Soft Steel Color

#404854

Soft Steel is pale, cool-toned shade of blue cyan. It is better contrasting with white. This color combines beautifully with orange, mid green or red magenta

Inverse Color #bfb7ab
Complementary Color #534b40
Color Shade: blue cyan (216° hue)
Color Temperature: cool
Lightness: 29.02% (better contrasting with white)
Soft Steel Color Sample
Soft Steel Color Sample

Better Alternatives To #404854

If you're looking for a similar blue cyan shade, there are some better alternatives to Soft Steel Color. The Lithic Sand color for instance is a lighter and a bit more vibrant option, however this color has a cool cyan bias. Consider a lighter and more saturated alternative called Loyalty (#4e6175) for more energetic effect. Try Steadfast as it also a bit more vibrant and energetic.

Complementary Palette

#534b40 is the best complementary color to Soft Steel. Orange shades generally complement the blue cyan hues best as they are found on the opposite end of the color wheel. The most popular #404854 complementary color is Armadillo, as it offers maximum contrast and grab the viewer's attention.

Analogous Palette

The analogous palette of mid cyan, blue cyan, and mid blue colors offers a soft combination of similar cool shades. The analogous colors of River Bed are #405153 and #414053. Thus found on the left and right of #404854 on the color wheel with a 30° gap. Consider matching Limed Spruce and Gun Powder colors as they work well with Soft Steel.

Split-complementary Palette

The split-complementary Soft Steel palette consists of #515340 and #534140 colors. They can be found 30° apart on either side of the complementary color (#534b40). Try Kelp and Matterhorn colors in combination with #404854, as they are not as contrasting as a complementary color, hence, giving more hue variety to make your design stand out.

Triadic Palette

The triadic palette of #404854 offers a combination of yellow green and red magenta shades and equally high contrast between the three of them. Find triadic colors at the 120° distance from the Soft Steel. Thus Cabbage Pont and Matterhorn giving maximum hue separation to use all three together.

Square Palette

The square color palette of Soft Steel contains three additional colors. Thus, complementary Armadillo, Matterhorn, and Gray Asparagus split by 90° on the color wheel. #404854 square combo is a palette of blue cyan, mid magenta, orange and mid green shades that work together well.

Tetradic Palette

The tetradic palette is a bit more complex than the square and has more of a rectangle shape. Soft Steel tetradic combo consists of orange complementary color (#534b40) and two others. The Matterhorn is positioned 120° clockwise from the primary color and Nandor – 120° from the complementary Armadillo. This palette is not recommended to use as-is. Try to tweak the saturation and brightness of #534047 and #40534c.

Conversion Table

In a RGB color space, hex #404854 is made of 29% red, 33% green and 38% blue. In a HSL mode Soft Steel has a hue angle of 216°, a saturation of 13.51% and a lightness of 29.02%. In a CMYK space (used in printing only), hex #404854 is made of 7.84% cyan, 4.7% magenta, 0% yellow and 67.06% black ink.

HEX #404854
RGB Decimal rgb(64,72,84)
RGB Percentage 29%, 33%, 38%
CMYK 7.84, 4.7, 0, 67.06
HSL hsl(216,13.51%,29.02%)
HSV (or HSB) hsv(216,23.81%,32.94%)
CIE-LAB lab(30.3148,-0.1939,-8.2197)
XYZ xyz(6.032,6.3648,9.2981)
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