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Iris Velvet Dust
Color detail

Iris Velvet Dust

Blue · Hue 240
Hex
#4F4F87
RGB
rgb(79, 79, 135)
HSL
hsl(240, 26%, 42%)
CMYK
cmyk(41%, 41%, 0%, 47%)
Metrics
S 26% · L 42%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white
7.5:1AA
on black
2.8:1Fail
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Iris Velvet Dust (#4F4F87) belongs to the blue family — hue 240°, 26% 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-iris-velvet-dust: #4F4F87;
  --colorarchive-iris-velvet-dust-hsl: hsl(240, 26%, 42%);
  --colorarchive-iris-velvet-dust-rgb: rgb(79, 79, 135);
}

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 grounded mid-tone — sober, considered, well-suited to body text accents, editorial layouts, or any context where restraint reads as quality.

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: 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 #4F4F87.

  • Airbnbneutral
    Hof Gray · #484848
    →
  • Instagramprimary
    Sunset Indigo · #515BD4
    →
  • Linearprimary
    Linear Indigo · #5E6AD2
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #4F4F87.

  • IrelandAtlantic Slate
    #5A6770 · Cliff face + winter sea
    →
  • France (Paris)Zinc Roof Grey
    #5E6566 · Oxidized zinc roof tiles, central Paris
    →
  • ScandinaviaForest Green
    #3D5B49 · Spruce / fir forest in winter light
    →

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
Iris Core Dust
#5B5B9A · hsl(240, 26%, 48%)
Darker companion
Iris Dusk Dust
#40406D · hsl(240, 26%, 34%)
Complementary counterpoint
Citrine Velvet Dust
#87874F · hsl(60, 26%, 42%)
Analogous lead
Orchid Velvet Dust
#624F87 · hsl(260, 26%, 42%)
Analogous echo
Cobalt Velvet Dust
#4F6287 · hsl(220, 26%, 42%)
Triadic +120°
Crimson Velvet Dust
#874F4F · hsl(0, 26%, 42%)
Triadic +240°
Emerald Velvet Dust
#4F874F · hsl(120, 26%, 42%)
Split-comp +150°
Coral Velvet Dust
#876B4F · hsl(30, 26%, 42%)
Split-comp +210°
Lime Velvet Dust
#6B874F · hsl(90, 26%, 42%)
Export preview
Base: Iris Velvet Dust #4F4F87
Lighter companion: Iris Core Dust #5B5B9A
Darker companion: Iris Dusk Dust #40406D
Complementary counterpoint: Citrine Velvet Dust #87874F
Analogous lead: Orchid Velvet Dust #624F87
Analogous echo: Cobalt Velvet Dust #4F6287
Triadic +120°: Crimson Velvet Dust #874F4F
Triadic +240°: Emerald Velvet Dust #4F874F
Split-comp +150°: Coral Velvet Dust #876B4F
Split-comp +210°: Lime Velvet Dust #6B874F

Compare

See how Iris Velvet Dust compares side by side with related colors.

vsIris Core DustvsIris Dusk DustvsCitrine Velvet DustvsOrchid Velvet DustvsCobalt Velvet DustvsCrimson Velvet Dust

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Iris Velvet Muted
#58587E · hsl(240, 18%, 42%)
Nearby match
Iris Velvet Soft
#474790 · hsl(240, 34%, 42%)
Nearby match
Iris Core Dust
#5B5B9A · hsl(240, 26%, 48%)
Nearby match
Amethyst Velvet Dust
#544F87 · hsl(245, 26%, 42%)
Nearby match
Iris Dusk Dust
#40406D · hsl(240, 26%, 34%)
Nearby match
Iris Velvet Faint
#606076 · hsl(240, 10%, 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
AAA7.2:1
Citrine Veil Faint
#FAFAF9
AAA7.2:1
Citrine Veil Muted
#FBFBF9
AAA7.2:1
Citrine Veil Dust
#FBFBF9
AAA7.3:1
Citrine Veil Soft
#FCFCF8
AAA7.3:1
Citrine Veil Clear
#FDFDF7
AAA7.4:1
Citrine Veil Vivid
#FEFEF6

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#4F4F7A
Protanopia
#4F4F7C
Tritanopia
#4F7371
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