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Fathomless Lunar

#221b63
Notes

Fathomless Lunar (#221B63) is a deep blue with a cool character. It leans cool, sitting on the blue, green, and violet side of the wheel. Quiet and dependable, a fit for product UI and data visualization. Its HSL profile (246°, 57%, 25%) places it in the balanced band at a dark lightness. It works well as a headline, icon, or deep background in an otherwise light layout, pairing cleanly with cream, bone, and warm neutrals. For a confident two-color system, pair it with its complementary yellow. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#221b63
RGB
rgb(34, 27, 99)
HSL
hsl(246, 57%, 25%)
HWB
hwb(246 11% 61%)
OKLCH
oklch(28.4% 0.121 279.7)
HSV
hsv(246, 73%, 39%)
LAB
lab(15.62% 26.89 -41.43)
LCH
lch(15.62% 49.39 302.99)
CMYK
cmyk(66%, 73%, 0%, 61%)

Etymology

Fathomless
adjective

Fathom (Old English fæthm, six-foot span used to measure water-depth) plus suffix -less. As a color modifier, fathomless implies a depth of saturation-and-darkness that resists the eye's attempt to gauge it. Sits at the deepest end of the deep-bucket grid, beyond ordinary measure of color-depth perception.

Lunar
noun

Latin luna, moon — adopted into English as the adjective for moon-related phenomena. The lunar color tradition refers to the deep blue-violet of Apollo-program lunar-orbit Earthrise photography (1968–1972) showing the deep blue limb of Earth over the gray Moon surface. Lunar color refers to a Hasselblad Earthrise photo's deep-Earth limb: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue-violet with the optical complexity of Earth-atmosphere Rayleigh scattering against the lunar void.

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.

#221b63
Original
#002a65
Protanopia
#002462
Deuteranopia
#002e3c
Tritanopia
#222222
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).
AAAon White
14.95:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
Failon Black
1.40:1

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