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Cerulean Dusk Clear
Color detail

Cerulean Dusk Clear

Blue · Hue 190
Metrics
S 54% · L 34%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white5.2:1AAon black4:1AA Large
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Cerulean Dusk Clear (#287686) belongs to the blue family — hue 190°, 54% saturation, 34% 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-cerulean-dusk-clear: #287686;
  --colorarchive-cerulean-dusk-clear-hsl: hsl(190, 54%, 34%);
  --colorarchive-cerulean-dusk-clear-rgb: rgb(40, 118, 134);
}

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 #287686.

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

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #287686.

  • VietnamJade River
    #3F8B7E · Halong Bay limestone water
    →
  • Korea (Obangsaek)Obangsaek Blue (청 / cheong)
    #1E68C1 · East — wood element, hanbok dyes
    →
  • Greece (Aegean)Cypress Green
    #3E6B47 · Cupressus sempervirens
    →

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 CheapUI DesignDark Mode Color Design: Beyond Inverting Your Palette

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
Cerulean Velvet Clear
#3192A5 · hsl(190, 54%, 42%)
Darker companion
Cerulean Shadow Clear
#21616E · hsl(190, 54%, 28%)
Complementary counterpoint
Ruby Dusk Clear
#863728 · hsl(10, 54%, 34%)
Analogous lead
Sapphire Dusk Clear
#285786 · hsl(210, 54%, 34%)
Analogous echo
Lagoon Dusk Clear
#288676 · hsl(170, 54%, 34%)
Triadic +120°
Peony Dusk Clear
#862876 · hsl(310, 54%, 34%)
Triadic +240°
Honey Dusk Clear
#768628 · hsl(70, 54%, 34%)
Split-comp +150°
Garnet Dusk Clear
#862847 · hsl(340, 54%, 34%)
Split-comp +210°
Apricot Dusk Clear
#866628 · hsl(40, 54%, 34%)
Export preview
Base: Cerulean Dusk Clear #287686
Lighter companion: Cerulean Velvet Clear #3192A5
Darker companion: Cerulean Shadow Clear #21616E
Complementary counterpoint: Ruby Dusk Clear #863728
Analogous lead: Sapphire Dusk Clear #285786
Analogous echo: Lagoon Dusk Clear #288676
Triadic +120°: Peony Dusk Clear #862876
Triadic +240°: Honey Dusk Clear #768628
Split-comp +150°: Garnet Dusk Clear #862847
Split-comp +210°: Apricot Dusk Clear #866628

Compare

See how Cerulean Dusk Clear compares side by side with related colors.

vsCerulean Velvet ClearvsCerulean Shadow ClearvsRuby Dusk ClearvsSapphire Dusk ClearvsLagoon Dusk ClearvsPeony Dusk Clear

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Cerulean Shadow Clear
#21616E · hsl(190, 54%, 28%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Velvet Clear
#3192A5 · hsl(190, 54%, 42%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Dusk Soft
#396A74 · hsl(190, 34%, 34%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Dusk Vivid
#178197 · hsl(190, 74%, 34%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Nocturne Clear
#17454F · hsl(190, 54%, 20%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Core Clear
#38A6BC · hsl(190, 54%, 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
Ruby Veil Faint
#FAFAF9
AA5:1
Ruby Veil Muted
#FBF9F9
AA5:1
Ruby Veil Dust
#FBF9F9
AA5:1
Ruby Veil Soft
#FCF9F8
AA5:1
Ruby Veil Clear
#FDF8F7
AA4.9:1
Ruby Veil Vivid
#FEF7F6

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#504A81
Protanopia
#555582
Tritanopia
#307F7F
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Saturation ladder

Same hue and lightness, from gray to pure

Search
Cerulean Dusk Faint#4E5C5F · hsl(190, 10%, 34%)Cerulean Dusk Muted#476166 · hsl(190, 18%, 34%)Cerulean Dusk Dust#40666D · hsl(190, 26%, 34%)Cerulean Dusk Soft#396A74 · hsl(190, 34%, 34%)Cerulean Dusk Clear#287686 · hsl(190, 54%, 34%)Cerulean Dusk Vivid#178197 · hsl(190, 74%, 34%)Cerulean Dusk Bright#0E87A0 · hsl(190, 84%, 34%)Cerulean Dusk Pure#078CA6 · hsl(190, 92%, 34%)
More from Blue →
Appears in collections
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