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Pleasant Pollux Denim

#325a7d
Notes

Pleasant Pollux Denim (#325A7D) 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 (208°, 43%, 34%) 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
#325a7d
RGB
rgb(50, 90, 125)
HSL
hsl(208, 43%, 34%)
HWB
hwb(208 20% 51%)
OKLCH
oklch(45.4% 0.073 246.7)
P3
color(display-p3 0.2331 0.3490 0.4785)
HSV
hsv(208, 60%, 49%)
LAB
lab(36.87% -2.81 -23.97)
LCH
lch(36.87% 24.13 263.30)
CMYK
cmyk(60%, 28%, 0%, 51%)

Etymology

Pleasant
adjective

From the French plaisant, pleasing — used as a color modifier since the fifteenth century for hues that read as agreeable, the kind of color that wears well over a long viewing without becoming demanding or fatiguing. Pleasant green, pleasant rose: moderate saturation combined with optical comfort. Sits at the crisp-bucket alongside easy and calm.

Pollux
modifier

Greek Πολυδεύκης, Gemini-twin-and-immortal-boxer. As a color modifier, pollux implies a Gemini-twin-and-immortal-brother quality, the visual register of Gemini-Pollux-and-Castor-twin hand-Gemini-twin-and-immortal-brother Gemini-Pollux-and-Castor-twin-and-Argonaut pollux-and-Gemini-twin-and-immortal-brother surfaces under Gemini-Pollux-and-Castor-twin-and-Argonaut spring-Gemini-and-Bortle-1-sky stellar-twin-light. Sits at the modifier-and-cosmic end of the grid, parallel to castor and spica in usage.

Denim
noun

The diagonal-twill cotton fabric originally woven in Nîmes, France — serge de Nîmes, contracted to denim — and dyed with indigo since at least the eighteenth century. The color refers to a worn but un-faded pair of raw denim jeans: a saturated, slightly muted blue with the matte finish of cotton fiber that has absorbed dye through generations of weft and warp. Cooler than royal, warmer than navy.

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.

#325a7d
Original
#4b5b7f
Protanopia
#41537c
Deuteranopia
#006266
Tritanopia
#545454
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
7.26:1
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
2.89:1

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
##325A7D
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.2331 0.3490 0.4785)
Inside sRGBOKLCH chroma 0.073

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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