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Fathomless Storm

#2a4256
Notes

Fathomless Storm (#2A4256) is a deep azure with an earthy character. It leans grounded and natural, the kind of color that plays well with wood, clay, linen, and warm neutrals. Its HSL profile (207°, 34%, 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 orange. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#2a4256
RGB
rgb(42, 66, 86)
HSL
hsl(207, 34%, 25%)
HWB
hwb(207 16% 66%)
OKLCH
oklch(36.9% 0.046 244.6)
P3
color(display-p3 0.1853 0.2563 0.3302)
HSV
hsv(207, 51%, 34%)
LAB
lab(26.91% -2.96 -14.85)
LCH
lch(26.91% 15.14 258.72)
CMYK
cmyk(51%, 23%, 0%, 66%)

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.

Storm
noun

Heavy cloud cover with precipitation, lightning, and gale-force winds — the meteorological event whose color is a dense gray that filters out almost all sun. The color refers to a fully developed storm cloud bank: a deep, slightly muted gray with the optical density of cumulonimbus that's already releasing rain. Cooler than slate, warmer than gunmetal, with the agricultural weight of a phenomenon that has shaped every harvest calendar.

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

Click any swatch to explore

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.

#2a4256
Original
#3a4257
Protanopia
#343e56
Deuteranopia
#164749
Tritanopia
#3e3e3e
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
10.44:1
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
2.01:1

Wide gamut

Display P3 representation

The CSS Color 4 wide-gamut form of this color. Both swatches render the same color on every display — the P3 form only diverges from sRGB when a designer pushes channels outside sRGB's reach.

sRGB hex
sRGB hex
##2A4256
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.1853 0.2563 0.3302)
Inside sRGBOKLCH chroma 0.046

This color sits well within the sRGB cube. P3 and sRGB share the gray axis and most desaturated tones, so a P3 display renders this identically to an sRGB display.

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