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Steel Velvet Bright
Color detail

Steel Velvet Bright

Blue · Hue 205
Metrics
S 84% · L 42%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white4.6:1AAon black4.6:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Steel Velvet Bright (#117AC5) belongs to the blue family — hue 205°, 84% saturation, 42% 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-velvet-bright: #117AC5;
  --colorarchive-steel-velvet-bright-hsl: hsl(205, 84%, 42%);
  --colorarchive-steel-velvet-bright-rgb: rgb(17, 122, 197);
}

AI Color Names

Let AI suggest alternative poetic names for this color in English and Chinese.

Design Context

ProfessionalReliableFocused
Common in

Banking · Insurance · Enterprise Software

Pairs well with

White for clean authority, light orange for warm contrast, dark navy for depth

Design tip

The backbone of business interfaces. Use for primary actions and navigation. Blue links are the web's universal convention.

Cultural context ▶

Blue is the world's most popular color. It represents trust, competence, and stability across virtually all cultures.

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 #117AC5.

  • PlayStationaccent
    X Blue · #0070D1
    →
  • GitHubaccent
    Accent Blue · #0969DA
    →
  • Vercelaccent
    Vercel Blue · #0070F3
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #117AC5.

  • Korea (Obangsaek)Obangsaek Blue (청 / cheong)
    #1E68C1 · East — wood element, hanbok dyes
    →
  • Greece (Aegean)Aegean Blue
    #005EB8 · Limewash + laundry blue (loulaki), traditional shutter paint
    →
  • Turkey (Istanbul)Iznik Blue
    #1E5599 · Ottoman Iznik tile cobalt-glaze, 16th c.
    →

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 & MarketingStartup Brand Color Palette: Building a Color System Before You Have a Full Design Team

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 Core Bright
#148CE1 · hsl(205, 84%, 48%)
Darker companion
Steel Dusk Bright
#0E63A0 · hsl(205, 84%, 34%)
Complementary counterpoint
Tangerine Velvet Bright
#C55C11 · hsl(25, 84%, 42%)
Analogous lead
Indigo Velvet Bright
#112FC5 · hsl(230, 84%, 42%)
Analogous echo
Aqua Velvet Bright
#11C5C5 · hsl(180, 84%, 42%)
Triadic +120°
Rose Velvet Bright
#C51189 · hsl(320, 84%, 42%)
Triadic +240°
Olive Velvet Bright
#89C511 · hsl(80, 84%, 42%)
Split-comp +150°
Crimson Velvet Bright
#C51111 · hsl(0, 84%, 42%)
Split-comp +210°
Canary Velvet Bright
#C5B611 · hsl(55, 84%, 42%)
Export preview
Base: Steel Velvet Bright #117AC5
Lighter companion: Steel Core Bright #148CE1
Darker companion: Steel Dusk Bright #0E63A0
Complementary counterpoint: Tangerine Velvet Bright #C55C11
Analogous lead: Indigo Velvet Bright #112FC5
Analogous echo: Aqua Velvet Bright #11C5C5
Triadic +120°: Rose Velvet Bright #C51189
Triadic +240°: Olive Velvet Bright #89C511
Split-comp +150°: Crimson Velvet Bright #C51111
Split-comp +210°: Canary Velvet Bright #C5B611

Compare

See how Steel Velvet Bright compares side by side with related colors.

vsSteel Core BrightvsSteel Dusk BrightvsTangerine Velvet BrightvsIndigo Velvet BrightvsAqua Velvet BrightvsRose Velvet Bright

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Steel Velvet Pure
#097CCE · hsl(205, 92%, 42%)
Nearby match
Steel Core Bright
#148CE1 · hsl(205, 84%, 48%)
Nearby match
Steel Velvet Vivid
#1C78BA · hsl(205, 74%, 42%)
Nearby match
Azure Velvet Bright
#1189C5 · hsl(200, 84%, 42%)
Nearby match
Sapphire Velvet Bright
#116BC5 · hsl(210, 84%, 42%)
Nearby match
Steel Dusk Bright
#0E63A0 · hsl(205, 84%, 34%)

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
AA4.5:1
Amber Veil Bright
#FEFDF6
AA4.5:1
Amber Veil Pure
#FFFDF5
AA4.5:1
Canary Veil Vivid
#FEFDF6
AA4.5:1
Canary Veil Bright
#FEFDF6
AA4.5:1
Canary Veil Pure
#FFFEF5
AA4.5:1
Citrine Veil Clear
#FDFDF7

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#4E47B3
Protanopia
#5354B6
Tritanopia
#21AAA7
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Saturation ladder

Same hue and lightness, from gray to pure

Search
Steel Velvet Faint#606D76 · hsl(205, 10%, 42%)Steel Velvet Muted#586E7E · hsl(205, 18%, 42%)Steel Velvet Dust#4F7087 · hsl(205, 26%, 42%)Steel Velvet Soft#477190 · hsl(205, 34%, 42%)Steel Velvet Clear#3175A5 · hsl(205, 54%, 42%)Steel Velvet Vivid#1C78BA · hsl(205, 74%, 42%)Steel Velvet Bright#117AC5 · hsl(205, 84%, 42%)Steel Velvet Pure#097CCE · hsl(205, 92%, 42%)
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