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Iris Pearl Bright
Color detail

Iris Pearl Bright

Blue · Hue 240
Metrics
S 84% · L 84%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white1.9:1Failon black10.8:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Iris Pearl Bright (#B4B4F8) belongs to the blue family — hue 240°, 84% saturation, 84% 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-pearl-bright: #B4B4F8;
  --colorarchive-iris-pearl-bright-hsl: hsl(240, 84%, 84%);
  --colorarchive-iris-pearl-bright-rgb: rgb(180, 180, 248);
}

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

An almost luminous high-key tone — at this saturation and brightness, the color borders on neon. Use sparingly; it overpowers most companions.

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: At this saturation the color is doing work. It reads as a brand statement, a sport accessory, or a UI signal. It should be used in small, deliberate doses against quieter neighbors; large fields at this saturation will exhaust the eye.

Brands using a similar color

Within the public brand-guidelines reference catalog, these are the closest matches to #B4B4F8.

  • Anthropicneutral
    Mid Gray · #B0AEA5
    →
  • Redditsecondary
    Periwinkle · #7193FF
    →
  • Starbucksneutral
    Warm Neutral · #D4E9E2
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #B4B4F8.

  • ScandinaviaIittala Blue
    #A6CEDB · Aalto vase glassware (1936-)
    →
  • MoroccoChefchaouen Blue
    #7BAFD4 · Painted medina walls (Rif mountains)
    →
  • China (Traditional)Celadon (青瓷)
    #9CB48F · Song Dynasty Longquan kilns
    →

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 ProblemBrand & MarketingMetallic Colors in Design: Gold, Silver, and Bronze for Digital and Print

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 Mist Bright
#D0D0FB · hsl(240, 84%, 90%)
Darker companion
Iris Bloom Bright
#8E8EF5 · hsl(240, 84%, 76%)
Complementary counterpoint
Citrine Pearl Bright
#F8F8B4 · hsl(60, 84%, 84%)
Analogous lead
Orchid Pearl Bright
#CBB4F8 · hsl(260, 84%, 84%)
Analogous echo
Cobalt Pearl Bright
#B4CBF8 · hsl(220, 84%, 84%)
Triadic +120°
Crimson Pearl Bright
#F8B4B4 · hsl(0, 84%, 84%)
Triadic +240°
Emerald Pearl Bright
#B4F8B4 · hsl(120, 84%, 84%)
Split-comp +150°
Coral Pearl Bright
#F8D6B4 · hsl(30, 84%, 84%)
Split-comp +210°
Lime Pearl Bright
#D6F8B4 · hsl(90, 84%, 84%)
Export preview
Base: Iris Pearl Bright #B4B4F8
Lighter companion: Iris Mist Bright #D0D0FB
Darker companion: Iris Bloom Bright #8E8EF5
Complementary counterpoint: Citrine Pearl Bright #F8F8B4
Analogous lead: Orchid Pearl Bright #CBB4F8
Analogous echo: Cobalt Pearl Bright #B4CBF8
Triadic +120°: Crimson Pearl Bright #F8B4B4
Triadic +240°: Emerald Pearl Bright #B4F8B4
Split-comp +150°: Coral Pearl Bright #F8D6B4
Split-comp +210°: Lime Pearl Bright #D6F8B4

Compare

See how Iris Pearl Bright compares side by side with related colors.

vsIris Mist BrightvsIris Bloom BrightvsCitrine Pearl BrightvsOrchid Pearl BrightvsCobalt Pearl BrightvsCrimson Pearl Bright

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Iris Pearl Pure
#B1B1FC · hsl(240, 92%, 84%)
Nearby match
Iris Mist Bright
#D0D0FB · hsl(240, 84%, 90%)
Nearby match
Iris Pearl Vivid
#B8B8F4 · hsl(240, 74%, 84%)
Nearby match
Amethyst Pearl Bright
#BAB4F8 · hsl(245, 84%, 84%)
Nearby match
Iris Bloom Bright
#8E8EF5 · hsl(240, 84%, 76%)
Nearby match
Iris Whisper Bright
#E3E3FD · hsl(240, 84%, 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
AAA7.7:1
Citrine Ink Faint
#272720
AAA7.5:1
Citrine Ink Muted
#2A2A1D
AAA7.2:1
Citrine Ink Dust
#2D2D1A
AAA7.7:1
Canary Ink Faint
#272720
AAA7.6:1
Canary Ink Muted
#2A291D
AAA7.4:1
Canary Ink Dust
#2D2B1A

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#B4B4E6
Protanopia
#B4B4EA
Tritanopia
#B4DEDB
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Saturation ladder

Same hue and lightness, from gray to pure

Search
Iris Pearl Faint#D2D2DA · hsl(240, 10%, 84%)Iris Pearl Muted#CFCFDE · hsl(240, 18%, 84%)Iris Pearl Dust#CCCCE1 · hsl(240, 26%, 84%)Iris Pearl Soft#C8C8E4 · hsl(240, 34%, 84%)Iris Pearl Clear#C0C0EC · hsl(240, 54%, 84%)Iris Pearl Vivid#B8B8F4 · hsl(240, 74%, 84%)Iris Pearl Bright#B4B4F8 · hsl(240, 84%, 84%)Iris Pearl Pure#B1B1FC · hsl(240, 92%, 84%)
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