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Cerulean Dusk Pure
Color detail

Cerulean Dusk Pure

Blue · Hue 190
Hex
#078CA6
RGB
rgb(7, 140, 166)
HSL
hsl(190, 92%, 34%)
CMYK
cmyk(96%, 16%, 0%, 35%)
Metrics
S 92% · L 34%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white
4:1AA Large
on black
5.3:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Cerulean Dusk Pure (#078CA6) belongs to the blue family — hue 190°, 92% saturation, 34% lightness. Copy the hex, RGB, or HSL value above, or paste the CSS custom property below into your stylesheet to reference this color directly.

CSS
:root {
  --colorarchive-cerulean-dusk-pure: #078CA6;
  --colorarchive-cerulean-dusk-pure-hsl: hsl(190, 92%, 34%);
  --colorarchive-cerulean-dusk-pure-rgb: rgb(7, 140, 166);
}

AI Color Names

Let AI suggest alternative poetic names for this color in English and Chinese.

Design Context

AuthoritativeIntellectualLuxurious
Common in

Defense · Aviation · Higher Education

Pairs well with

Gold for prestige, white for sharp readability, electric blue for energy

Design tip

Perfect for dark mode backgrounds and headers. Navy is softer than black and adds character. Pair with bright accents for contrast.

Cultural context ▶

Navy and midnight blue symbolize authority, intelligence, and tradition. The color of uniforms, institutions, and power.

Color Origins

Blue family

The most-loved color on the planet, and the most overused.

Heritage

Blue is the rarest pigment in the natural world — and so, historically, the most expensive. Ultramarine, ground from lapis lazuli mined only in Afghanistan, was worth more than gold in Renaissance Europe; Vermeer's bills were enormous because of how much he used. Egyptian blue (the first synthetic pigment, ~3000 BCE) was lost for centuries and rediscovered in the 19th. Prussian blue (1704) democratized blue overnight; Yves Klein's IKB (1960) re-aristocratized it.

Across cultures

In ancient Egypt blue was the color of the Nile and the heavens — sacred, protective. In China blue-and-white porcelain (qinghua) defined export ceramics for 600 years. In Mediterranean traditions blue wards off the evil eye. In post-WWII America, blue became the corporate default ('IBM blue'); in Japan, indigo (ai) is the centuries-old workwear dye that became the ground tone of an entire textile tradition. Across the world blue is consistently rated the most-liked color — sometimes by 35% margins.

In the wild

Facebook is blue because Mark Zuckerberg is red-green colorblind. IBM's blue dates to 1947. Levi's blue is the natural color of indigo on cotton. Twitter Blue (#1DA1F2) defined social-media blue for a decade before X scrapped it. Pixar's Up famously runs on a single complementary palette built on blue. The blue checkmark, the blue link, the blue 'send' button — blue has become the default color of digital trust, to the point of being a UX cliché.

How it reads

Blue recedes — physically, the eye focuses blue light slightly behind the retina, which makes blue elements feel deep or distant. It reads as trustworthy, calm, corporate, and (at the cool end) cold. Light blues read airy and clinical; mid blues are the default for tech and finance; deep blues read as luxurious or naval. The omnipresence of blue in software is real: most enterprise UIs reach for it because it offends the fewest stakeholders, which is also the reason it can feel like the absence of a real choice.

This particular tone

A jewel tone — saturated and dark at once. This is the register of velvet, deep enamel, and old-world luxury.

Lightness band: At this depth the hue starts behaving like a neutral — it can substitute for black in many contexts while still carrying a faint chromatic temperature. It pairs especially well with off-whites and warm metallics.

Saturation band: At this saturation the color is doing work. It reads as a brand statement, a sport accessory, or a UI signal. It should be used in small, deliberate doses against quieter neighbors; large fields at this saturation will exhaust the eye.

Brands using a similar color

Within the public brand-guidelines reference catalog, these are the closest matches to #078CA6.

  • Airbnbsecondary
    Babu Teal · #00A699
    →
  • OpenAIaccent
    ChatGPT Green · #10A37F
    →
  • Bilibili 哔哩哔哩secondary
    Bilibili Blue · #00A1D6
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #078CA6.

  • IrelandCeltic Cross Green
    #169B62 · Irish flag — Pantone 347
    →
  • Korea (Obangsaek)Obangsaek Blue (청 / cheong)
    #1E68C1 · East — wood element, hanbok dyes
    →
  • VietnamJade River
    #3F8B7E · Halong Bay limestone water
    →

Tonal strip

All lightness levels at this hue and saturation. Click any to navigate.

Palette moves

Instead of stopping at one swatch, use nearby, opposite, and tonal neighbors to branch into a broader palette.

Lighter companion
Cerulean Velvet Pure
#09ADCE · hsl(190, 92%, 42%)
Darker companion
Cerulean Shadow Pure
#067389 · hsl(190, 92%, 28%)
Complementary counterpoint
Ruby Dusk Pure
#A62207 · hsl(10, 92%, 34%)
Analogous lead
Sapphire Dusk Pure
#0757A6 · hsl(210, 92%, 34%)
Analogous echo
Lagoon Dusk Pure
#07A68C · hsl(170, 92%, 34%)
Triadic +120°
Peony Dusk Pure
#A6078C · hsl(310, 92%, 34%)
Triadic +240°
Honey Dusk Pure
#8CA607 · hsl(70, 92%, 34%)
Split-comp +150°
Garnet Dusk Pure
#A6073C · hsl(340, 92%, 34%)
Split-comp +210°
Apricot Dusk Pure
#A67107 · hsl(40, 92%, 34%)
Export preview
Base: Cerulean Dusk Pure #078CA6
Lighter companion: Cerulean Velvet Pure #09ADCE
Darker companion: Cerulean Shadow Pure #067389
Complementary counterpoint: Ruby Dusk Pure #A62207
Analogous lead: Sapphire Dusk Pure #0757A6
Analogous echo: Lagoon Dusk Pure #07A68C
Triadic +120°: Peony Dusk Pure #A6078C
Triadic +240°: Honey Dusk Pure #8CA607
Split-comp +150°: Garnet Dusk Pure #A6073C
Split-comp +210°: Apricot Dusk Pure #A67107

Compare

See how Cerulean Dusk Pure compares side by side with related colors.

vsCerulean Velvet PurevsCerulean Shadow PurevsRuby Dusk PurevsSapphire Dusk PurevsLagoon Dusk PurevsPeony Dusk Pure

Nearest neighbors

The closest archive matches by hue, saturation, and lightness.

Search by hex
Nearby match
Cerulean Dusk Bright
#0E87A0 · hsl(190, 84%, 34%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Shadow Pure
#067389 · hsl(190, 92%, 28%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Velvet Pure
#09ADCE · hsl(190, 92%, 42%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Shadow Bright
#0B6F83 · hsl(190, 84%, 28%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Dusk Vivid
#178197 · hsl(190, 74%, 34%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Velvet Bright
#11A7C5 · hsl(190, 84%, 42%)

Accessible pairings

Archive colors that meet WCAG contrast standards when paired with this color. Use as text-on-background or background-on-text.

Contrast checker
AA4.5:1
Plum Ink Vivid
#24093E
AA4.5:1
Plum Ink Bright
#240642
AA4.5:1
Plum Ink Pure
#240345
AA4.5:1
Orchid Ink Clear
#1D1037
AA4.6:1
Orchid Ink Vivid
#1B093E
AA4.6:1
Orchid Ink Bright
#1A0642

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#59509F
Protanopia
#5F60A0
Tritanopia
#219B9A
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