We're live on Product Hunt!Support us
ColorArchive

A curated color library with 5,000+ algorithmically generated colors. Browse, search, save favorites, and export palette tokens — no account required.

CollectionsFamiliesBrandsRegionsJournalNotesGuidesFree ResourcesConvertColorblindAboutSupportUpdates
Ready for static export
Privacy·Terms·Refunds·Cookies·Commerce Disclosure
colorarchive.org · © 2026 ColorArchive
Skip to content
ColorArchive
ProLog in
ArchiveAll ColorsCollections
Steel Core Vivid
Color detail

Steel Core Vivid

Blue · Hue 205
Hex
#2089D5
RGB
rgb(32, 137, 213)
HSL
hsl(205, 74%, 48%)
CMYK
cmyk(85%, 36%, 0%, 16%)
Metrics
S 74% · L 48%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white
3.7:1AA Large
on black
5.6:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Steel Core Vivid (#2089D5) belongs to the blue family — hue 205°, 74% saturation, 48% 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-steel-core-vivid: #2089D5;
  --colorarchive-steel-core-vivid-hsl: hsl(205, 74%, 48%);
  --colorarchive-steel-core-vivid-rgb: rgb(32, 137, 213);
}

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 #2089D5.

  • Disney+accent
    Hover Cyan · #1A8FFF
    →
  • X (Twitter)secondary
    Twitter Blue (legacy) · #1D9BF0
    →
  • Alipay 支付宝primary
    Alipay Blue · #1677FF
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #2089D5.

  • Korea (Obangsaek)Obangsaek Blue (청 / cheong)
    #1E68C1 · East — wood element, hanbok dyes
    →
  • VietnamJade River
    #3F8B7E · Halong Bay limestone water
    →
  • Turkey (Istanbul)Bosphorus Turquoise
    #4DA8AC · Marmara strait water
    →

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
Steel Radiant Vivid
#3398E1 · hsl(205, 74%, 54%)
Darker companion
Steel Velvet Vivid
#1C78BA · hsl(205, 74%, 42%)
Complementary counterpoint
Tangerine Core Vivid
#D56B20 · hsl(25, 74%, 48%)
Analogous lead
Indigo Core Vivid
#203ED5 · hsl(230, 74%, 48%)
Analogous echo
Aqua Core Vivid
#20D5D5 · hsl(180, 74%, 48%)
Triadic +120°
Rose Core Vivid
#D52099 · hsl(320, 74%, 48%)
Triadic +240°
Olive Core Vivid
#99D520 · hsl(80, 74%, 48%)
Split-comp +150°
Crimson Core Vivid
#D52020 · hsl(0, 74%, 48%)
Split-comp +210°
Canary Core Vivid
#D5C620 · hsl(55, 74%, 48%)
Export preview
Base: Steel Core Vivid #2089D5
Lighter companion: Steel Radiant Vivid #3398E1
Darker companion: Steel Velvet Vivid #1C78BA
Complementary counterpoint: Tangerine Core Vivid #D56B20
Analogous lead: Indigo Core Vivid #203ED5
Analogous echo: Aqua Core Vivid #20D5D5
Triadic +120°: Rose Core Vivid #D52099
Triadic +240°: Olive Core Vivid #99D520
Split-comp +150°: Crimson Core Vivid #D52020
Split-comp +210°: Canary Core Vivid #D5C620

Compare

See how Steel Core Vivid compares side by side with related colors.

vsSteel Radiant VividvsSteel Velvet VividvsTangerine Core VividvsIndigo Core VividvsAqua Core VividvsRose Core Vivid

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Steel Velvet Vivid
#1C78BA · hsl(205, 74%, 42%)
Nearby match
Steel Radiant Vivid
#3398E1 · hsl(205, 74%, 54%)
Nearby match
Steel Core Bright
#148CE1 · hsl(205, 84%, 48%)
Nearby match
Azure Core Vivid
#2099D5 · hsl(200, 74%, 48%)
Nearby match
Sapphire Core Vivid
#207AD5 · hsl(210, 74%, 48%)
Nearby match
Steel Core Pure
#0A8DEB · hsl(205, 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
AA4.5:1
Crimson Ink Clear
#371010
AA4.5:1
Crimson Ink Vivid
#3E0909
AA4.5:1
Merlot Ink Clear
#371017
AA4.5:1
Merlot Ink Vivid
#3E0912
AA4.5:1
Garnet Ink Clear
#37101D
AA4.6:1
Mulberry Ink Clear
#2A1037

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#5A52C2
Protanopia
#6061C6
Tritanopia
#2DB9B6
Ready to build

Turn these colors into design tokens

ColorArchive Pro includes CSS variables, Figma tokens, Tailwind config, and Procreate swatches — ready to drop into any project.

Upgrade to ProFree downloadView collections

Related colors

More from Blue

Search
Cerulean Ink Faint#202627 · hsl(190, 10%, 14%)Cerulean Nocturne Faint#2E3638 · hsl(190, 10%, 20%)Cerulean Shadow Faint#404C4F · hsl(190, 10%, 28%)Cerulean Dusk Faint#4E5C5F · hsl(190, 10%, 34%)Cerulean Velvet Faint#607276 · hsl(190, 10%, 42%)Cerulean Core Faint#6E8387 · hsl(190, 10%, 48%)Cerulean Radiant Faint#7E9295 · hsl(190, 10%, 54%)Cerulean Tone Faint#8FA0A3 · hsl(190, 10%, 60%)