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Disciplined Azure

#9cbbe2
Notes

Disciplined Azure (#9CBBE2) 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 (213°, 55%, 75%) places it in the balanced band at a light lightness. It works as a background wash, large-area fill, or soft illustration tone. Add a darker ink of the same hue when you need type over it. 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
#9cbbe2
RGB
rgb(156, 187, 226)
HSL
hsl(213, 55%, 75%)
HWB
hwb(213 61% 11%)
OKLCH
oklch(78.3% 0.065 254.4)
P3
color(display-p3 0.6356 0.7297 0.8725)
HSV
hsv(213, 31%, 89%)
LAB
lab(74.89% -1.47 -22.89)
LCH
lch(74.89% 22.94 266.34)
CMYK
cmyk(31%, 17%, 0%, 11%)

Etymology

Disciplined
adjective

Latin disciplīna, teaching / training — past-participle of discipline. As a color modifier, disciplined implies a clear-and-controlled-and-careful quality where the hue carries the visual register of careful-edited-and-restrained design-decision. Sits at the crisp-and-orderly end of the grid, parallel to methodical and orderly in usage.

Azure
noun

From the Persian lāzhuward, lapis lazuli, through the Arabic al-lāzaward and the Old French azur — the Western color name carries with it an entire trade route from Afghan mines to Renaissance pigment shops. The color refers to the heraldic azure of medieval blazonry: a clean, slightly muted mid-blue with the matte finish of pigment in tempera. Lighter than ultramarine, deeper than sky.

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.

#9cbbe2
Original
#adbce4
Protanopia
#a5b5e1
Deuteranopia
#87c3c8
Tritanopia
#b7b7b7
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
1.98:1
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
10.62:1

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
##9CBBE2
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.6356 0.7297 0.8725)
Inside sRGBOKLCH chroma 0.065

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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