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Cobalt Bloom Clear
Color detail

Cobalt Bloom Clear

Blue · Hue 220
Metrics
S 54% · L 76%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white2:1Failon black10.4:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Cobalt Bloom Clear (#A1B7E3) belongs to the blue family — hue 220°, 54% saturation, 76% 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-cobalt-bloom-clear: #A1B7E3;
  --colorarchive-cobalt-bloom-clear-hsl: hsl(220, 54%, 76%);
  --colorarchive-cobalt-bloom-clear-rgb: rgb(161, 183, 227);
}

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 bright, airy reading of the hue — clean and approachable, the kind of color that holds up well in product photography and on light backgrounds.

Lightness band: At this lightness the hue almost recedes into the surface around it — useful for backgrounds, hover states, and any surface where the color should suggest a mood without competing with content.

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 #A1B7E3.

  • Anthropicneutral
    Mid Gray · #B0AEA5
    →
  • Redditsecondary
    Periwinkle · #7193FF
    →
  • Starbucksneutral
    Warm Neutral · #D4E9E2
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #A1B7E3.

  • ScandinaviaIittala Blue
    #A6CEDB · Aalto vase glassware (1936-)
    →
  • MoroccoChefchaouen Blue
    #7BAFD4 · Painted medina walls (Rif mountains)
    →
  • IcelandGlacial Cyan
    #75BBC1 · Vatnajökull ice cave light
    →

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 BlueBrand & MarketingFashion & Luxury Brand Color Design: The Restraint Principle

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
Cobalt Pearl Clear
#C0CFEC · hsl(220, 54%, 84%)
Darker companion
Cobalt Silk Clear
#819FD9 · hsl(220, 54%, 68%)
Complementary counterpoint
Apricot Bloom Clear
#E3CDA1 · hsl(40, 54%, 76%)
Analogous lead
Amethyst Bloom Clear
#A6A1E3 · hsl(245, 54%, 76%)
Analogous echo
Azure Bloom Clear
#A1CDE3 · hsl(200, 54%, 76%)
Triadic +120°
Garnet Bloom Clear
#E3A1B7 · hsl(340, 54%, 76%)
Triadic +240°
Moss Bloom Clear
#B7E3A1 · hsl(100, 54%, 76%)
Split-comp +150°
Ruby Bloom Clear
#E3ACA1 · hsl(10, 54%, 76%)
Split-comp +210°
Honey Bloom Clear
#D8E3A1 · hsl(70, 54%, 76%)
Export preview
Base: Cobalt Bloom Clear #A1B7E3
Lighter companion: Cobalt Pearl Clear #C0CFEC
Darker companion: Cobalt Silk Clear #819FD9
Complementary counterpoint: Apricot Bloom Clear #E3CDA1
Analogous lead: Amethyst Bloom Clear #A6A1E3
Analogous echo: Azure Bloom Clear #A1CDE3
Triadic +120°: Garnet Bloom Clear #E3A1B7
Triadic +240°: Moss Bloom Clear #B7E3A1
Split-comp +150°: Ruby Bloom Clear #E3ACA1
Split-comp +210°: Honey Bloom Clear #D8E3A1

Compare

See how Cobalt Bloom Clear compares side by side with related colors.

vsCobalt Pearl ClearvsCobalt Silk ClearvsApricot Bloom ClearvsAmethyst Bloom ClearvsAzure Bloom ClearvsGarnet Bloom Clear

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Cobalt Silk Clear
#819FD9 · hsl(220, 54%, 68%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Pearl Clear
#C0CFEC · hsl(220, 54%, 84%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Bloom Soft
#ADBBD7 · hsl(220, 34%, 76%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Bloom Vivid
#95B3EF · hsl(220, 74%, 76%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Mist Clear
#D8E1F3 · hsl(220, 54%, 90%)
Nearby match
Sapphire Bloom Clear
#A1C2E3 · hsl(210, 54%, 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
AAA7.6:1
Apricot Ink Faint
#272520
AAA7.5:1
Apricot Ink Muted
#2A261D
AAA7.3:1
Apricot Ink Dust
#2D271A
AAA7.2:1
Apricot Ink Soft
#302818
AAA7.7:1
Taupe Gray Ink
#252422
AAA7.6:1
Saffron Ink Faint
#272520

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#AAA8D7
Protanopia
#ABABD9
Tritanopia
#A2D1D0
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Saturation ladder

Same hue and lightness, from gray to pure

Search
Cobalt Bloom Faint#BCC0C8 · hsl(220, 10%, 76%)Cobalt Bloom Muted#B7BECD · hsl(220, 18%, 76%)Cobalt Bloom Dust#B2BCD2 · hsl(220, 26%, 76%)Cobalt Bloom Soft#ADBBD7 · hsl(220, 34%, 76%)Cobalt Bloom Clear#A1B7E3 · hsl(220, 54%, 76%)Cobalt Bloom Vivid#95B3EF · hsl(220, 74%, 76%)Cobalt Bloom Bright#8EB1F5 · hsl(220, 84%, 76%)Cobalt Bloom Pure#89AFFA · hsl(220, 92%, 76%)
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