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
Iris Bloom Clear
Color detail

Iris Bloom Clear

Blue · Hue 240
Metrics
S 54% · L 76%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white2.4:1Failon black8.7:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Iris Bloom Clear (#A1A1E3) belongs to the blue family — hue 240°, 54% 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-iris-bloom-clear: #A1A1E3;
  --colorarchive-iris-bloom-clear-hsl: hsl(240, 54%, 76%);
  --colorarchive-iris-bloom-clear-rgb: rgb(161, 161, 227);
}

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 #A1A1E3.

  • Anthropicneutral
    Mid Gray · #B0AEA5
    →
  • Redditsecondary
    Periwinkle · #7193FF
    →
  • PlayStationaccent
    Square Purple · #A363D9
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #A1A1E3.

  • ScandinaviaAsh Grey
    #A8AAA5 · Birch and ash bark
    →
  • MoroccoChefchaouen Blue
    #7BAFD4 · Painted medina walls (Rif mountains)
    →
  • Greece (Aegean)Olive Silver
    #9CA38F · Olea europaea leaf undersides
    →

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 BlueBrand & MarketingColor Palette for Social Media: Building a Recognizable Visual Brand

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
Iris Pearl Clear
#C0C0EC · hsl(240, 54%, 84%)
Darker companion
Iris Silk Clear
#8181D9 · hsl(240, 54%, 68%)
Complementary counterpoint
Citrine Bloom Clear
#E3E3A1 · hsl(60, 54%, 76%)
Analogous lead
Orchid Bloom Clear
#B7A1E3 · hsl(260, 54%, 76%)
Analogous echo
Cobalt Bloom Clear
#A1B7E3 · hsl(220, 54%, 76%)
Triadic +120°
Crimson Bloom Clear
#E3A1A1 · hsl(0, 54%, 76%)
Triadic +240°
Emerald Bloom Clear
#A1E3A1 · hsl(120, 54%, 76%)
Split-comp +150°
Coral Bloom Clear
#E3C2A1 · hsl(30, 54%, 76%)
Split-comp +210°
Lime Bloom Clear
#C2E3A1 · hsl(90, 54%, 76%)
Export preview
Base: Iris Bloom Clear #A1A1E3
Lighter companion: Iris Pearl Clear #C0C0EC
Darker companion: Iris Silk Clear #8181D9
Complementary counterpoint: Citrine Bloom Clear #E3E3A1
Analogous lead: Orchid Bloom Clear #B7A1E3
Analogous echo: Cobalt Bloom Clear #A1B7E3
Triadic +120°: Crimson Bloom Clear #E3A1A1
Triadic +240°: Emerald Bloom Clear #A1E3A1
Split-comp +150°: Coral Bloom Clear #E3C2A1
Split-comp +210°: Lime Bloom Clear #C2E3A1

Compare

See how Iris Bloom Clear compares side by side with related colors.

vsIris Pearl ClearvsIris Silk ClearvsCitrine Bloom ClearvsOrchid Bloom ClearvsCobalt Bloom ClearvsCrimson Bloom Clear

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Amethyst Bloom Clear
#A6A1E3 · hsl(245, 54%, 76%)
Nearby match
Iris Silk Clear
#8181D9 · hsl(240, 54%, 68%)
Nearby match
Iris Pearl Clear
#C0C0EC · hsl(240, 54%, 84%)
Nearby match
Iris Bloom Soft
#ADADD7 · hsl(240, 34%, 76%)
Nearby match
Iris Bloom Vivid
#9595EF · hsl(240, 74%, 76%)
Nearby match
Iris Mist Clear
#D8D8F3 · hsl(240, 54%, 90%)

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
AAA7:1
Crimson Ink Clear
#371010
AAA7:1
Crimson Ink Vivid
#3E0909
AAA7:1
Merlot Ink Clear
#371017
AAA7:1
Merlot Ink Vivid
#3E0912
AAA7:1
Garnet Ink Clear
#37101D
AAA7.1:1
Mulberry Ink Clear
#2A1037

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#A1A1D2
Protanopia
#A1A1D5
Tritanopia
#A1CAC7
Color of the Day

Like Iris Bloom Clear? 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
Iris Bloom Faint#BCBCC8 · hsl(240, 10%, 76%)Iris Bloom Muted#B7B7CD · hsl(240, 18%, 76%)Iris Bloom Dust#B2B2D2 · hsl(240, 26%, 76%)Iris Bloom Soft#ADADD7 · hsl(240, 34%, 76%)Iris Bloom Clear#A1A1E3 · hsl(240, 54%, 76%)Iris Bloom Vivid#9595EF · hsl(240, 74%, 76%)Iris Bloom Bright#8E8EF5 · hsl(240, 84%, 76%)Iris Bloom Pure#8989FA · hsl(240, 92%, 76%)
More from Blue →
Appears in collections
Twilight Bloom