Dark Blue #00008B

Dark Blue (#00008B) is a very dark, saturated blue with an OKLCH hue of 264°, lightness 0.29 and chroma 0.199. It sits on the cool side of the color wheel. In practice it behaves as a grounding tone — suited to text, outlines, and shadowed surfaces.

Color values

HEX#00008B
RGBrgb(0, 0, 139)
HSLhsl(240, 100%, 27%)
HSVhsv(240, 100%, 55%)
CMYKcmyk(100%, 100%, 0%, 45%)
CIE Lablab(14.8 50.4 -68.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.288 0.199 264)

How Dark Blue behaves under real light

Under warm 2700K interior light Dark Blue shifts subtly: leans toward purple; in north-facing or shaded light it is virtually unchanged. Overall drift across common illuminants is small (max ΔE ≈ 1.8), so it is a lighting-stable choice.

Contrast & accessibility

Against white it measures 15.3:1 and against black 1.37:1, so white text is the stronger pairing. That pairing passes WCAG AA for body text. Avoid black text on this color entirely.

Palettes built from Dark Blue

Tonal

One color explored: close hues with real lightness and chroma structure, so the palette is the anchor through value rather than a set of colors.

#7198ea · #466fcc · #1d47af · #00008b · #00004e · #000012

Analogous

The anchor's neighbours on the wheel — everything shares an undertone, so the chord carries color without anything having to be muted to get along.

#00516f · #003c68 · #00008b · #19005d · #170036 · #0d0018

Shifted

The mid-gap pairing — sage and mustard, terracotta and olive. A foil rotated 40–65° toward warm or cool: too far to be kin, too near to argue, carried by temperature and a deliberate value offset.

#d6a4e9 · #6796fd · #a94cca · #2c57be · #593168 · #00008b

Contrast

One deliberately opposed voice — a single restrained counterpoint across the wheel, or temperature against temperature where the anchor is too muted to carry a loud opposite.

#f7b900 · #48649f · #374768 · #00008b · #000540 · #000013

Quiet Support

The anchor as the only color in the room. True neutrals or complement-warmed near-neutrals let it stay dominant.

#fbf1dd · #a6b3cd · #7e776a · #35425c · #00008b · #1c1404

Bright Accent

This color as a ground rather than a subject — its own restraint held across a narrow value band, carrying one saturated voice from the opposite temperature.

#f7f1e6 · #d1cbbe · #a8a193 · #372e1c · #150c00 · #00008b

Complementary

The opposite hue on the perceptual wheel, tempered to field strength — warm/cool tension without vibration.

#c7e0c0 · #c7c537 · #7e68a6 · #32402e · #00008b · #041017

Split-complementary

The complement's two neighbours instead of the complement itself — strong contrast with a lower clash risk.

#c3dbbc · #bbaf6e · #95664e · #344032 · #00008b · #070f14

Triadic

Three hues spaced evenly around the wheel; the anchor leads and the other two are held at supporting strength.

#ffedeb · #ff8d87 · #00921c · #00510a · #00008b · #320002

Tetradic

Two complementary pairs offset by 90° — the richest chord, kept usable by a strict lightness hierarchy.

#ffecf3 · #ff84ba · #987100 · #004e3f · #00008b · #1f1300

Tints, shades & muted variants

Tints

#133BA5 · #3962BD · #6186D6 · #8AABEE · #B9D0FF

Shades

#00007B · #00006A · #00005A · #00004A · #00003C

Muted

#011A77 · #0B2462 · #18294E

Using Dark Blue

As a deep tone it works for grounding elements — text, outlines, and shadowed surfaces — rather than open fields. In palettes it pairs most predictably with its tonal ramp and analogous neighbors; reserve the complementary hue for small, deliberate contrast.

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