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Quiet Cosmos

#a5c3f4
Notes

Quiet Cosmos (#A5C3F4) is a soft azure with a pastel character. It reads calm and airy, with enough chroma to feel intentional rather than washed out. Its HSL profile (217°, 78%, 80%) 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
#a5c3f4
RGB
rgb(165, 195, 244)
HSL
hsl(217, 78%, 80%)
HWB
hwb(217 65% 4%)
OKLCH
oklch(81.2% 0.077 260.1)
HSV
hsv(217, 32%, 96%)
LAB
lab(78.20% 1.19 -27.48)
LCH
lch(78.20% 27.50 272.49)
CMYK
cmyk(32%, 20%, 0%, 4%)

Etymology

Quiet
adjective

Latin quietus, at rest — used as a color modifier since the medieval period for hues that read as restrained. Quiet pink, quiet blue: low saturation combined with optical calmness. Sits across the crisp and hushed buckets where the color is present but doesn't ask for attention.

Cosmos
noun

The Greek word for order — used in classical philosophy for the ordered universe and in modern English for the deep-space sky beyond Earth's atmosphere. Cosmos color refers to a long-exposure deep-space photograph: a saturated, slightly cool very deep blue with the optical depth of unfiltered upper-atmospheric scattering.

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

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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.

#a5c3f4
Original
#b2c6f6
Protanopia
#aabef3
Deuteranopia
#8ecdd3
Tritanopia
#c0c0c0
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
1.79:1
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
11.71:1

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