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Chalky Gin

#8c9bb9
Notes

Chalky Gin (#8C9BB9) 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 (220°, 24%, 64%) places it in the muted 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
#8c9bb9
RGB
rgb(140, 155, 185)
HSL
hsl(220, 24%, 64%)
HWB
hwb(220 55% 27%)
OKLCH
oklch(68.8% 0.048 264.2)
P3
color(display-p3 0.5600 0.6060 0.7152)
HSV
hsv(220, 24%, 73%)
LAB
lab(63.77% 1.41 -17.30)
LCH
lch(63.77% 17.35 274.66)
CMYK
cmyk(24%, 16%, 0%, 27%)

Etymology

Chalky
adjective

An adjectival form of chalk — used as a color modifier since the seventeenth century for hues with the matte finish of chalk pigment. Chalky white, chalky blue: low saturation combined with the optical mattness of micron-scale calcium carbonate. Sits at the pale-bucket alongside powder and dusty.

Gin
noun

The juniper-flavored distilled spirit — and the saturated deep blue of Bombay Sapphire-bottle glass and Hendrick's-style apothecary-style packaging. Gin color refers to a fresh-poured gin bottle in a bar light: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue with the high gloss of dyed glass.

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.

#8c9bb9
Original
#929dba
Protanopia
#8d99b8
Deuteranopia
#80a1a5
Tritanopia
#9a9a9a
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
2.80:1
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
7.50:1

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
##8C9BB9
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.5600 0.6060 0.7152)
Inside sRGBOKLCH chroma 0.048

This color sits well within the sRGB cube. P3 and sRGB share the gray axis and most desaturated tones, so a P3 display renders this identically to an sRGB display.

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