Muted Blue Color Palette – HEX, RGB & Design Inspiration
Color Details
HEX: #D8EBF6
RGB: 216, 235, 246
HEX: #849BAA
RGB: 132, 155, 170
HEX: #8395C1
RGB: 131, 149, 193
HEX: #CBA69E
RGB: 203, 166, 158
HEX: #435274
RGB: 67, 82, 116
Text on White/Black Backgrounds
Color Pair Combinations (10 total)
WCAG Contrast Standards:
- AAA (7:1): Enhanced contrast for maximum readability
- AA (4.5:1): Minimum for normal text (under 18pt)
- AA Large (3:1): Acceptable for large text (18pt+ or 14pt+ bold)
- Fail: Below WCAG standards, not recommended for text
Recommended Text Colors
Horizontal (Left to Right)
background: linear-gradient(to right, #D8EBF6 0%, #849BAA 25%, #8395C1 50%, #CBA69E 75%, #435274 100%);Vertical (Top to Bottom)
background: linear-gradient(to bottom, #D8EBF6 0%, #849BAA 25%, #8395C1 50%, #CBA69E 75%, #435274 100%);Diagonal (Top Left to Bottom Right)
background: linear-gradient(to bottom right, #D8EBF6 0%, #849BAA 25%, #8395C1 50%, #CBA69E 75%, #435274 100%);Usage Tips:
- Copy the CSS code and paste directly into your stylesheets
- Linear gradients work great for backgrounds and hero sections
- Radial gradients are perfect for spotlights and focus effects
- Conic gradients create eye-catching loading spinners and progress indicators
- Smooth transitions ensure seamless color blending
Normal Vision
No color vision deficiency
Color Swatches
#D8EBF6
#849BAA
#8395C1
#CBA69E
#435274
Full Palette View
How people with Normal Vision see it:
Overall Mood & Feel
Calm, professional, and trustworthy
Emotional Impact
Calming and contemplative, promoting feelings of trust, stability, and peace. The balanced lightness creates versatility across different contexts
Psychological Effect
This 5-color palette creates a calm, professional, and trustworthy. The combination works together to create memorable visual experiences that influence consumer perception, decision-making, and brand recall. The rich variety provides versatility while maintaining cohesive emotional messaging across touchpoints.
Brand Personality Traits
Perfect For These Industries
Target Audience
Business professionals and decision-makers seeking reliability and competence
Individual Color Psychology
#D8EBF6
Peaceful and airy
Emotions Evoked
Personality Traits
Brand Traits
Ideal Industries
Marketing Use
Most popular color globally. Builds trust and reduces stress. Ideal for corporate brands, financial services, and healthcare. Can suppress appetite.
Cultural Meanings
Color Harmony Analysis
Palette Mood
Temperature
This palette combines light & airy and balanced moods with cool and warm tones, making it versatile for various design applications.
Professional Implementation Guide
This complementary muted blue palette features 5 carefully selected cool tones that create a calm and professional aesthetic. With medium contrast levels and moderate saturation, this palette is optimized for corporate branding and business websites.
Web Design & Development
For web development, implement this palette with CSS variables for easy theme switching. Consider adding darker variants for better text readability.
- Apply the 60-30-10 rule for visual hierarchy
- Use accent colors for CTAs and hover states
- Maintain consistent color usage across all pages
- Test responsive behavior on multiple devices
Mobile App Interfaces
In mobile applications, these cool tones provide excellent battery efficiency on OLED screens. Use the subtle color variations to define clear touch targets.
- Design both light and dark mode variants
- Consider thumb-reach zones for color placement
- Test under direct sunlight and low light
- Use color to indicate interactive elements
Brand Identity Systems
Build a cohesive brand identity by designating specific colors for specific purposes. Establish your primary brand color from the most distinctive shade and create comprehensive brand guidelines specifying exact usage scenarios.
