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Cerulean Velvet Vivid
Color detail

Cerulean Velvet Vivid

Blue · Hue 190
Metrics
S 74% · L 42%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white3.1:1AA Largeon black6.8:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Cerulean Velvet Vivid (#1CA0BA) belongs to the blue family — hue 190°, 74% saturation, 42% 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-velvet-vivid: #1CA0BA;
  --colorarchive-cerulean-velvet-vivid-hsl: hsl(190, 74%, 42%);
  --colorarchive-cerulean-velvet-vivid-rgb: rgb(28, 160, 186);
}

AI Color Names

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

Design Context

ProfessionalReliableFocused
Common in

Banking · Insurance · Enterprise Software

Pairs well with

White for clean authority, light orange for warm contrast, dark navy for depth

Design tip

The backbone of business interfaces. Use for primary actions and navigation. Blue links are the web's universal convention.

Cultural context ▶

Blue is the world's most popular color. It represents trust, competence, and stability across virtually all cultures.

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 vivid mid-tone — distinctive enough to anchor an identity, saturated enough to demand a quiet supporting palette.

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: At this saturation the color is doing work. It reads as a brand statement, a sport accessory, or a UI signal. It should be used in small, deliberate doses against quieter neighbors; large fields at this saturation will exhaust the eye.

Brands using a similar color

Within the public brand-guidelines reference catalog, these are the closest matches to #1CA0BA.

  • PlayStationaccent
    Triangle Green · #1FAA8C
    →
  • Bilibili 哔哩哔哩secondary
    Bilibili Blue · #00A1D6
    →
  • X (Twitter)secondary
    Twitter Blue (legacy) · #1D9BF0
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #1CA0BA.

  • Turkey (Istanbul)Bosphorus Turquoise
    #4DA8AC · Marmara strait water
    →
  • IrelandCeltic Cross Green
    #169B62 · Irish flag — Pantone 347
    →
  • AustraliaReef Turquoise
    #3FBFB9 · Whitsunday lagoons
    →

Color guides

Go deeper on using blue and color in design.

Brand & MarketingTechnology Brand Color Design: Trust, Intelligence, and the Blue ProblemColor PsychologyBlue Color Psychology in Branding: Why Every Bank and Tech Giant Chooses BlueAccessibilityColor Accessibility Beyond WCAG: A Practical Field Guide

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 Core Vivid
#20B7D5 · hsl(190, 74%, 48%)
Darker companion
Cerulean Dusk Vivid
#178197 · hsl(190, 74%, 34%)
Complementary counterpoint
Ruby Velvet Vivid
#BA361C · hsl(10, 74%, 42%)
Analogous lead
Sapphire Velvet Vivid
#1C6BBA · hsl(210, 74%, 42%)
Analogous echo
Lagoon Velvet Vivid
#1CBAA0 · hsl(170, 74%, 42%)
Triadic +120°
Peony Velvet Vivid
#BA1CA0 · hsl(310, 74%, 42%)
Triadic +240°
Honey Velvet Vivid
#A0BA1C · hsl(70, 74%, 42%)
Split-comp +150°
Garnet Velvet Vivid
#BA1C51 · hsl(340, 74%, 42%)
Split-comp +210°
Apricot Velvet Vivid
#BA861C · hsl(40, 74%, 42%)
Export preview
Base: Cerulean Velvet Vivid #1CA0BA
Lighter companion: Cerulean Core Vivid #20B7D5
Darker companion: Cerulean Dusk Vivid #178197
Complementary counterpoint: Ruby Velvet Vivid #BA361C
Analogous lead: Sapphire Velvet Vivid #1C6BBA
Analogous echo: Lagoon Velvet Vivid #1CBAA0
Triadic +120°: Peony Velvet Vivid #BA1CA0
Triadic +240°: Honey Velvet Vivid #A0BA1C
Split-comp +150°: Garnet Velvet Vivid #BA1C51
Split-comp +210°: Apricot Velvet Vivid #BA861C

Compare

See how Cerulean Velvet Vivid compares side by side with related colors.

vsCerulean Core VividvsCerulean Dusk VividvsRuby Velvet VividvsSapphire Velvet VividvsLagoon Velvet VividvsPeony Velvet Vivid

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Cerulean Core Vivid
#20B7D5 · hsl(190, 74%, 48%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Velvet Bright
#11A7C5 · hsl(190, 84%, 42%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Dusk Vivid
#178197 · hsl(190, 74%, 34%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Velvet Pure
#09ADCE · hsl(190, 92%, 42%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Radiant Vivid
#33C4E1 · hsl(190, 74%, 54%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Core Bright
#14BFE1 · hsl(190, 84%, 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
AA5.1:1
Ruby Ink Faint
#272120
AA5.2:1
Ruby Ink Muted
#2A1F1D
AA5.2:1
Ruby Ink Dust
#2D1E1A
AA5.2:1
Ruby Ink Soft
#301C18
AA5.3:1
Ruby Ink Clear
#371710
AA5.2:1
Ruby Ink Vivid
#3E1209

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#685FB3
Protanopia
#6F70B4
Tritanopia
#2FAFAE
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Saturation ladder

Same hue and lightness, from gray to pure

Search
Cerulean Velvet Faint#607276 · hsl(190, 10%, 42%)Cerulean Velvet Muted#58787E · hsl(190, 18%, 42%)Cerulean Velvet Dust#4F7E87 · hsl(190, 26%, 42%)Cerulean Velvet Soft#478390 · hsl(190, 34%, 42%)Cerulean Velvet Clear#3192A5 · hsl(190, 54%, 42%)Cerulean Velvet Vivid#1CA0BA · hsl(190, 74%, 42%)Cerulean Velvet Bright#11A7C5 · hsl(190, 84%, 42%)Cerulean Velvet Pure#09ADCE · hsl(190, 92%, 42%)
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