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Amethyst Shadow Dust
Color detail

Amethyst Shadow Dust

Blue · Hue 245
Metrics
S 26% · L 28%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white11.5:1AAon black1.8:1Fail
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Amethyst Shadow Dust (#38355A) belongs to the blue family — hue 245°, 26% saturation, 28% 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-amethyst-shadow-dust: #38355A;
  --colorarchive-amethyst-shadow-dust-hsl: hsl(245, 26%, 28%);
  --colorarchive-amethyst-shadow-dust-rgb: rgb(56, 53, 90);
}

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 one of the hardest colors for nature to make with pigment — and, historically, one of the most expensive to paint with. Ultramarine, ground from lapis lazuli mined in Afghanistan, could cost as much as gold in Renaissance Europe; Vermeer used it lavishly. Egyptian blue (the first synthetic pigment, ~3000 BCE) was lost for centuries and rediscovered in the 19th. Prussian blue (1704) quickly gave painters a cheap alternative to ultramarine; Yves Klein's IKB (1960) re-aristocratized blue.

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 centuries. In Mediterranean traditions blue wards off the evil eye. In America, IBM's blue logo helped earn it the nickname 'Big 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 — in one ten-country survey it led every other color by 8 to 18 points.

In the wild

Mark Zuckerberg has said Facebook is blue because he is red-green colorblind. Levi's blue is the natural color of indigo on cotton. Twitter Blue (#1DA1F2) defined social-media blue for years before the 2023 rebrand to X scrapped it. 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 tends to recede — the eye focuses blue light slightly in front of the retina, which can make 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 dim, atmospheric reading — closer to a colored shadow than a stated hue. Excellent as a near-black on dark UI or as a moody background.

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 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 #38355A.

  • Xiaohongshu 小红书neutral
    Slate Text · #333333
    →
  • JD.com 京东neutral
    Slate · #333333
    →
  • Taobao 淘宝neutral
    Slate · #333333
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #38355A.

  • JapanIndigo (ai-iro 藍色)
    #22366E · Persicaria tinctoria fermentation dye
    →
  • BrazilAçaí Purple
    #3D1F4D · Euterpe oleracea berry
    →
  • China (Traditional)Indigo Blue (青)
    #1A4378 · Persicaria tinctoria — Han textile dye
    →

Color guides

Go deeper on using blue and color in design.

HistoryIndigo: The Color That Built Trade Routes and Made Blue CheapBrand & MarketingTechnology Brand Color Design: Trust, Intelligence, and the Blue ProblemAccessibilityAccessible Color Design: Beyond WCAG Contrast Ratios

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
Amethyst Dusk Dust
#44406D · hsl(245, 26%, 34%)
Darker companion
Amethyst Nocturne Dust
#282640 · hsl(245, 26%, 20%)
Complementary counterpoint
Citrine Shadow Dust
#5A5A35 · hsl(60, 26%, 28%)
Analogous lead
Plum Shadow Dust
#47355A · hsl(270, 26%, 28%)
Analogous echo
Cobalt Shadow Dust
#35415A · hsl(220, 26%, 28%)
Triadic +120°
Scarlet Shadow Dust
#5A3835 · hsl(5, 26%, 28%)
Triadic +240°
Emerald Shadow Dust
#355A35 · hsl(120, 26%, 28%)
Split-comp +150°
Coral Shadow Dust
#5A4735 · hsl(30, 26%, 28%)
Split-comp +210°
Lime Shadow Dust
#475A35 · hsl(90, 26%, 28%)
Export preview
Base: Amethyst Shadow Dust #38355A
Lighter companion: Amethyst Dusk Dust #44406D
Darker companion: Amethyst Nocturne Dust #282640
Complementary counterpoint: Citrine Shadow Dust #5A5A35
Analogous lead: Plum Shadow Dust #47355A
Analogous echo: Cobalt Shadow Dust #35415A
Triadic +120°: Scarlet Shadow Dust #5A3835
Triadic +240°: Emerald Shadow Dust #355A35
Split-comp +150°: Coral Shadow Dust #5A4735
Split-comp +210°: Lime Shadow Dust #475A35

Compare

See how Amethyst Shadow Dust compares side by side with related colors.

vsAmethyst Dusk DustvsAmethyst Nocturne DustvsCitrine Shadow DustvsPlum Shadow DustvsCobalt Shadow DustvsScarlet Shadow Dust

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Amethyst Shadow Muted
#3D3B54 · hsl(245, 18%, 28%)
Nearby match
Amethyst Shadow Soft
#332F60 · hsl(245, 34%, 28%)
Nearby match
Amethyst Dusk Dust
#44406D · hsl(245, 26%, 34%)
Nearby match
Iris Shadow Dust
#35355A · hsl(240, 26%, 28%)
Nearby match
Violet Shadow Dust
#3B355A · hsl(250, 26%, 28%)
Nearby match
Amethyst Nocturne Dust
#282640 · hsl(245, 26%, 20%)

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
AAA11:1
Citrine Veil Faint
#FAFAF9
AAA11.1:1
Citrine Veil Muted
#FBFBF9
AAA11.1:1
Citrine Veil Dust
#FBFBF9
AAA11.2:1
Citrine Veil Soft
#FCFCF8
AAA11.3:1
Citrine Veil Clear
#FDFDF7
AAA11.4:1
Citrine Veil Vivid
#FEFEF6

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#373751
Protanopia
#373753
Tritanopia
#384D4B
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Saturation ladder

Same hue and lightness, from gray to pure

Search
Amethyst Shadow Faint#41404F · hsl(245, 10%, 28%)Amethyst Shadow Muted#3D3B54 · hsl(245, 18%, 28%)Amethyst Shadow Dust#38355A · hsl(245, 26%, 28%)Amethyst Shadow Soft#332F60 · hsl(245, 34%, 28%)Amethyst Shadow Clear#27216E · hsl(245, 54%, 28%)Amethyst Shadow Vivid#1B137C · hsl(245, 74%, 28%)Amethyst Shadow Bright#150B83 · hsl(245, 84%, 28%)Amethyst Shadow Pure#110689 · hsl(245, 92%, 28%)
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