- Define primary, secondary, and accent colors
- Create usage rules for marketing materials
- Specify minimum sizes and clear space
- Document do's and don'ts for consistency
Frontend Development
Developers can integrate this palette efficiently using modern CSS techniques. Export as CSS variables for maximum flexibility, allowing theme switching and dynamic color updates without rewriting stylesheets.
- Use CSS custom properties for theming
- Implement semantic color naming conventions
- Create utility classes for rapid prototyping
- Consider CSS-in-JS for component-scoped colors
Print Design
For print materials, convert to CMYK using #D8EBF6 as the dominant color for headers and #435274 for accents. These colors translate well to print with minimal adjustment.
- Add to your design software color library
- Create swatches for quick color access
- Use CMYK values for print production
- Request color proofs before final print
Marketing Campaigns
Marketing materials benefit from consistent color usage that reinforces brand recognition. Apply this palette across email campaigns, landing pages, advertisements, and social media for maximum impact and memorability.
- Maintain color consistency across channels
- A/B test color variations for conversion
- Consider cultural color associations
- Align colors with campaign messaging
Strategic Color Distribution
Professional designers follow the 60-30-10 rule for balanced color distribution. Here's how to apply this principle with the Muted Blue:
Dominant Color
#D8EBF6Use #D8EBF6 as your primary color for backgrounds, main content areas. This blue tone should occupy about 60% of your design space.
Secondary Color
#8395C1Apply #8395C1 as your secondary color for subtle backgrounds and card components. Allocate approximately 30% of your layout to this color.
Accent Color
#435274Reserve #435274 for accent elements like buttons, links, and important highlights. This blue accent should be used sparingly (10% of design) to draw attention to key actions.
Professional Best Practices
✓ Smart Usage Tips
- •Add warm accent colors to create focal points and prevent designs from feeling too cold
- •Test your palette across different devices and lighting conditions before finalizing
✗ Common Mistakes to Avoid
- •Don't use all colors equally—establish clear visual hierarchy through color weight
- •Avoid low-contrast text combinations that strain readability
- •Don't rely solely on color to convey meaning (use icons, text, and patterns too)
- •Avoid inconsistent color usage across different pages or screens
- •Don't assume screen colors match print output—always request physical proofs
Palette Overview & Statistics
5
Total Colors
2
Associated Tags
5
Categories
253
Community Likes
Color Analysis & Technical Guide
Detailed breakdown of each color's role, characteristics, and optimal applications. This complementary palette creates a calm and professional aesthetic perfect for corporate branding and business websites.
Individual Color Breakdown
Each color in this cool palette has been analyzed for its properties and ideal usage scenarios. The medium contrast and moderate saturation ensure harmonious visual relationships.
#D8EBF6
BLUE
#D8EBF6 serves as the primary/dominant color in this palette. This light blue (highly saturated) brings trust and tranquility Use it for backgrounds, containers, and large surface areas.
Light toneH: 202°S: 63%L: 91%#849BAA
BLUE
#849BAA serves as the secondary/supporting color in this palette. This medium blue (muted) brings trust and tranquility Use it for cards, borders, section dividers, and supporting UI components.
Light toneH: 204°S: 18%L: 59%#8395C1
BLUE
#8395C1 serves as the secondary/supporting color in this palette. This medium blue (moderately saturated) brings trust and tranquility Use it for cards, borders, section dividers, and supporting UI components.
Light toneH: 223°S: 33%L: 64%#CBA69E
RED
#CBA69E serves as the secondary/supporting color in this palette. This light red (moderately saturated) brings energy and warmth Use it for cards, borders, section dividers, and supporting UI components.
Light toneH: 11°S: 30%L: 71%#435274
BLUE
#435274 serves as the accent/highlight color in this palette. This medium blue (muted) brings professionalism and depth Use it for call-to-action buttons, links, important notifications, and interactive elements.
Dark toneH: 222°S: 27%L: 36%
Palette Characteristics
This palette exhibits distinct characteristics that make it particularly suitable for specific design applications and industries.
