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Cobalt Bloom Muted
Color detail

Cobalt Bloom Muted

Blue · Hue 220
Hex
#B7BECD
RGB
rgb(183, 190, 205)
HSL
hsl(220, 18%, 76%)
CMYK
cmyk(11%, 7%, 0%, 20%)
Metrics
S 18% · L 76%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white
1.9:1Fail
on black
11.3:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Cobalt Bloom Muted (#B7BECD) belongs to the blue family — hue 220°, 18% saturation, 76% 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-cobalt-bloom-muted: #B7BECD;
  --colorarchive-cobalt-bloom-muted-hsl: hsl(220, 18%, 76%);
  --colorarchive-cobalt-bloom-muted-rgb: rgb(183, 190, 205);
}

AI Color Names

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

Design Context

SereneTrustworthyClean
Common in

Social Media · Cloud Storage · Baby Products

Pairs well with

Light gray for tech minimalism, peach for friendly warmth

Design tip

The default choice for tech and social platforms for good reason. Light blue backgrounds reduce anxiety and increase trust.

Cultural context ▶

Light blue represents peace, sky, and openness. It's the most universally liked color, making it safe for global brands.

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 pale, gentle tone — pastel territory, where the hue acts more like a tinted neutral than a stated color.

Lightness band: At this lightness the hue almost recedes into the surface around it — useful for backgrounds, hover states, and any surface where the color should suggest a mood without competing with content.

Saturation band: The low saturation pulls this color toward earthen, vintage, or editorial palettes. It reads as confident and grown-up rather than playful, and it tolerates being used in large blocks without becoming visually noisy.

Brands using a similar color

Within the public brand-guidelines reference catalog, these are the closest matches to #B7BECD.

  • Starbucksneutral
    Warm Neutral · #D4E9E2
    →
  • Glossierprimary
    Glossier Pink · #F8D6CD
    →
  • Aesopneutral
    Cream Paper · #EFE4D2
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #B7BECD.

  • ScandinaviaIittala Blue
    #A6CEDB · Aalto vase glassware (1936-)
    →
  • China (Traditional)Celadon (青瓷)
    #9CB48F · Song Dynasty Longquan kilns
    →
  • Greece (Aegean)Olive Silver
    #9CA38F · Olea europaea leaf undersides
    →

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
Cobalt Pearl Muted
#CFD4DE · hsl(220, 18%, 84%)
Darker companion
Cobalt Silk Muted
#9FA9BC · hsl(220, 18%, 68%)
Complementary counterpoint
Apricot Bloom Muted
#CDC5B7 · hsl(40, 18%, 76%)
Analogous lead
Amethyst Bloom Muted
#B9B7CD · hsl(245, 18%, 76%)
Analogous echo
Azure Bloom Muted
#B7C5CD · hsl(200, 18%, 76%)
Triadic +120°
Garnet Bloom Muted
#CDB7BE · hsl(340, 18%, 76%)
Triadic +240°
Moss Bloom Muted
#BECDB7 · hsl(100, 18%, 76%)
Split-comp +150°
Ruby Bloom Muted
#CDBAB7 · hsl(10, 18%, 76%)
Split-comp +210°
Honey Bloom Muted
#C9CDB7 · hsl(70, 18%, 76%)
Export preview
Base: Cobalt Bloom Muted #B7BECD
Lighter companion: Cobalt Pearl Muted #CFD4DE
Darker companion: Cobalt Silk Muted #9FA9BC
Complementary counterpoint: Apricot Bloom Muted #CDC5B7
Analogous lead: Amethyst Bloom Muted #B9B7CD
Analogous echo: Azure Bloom Muted #B7C5CD
Triadic +120°: Garnet Bloom Muted #CDB7BE
Triadic +240°: Moss Bloom Muted #BECDB7
Split-comp +150°: Ruby Bloom Muted #CDBAB7
Split-comp +210°: Honey Bloom Muted #C9CDB7

Compare

See how Cobalt Bloom Muted compares side by side with related colors.

vsCobalt Pearl MutedvsCobalt Silk MutedvsApricot Bloom MutedvsAmethyst Bloom MutedvsAzure Bloom MutedvsGarnet Bloom Muted

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Cobalt Bloom Faint
#BCC0C8 · hsl(220, 10%, 76%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Bloom Dust
#B2BCD2 · hsl(220, 26%, 76%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Silk Muted
#9FA9BC · hsl(220, 18%, 68%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Pearl Muted
#CFD4DE · hsl(220, 18%, 84%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Bloom Soft
#ADBBD7 · hsl(220, 34%, 76%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Silk Faint
#A5ABB6 · hsl(220, 10%, 68%)

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
AAA8.2:1
Apricot Ink Faint
#272520
AAA8.1:1
Apricot Ink Muted
#2A261D
AAA7.9:1
Apricot Ink Dust
#2D271A
AAA7.8:1
Apricot Ink Soft
#302818
AAA7.5:1
Apricot Ink Clear
#372A10
AAA7.1:1
Apricot Ink Vivid
#3E2D09

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#BAB9C9
Protanopia
#BABACA
Tritanopia
#B7C7C6
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Appears in collections
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