979AAA

Eleven OKLCH lightness steps at this hue, each with its contrast against white and black. #979AAA sits at step 400.

  1. 50#F2F4FF
    White
    1.09
    Black
    19.15
  2. 100#E8EAF9
    White
    1.19
    Black
    17.56
  3. 200#D4D7E6
    White
    1.43
    Black
    14.66
  4. 300#BABDCC
    White
    1.86
    Black
    11.23
  5. 400This color#979AAA
    White
    2.79
    Black
    7.51
  6. 500#828595
    White
    3.65
    Black
    5.73
  7. 600#6B6E7D
    White
    5.05
    Black
    4.15
  8. 700#555765
    White
    7.14
    Black
    2.93
  9. 800#3D3F4B
    White
    10.44
    Black
    2.01
  10. 900#262833
    White
    14.64
    Black
    1.43
  11. 950#14151E
    White
    18.16
    Black
    1.15

Under each step, white and black text on it; a bold figure passes 4.5:1.

Gamut

How vivid #979AAA can get

At its lightness and hue, sRGB reaches OKLCH chroma 0.165; #979AAA uses 14% of it. Display P3, which many recent phones and laptops show, reaches 0.179 there: 8% more.

0.00.20.40.60.80.20.40.60.8 460480500520540560580600620
  • sRGB
  • Display P3
  • Rec. 2020
  • Dominant wavelength
OKLCH chroma
0.024
sRGB edge
0.165
Display P3 edge
0.179
Rec. 2020 edge
0.182
Dominant wavelength
471 nm
Excitation purity
9%
Chromaticity
x 0.2956, y 0.3051
  • This color#979AAA
  • Most vivid in sRGB#848EFF
  • Most vivid in Display P3oklch(0.689 0.179 277.3)

On a screen without Display P3 the last tile shows the sRGB edge instead.

Use the wider color where screens show it
.accent {
  color: #979aaa;
}
@media (color-gamut: p3) {
  .accent { color: color(display-p3 0.517 0.546 1); }
}

Mixing

Mixing #979AAA

Each row is the same mix worked out in a different space, with the halfway color at its end. sRGB, which older CSS gradients use, can sag gray or dark in the middle; OKLab keeps the lightness steps even; OKLCH holds chroma and hue as it goes.

White #FFFFFF

  • sRGB50%#CBCDD5
  • OKLab50%#CACBD4
  • OKLCH50%#CACBD4

Black #000000

  • sRGB50%#4C4D55
  • OKLab50%#37393F
  • OKLCH50%#37393F

Its complement #9F9B8B

  • sRGB50%#9B9B9B
  • OKLab50%#9B9B9B
  • OKLCH50%#A99598
In CSS
/* A gradient and a mix, worked out in OKLCH */
background: linear-gradient(in oklch, #979aaa, white);
color: color-mix(in oklch, #979aaa 50%, white);

In use

#979AAA in an interface

A button, a link, a heading, a focused field, an icon and a chart line in this color, on a light page and a dark one. Each check is a WCAG 2 contrast minimum: 1.4.3 for text, 1.4.11 for the rest.

Light page

  • Button labelText, 4.5:17.51:1 Passes
  • Link and body-size textText, 4.5:12.79:1 Fails
  • Large headingLarge text, 3:12.79:1 Fails
  • Icons, borders and focus ringsNon-text, 3:12.79:1 Fails

For text on this page, the nearest shade that passes is #737685 4.50:1

Dark page

  • Button labelText, 4.5:17.51:1 Passes
  • Link and body-size textText, 4.5:16.70:1 Passes
  • Large headingLarge text, 3:16.70:1 Passes
  • Icons, borders and focus ringsNon-text, 3:16.70:1 Passes

Color vision

How #979AAA looks with color blindness

Tritanopia changes it most, ΔE2000 8.7; deuteranopia changes it least, 1.0.

Simulated with Machado et al. (2009) at full severity, in linear light.

Simulate a whole page What each type sees

  • Protanopia

    No working red (long-wavelength) cones

    #969BAB ΔE2000 1.0

    Very close

    Reads as light grayish blue

  • Deuteranopia

    No working green (medium-wavelength) cones

    #959AAA ΔE2000 1.0

    Imperceptible

    Reads as light grayish blue

  • Tritanopia

    No working blue (short-wavelength) cones

    #939D9F ΔE2000 8.7

    Noticeable

    Reads as gray

  • Achromatopsia

    No cone color vision; lightness only

    #9B9B9B ΔE2000 7.7

    Noticeable

    Reads as gray

Pairing check

A near-neutral has no complementary hue to pair with, so tell it apart from neighboring grays by lightness contrast alone.

Harmony

Color harmonies for #979AAA

Its complement is #9F9B8B, a light grayish amber.

Hue rotations in OKLCH, mapped into sRGB by trimming chroma so hue and lightness stay put.

Open the Harmony Studio
  • Base#979AAA
  • Complement#9F9B8B

Complementary

Open in Harmony Studio
  • −30°#909DA9
  • Base#979AAA
  • +30°#9F97A7

Analogous

Open in Harmony Studio
  • Base#979AAA
  • +120°#A99691
  • +240°#90A095

Triadic

Open in Harmony Studio
  • Base#979AAA
  • +150°#A5998C
  • +210°#979E8F

Split-complementary

Open in Harmony Studio

Code

Design tokens

Ready-to-paste tokens in six formats. Rename them to fit your system.

CSS custom property

:root {
  --color-crayola-manatee: #979aaa;
}

Tailwind config

// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
  theme: {
    extend: {
      colors: {
        'crayola-manatee': '#979aaa',
      },
    },
  },
};

Tailwind v4 theme

/* app.css — Tailwind CSS v4 */
@import "tailwindcss";

@theme {
  --color-crayola-manatee: oklch(0.689 0.024 277.3);
}

Design token (W3C DTCG)

{
  "color": {
    "crayola-manatee": {
      "$type": "color",
      "$value": {
        "colorSpace": "srgb",
        "components": [0.5922, 0.6039, 0.6667],
        "hex": "#979aaa"
      },
      "$description": "Crayola Manatee"
    }
  }
}

SwiftUI color

import SwiftUI

enum Palette {
    static let crayolaManatee = Color(.sRGB, red: 0.592, green: 0.604, blue: 0.667, opacity: 1)
}

Jetpack Compose color

import androidx.compose.ui.graphics.Color

object Palette {
    val CrayolaManatee = Color(0xFF979AAA)
}

Matches

The nearest match in each system

The closest CSS name, Tailwind shade, RAL Classic paint and Crayola crayon by ΔE2000; under 2 is hard to tell apart side by side. RAL and Crayola values approximate physical colors.

Neighbors

The eight nearest colors on this site by ΔE2000, closest first. Under 2 is hard to tell apart side by side.

Tools

Open #979AAA in the tools

Each opens over this page. More colors live in the Color Library, and every color page is listed on the hub.