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Sapphire Velvet Bright
Color detail

Sapphire Velvet Bright

Blue · Hue 210
Hex
#116BC5
RGB
rgb(17, 107, 197)
HSL
hsl(210, 84%, 42%)
CMYK
cmyk(91%, 46%, 0%, 23%)
Metrics
S 84% · L 42%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white
5.3:1AA
on black
3.9:1AA Large
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Sapphire Velvet Bright (#116BC5) belongs to the blue family — hue 210°, 84% 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-sapphire-velvet-bright: #116BC5;
  --colorarchive-sapphire-velvet-bright-hsl: hsl(210, 84%, 42%);
  --colorarchive-sapphire-velvet-bright-rgb: rgb(17, 107, 197);
}

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 #116BC5.

  • GitHubaccent
    Accent Blue · #0969DA
    →
  • PlayStationaccent
    X Blue · #0070D1
    →
  • Patagoniaprimary
    Patagonia Sky Blue · #0061AC
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #116BC5.

  • Korea (Obangsaek)Obangsaek Blue (청 / cheong)
    #1E68C1 · East — wood element, hanbok dyes
    →
  • Greece (Aegean)Aegean Blue
    #005EB8 · Limewash + copper sulfate, traditional shutter paint
    →
  • Turkey (Istanbul)Iznik Blue
    #1E5599 · Ottoman Iznik tile cobalt-glaze, 16th c.
    →

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
Sapphire Core Bright
#147AE1 · hsl(210, 84%, 48%)
Darker companion
Sapphire Dusk Bright
#0E57A0 · hsl(210, 84%, 34%)
Complementary counterpoint
Coral Velvet Bright
#C56B11 · hsl(30, 84%, 42%)
Analogous lead
Indigo Velvet Bright
#112FC5 · hsl(230, 84%, 42%)
Analogous echo
Cerulean Velvet Bright
#11A7C5 · hsl(190, 84%, 42%)
Triadic +120°
Blush Velvet Bright
#C5116B · hsl(330, 84%, 42%)
Triadic +240°
Lime Velvet Bright
#6BC511 · hsl(90, 84%, 42%)
Split-comp +150°
Crimson Velvet Bright
#C51111 · hsl(0, 84%, 42%)
Split-comp +210°
Citrine Velvet Bright
#C5C511 · hsl(60, 84%, 42%)
Export preview
Base: Sapphire Velvet Bright #116BC5
Lighter companion: Sapphire Core Bright #147AE1
Darker companion: Sapphire Dusk Bright #0E57A0
Complementary counterpoint: Coral Velvet Bright #C56B11
Analogous lead: Indigo Velvet Bright #112FC5
Analogous echo: Cerulean Velvet Bright #11A7C5
Triadic +120°: Blush Velvet Bright #C5116B
Triadic +240°: Lime Velvet Bright #6BC511
Split-comp +150°: Crimson Velvet Bright #C51111
Split-comp +210°: Citrine Velvet Bright #C5C511

Compare

See how Sapphire Velvet Bright compares side by side with related colors.

vsSapphire Core BrightvsSapphire Dusk BrightvsCoral Velvet BrightvsIndigo Velvet BrightvsCerulean Velvet BrightvsBlush Velvet Bright

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Sapphire Velvet Pure
#096BCE · hsl(210, 92%, 42%)
Nearby match
Sapphire Core Bright
#147AE1 · hsl(210, 84%, 48%)
Nearby match
Sapphire Velvet Vivid
#1C6BBA · hsl(210, 74%, 42%)
Nearby match
Steel Velvet Bright
#117AC5 · hsl(205, 84%, 42%)
Nearby match
Sapphire Dusk Bright
#0E57A0 · hsl(210, 84%, 34%)
Nearby match
Sapphire Core Pure
#0A7AEB · hsl(210, 92%, 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
AA5.1:1
Coral Veil Faint
#FAFAF9
AA5.1:1
Coral Veil Muted
#FBFAF9
AA5.1:1
Coral Veil Dust
#FBFAF9
AA5.1:1
Coral Veil Soft
#FCFAF8
AA5.1:1
Coral Veil Clear
#FDFAF7
AA5.1:1
Coral Veil Vivid
#FEFAF6

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#443EB0
Protanopia
#494AB4
Tritanopia
#1EA6A2
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