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Reasonably Ash

#909ea6
Notes

Reasonably Ash (#909EA6) 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 (202°, 11%, 61%) 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 orange. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#909ea6
RGB
rgb(144, 158, 166)
HSL
hsl(202, 11%, 61%)
HWB
hwb(202 56% 35%)
OKLCH
oklch(69.1% 0.020 232.7)
P3
color(display-p3 0.5749 0.6179 0.6474)
HSV
hsv(202, 13%, 65%)
LAB
lab(64.27% -3.27 -5.85)
LCH
lch(64.27% 6.70 240.80)
CMYK
cmyk(13%, 5%, 0%, 35%)

Etymology

Reasonably
adjective

Latin ratiōnābilis, rational — adverbial-and-adjectival suffix -ly. As a color modifier, reasonably implies a neutral-and-rational-and-moderate quality where the hue carries the visual register of moderate-and-balanced-and-rational coordinated color-decision. Sits at the neutral-and-traditional end of the grid, parallel to sensibly and moderately in usage.

Ash
noun

The mineral residue left after wood or coal completely combusts — calcium, potassium, and silicate that remain after carbon has gasified. Ash as a color refers to the soft pale gray of cooled hardwood ash: a soft, slightly muted gray with the matte finish of micron-scale mineral particulate. Cooler than smoke, warmer than dust, with the agricultural weight of a substance that fertilizes fields and clarifies soap-making lye.

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.

#909ea6
Original
#9a9da6
Protanopia
#979ba6
Deuteranopia
#8aa0a0
Tritanopia
#9c9c9c
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
2.75:1
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
7.63:1

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
##909EA6
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.5749 0.6179 0.6474)
Inside sRGBOKLCH chroma 0.020

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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