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Cobalt Velvet Dust
Color detail

Cobalt Velvet Dust

Blue · Hue 220
Metrics
S 26% · L 42%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white6.1:1AAon black3.4:1AA Large
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Cobalt Velvet Dust (#4F6287) belongs to the blue family — hue 220°, 26% 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-cobalt-velvet-dust: #4F6287;
  --colorarchive-cobalt-velvet-dust-hsl: hsl(220, 26%, 42%);
  --colorarchive-cobalt-velvet-dust-rgb: rgb(79, 98, 135);
}

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 grounded mid-tone — sober, considered, well-suited to body text accents, editorial layouts, or any context where restraint reads as quality.

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: 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 #4F6287.

  • Microsoftneutral
    Slate Gray · #737373
    →
  • Instagramprimary
    Sunset Indigo · #515BD4
    →
  • Linearprimary
    Linear Indigo · #5E6AD2
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #4F6287.

  • IrelandAtlantic Slate
    #5A6770 · Cliff face + winter sea
    →
  • France (Paris)Zinc Roof Grey
    #5E6566 · Oxidized zinc roof tiles, central Paris
    →
  • Italy (Tuscany)Cypress Green
    #3F5E47 · Tuscan hilltop cypresses
    →

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 CheapBrand & MarketingColor in Packaging Design: What Works and Why

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 Core Dust
#5B709A · hsl(220, 26%, 48%)
Darker companion
Cobalt Dusk Dust
#404F6D · hsl(220, 26%, 34%)
Complementary counterpoint
Apricot Velvet Dust
#87744F · hsl(40, 26%, 42%)
Analogous lead
Amethyst Velvet Dust
#544F87 · hsl(245, 26%, 42%)
Analogous echo
Azure Velvet Dust
#4F7487 · hsl(200, 26%, 42%)
Triadic +120°
Garnet Velvet Dust
#874F62 · hsl(340, 26%, 42%)
Triadic +240°
Moss Velvet Dust
#62874F · hsl(100, 26%, 42%)
Split-comp +150°
Ruby Velvet Dust
#87594F · hsl(10, 26%, 42%)
Split-comp +210°
Honey Velvet Dust
#7E874F · hsl(70, 26%, 42%)
Export preview
Base: Cobalt Velvet Dust #4F6287
Lighter companion: Cobalt Core Dust #5B709A
Darker companion: Cobalt Dusk Dust #404F6D
Complementary counterpoint: Apricot Velvet Dust #87744F
Analogous lead: Amethyst Velvet Dust #544F87
Analogous echo: Azure Velvet Dust #4F7487
Triadic +120°: Garnet Velvet Dust #874F62
Triadic +240°: Moss Velvet Dust #62874F
Split-comp +150°: Ruby Velvet Dust #87594F
Split-comp +210°: Honey Velvet Dust #7E874F

Compare

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

vsCobalt Core DustvsCobalt Dusk DustvsApricot Velvet DustvsAmethyst Velvet DustvsAzure Velvet DustvsGarnet Velvet Dust

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Cobalt Velvet Muted
#58657E · hsl(220, 18%, 42%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Velvet Soft
#475F90 · hsl(220, 34%, 42%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Core Dust
#5B709A · hsl(220, 26%, 48%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Dusk Dust
#404F6D · hsl(220, 26%, 34%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Velvet Faint
#606876 · hsl(220, 10%, 42%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Core Muted
#647390 · hsl(220, 18%, 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
AA5.9:1
Apricot Veil Faint
#FAFAF9
AA5.9:1
Apricot Veil Muted
#FBFAF9
AA5.9:1
Apricot Veil Dust
#FBFAF9
AA5.9:1
Apricot Veil Soft
#FCFAF8
AA5.9:1
Apricot Veil Clear
#FDFBF7
AA5.9:1
Apricot Veil Vivid
#FEFBF6

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#57557D
Protanopia
#58587F
Tritanopia
#507977
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Saturation ladder

Same hue and lightness, from gray to pure

Search
Cobalt Velvet Faint#606876 · hsl(220, 10%, 42%)Cobalt Velvet Muted#58657E · hsl(220, 18%, 42%)Cobalt Velvet Dust#4F6287 · hsl(220, 26%, 42%)Cobalt Velvet Soft#475F90 · hsl(220, 34%, 42%)Cobalt Velvet Clear#3158A5 · hsl(220, 54%, 42%)Cobalt Velvet Vivid#1C51BA · hsl(220, 74%, 42%)Cobalt Velvet Bright#114DC5 · hsl(220, 84%, 42%)Cobalt Velvet Pure#094ACE · hsl(220, 92%, 42%)
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