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
Cobalt Bloom Faint
Color detail

Cobalt Bloom Faint

Blue · Hue 220
Metrics
S 10% · L 76%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white1.8:1Failon black11.5:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Cobalt Bloom Faint (#BCC0C8) belongs to the blue family — hue 220°, 10% 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-faint: #BCC0C8;
  --colorarchive-cobalt-bloom-faint-hsl: hsl(220, 10%, 76%);
  --colorarchive-cobalt-bloom-faint-rgb: rgb(188, 192, 200);
}

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 #BCC0C8.

  • 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 #BCC0C8.

  • ScandinaviaIittala Blue
    #A6CEDB · Aalto vase glassware (1936-)
    →
  • China (Traditional)Celadon (青瓷)
    #9CB48F · Song Dynasty Longquan kilns
    →
  • France (Paris)Lutetian Limestone
    #E5DDC8 · Paris facade stone (Haussmannian-era buildings)
    →

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 ProblemColor TheoryColor Approaches for Digital Illustration: From Flat Design to Complex Palettes

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 Faint
#D2D5DA · hsl(220, 10%, 84%)
Darker companion
Cobalt Silk Faint
#A5ABB6 · hsl(220, 10%, 68%)
Complementary counterpoint
Apricot Bloom Faint
#C8C4BC · hsl(40, 10%, 76%)
Analogous lead
Amethyst Bloom Faint
#BDBCC8 · hsl(245, 10%, 76%)
Analogous echo
Azure Bloom Faint
#BCC4C8 · hsl(200, 10%, 76%)
Triadic +120°
Garnet Bloom Faint
#C8BCC0 · hsl(340, 10%, 76%)
Triadic +240°
Moss Bloom Faint
#C0C8BC · hsl(100, 10%, 76%)
Split-comp +150°
Ruby Bloom Faint
#C8BEBC · hsl(10, 10%, 76%)
Split-comp +210°
Honey Bloom Faint
#C6C8BC · hsl(70, 10%, 76%)
Export preview
Base: Cobalt Bloom Faint #BCC0C8
Lighter companion: Cobalt Pearl Faint #D2D5DA
Darker companion: Cobalt Silk Faint #A5ABB6
Complementary counterpoint: Apricot Bloom Faint #C8C4BC
Analogous lead: Amethyst Bloom Faint #BDBCC8
Analogous echo: Azure Bloom Faint #BCC4C8
Triadic +120°: Garnet Bloom Faint #C8BCC0
Triadic +240°: Moss Bloom Faint #C0C8BC
Split-comp +150°: Ruby Bloom Faint #C8BEBC
Split-comp +210°: Honey Bloom Faint #C6C8BC

Compare

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

vsCobalt Pearl FaintvsCobalt Silk FaintvsApricot Bloom FaintvsAmethyst Bloom FaintvsAzure Bloom FaintvsGarnet Bloom Faint

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 Silk Faint
#A5ABB6 · hsl(220, 10%, 68%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Pearl Faint
#D2D5DA · hsl(220, 10%, 84%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Bloom Dust
#B2BCD2 · hsl(220, 26%, 76%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Silk Muted
#9FA9BC · hsl(220, 18%, 68%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Pearl Muted
#CFD4DE · hsl(220, 18%, 84%)

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
AAA8.4:1
Apricot Ink Faint
#272520
AAA8.3:1
Apricot Ink Muted
#2A261D
AAA8.1:1
Apricot Ink Dust
#2D271A
AAA8:1
Apricot Ink Soft
#302818
AAA7.7:1
Apricot Ink Clear
#372A10
AAA7.3:1
Apricot Ink Vivid
#3E2D09

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#BEBDC6
Protanopia
#BEBEC6
Tritanopia
#BCC5C4
Color of the Day

Like Cobalt Bloom Faint? 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
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%)
More from Blue →