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Utilitarian Procida

#72aee9
Notes

Utilitarian Procida (#72AEE9) is a true azure with a cool character. It leans cool, sitting on the blue, green, and violet side of the wheel. Quiet and dependable, a fit for product UI and data visualization. Its HSL profile (210°, 73%, 68%) 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
#72aee9
RGB
rgb(114, 174, 233)
HSL
hsl(210, 73%, 68%)
HWB
hwb(210 45% 9%)
OKLCH
oklch(73.3% 0.106 249.1)
P3
color(display-p3 0.4995 0.6762 0.8939)
HSV
hsv(210, 51%, 91%)
LAB
lab(69.28% -3.22 -35.53)
LCH
lch(69.28% 35.67 264.82)
CMYK
cmyk(51%, 25%, 0%, 9%)

Etymology

Utilitarian
adjective

Latin ūtilitās, usefulness — adjectival suffix -ian. As a color modifier, utilitarian implies a clear-and-purpose-fit-and-stripped-down quality, the crisp color of Shaker-and-Quaker anti-ornamental functional-and-no-frills craft tradition. Sits at the crisp-and-functional end of the grid, parallel to functional and workmanlike in usage.

Procida
noun

The smallest of the Phlegraean Islands in the Bay of Naples — and the saturated blue of Procidan fishermen's house facades at Marina Corricella. Procida refers to a fisherman's house at Marina Corricella: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue with the matte finish of weathered Mediterranean limewash.

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.

#72aee9
Original
#96b0ec
Protanopia
#86a4e8
Deuteranopia
#33bcc2
Tritanopia
#a6a6a6
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
2.35:1
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
8.95:1

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
##72AEE9
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.4995 0.6762 0.8939)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.106

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.

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