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Warm Phthalo

#65aae8
Notes

Warm Phthalo (#65AAE8) 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 (208°, 74%, 65%) 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 orange. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#65aae8
RGB
rgb(101, 170, 232)
HSL
hsl(208, 74%, 65%)
HWB
hwb(208 40% 9%)
OKLCH
oklch(71.8% 0.115 247.2)
HSV
hsv(208, 56%, 91%)
LAB
lab(67.53% -4.06 -37.74)
LCH
lch(67.53% 37.96 263.85)
CMYK
cmyk(56%, 27%, 0%, 9%)

Etymology

Warm
adjective

Old English wearm, of moderate heat — used as a color modifier since the medieval period for hues that read as containing red, orange, or yellow undertones. Warm gray, warm white: not necessarily a temperature, but the optical impression of a slight red-orange shift. Sits across the crisp and neutral buckets.

Phthalo
noun

Phthalocyanine pigment — a synthetic copper-organic compound introduced in 1936. Phthalo Blue (PB15) is among the most lightfast and saturated blues available to modern artists. The color refers to fresh Phthalo Blue watercolor on white paper: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue-green with the matte finish of organic-pigment-and-binder.

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.

#65aae8
Original
#90aceb
Protanopia
#7e9fe7
Deuteranopia
#00b9bf
Tritanopia
#a0a0a0
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).
Failon White
2.48:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAAon Black
8.47:1

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