colors
Back to gallery

Aligned Trafalgar

#3a5fab
Notes

Aligned Trafalgar (#3A5FAB) is a true 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 (220°, 49%, 45%) 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 amber. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#3a5fab
RGB
rgb(58, 95, 171)
HSL
hsl(220, 49%, 45%)
HWB
hwb(220 23% 33%)
OKLCH
oklch(49.8% 0.129 263.0)
P3
color(display-p3 0.2603 0.3688 0.6498)
HSV
hsv(220, 66%, 67%)
LAB
lab(41.25% 12.05 -44.70)
LCH
lch(41.25% 46.30 285.09)
CMYK
cmyk(66%, 44%, 0%, 33%)

Etymology

Aligned
adjective

French à-ligne, to-line-up — past-participle of align. As a color modifier, aligned implies a clear-and-axis-coordinated quality where the hue carries the visual register of carefully-parallel-arranged elements. Sits at the crisp-and-balanced end of the grid, parallel to symmetrical and squared in usage.

Trafalgar
noun

The Cape Trafalgar headland off southern Spain — site of the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar (Nelson's decisive naval victory over Napoleon's fleet). Trafalgar color refers to the deep blue of HMS Victory's preserved hull paint at Portsmouth: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue with the matte finish of period-correct marine paint.

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.

#3a5fab
Original
#3b67ae
Protanopia
#285ca9
Deuteranopia
#00707c
Tritanopia
#5d5d5d
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).
AAon White
6.17:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AA Largeon Black
3.40:1

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
##3A5FAB
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.2603 0.3688 0.6498)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.129

Moderately saturated colors gain a small bump in P3 — the difference is usually visible side-by-side on wide-gamut hardware but won't change the character of the color.

Related Colors

Canvas