Cool tones convey professionalism, trust, and calmness. Ideal for corporate and tech applications.
Medium contrast provides visual interest while maintaining readability with proper text color choices.
Moderate saturation balances visual interest with professional restraint.
Balanced brightness provides flexibility for both light and dark design elements.
💡 Pro Tips for This Palette
- Perfect for: corporate branding, business websites. The complementary color relationship creates natural visual flow.
- Mood & Psychology: This palette evokes a calm and professional feeling, making it ideal for brands seeking to convey those qualities.
- Accessibility: Test text combinations carefully with contrast checkers to ensure accessibility compliance.
- Extensions: Create tints (add white) and shades (add black) to expand this 5-color palette into a comprehensive design system.
- Cultural Context: Cool tones are generally perceived as professional worldwide but always research cultural color meanings.
Export Formats
Explore Muted Blue Palette
The Muted Blue color palette is a masterful blend of soothing hues that evoke feelings of serenity and professionalism, making it an ideal choice for designers seeking to create a calming yet sophisticated visual experience. At its core, this palette is defined by a range of blues, from the pale D8EBF6, which brings to mind a clear sky on a sunny day, to the deeper, richer tones of 435274, a dramatic and intense shade that adds depth and complexity to the overall aesthetic. The addition of 849BAA and 8395C1, both of which are muted, gentle blues, helps to create a sense of balance and harmony, while the unexpected inclusion of CBA69E, a warm, earthy tone with a hint of pink, adds a touch of sophistication and elegance.
As we delve deeper into the palette, it becomes clear that each color plays a unique and important role in the overall visual narrative. The pale D8EBF6, with its soft, serene quality, is perfect for creating backgrounds or accents that need to feel light and airy, while the 849BAA and 8395C1 provide a sense of stability and reliability, making them well-suited for use in typography or other design elements that require a sense of trust and authority. The deeper, richer 435274, on the other hand, is a powerful accent color that can be used to draw attention to specific elements or to create a sense of drama and tension. Meanwhile, the CBA69E adds a touch of warmth and humanity to the palette, helping to balance out the cooler tones and create a sense of emotional connection with the viewer.
In terms of practical applications, the Muted Blue palette is incredibly versatile, making it suitable for use in a wide range of design contexts, from websites and apps to branding and marketing materials. Its professional, corporate feel makes it an ideal choice for businesses or organizations seeking to create a sense of trust and authority, while its tech-inspired aesthetic also makes it well-suited for use in the technology and software industries. Whether used in its entirety or in part, this palette is sure to create a lasting impression on viewers, and its calming, soothing quality makes it perfect for use in designs where a sense of serenity and tranquility is desired.
The psychological impact of the Muted Blue palette is also worth considering, as the colors used have a profound influence on viewer perception and behavior. The blues used in the palette are known to evoke feelings of trust, loyalty, and wisdom, while the addition of the warm, earthy CBA69E helps to create a sense of approachability and friendliness. By leveraging these psychological effects, designers can use the Muted Blue palette to create designs that not only look great but also elicit a specific emotional response from the viewer. For example, the use of the deeper, richer 435274 can create a sense of drama and tension, while the pale D8EBF6 can help to create a sense of calm and serenity.
For designers looking to get the most out of the Muted Blue palette, there are a few pro tips to keep in mind. First, consider pairing the cool blues with complementary colors like orange or yellow to create a bold, eye-catching contrast. The warm, earthy CBA69E can also be paired with deeper, richer blues like 435274 to create a sense of balance and harmony. In terms of design best practices, it's worth noting that the Muted Blue palette is highly versatile and can be used in a wide range of design contexts, from digital to print. By experimenting with different combinations and applications of the palette, designers can unlock its full potential and create designs that are both visually stunning and emotionally resonant.
Palette Image
Below is the generated palette image showing all colors in a vertical layout. Perfect for sharing on social media or using as a reference.

Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about using and implementing the muted blue palette effectively in your projects.
