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Steel Mist Muted
Color detail

Steel Mist Muted

Blue · Hue 205
Metrics
S 18% · L 90%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white1.3:1Failon black16.7:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Steel Mist Muted (#E1E6EA) belongs to the blue family — hue 205°, 18% saturation, 90% 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-mist-muted: #E1E6EA;
  --colorarchive-steel-mist-muted-hsl: hsl(205, 18%, 90%);
  --colorarchive-steel-mist-muted-rgb: rgb(225, 230, 234);
}

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 #E1E6EA.

  • Anthropicneutral
    Light Gray · #E8E6DC
    →
  • 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 #E1E6EA.

  • Turkey (Istanbul)Marble White
    #F0EBE0 · Marmara marble, used since Roman era
    →
  • IrelandAran Cream
    #F0E8D2 · Undyed Aran wool sweater tradition
    →
  • AustraliaBeach Cream
    #F2EFE1 · Western Australian quartz sand
    →

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 BlueUI DesignOnboarding Color Design: Directing Attention Without Overwhelming New Users

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 Whisper Muted
#EDF0F2 · hsl(205, 18%, 94%)
Darker companion
Steel Pearl Muted
#CFD7DE · hsl(205, 18%, 84%)
Complementary counterpoint
Tangerine Mist Muted
#EAE5E1 · hsl(25, 18%, 90%)
Analogous lead
Indigo Mist Muted
#E1E2EA · hsl(230, 18%, 90%)
Analogous echo
Aqua Mist Muted
#E1EAEA · hsl(180, 18%, 90%)
Triadic +120°
Rose Mist Muted
#EAE1E7 · hsl(320, 18%, 90%)
Triadic +240°
Olive Mist Muted
#E7EAE1 · hsl(80, 18%, 90%)
Split-comp +150°
Crimson Mist Muted
#EAE1E1 · hsl(0, 18%, 90%)
Split-comp +210°
Canary Mist Muted
#EAE9E1 · hsl(55, 18%, 90%)
Export preview
Base: Steel Mist Muted #E1E6EA
Lighter companion: Steel Whisper Muted #EDF0F2
Darker companion: Steel Pearl Muted #CFD7DE
Complementary counterpoint: Tangerine Mist Muted #EAE5E1
Analogous lead: Indigo Mist Muted #E1E2EA
Analogous echo: Aqua Mist Muted #E1EAEA
Triadic +120°: Rose Mist Muted #EAE1E7
Triadic +240°: Olive Mist Muted #E7EAE1
Split-comp +150°: Crimson Mist Muted #EAE1E1
Split-comp +210°: Canary Mist Muted #EAE9E1

Compare

See how Steel Mist Muted compares side by side with related colors.

vsSteel Whisper MutedvsSteel Pearl MutedvsTangerine Mist MutedvsIndigo Mist MutedvsAqua Mist MutedvsRose Mist Muted

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Steel Whisper Muted
#EDF0F2 · hsl(205, 18%, 94%)
Nearby match
Steel Mist Faint
#E3E6E8 · hsl(205, 10%, 90%)
Nearby match
Steel Mist Dust
#DFE7EC · hsl(205, 26%, 90%)
Nearby match
Steel Pearl Muted
#CFD7DE · hsl(205, 18%, 84%)
Nearby match
Azure Mist Muted
#E1E7EA · hsl(200, 18%, 90%)
Nearby match
Sapphire Mist Muted
#E1E6EA · hsl(210, 18%, 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
AAA7.3:1
Tangerine Shadow Faint
#4F4640
AAA7.3:1
Tangerine Shadow Muted
#54453B
AAA7.2:1
Tangerine Shadow Dust
#5A4435
AAA7.1:1
Tangerine Shadow Soft
#60432F
AAA10:1
Tangerine Nocturne Faint
#38322E
AAA10:1
Tangerine Nocturne Muted
#3C312A

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#E3E3E9
Protanopia
#E3E3E9
Tritanopia
#E1E8E8
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Saturation ladder

Same hue and lightness, from gray to pure

Search
Steel Mist Faint#E3E6E8 · hsl(205, 10%, 90%)Steel Mist Muted#E1E6EA · hsl(205, 18%, 90%)Steel Mist Dust#DFE7EC · hsl(205, 26%, 90%)Steel Mist Soft#DDE7EE · hsl(205, 34%, 90%)Steel Mist Clear#D8E8F3 · hsl(205, 54%, 90%)Steel Mist Vivid#D3E9F8 · hsl(205, 74%, 90%)Steel Mist Bright#D0E9FB · hsl(205, 84%, 90%)Steel Mist Pure#CEE9FD · hsl(205, 92%, 90%)
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