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Cavalier Sora

#398df9
Notes

Cavalier Sora (#398DF9) is a true azure with a neon character. It sits at the high-saturation edge of its family. Use it sparingly, as signage, accent, or highlight against darker surfaces. Its HSL profile (214°, 94%, 60%) places it in the highly saturated band at a mid 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 orange. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#398df9
RGB
rgb(57, 141, 249)
HSL
hsl(214, 94%, 60%)
HWB
hwb(214 22% 2%)
OKLCH
oklch(64.8% 0.180 256.3)
HSV
hsv(214, 77%, 98%)
LAB
lab(58.75% 11.71 -61.07)
LCH
lch(58.75% 62.18 280.85)
CMYK
cmyk(77%, 43%, 0%, 2%)

Etymology

Cavalier
adjective

Italian cavaliere, horseman / knight via Latin caballārius. As a color modifier, cavalier implies a saturated-and-chivalrous-and-aristocratic quality, the deep-rich color of English-Civil-War royalist Cavalier military-faction velvet-and-lace-and-feathered-hat livery. Sits at the bold-and-chivalrous end of the grid, parallel to gallant and knightly.

Sora
noun

The Japanese word for sky — and sora-iro (空色), the standard Japanese name for sky-blue. Used in Heian-period waka poetry and ukiyo-e woodblock prints for the saturated mid-blue of clear summer skies. The color refers to a Japanese summer sky at midday: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue with the optical brightness of mid-latitude scattered sunlight.

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.

#398df9
Original
#5697fd
Protanopia
#2f85f7
Deuteranopia
#00a7b7
Tritanopia
#838383
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
3.31:1
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
6.35:1

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