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Cobalt Bloom Dust
Color detail

Cobalt Bloom Dust

Blue · Hue 220
Metrics
S 26% · L 76%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white1.9:1Failon black11:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Cobalt Bloom Dust (#B2BCD2) belongs to the blue family — hue 220°, 26% 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-dust: #B2BCD2;
  --colorarchive-cobalt-bloom-dust-hsl: hsl(220, 26%, 76%);
  --colorarchive-cobalt-bloom-dust-rgb: rgb(178, 188, 210);
}

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 pale, gentle tone — pastel territory, where the hue acts more like a tinted neutral than a stated color.

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 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 #B2BCD2.

  • Anthropicneutral
    Mid Gray · #B0AEA5
    →
  • Starbucksneutral
    Warm Neutral · #D4E9E2
    →
  • Glossierprimary
    Glossier Pink · #F8D6CD
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #B2BCD2.

  • ScandinaviaIittala Blue
    #A6CEDB · Aalto vase glassware (1936-)
    →
  • China (Traditional)Celadon (青瓷)
    #9CB48F · Song Dynasty Longquan kilns
    →
  • MoroccoChefchaouen Blue
    #7BAFD4 · Painted medina walls (Rif mountains)
    →

Color guides

Go deeper on using blue and color in design.

HistoryIndigo: The Color That Built Trade Routes and Made Blue CheapBrand & MarketingTechnology Brand Color Design: Trust, Intelligence, and the Blue ProblemBrand & MarketingStartup Brand Color: How to Build a Color Identity That Scales

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 Dust
#CCD3E1 · hsl(220, 26%, 84%)
Darker companion
Cobalt Silk Dust
#98A6C3 · hsl(220, 26%, 68%)
Complementary counterpoint
Apricot Bloom Dust
#D2C7B2 · hsl(40, 26%, 76%)
Analogous lead
Amethyst Bloom Dust
#B5B2D2 · hsl(245, 26%, 76%)
Analogous echo
Azure Bloom Dust
#B2C7D2 · hsl(200, 26%, 76%)
Triadic +120°
Garnet Bloom Dust
#D2B2BC · hsl(340, 26%, 76%)
Triadic +240°
Moss Bloom Dust
#BCD2B2 · hsl(100, 26%, 76%)
Split-comp +150°
Ruby Bloom Dust
#D2B7B2 · hsl(10, 26%, 76%)
Split-comp +210°
Honey Bloom Dust
#CCD2B2 · hsl(70, 26%, 76%)
Export preview
Base: Cobalt Bloom Dust #B2BCD2
Lighter companion: Cobalt Pearl Dust #CCD3E1
Darker companion: Cobalt Silk Dust #98A6C3
Complementary counterpoint: Apricot Bloom Dust #D2C7B2
Analogous lead: Amethyst Bloom Dust #B5B2D2
Analogous echo: Azure Bloom Dust #B2C7D2
Triadic +120°: Garnet Bloom Dust #D2B2BC
Triadic +240°: Moss Bloom Dust #BCD2B2
Split-comp +150°: Ruby Bloom Dust #D2B7B2
Split-comp +210°: Honey Bloom Dust #CCD2B2

Compare

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

vsCobalt Pearl DustvsCobalt Silk DustvsApricot Bloom DustvsAmethyst Bloom DustvsAzure Bloom DustvsGarnet Bloom Dust

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Cobalt Bloom Muted
#B7BECD · hsl(220, 18%, 76%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Bloom Soft
#ADBBD7 · hsl(220, 34%, 76%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Silk Dust
#98A6C3 · hsl(220, 26%, 68%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Pearl Dust
#CCD3E1 · hsl(220, 26%, 84%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Bloom Faint
#BCC0C8 · hsl(220, 10%, 76%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Silk Muted
#9FA9BC · hsl(220, 18%, 68%)

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
AAA8:1
Apricot Ink Faint
#272520
AAA7.9:1
Apricot Ink Muted
#2A261D
AAA7.8:1
Apricot Ink Dust
#2D271A
AAA7.6:1
Apricot Ink Soft
#302818
AAA7.3:1
Apricot Ink Clear
#372A10
AAA7:1
Apricot Ink Vivid
#3E2D09

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#B6B5CC
Protanopia
#B6B7CD
Tritanopia
#B3C9C8
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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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