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Aristocratic Helm Royal

#406de2
Notes

Aristocratic Helm Royal (#406DE2) is a true azure with a vibrant character. It holds its own as a focal accent, carrying visual weight without tipping into neon territory. Its HSL profile (223°, 74%, 57%) 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
#406de2
RGB
rgb(64, 109, 226)
HSL
hsl(223, 74%, 57%)
HWB
hwb(223 25% 11%)
OKLCH
oklch(56.8% 0.185 265.1)
P3
color(display-p3 0.2920 0.4230 0.8567)
HSV
hsv(223, 72%, 89%)
LAB
lab(48.90% 23.97 -64.09)
LCH
lch(48.90% 68.43 290.51)
CMYK
cmyk(72%, 52%, 0%, 11%)

Etymology

Aristocratic
adjective

Greek aristokratía, rule by the best — adjectival suffix -ic. As a color modifier, aristocratic implies a saturated-and-noble-and-hereditary quality, the deep-rich color of pre-modern European aristocracy hereditary-class livery-and-armorial-bearings. Sits at the bold-and-aristocratic end of the grid, parallel to patrician and lordly.

Helm
modifier

Old English helma, helm / steering. As a color modifier, helm implies a steering-wheel-and-tiller quality, the visual register of Royal-Navy-and-merchant-marine-helm hand-built steering-wheel-and-tiller polished-mahogany-and-brass nautical-helm-and-binnacle surfaces under polished-mahogany-and-brass-helm nautical-bridge light. Sits at the modifier-and-nautical end of the grid, parallel to tiller and bow in usage.

Royal
noun

The blue of European royal court dress and regalia from the late seventeenth century forward — the color of British peers' robes, French royal sashes, the lining of the crown-jewel cases. The color refers to a saturated, slightly violet-shifted blue with the matte finish of velvet or melton wool dyed to maximum intensity: deeper than cornflower, warmer than ultramarine, with the heraldic weight of a color reserved for monarchs and the official Crown.

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.

#406de2
Original
#1e7ce6
Protanopia
#006de0
Deuteranopia
#00899d
Tritanopia
#6c6c6c
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
4.66:1
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
4.50:1

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
##406DE2
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.2920 0.4230 0.8567)
P3 has visible headroomOKLCH chroma 0.185

This color is chromatic enough that authoring it as P3 native (instead of clamping to sRGB) gives a perceptibly more saturated render on wide-gamut displays — modern Macs, iPhones, iPads, and most recent OLED laptops.

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