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Azure Nocturne Clear
Color detail

Azure Nocturne Clear

Blue · Hue 200
Metrics
S 54% · L 20%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white11.7:1AAon black1.8:1Fail
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Azure Nocturne Clear (#173C4F) belongs to the blue family — hue 200°, 54% saturation, 20% 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-azure-nocturne-clear: #173C4F;
  --colorarchive-azure-nocturne-clear-hsl: hsl(200, 54%, 20%);
  --colorarchive-azure-nocturne-clear-rgb: rgb(23, 60, 79);
}

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 deep, weighted version of the hue — formal, considered, and pairs especially well with off-white and warm metallic accents.

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 clear, mid-saturation register is a common identity sweet spot — saturated enough to register as a 'real' color, restrained enough not to fight typography or photography placed over it.

Brands using a similar color

Within the public brand-guidelines reference catalog, these are the closest matches to #173C4F.

  • 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 #173C4F.

  • JapanIndigo (ai-iro 藍色)
    #22366E · Persicaria tinctoria fermentation dye
    →
  • China (Traditional)Indigo Blue (青)
    #1A4378 · Persicaria tinctoria — Han textile dye
    →
  • England (London)Pub Tile Green
    #1F4D2E · Victorian pub interior dado tiling
    →

Color guides

Go deeper on using blue and color in design.

Color PsychologyBlue Color Psychology in Branding: Why Every Bank and Tech Giant Chooses BlueHistoryIndigo: The Color That Built Trade Routes and Made Blue CheapColor TheoryFluorescent and Neon Colors: When They Work and When They Don't

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
Azure Shadow Clear
#21546E · hsl(200, 54%, 28%)
Darker companion
Azure Ink Clear
#102A37 · hsl(200, 54%, 14%)
Complementary counterpoint
Ember Nocturne Clear
#4F2A17 · hsl(20, 54%, 20%)
Analogous lead
Cobalt Nocturne Clear
#172A4F · hsl(220, 54%, 20%)
Analogous echo
Cyan Nocturne Clear
#174F4A · hsl(175, 54%, 20%)
Triadic +120°
Rose Nocturne Clear
#4F173C · hsl(320, 54%, 20%)
Triadic +240°
Olive Nocturne Clear
#3C4F17 · hsl(80, 54%, 20%)
Split-comp +150°
Merlot Nocturne Clear
#4F1721 · hsl(350, 54%, 20%)
Split-comp +210°
Amber Nocturne Clear
#4F4517 · hsl(50, 54%, 20%)
Export preview
Base: Azure Nocturne Clear #173C4F
Lighter companion: Azure Shadow Clear #21546E
Darker companion: Azure Ink Clear #102A37
Complementary counterpoint: Ember Nocturne Clear #4F2A17
Analogous lead: Cobalt Nocturne Clear #172A4F
Analogous echo: Cyan Nocturne Clear #174F4A
Triadic +120°: Rose Nocturne Clear #4F173C
Triadic +240°: Olive Nocturne Clear #3C4F17
Split-comp +150°: Merlot Nocturne Clear #4F1721
Split-comp +210°: Amber Nocturne Clear #4F4517

Compare

See how Azure Nocturne Clear compares side by side with related colors.

vsAzure Shadow ClearvsAzure Ink ClearvsEmber Nocturne ClearvsCobalt Nocturne ClearvsCyan Nocturne ClearvsRose Nocturne Clear

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Azure Ink Clear
#102A37 · hsl(200, 54%, 14%)
Nearby match
Steel Nocturne Clear
#17384F · hsl(205, 54%, 20%)
Nearby match
Azure Shadow Clear
#21546E · hsl(200, 54%, 28%)
Nearby match
Azure Nocturne Soft
#223944 · hsl(200, 34%, 20%)
Nearby match
Azure Nocturne Vivid
#0D4059 · hsl(200, 74%, 20%)
Nearby match
Steel Ink Clear
#102737 · hsl(205, 54%, 14%)

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
AAA11.2:1
Ember Veil Faint
#FAFAF9
AAA11.2:1
Ember Veil Muted
#FBFAF9
AAA11.1:1
Ember Veil Dust
#FBF9F9
AAA11.2:1
Ember Veil Soft
#FCF9F8
AAA11.2:1
Ember Veil Clear
#FDF9F7
AAA11.2:1
Ember Veil Vivid
#FEF9F6

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#29264A
Protanopia
#2B2C4B
Tritanopia
#1A4747
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Saturation ladder

Same hue and lightness, from gray to pure

Search
Azure Nocturne Faint#2E3538 · hsl(200, 10%, 20%)Azure Nocturne Muted#2A363C · hsl(200, 18%, 20%)Azure Nocturne Dust#263740 · hsl(200, 26%, 20%)Azure Nocturne Soft#223944 · hsl(200, 34%, 20%)Azure Nocturne Clear#173C4F · hsl(200, 54%, 20%)Azure Nocturne Vivid#0D4059 · hsl(200, 74%, 20%)Azure Nocturne Bright#08415E · hsl(200, 84%, 20%)Azure Nocturne Pure#044362 · hsl(200, 92%, 20%)
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