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Drafted Cove

#038ca5
Notes

Drafted Cove (#038CA5) is a deep cyan with a jewel character. It carries the deep, saturated richness of a gemstone. Authoritative and slightly formal, it works well for type and heavy UI elements. Its HSL profile (189°, 96%, 33%) places it in the highly saturated band at a dark lightness. Best used in small doses, like logos, CTAs, focus rings, or highlight text, where its saturation becomes a feature rather than noise. For a confident two-color system, pair it with its complementary red. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#038ca5
RGB
rgb(3, 140, 165)
HSL
hsl(189, 96%, 33%)
HWB
hwb(189 1% 35%)
OKLCH
oklch(59.0% 0.104 216.3)
HSV
hsv(189, 98%, 65%)
LAB
lab(53.48% -22.24 -22.10)
LCH
lch(53.48% 31.35 224.81)
CMYK
cmyk(98%, 15%, 0%, 35%)

Etymology

Drafted
adjective

Old English draht, draft — past-participle of draft. As a color modifier, drafted implies a clear-and-line-and-measured quality, the crisp color of Mid-Century-Modern hand-drafted architectural-and-engineering studio-drawing precision-tool-rendered lines. Sits at the crisp-and-incised end of the grid, parallel to drawn and plotted in usage.

Cove
noun

A small coastal indentation sheltered from open ocean — particularly the small coves along the Atlantic coast of Britain, Ireland, and the American Northeast. Cove color refers to a sheltered Cornish cove at high tide: a soft, slightly cool deep blue-green with the optical clarity of sheltered Atlantic water.

Closest matches

The nearest named color in three reference sources, ranked by perceptual distance (ΔE76 in CIELAB). ΔE < 1 is imperceptible to most viewers; ΔE > 10 is clearly different. When two sources point to the same hex they’re merged into one tile; click any to open that color’s page.

Variations

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Harmonies

Accessibility

Color-vision simulation

How this color appears to viewers with the four major color-vision-deficiency types. Computed via the Machado (2009) physiologically-based model. If a tile matches the original, the color reads the same to that viewer.

#038ca5
Original
#7b87a6
Protanopia
#697aa5
Deuteranopia
#009594
Tritanopia
#717171
Achromatopsia
WCAG contrast

The color used as foreground text against pure white and pure black, with the contrast ratio and WCAG 2.1 grade. Aim for AA (4.5:1) for body text and AA Large (3:1) for 18 pt+ headlines; AAA (7:1) is the gold standard for long-form reading surfaces.

The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AA Largeon White
3.96:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAon Black
5.30:1

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