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Cobalt Velvet Vivid
Color detail

Cobalt Velvet Vivid

Blue · Hue 220
Hex
#1C51BA
RGB
rgb(28, 81, 186)
HSL
hsl(220, 74%, 42%)
CMYK
cmyk(85%, 56%, 0%, 27%)
Metrics
S 74% · L 42%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white
7.2:1AA
on black
2.9:1Fail
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Cobalt Velvet Vivid (#1C51BA) belongs to the blue family — hue 220°, 74% saturation, 42% 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-velvet-vivid: #1C51BA;
  --colorarchive-cobalt-velvet-vivid-hsl: hsl(220, 74%, 42%);
  --colorarchive-cobalt-velvet-vivid-rgb: rgb(28, 81, 186);
}

AI Color Names

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

Design Context

ProfessionalReliableFocused
Common in

Banking · Insurance · Enterprise Software

Pairs well with

White for clean authority, light orange for warm contrast, dark navy for depth

Design tip

The backbone of business interfaces. Use for primary actions and navigation. Blue links are the web's universal convention.

Cultural context ▶

Blue is the world's most popular color. It represents trust, competence, and stability across virtually all cultures.

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 vivid mid-tone — distinctive enough to anchor an identity, saturated enough to demand a quiet supporting palette.

Lightness band: At mid-lightness the hue carries its full character. This is the band where most identity colors live: bright enough to be distinctive at small sizes, deep enough to sit cleanly on a white canvas.

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 #1C51BA.

  • Patagoniaprimary
    Patagonia Sky Blue · #0061AC
    →
  • GitHubaccent
    Accent Blue · #0969DA
    →
  • PlayStationprimary
    PlayStation Blue · #003791
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #1C51BA.

  • MexicoTalavera Blue
    #2A52BE · Talavera Poblana tin-glazed pottery
    →
  • Turkey (Istanbul)Iznik Blue
    #1E5599 · Ottoman Iznik tile cobalt-glaze, 16th c.
    →
  • Korea (Obangsaek)Obangsaek Blue (청 / cheong)
    #1E68C1 · East — wood element, hanbok dyes
    →

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 Core Vivid
#205CD5 · hsl(220, 74%, 48%)
Darker companion
Cobalt Dusk Vivid
#174197 · hsl(220, 74%, 34%)
Complementary counterpoint
Apricot Velvet Vivid
#BA861C · hsl(40, 74%, 42%)
Analogous lead
Amethyst Velvet Vivid
#291CBA · hsl(245, 74%, 42%)
Analogous echo
Azure Velvet Vivid
#1C86BA · hsl(200, 74%, 42%)
Triadic +120°
Garnet Velvet Vivid
#BA1C51 · hsl(340, 74%, 42%)
Triadic +240°
Moss Velvet Vivid
#51BA1C · hsl(100, 74%, 42%)
Split-comp +150°
Ruby Velvet Vivid
#BA361C · hsl(10, 74%, 42%)
Split-comp +210°
Honey Velvet Vivid
#A0BA1C · hsl(70, 74%, 42%)
Export preview
Base: Cobalt Velvet Vivid #1C51BA
Lighter companion: Cobalt Core Vivid #205CD5
Darker companion: Cobalt Dusk Vivid #174197
Complementary counterpoint: Apricot Velvet Vivid #BA861C
Analogous lead: Amethyst Velvet Vivid #291CBA
Analogous echo: Azure Velvet Vivid #1C86BA
Triadic +120°: Garnet Velvet Vivid #BA1C51
Triadic +240°: Moss Velvet Vivid #51BA1C
Split-comp +150°: Ruby Velvet Vivid #BA361C
Split-comp +210°: Honey Velvet Vivid #A0BA1C

Compare

See how Cobalt Velvet Vivid compares side by side with related colors.

vsCobalt Core VividvsCobalt Dusk VividvsApricot Velvet VividvsAmethyst Velvet VividvsAzure Velvet VividvsGarnet Velvet Vivid

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Cobalt Core Vivid
#205CD5 · hsl(220, 74%, 48%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Velvet Bright
#114DC5 · hsl(220, 84%, 42%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Dusk Vivid
#174197 · hsl(220, 74%, 34%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Velvet Pure
#094ACE · hsl(220, 92%, 42%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Radiant Vivid
#336DE1 · hsl(220, 74%, 54%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Core Bright
#1458E1 · hsl(220, 84%, 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
AAA7:1
Saffron Veil Vivid
#FEFCF6
AAA7:1
Saffron Veil Bright
#FEFCF6
AAA7:1
Saffron Veil Pure
#FFFCF5
AAA7:1
Amber Veil Clear
#FDFCF7
AAA7:1
Amber Veil Vivid
#FEFCF6
AAA7:1
Amber Veil Bright
#FEFDF6

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#3733A3
Protanopia
#3A3AA8
Tritanopia
#219894
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