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Cobalt Whisper Soft
Color detail

Cobalt Whisper Soft

Blue · Hue 220
Metrics
S 34% · L 94%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white1.2:1Failon black18:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Cobalt Whisper Soft (#EAEEF5) belongs to the blue family — hue 220°, 34% saturation, 94% 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-whisper-soft: #EAEEF5;
  --colorarchive-cobalt-whisper-soft-hsl: hsl(220, 34%, 94%);
  --colorarchive-cobalt-whisper-soft-rgb: rgb(234, 238, 245);
}

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 #EAEEF5.

  • Anthropicbackground
    Cream Canvas · #F0EEE6
    →
  • Lululemonneutral
    Off White · #F5F5F5
    →
  • Stripeneutral
    Off White · #F6F9FC
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #EAEEF5.

  • ScandinaviaSnow White
    #F4F0EA · Limewashed plaster, Nordic interiors
    →
  • AustraliaBeach Cream
    #F2EFE1 · Western Australian quartz sand
    →
  • Korea (Obangsaek)Obangsaek White (백 / baek)
    #F5F5F2 · West — metal element, hemp linen
    →

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 in Data Tables: Contrast, State, and Accessible Row Encoding

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 Veil Soft
#F8F9FC · hsl(220, 34%, 98%)
Darker companion
Cobalt Mist Soft
#DDE3EE · hsl(220, 34%, 90%)
Complementary counterpoint
Apricot Whisper Soft
#F5F1EA · hsl(40, 34%, 94%)
Analogous lead
Amethyst Whisper Soft
#EBEAF5 · hsl(245, 34%, 94%)
Analogous echo
Azure Whisper Soft
#EAF1F5 · hsl(200, 34%, 94%)
Triadic +120°
Garnet Whisper Soft
#F5EAEE · hsl(340, 34%, 94%)
Triadic +240°
Moss Whisper Soft
#EEF5EA · hsl(100, 34%, 94%)
Split-comp +150°
Ruby Whisper Soft
#F5ECEA · hsl(10, 34%, 94%)
Split-comp +210°
Honey Whisper Soft
#F3F5EA · hsl(70, 34%, 94%)
Export preview
Base: Cobalt Whisper Soft #EAEEF5
Lighter companion: Cobalt Veil Soft #F8F9FC
Darker companion: Cobalt Mist Soft #DDE3EE
Complementary counterpoint: Apricot Whisper Soft #F5F1EA
Analogous lead: Amethyst Whisper Soft #EBEAF5
Analogous echo: Azure Whisper Soft #EAF1F5
Triadic +120°: Garnet Whisper Soft #F5EAEE
Triadic +240°: Moss Whisper Soft #EEF5EA
Split-comp +150°: Ruby Whisper Soft #F5ECEA
Split-comp +210°: Honey Whisper Soft #F3F5EA

Compare

See how Cobalt Whisper Soft compares side by side with related colors.

vsCobalt Veil SoftvsCobalt Mist SoftvsApricot Whisper SoftvsAmethyst Whisper SoftvsAzure Whisper SoftvsGarnet Whisper Soft

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Cobalt Mist Soft
#DDE3EE · hsl(220, 34%, 90%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Veil Soft
#F8F9FC · hsl(220, 34%, 98%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Whisper Dust
#ECEEF4 · hsl(220, 26%, 94%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Mist Dust
#DFE3EC · hsl(220, 26%, 90%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Veil Dust
#F9F9FB · hsl(220, 26%, 98%)
Nearby match
Cobalt Whisper Muted
#EDEFF2 · hsl(220, 18%, 94%)

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 Shadow Faint
#4F4A40
AAA7.3:1
Apricot Shadow Muted
#544C3B
AAA7:1
Apricot Shadow Dust
#5A4E35
AAA10.5:1
Apricot Nocturne Faint
#38352E
AAA10.3:1
Apricot Nocturne Muted
#3C362A
AAA10.1:1
Apricot Nocturne Dust
#403726

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#ECEBF3
Protanopia
#ECECF3
Tritanopia
#EAF2F2
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Saturation ladder

Same hue and lightness, from gray to pure

Search
Cobalt Whisper Faint#EEEFF1 · hsl(220, 10%, 94%)Cobalt Whisper Muted#EDEFF2 · hsl(220, 18%, 94%)Cobalt Whisper Dust#ECEEF4 · hsl(220, 26%, 94%)Cobalt Whisper Soft#EAEEF5 · hsl(220, 34%, 94%)Cobalt Whisper Clear#E7EDF8 · hsl(220, 54%, 94%)Cobalt Whisper Vivid#E4ECFB · hsl(220, 74%, 94%)Cobalt Whisper Bright#E3EBFD · hsl(220, 84%, 94%)Cobalt Whisper Pure#E2EBFE · hsl(220, 92%, 94%)
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