Exploring the Color #495998

#495998 sits at 228° on the color wheel, placing it in the blue family of the cool half of the spectrum. With 35% saturation and 44% lightness, it reads as a softly muted, shadowed tone — a balanced mid-energy presence that sits comfortably alongside other UI tones. Its RGB mix of 73, 89, 152 produces a 6.63:1 contrast ratio against white, which clears WCAG AA for body text in that pairing.

In RGB space #495998 is a clear variant of CSS steel blue — about 50 units away from #4682B4. Designers reach for blue hues at this saturation when the brief calls for a conversational, mid-energy register, and at this lightness when they want a present, comfortable mid-canvas voice. On screen the cool cast tends to pair best with warm neutrals in the 25°-45° range to add life.

Darkening Shades

Lightening Shades