Dai Blue (Indigo-Grey)

Traditional Chinese bluish-black like distant mountains, profound and refined

HEX#415065

RGBrgb(65, 80, 101)

HSLhsl(215, 22%, 33%)

HSVhsv(215, 36%, 40%)

CMYKcmyk(36%, 21%, 0%, 60%)

HEXA#415065FF

RGBArgba(65, 80, 101, 1)

HSLAhsla(215, 22%, 33%, 1)

OKLCHoklch(67.4%, 0.03, 254)

LCHlch(62.3%, 16.2, 245)

🎨 Color Palettes

Analogous2-3 adjacent hues (≤60°)

Triadic3 hues spaced 120° apart

Split ComplementaryMain color + colors adjacent to its complement

Complementary2 hues spaced 180° apart

Tetradic (Rectangle)4 hues forming a rectangle

MonochromaticSingle hue with varying saturation and lightness

♿ WCAG Contrast Colors

Learn More →

Aa14px Body

High Contrast Text

#E9ECF1Ratio 6.9:1AA

Suitable for body text, headings, and primary content, ensuring readability for all users

Aa14px Body

Standard Text

#C0BED5Ratio 4.5:1AA

Suitable for regular body content, meeting WCAG AA standards

Aa14px Body

Large Text / UI Components

#AB95BBRatio 3:1AA Large

Suitable for large text (≥18px bold or ≥24px), icons, UI component boundaries

Aa14px Body

Decorative / Dividers

#A26D83Ratio 2:1Fail

Suitable for decorative elements, dividers, non-essential text

📊 Color Scales

Online Color Picker → Gradient Generator →

Lightness VariationFixed hue and saturation, proportional lightness scaling 30%→100%

#14191F

#1C222C

#242C38

#2A3441

#323D4E

#3A475A

#425167

Saturation VariationFixed hue and lightness, proportional saturation scaling 40%→100%

#4D535C

#4B535D

#49525F

#485261

#455263

#435165

#425167

Lightness + Saturation Mixed VariationSimultaneous lightness and saturation proportional scaling

#18191B

#202327

#282D33

#2E343D

#353E4B

#3C4858

#425167

Hue Fine-TuningFixed saturation and lightness, stepwise hue fine-tuning ±15°

#425A67

#425767

#425467

#425167

#424E67

#424B67

#424867

💡 Use Cases

🏔️

Ink Wash Landscapes

Digital brushwork with dai blue, layering to recreate the vast cosmology of Song landscape painting.

🏯

Neo-Chinese Screens

Perforated metal panels in villa courtyards, warm light revealing silhouette landscapes—modern ink-wash by day.

📿

Zen Linen Robes

Modified Hanfu linen tea robes, replacing monastic black with serene dai blue for wearable literati elegance.

📔

Deluxe Classics

Cloth-bound complete collections from publishing houses, gold-stamped on dai blue spines, embodying scholarly solemnity.

📜 Origin & History

Dai Blue combines the eyebrow pigment of ancient Chinese women with deep blue. Women used stone da to paint eyebrows—Chu Ci records 'powder white and dai black.' 'Distant mountains like dai' describes the hazy, profound black-blue of mountain ranges at dusk.

In Ming and Qing classical gardens, dai blue was used for polished brick walls and partition primers. In Jiangnan's white-wall-dai-tile architectural style, dai is the weighty ink contrast to white walls, the soul of ink-wash composition.

This color also served as the stable base for Qing emperor's casual court robes. As an advanced intermediate color beyond the five primary colors, close to black yet suitably solemn, it met the political need for dignity without usurping imperial yellow.

In modern Chinese-themed games and films, dai blue is widely used for unfathomable ancient masters or hidden plots. It represents a quiet yet deeply profound Chinese wisdom and the Eastern aesthetic's ultimate use of silence and negative space.

🧠 Color Psychology

HiddenCarrying deep reserve, hiding storms beneath a calm surface—the perfect protective color for a ruler in hibernation.

VigorousLike dry brush strokes on Xuan paper, firm and seasoned, revealing a tough skeleton weathered by time.

ReclusiveLike deep perspective in landscape painting, fading into distance, expressing the literati's retreat to complete their ideals.

SternThe austere solitude of high mountains, like winter snow's solemnity, radiating a serious, untouchable distance.

ContainedDrawing all brightness inward—extreme self-discipline like a black hole, emitting no trace of true emotion.

VastThe cosmic background that contains all, limitless mountains gathered in this hue, expanding the heart to open wilderness.

← Back to Explore Colors