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Open Pulmonaria

#8cb4f5
Notes

Open Pulmonaria (#8CB4F5) is a soft 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 (217°, 84%, 75%) places it in the highly saturated band at a light lightness. Best used in small doses, like logos, CTAs, focus rings, or highlight text, where its saturation becomes a feature rather than noise. 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
#8cb4f5
RGB
rgb(140, 180, 245)
HSL
hsl(217, 84%, 75%)
HWB
hwb(217 55% 4%)
OKLCH
oklch(76.6% 0.104 259.9)
HSV
hsv(217, 43%, 96%)
LAB
lab(72.77% 3.04 -36.53)
LCH
lch(72.77% 36.65 274.76)
CMYK
cmyk(43%, 27%, 0%, 4%)

Etymology

Open
adjective

Old English open, unobstructed — used as a color modifier since the eighteenth century for hues that read as airy or uncrowded. Open blue, open green: moderate saturation combined with optical spaciousness, the slight visual breath of a hue that doesn't crowd the surface it covers. Sits at the crisp-bucket center alongside clear.

Pulmonaria
noun

The genus Pulmonarialungwort, the European shade-garden perennial whose flowers open pink and turn blue as they age (changing pH causes the anthocyanin shift). The color refers to a fresh P. saccharata flower in its blue post-pollination phase: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue with the satin finish of bell-shaped flower.

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.

#8cb4f5
Original
#9cb8f8
Protanopia
#90aef4
Deuteranopia
#65c2cb
Tritanopia
#b0b0b0
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
2.11:1
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
9.96:1

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