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Sinister Blueberry

#31388f
Notes

Sinister Blueberry (#31388F) is a true blue 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 (236°, 49%, 38%) places it in the balanced band at a mid lightness. It works across type, buttons, and borders, saturated enough to feel deliberate but balanced enough to not fight the rest of the palette. 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
#31388f
RGB
rgb(49, 56, 143)
HSL
hsl(236, 49%, 38%)
HWB
hwb(236 19% 44%)
OKLCH
oklch(39.0% 0.142 274.2)
HSV
hsv(236, 66%, 56%)
LAB
lab(28.02% 26.03 -49.19)
LCH
lch(28.02% 55.65 297.89)
CMYK
cmyk(66%, 61%, 0%, 44%)

Etymology

Sinister
adjective

Latin sinister, left / unlucky — used in classical-augury for the unfavorable left-hand-side of bird-flight omen-reading. As a color modifier, sinister implies a deep-and-foreboding-and-uncanny quality, the dark of Gothic-novel atmospheric-shadow and threatening-presence. Sits at the deep-and-uncanny end of the grid, parallel to foreboding and menacing in atmospheric register.

Blueberry
noun

The genus Vaccinium — North American native berry shrubs cultivated since the early twentieth century. The fruit's deep blue-purple skin is colored by anthocyanin and the protective bloom of waxy yeast cells. The color refers to a fresh wild blueberry: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue-violet with the powdery finish of waxy fruit surface.

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.

#31388f
Original
#004692
Protanopia
#003e8d
Deuteranopia
#004d5e
Tritanopia
#3d3d3d
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
10.03:1
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
2.09:1

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