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Amethyst Silk Dust
Color detail

Amethyst Silk Dust

Blue · Hue 245
Metrics
S 26% · L 68%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white2.7:1Failon black7.7:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Amethyst Silk Dust (#9C98C3) belongs to the blue family — hue 245°, 26% saturation, 68% 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-silk-dust: #9C98C3;
  --colorarchive-amethyst-silk-dust-hsl: hsl(245, 26%, 68%);
  --colorarchive-amethyst-silk-dust-rgb: rgb(156, 152, 195);
}

AI Color Names

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

Design Context

SereneTrustworthyClean
Common in

Social Media · Cloud Storage · Baby Products

Pairs well with

Light gray for tech minimalism, peach for friendly warmth

Design tip

The default choice for tech and social platforms for good reason. Light blue backgrounds reduce anxiety and increase trust.

Cultural context ▶

Light blue represents peace, sky, and openness. It's the most universally liked color, making it safe for global brands.

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 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 many 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 #9C98C3.

  • Anthropicneutral
    Mid Gray · #B0AEA5
    →
  • Redditsecondary
    Periwinkle · #7193FF
    →
  • PlayStationaccent
    Square Purple · #A363D9
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #9C98C3.

  • ScandinaviaAsh Grey
    #A8AAA5 · Birch and ash bark
    →
  • Greece (Aegean)Olive Silver
    #9CA38F · Olea europaea leaf undersides
    →
  • IrelandConnemara Marble
    #8DA48A · Mottled green-grey native marble
    →

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 ProblemBrand & MarketingArchitecture Color Palette: Tone Systems for Firms, Portfolios, and Built Environment Brands

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 Bloom Dust
#B5B2D2 · hsl(245, 26%, 76%)
Darker companion
Amethyst Tone Dust
#837EB4 · hsl(245, 26%, 60%)
Complementary counterpoint
Citrine Silk Dust
#C3C398 · hsl(60, 26%, 68%)
Analogous lead
Plum Silk Dust
#AD98C3 · hsl(270, 26%, 68%)
Analogous echo
Cobalt Silk Dust
#98A6C3 · hsl(220, 26%, 68%)
Triadic +120°
Scarlet Silk Dust
#C39C98 · hsl(5, 26%, 68%)
Triadic +240°
Emerald Silk Dust
#98C398 · hsl(120, 26%, 68%)
Split-comp +150°
Coral Silk Dust
#C3AD98 · hsl(30, 26%, 68%)
Split-comp +210°
Lime Silk Dust
#ADC398 · hsl(90, 26%, 68%)
Export preview
Base: Amethyst Silk Dust #9C98C3
Lighter companion: Amethyst Bloom Dust #B5B2D2
Darker companion: Amethyst Tone Dust #837EB4
Complementary counterpoint: Citrine Silk Dust #C3C398
Analogous lead: Plum Silk Dust #AD98C3
Analogous echo: Cobalt Silk Dust #98A6C3
Triadic +120°: Scarlet Silk Dust #C39C98
Triadic +240°: Emerald Silk Dust #98C398
Split-comp +150°: Coral Silk Dust #C3AD98
Split-comp +210°: Lime Silk Dust #ADC398

Compare

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

vsAmethyst Bloom DustvsAmethyst Tone DustvsCitrine Silk DustvsPlum Silk DustvsCobalt Silk DustvsScarlet Silk Dust

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Amethyst Silk Muted
#A19FBC · hsl(245, 18%, 68%)
Nearby match
Amethyst Silk Soft
#9692C9 · hsl(245, 34%, 68%)
Nearby match
Iris Silk Dust
#9898C3 · hsl(240, 26%, 68%)
Nearby match
Violet Silk Dust
#9F98C3 · hsl(250, 26%, 68%)
Nearby match
Amethyst Tone Dust
#837EB4 · hsl(245, 26%, 60%)
Nearby match
Amethyst Bloom Dust
#B5B2D2 · hsl(245, 26%, 76%)

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
Iris Ink Pure
#030345
AA5.5:1
Citrine Ink Faint
#272720
AA5.3:1
Citrine Ink Muted
#2A2A1D
AA5.1:1
Citrine Ink Dust
#2D2D1A
AA4.9:1
Citrine Ink Soft
#303018
AA4.5:1
Citrine Ink Clear
#373710

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#9B9BB7
Protanopia
#9A9ABA
Tritanopia
#9CB2B0
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Saturation ladder

Same hue and lightness, from gray to pure

Search
Amethyst Silk Faint#A7A5B6 · hsl(245, 10%, 68%)Amethyst Silk Muted#A19FBC · hsl(245, 18%, 68%)Amethyst Silk Dust#9C98C3 · hsl(245, 26%, 68%)Amethyst Silk Soft#9692C9 · hsl(245, 34%, 68%)Amethyst Silk Clear#8981D9 · hsl(245, 54%, 68%)Amethyst Silk Vivid#7B71EA · hsl(245, 74%, 68%)Amethyst Silk Bright#7469F2 · hsl(245, 84%, 68%)Amethyst Silk Pure#6F62F8 · hsl(245, 92%, 68%)
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