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Indigo Veil Muted
Color detail

Indigo Veil Muted

Blue · Hue 230
Metrics
S 18% · L 98%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white1.1:1Failon black20:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Indigo Veil Muted (#F9F9FB) belongs to the blue family — hue 230°, 18% saturation, 98% 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-indigo-veil-muted: #F9F9FB;
  --colorarchive-indigo-veil-muted-hsl: hsl(230, 18%, 98%);
  --colorarchive-indigo-veil-muted-rgb: rgb(249, 249, 251);
}

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 #F9F9FB.

  • Vercelneutral
    Gray 1 · #FAFAFA
    →
  • OpenAIneutral
    Off White · #FAFAFA
    →
  • Lululemonneutral
    Site Off-White · #F9F9F8
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #F9F9FB.

  • Korea (Obangsaek)Obangsaek White (백 / baek)
    #F5F5F2 · West — metal element, hemp linen
    →
  • Greece (Aegean)Limewashed White
    #F8F4EE · Calcium hydroxide on stone
    →
  • ScandinaviaSnow White
    #F4F0EA · Limewashed plaster, Nordic interiors
    →

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 CheapAccessibilityWCAG Color Accessibility Guide: Contrast Ratios, Color-Blind Design, and What You Actually Need to Know

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.

Darker companion
Indigo Whisper Muted
#EDEEF2 · hsl(230, 18%, 94%)
Complementary counterpoint
Amber Veil Muted
#FBFBF9 · hsl(50, 18%, 98%)
Analogous lead
Violet Veil Muted
#F9F9FB · hsl(250, 18%, 98%)
Analogous echo
Steel Veil Muted
#F9FAFB · hsl(205, 18%, 98%)
Triadic +120°
Merlot Veil Muted
#FBF9F9 · hsl(350, 18%, 98%)
Triadic +240°
Leaf Veil Muted
#F9FBF9 · hsl(110, 18%, 98%)
Split-comp +150°
Ember Veil Muted
#FBFAF9 · hsl(20, 18%, 98%)
Split-comp +210°
Olive Veil Muted
#FAFBF9 · hsl(80, 18%, 98%)
Export preview
Base: Indigo Veil Muted #F9F9FB
Darker companion: Indigo Whisper Muted #EDEEF2
Complementary counterpoint: Amber Veil Muted #FBFBF9
Analogous lead: Violet Veil Muted #F9F9FB
Analogous echo: Steel Veil Muted #F9FAFB
Triadic +120°: Merlot Veil Muted #FBF9F9
Triadic +240°: Leaf Veil Muted #F9FBF9
Split-comp +150°: Ember Veil Muted #FBFAF9
Split-comp +210°: Olive Veil Muted #FAFBF9

Compare

See how Indigo Veil Muted compares side by side with related colors.

vsIndigo Whisper MutedvsAmber Veil MutedvsViolet Veil MutedvsSteel Veil MutedvsMerlot Veil MutedvsLeaf Veil Muted

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Indigo Whisper Muted
#EDEEF2 · hsl(230, 18%, 94%)
Nearby match
Indigo Veil Faint
#F9FAFA · hsl(230, 10%, 98%)
Nearby match
Indigo Veil Dust
#F9F9FB · hsl(230, 26%, 98%)
Nearby match
Indigo Mist Muted
#E1E2EA · hsl(230, 18%, 90%)
Nearby match
Indigo Whisper Faint
#EEEFF1 · hsl(230, 10%, 94%)
Nearby match
Indigo Whisper Dust
#ECEDF4 · hsl(230, 26%, 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
AAA8.2:1
Amber Shadow Faint
#4F4C40
AAA7.7:1
Amber Shadow Muted
#54503B
AAA7.3:1
Amber Shadow Dust
#5A5435
AAA11.5:1
Amber Nocturne Faint
#38362E
AAA11:1
Amber Nocturne Muted
#3C392A
AAA10.6:1
Amber Nocturne Dust
#403C26

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#F9F9FA
Protanopia
#F9F9FB
Tritanopia
#F9FAFA
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Saturation ladder

Same hue and lightness, from gray to pure

Search
Indigo Veil Faint#F9FAFA · hsl(230, 10%, 98%)Indigo Veil Muted#F9F9FB · hsl(230, 18%, 98%)Indigo Veil Dust#F9F9FB · hsl(230, 26%, 98%)Indigo Veil Soft#F8F9FC · hsl(230, 34%, 98%)Indigo Veil Clear#F7F8FD · hsl(230, 54%, 98%)Indigo Veil Vivid#F6F7FE · hsl(230, 74%, 98%)Indigo Veil Bright#F6F7FE · hsl(230, 84%, 98%)Indigo Veil Pure#F5F7FF · hsl(230, 92%, 98%)
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