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Steel Bloom Clear
Color detail

Steel Bloom Clear

Blue · Hue 205
Metrics
S 54% · L 76%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white1.8:1Failon black11.8:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Steel Bloom Clear (#A1C7E3) belongs to the blue family — hue 205°, 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-steel-bloom-clear: #A1C7E3;
  --colorarchive-steel-bloom-clear-hsl: hsl(205, 54%, 76%);
  --colorarchive-steel-bloom-clear-rgb: rgb(161, 199, 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 #A1C7E3.

  • Anthropicneutral
    Mid Gray · #B0AEA5
    →
  • Starbucksneutral
    Warm Neutral · #D4E9E2
    →
  • Aesopneutral
    Cream Paper · #EFE4D2
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #A1C7E3.

  • ScandinaviaIittala Blue
    #A6CEDB · Aalto vase glassware (1936-)
    →
  • IcelandGlacial Cyan
    #75BBC1 · Vatnajökull ice cave light
    →
  • MoroccoChefchaouen Blue
    #7BAFD4 · Painted medina walls (Rif mountains)
    →

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 BlueColor TheoryColor and Typography Pairing: How Weight and Typeface Affect Perceived Color

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
Steel Pearl Clear
#C0DAEC · hsl(205, 54%, 84%)
Darker companion
Steel Silk Clear
#81B5D9 · hsl(205, 54%, 68%)
Complementary counterpoint
Tangerine Bloom Clear
#E3BCA1 · hsl(25, 54%, 76%)
Analogous lead
Indigo Bloom Clear
#A1ACE3 · hsl(230, 54%, 76%)
Analogous echo
Aqua Bloom Clear
#A1E3E3 · hsl(180, 54%, 76%)
Triadic +120°
Rose Bloom Clear
#E3A1CD · hsl(320, 54%, 76%)
Triadic +240°
Olive Bloom Clear
#CDE3A1 · hsl(80, 54%, 76%)
Split-comp +150°
Crimson Bloom Clear
#E3A1A1 · hsl(0, 54%, 76%)
Split-comp +210°
Canary Bloom Clear
#E3DDA1 · hsl(55, 54%, 76%)
Export preview
Base: Steel Bloom Clear #A1C7E3
Lighter companion: Steel Pearl Clear #C0DAEC
Darker companion: Steel Silk Clear #81B5D9
Complementary counterpoint: Tangerine Bloom Clear #E3BCA1
Analogous lead: Indigo Bloom Clear #A1ACE3
Analogous echo: Aqua Bloom Clear #A1E3E3
Triadic +120°: Rose Bloom Clear #E3A1CD
Triadic +240°: Olive Bloom Clear #CDE3A1
Split-comp +150°: Crimson Bloom Clear #E3A1A1
Split-comp +210°: Canary Bloom Clear #E3DDA1

Compare

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

vsSteel Pearl ClearvsSteel Silk ClearvsTangerine Bloom ClearvsIndigo Bloom ClearvsAqua Bloom ClearvsRose Bloom Clear

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Azure Bloom Clear
#A1CDE3 · hsl(200, 54%, 76%)
Nearby match
Sapphire Bloom Clear
#A1C2E3 · hsl(210, 54%, 76%)
Nearby match
Steel Silk Clear
#81B5D9 · hsl(205, 54%, 68%)
Nearby match
Steel Pearl Clear
#C0DAEC · hsl(205, 54%, 84%)
Nearby match
Steel Bloom Soft
#ADC5D7 · hsl(205, 34%, 76%)
Nearby match
Steel Bloom Vivid
#95C9EF · hsl(205, 74%, 76%)

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
AAA7.1:1
Tangerine Nocturne Faint
#38322E
AAA7.1:1
Tangerine Nocturne Muted
#3C312A
AAA7:1
Tangerine Nocturne Dust
#403126
AAA7:1
Tangerine Nocturne Soft
#443022
AAA8.8:1
Tangerine Ink Faint
#272320
AAA8.7:1
Tangerine Ink Muted
#2A231D

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#B1AEDB
Protanopia
#B3B3DD
Tritanopia
#A3D7D6
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Saturation ladder

Same hue and lightness, from gray to pure

Search
Steel Bloom Faint#BCC3C8 · hsl(205, 10%, 76%)Steel Bloom Muted#B7C4CD · hsl(205, 18%, 76%)Steel Bloom Dust#B2C4D2 · hsl(205, 26%, 76%)Steel Bloom Soft#ADC5D7 · hsl(205, 34%, 76%)Steel Bloom Clear#A1C7E3 · hsl(205, 54%, 76%)Steel Bloom Vivid#95C9EF · hsl(205, 74%, 76%)Steel Bloom Bright#8ECAF5 · hsl(205, 84%, 76%)Steel Bloom Pure#89CBFA · hsl(205, 92%, 76%)
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