We're live on Product Hunt!Support us
ColorArchive

A curated color library with 5,446 algorithmically generated colors. Browse, search, save favorites, and export palette tokens — no account required.

CollectionsFamiliesBrandsRegionsJournalNotesGuidesFree ResourcesEmbed widgetConvertColorblindAboutSupportUpdatesiOS app
Ready for static export
Privacy·Terms·Refunds·Cookies·Commerce Disclosure
colorarchive.org · © 2026 ColorArchive
Skip to content
ColorArchive
ProLog in
ArchiveAll ColorsCollections
Cerulean Nocturne Dust
Color detail

Cerulean Nocturne Dust

Blue · Hue 190
Metrics
S 26% · L 20%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white11.6:1AAon black1.8:1Fail
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Cerulean Nocturne Dust (#263C40) belongs to the blue family — hue 190°, 26% 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-cerulean-nocturne-dust: #263C40;
  --colorarchive-cerulean-nocturne-dust-hsl: hsl(190, 26%, 20%);
  --colorarchive-cerulean-nocturne-dust-rgb: rgb(38, 60, 64);
}

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 #263C40.

  • 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 #263C40.

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

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 TheoryHow to Name Colors in Design Systems: Poetic, Semantic, and Token Names

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 Shadow Dust
#35545A · hsl(190, 26%, 28%)
Darker companion
Cerulean Ink Dust
#1A2A2D · hsl(190, 26%, 14%)
Complementary counterpoint
Ruby Nocturne Dust
#402A26 · hsl(10, 26%, 20%)
Analogous lead
Sapphire Nocturne Dust
#263340 · hsl(210, 26%, 20%)
Analogous echo
Lagoon Nocturne Dust
#26403C · hsl(170, 26%, 20%)
Triadic +120°
Peony Nocturne Dust
#40263C · hsl(310, 26%, 20%)
Triadic +240°
Honey Nocturne Dust
#3C4026 · hsl(70, 26%, 20%)
Split-comp +150°
Garnet Nocturne Dust
#40262F · hsl(340, 26%, 20%)
Split-comp +210°
Apricot Nocturne Dust
#403726 · hsl(40, 26%, 20%)
Export preview
Base: Cerulean Nocturne Dust #263C40
Lighter companion: Cerulean Shadow Dust #35545A
Darker companion: Cerulean Ink Dust #1A2A2D
Complementary counterpoint: Ruby Nocturne Dust #402A26
Analogous lead: Sapphire Nocturne Dust #263340
Analogous echo: Lagoon Nocturne Dust #26403C
Triadic +120°: Peony Nocturne Dust #40263C
Triadic +240°: Honey Nocturne Dust #3C4026
Split-comp +150°: Garnet Nocturne Dust #40262F
Split-comp +210°: Apricot Nocturne Dust #403726

Compare

See how Cerulean Nocturne Dust compares side by side with related colors.

vsCerulean Shadow DustvsCerulean Ink DustvsRuby Nocturne DustvsSapphire Nocturne DustvsLagoon Nocturne DustvsPeony Nocturne Dust

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Cerulean Nocturne Muted
#2A393C · hsl(190, 18%, 20%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Nocturne Soft
#223F44 · hsl(190, 34%, 20%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Ink Dust
#1A2A2D · hsl(190, 26%, 14%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Shadow Dust
#35545A · hsl(190, 26%, 28%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Nocturne Faint
#2E3638 · hsl(190, 10%, 20%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Ink Muted
#1D282A · hsl(190, 18%, 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
Ruby Veil Faint
#FAFAF9
AAA11.1:1
Ruby Veil Muted
#FBF9F9
AAA11.1:1
Ruby Veil Dust
#FBF9F9
AAA11.1:1
Ruby Veil Soft
#FCF9F8
AAA11.1:1
Ruby Veil Clear
#FDF8F7
AAA11:1
Ruby Veil Vivid
#FEF7F6

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#302E3F
Protanopia
#31313F
Tritanopia
#273E3E
Color of the Day

Like Cerulean Nocturne Dust? Get one like it every morning.

One hand-picked color a day — with its hex, family, and the story behind it.

Get a color every morning

One email per day. Unsubscribe anytime.

Ready to build

Turn these colors into design tokens

Copy the CSS variables and the Tailwind class free, right here. ColorArchive Pro lifts the daily export limit — 10 a day signed in, 3 without an account.

Upgrade to ProFree downloadView collections

Saturation ladder

Same hue and lightness, from gray to pure

Search
Cerulean Nocturne Faint#2E3638 · hsl(190, 10%, 20%)Cerulean Nocturne Muted#2A393C · hsl(190, 18%, 20%)Cerulean Nocturne Dust#263C40 · hsl(190, 26%, 20%)Cerulean Nocturne Soft#223F44 · hsl(190, 34%, 20%)Cerulean Nocturne Clear#17454F · hsl(190, 54%, 20%)Cerulean Nocturne Vivid#0D4C59 · hsl(190, 74%, 20%)Cerulean Nocturne Bright#08505E · hsl(190, 84%, 20%)Cerulean Nocturne Pure#045262 · hsl(190, 92%, 20%)
More from Blue →