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Steel Silk Vivid
Color detail

Steel Silk Vivid

Blue · Hue 205
Metrics
S 74% · L 68%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white2.2:1Failon black9.7:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Steel Silk Vivid (#71B7EA) belongs to the blue family — hue 205°, 74% saturation, 68% 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-silk-vivid: #71B7EA;
  --colorarchive-steel-silk-vivid-hsl: hsl(205, 74%, 68%);
  --colorarchive-steel-silk-vivid-rgb: rgb(113, 183, 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 vivid mid-tone — distinctive enough to anchor an identity, saturated enough to demand a quiet supporting palette.

Lightness band: At mid-lightness the hue carries its full character. This is the band where many identity colors live: bright enough to be distinctive at small sizes, deep enough to sit cleanly on a white canvas.

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 #71B7EA.

  • Anthropicaccent
    Anthropic Blue · #6A9BCC
    →
  • Redditsecondary
    Periwinkle · #7193FF
    →
  • Slackaccent
    Slack Blue · #36C5F0
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #71B7EA.

  • MoroccoChefchaouen Blue
    #7BAFD4 · Painted medina walls (Rif mountains)
    →
  • IcelandGlacial Cyan
    #75BBC1 · Vatnajökull ice cave light
    →
  • Turkey (Istanbul)Bosphorus Turquoise
    #4DA8AC · Marmara strait water
    →

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 CheapUI DesignGradient Design: Chromatic Progressions That Feel Contemporary

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 Bloom Vivid
#95C9EF · hsl(205, 74%, 76%)
Darker companion
Steel Tone Vivid
#4EA6E4 · hsl(205, 74%, 60%)
Complementary counterpoint
Tangerine Silk Vivid
#EAA371 · hsl(25, 74%, 68%)
Analogous lead
Indigo Silk Vivid
#7185EA · hsl(230, 74%, 68%)
Analogous echo
Aqua Silk Vivid
#71EAEA · hsl(180, 74%, 68%)
Triadic +120°
Rose Silk Vivid
#EA71C2 · hsl(320, 74%, 68%)
Triadic +240°
Olive Silk Vivid
#C2EA71 · hsl(80, 74%, 68%)
Split-comp +150°
Crimson Silk Vivid
#EA7171 · hsl(0, 74%, 68%)
Split-comp +210°
Canary Silk Vivid
#EAE071 · hsl(55, 74%, 68%)
Export preview
Base: Steel Silk Vivid #71B7EA
Lighter companion: Steel Bloom Vivid #95C9EF
Darker companion: Steel Tone Vivid #4EA6E4
Complementary counterpoint: Tangerine Silk Vivid #EAA371
Analogous lead: Indigo Silk Vivid #7185EA
Analogous echo: Aqua Silk Vivid #71EAEA
Triadic +120°: Rose Silk Vivid #EA71C2
Triadic +240°: Olive Silk Vivid #C2EA71
Split-comp +150°: Crimson Silk Vivid #EA7171
Split-comp +210°: Canary Silk Vivid #EAE071

Compare

See how Steel Silk Vivid compares side by side with related colors.

vsSteel Bloom VividvsSteel Tone VividvsTangerine Silk VividvsIndigo Silk VividvsAqua Silk VividvsRose Silk Vivid

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Steel Silk Bright
#69B9F2 · hsl(205, 84%, 68%)
Nearby match
Azure Silk Vivid
#71C2EA · hsl(200, 74%, 68%)
Nearby match
Sapphire Silk Vivid
#71ADEA · hsl(210, 74%, 68%)
Nearby match
Steel Tone Vivid
#4EA6E4 · hsl(205, 74%, 60%)
Nearby match
Steel Bloom Vivid
#95C9EF · hsl(205, 74%, 76%)
Nearby match
Steel Silk Pure
#62BAF8 · hsl(205, 92%, 68%)

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
AAA7.2:1
Tangerine Ink Faint
#272320
AAA7.1:1
Tangerine Ink Muted
#2A231D
AAA7.1:1
Tangerine Ink Dust
#2D221A
AAA7.1:1
Tangerine Ink Soft
#302218
AAA7:1
Tangerine Ink Clear
#372010
AAA7.2:1
Ember Ink Faint
#272320

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#908BDC
Protanopia
#9595DF
Tritanopia
#76D6D4
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Saturation ladder

Same hue and lightness, from gray to pure

Search
Steel Silk Faint#A5AFB6 · hsl(205, 10%, 68%)Steel Silk Muted#9FB0BC · hsl(205, 18%, 68%)Steel Silk Dust#98B1C3 · hsl(205, 26%, 68%)Steel Silk Soft#92B2C9 · hsl(205, 34%, 68%)Steel Silk Clear#81B5D9 · hsl(205, 54%, 68%)Steel Silk Vivid#71B7EA · hsl(205, 74%, 68%)Steel Silk Bright#69B9F2 · hsl(205, 84%, 68%)Steel Silk Pure#62BAF8 · hsl(205, 92%, 68%)
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