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Cobalt Dusk Clear
Color detail

Cobalt Dusk Clear

Blue · Hue 220
Hex
#284786
RGB
rgb(40, 71, 134)
HSL
hsl(220, 54%, 34%)
CMYK
cmyk(70%, 47%, 0%, 47%)
Metrics
S 54% · L 34%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white
9:1AA
on black
2.3:1Fail
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Cobalt Dusk Clear (#284786) belongs to the blue family — hue 220°, 54% 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-cobalt-dusk-clear: #284786;
  --colorarchive-cobalt-dusk-clear-hsl: hsl(220, 54%, 34%);
  --colorarchive-cobalt-dusk-clear-rgb: rgb(40, 71, 134);
}

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 deep, weighted version of the hue — formal, considered, and pairs especially well with off-white and warm metallic accents.

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: The clear, mid-saturation register is the most common identity sweet spot — saturated enough to register as a 'real' color, restrained enough not to fight typography or photography placed over it.

Brands using a similar color

Within the public brand-guidelines reference catalog, these are the closest matches to #284786.

  • PlayStationprimary
    PlayStation Blue · #003791
    →
  • Airbnbneutral
    Hof Gray · #484848
    →
  • Patagoniaprimary
    Patagonia Sky Blue · #0061AC
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #284786.

  • EgyptLapis Lazuli
    #1F4287 · Crushed lapis lazuli, imported via Sinai trade
    →
  • China (Traditional)Indigo Blue (青)
    #1A4378 · Persicaria tinctoria — Han textile dye
    →
  • England (London)Underground Blue
    #1C3F95 · TfL roundel + Piccadilly line
    →

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 Velvet Clear
#3158A5 · hsl(220, 54%, 42%)
Darker companion
Cobalt Shadow Clear
#213B6E · hsl(220, 54%, 28%)
Complementary counterpoint
Apricot Dusk Clear
#866628 · hsl(40, 54%, 34%)
Analogous lead
Amethyst Dusk Clear
#302886 · hsl(245, 54%, 34%)
Analogous echo
Azure Dusk Clear
#286686 · hsl(200, 54%, 34%)
Triadic +120°
Garnet Dusk Clear
#862847 · hsl(340, 54%, 34%)
Triadic +240°
Moss Dusk Clear
#478628 · hsl(100, 54%, 34%)
Split-comp +150°
Ruby Dusk Clear
#863728 · hsl(10, 54%, 34%)
Split-comp +210°
Honey Dusk Clear
#768628 · hsl(70, 54%, 34%)
Export preview
Base: Cobalt Dusk Clear #284786
Lighter companion: Cobalt Velvet Clear #3158A5
Darker companion: Cobalt Shadow Clear #213B6E
Complementary counterpoint: Apricot Dusk Clear #866628
Analogous lead: Amethyst Dusk Clear #302886
Analogous echo: Azure Dusk Clear #286686
Triadic +120°: Garnet Dusk Clear #862847
Triadic +240°: Moss Dusk Clear #478628
Split-comp +150°: Ruby Dusk Clear #863728
Split-comp +210°: Honey Dusk Clear #768628

Compare

See how Cobalt Dusk Clear compares side by side with related colors.

vsCobalt Velvet ClearvsCobalt Shadow ClearvsApricot Dusk ClearvsAmethyst Dusk ClearvsAzure Dusk ClearvsGarnet Dusk Clear

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Cobalt Shadow Clear
#213B6E · hsl(220, 54%, 28%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Velvet Clear
#3158A5 · hsl(220, 54%, 42%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Dusk Soft
#394D74 · hsl(220, 34%, 34%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Dusk Vivid
#174197 · hsl(220, 74%, 34%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Nocturne Clear
#172A4F · hsl(220, 54%, 20%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Core Clear
#3864BC · hsl(220, 54%, 48%)

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
AAA8.6:1
Apricot Veil Faint
#FAFAF9
AAA8.6:1
Apricot Veil Muted
#FBFAF9
AAA8.6:1
Apricot Veil Dust
#FBFAF9
AAA8.6:1
Apricot Veil Soft
#FCFAF8
AAA8.7:1
Apricot Veil Clear
#FDFBF7
AAA8.7:1
Apricot Veil Vivid
#FEFBF6

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#363477
Protanopia
#38387A
Tritanopia
#2A706E
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