Denim Color Codes
Denim is a dark, saturated azure blue with the hex code #1560BD, RGB values of 21, 96, 189 and an HSL value of hsl(213, 80%, 41%).
| HEX | #1560BD |
|---|---|
| RGB | 21, 96, 189 |
| HSL | hsl(213, 80%, 41%) |
| HSV | 213°, 89%, 74% |
| CMYK | 89%, 49%, 0%, 26% |
| LAB | 41.53, 14.03, -54.87 |
| CIELCHuv | 41.53, 84.30, 255.26° |
- Nearest Pantone
- PMS 2935 C ΔE 5.1 · approximate
- Nearest CSS name
-
royalblueΔE 17.2
Source Wikipedia, List of colors (cites Crayola)
Denim Color Hex Code
The Denim color hex code is #1560BD. Those six digits are three pairs, 15 for red, 60 for green and BD for blue, which is the same triplet a browser reads from the CSS value below.
#1560BD
Denim Color RGB Code
The Denim RGB code is rgb(21, 96, 189). Blue carries the most light at 189 of 255, which is what puts this color where it sits on the wheel.
rgb(21, 96, 189)
Denim Color HSV Code
The Denim HSV code is 213°, 89%, 74%. Read it as a hue of 213 degrees, 89% saturation and 74% value, which is the form most color pickers use because moving one number changes one thing.
213°, 89%, 74%
Denim Color CIELChuv Code
The Denim CIELCHuv code is 41.53, 84.30, 255.26°. Unlike hex or RGB this one is perceptual: lightness 42 means mid-toned to the eye rather than to the screen, and chroma 84 is how far it sits from grey.
41.53, 84.30, 255.26°
Tonal scale
What are Denim Color Palettes?
A shade mixes toward black, a tint toward white, a tone toward grey. Every step keeps the hue and is copy-ready.
Shades, toward black
Tints, toward white
Tones, toward grey
Palettes
What are Denim Color Palette Codes?
Each of these is a hue rotation from #1560BD. They are generated, not curated, so they are exact.
Complementary
The opposite hue is #BD7215, a mid-tone, saturated orange. Complements carry the strongest contrast of any two-color scheme, so this pair suits a call to action better than a background. Both are saturated, so give the complement much less area than the base or the two will fight.
Analogous
Its two neighbours are #15B4BD and #1E15BD. Because they overlap heavily in hue, nothing in the group competes, and the eye reads the whole set as a single color with variation.
Triadic
#BD1560 and #60BD15 complete an even 120 degree split. Three fully independent hues, so one has to lead: keep this base dominant and let the other two appear in small quantities.
Split-complementary
Instead of the direct complement, this takes the two hues either side of it: #BD1E15 and #B4BD15. Almost the same contrast, without the edge shimmer a true complementary pair produces at high saturation.
Tetradic
Two complementary pairs forming a rectangle: this base with #BD7215, and #BD15B4 with #15BD1E. The richest of the five and the hardest to balance, so treat this base as the lead and hold the other three well back.
Accessibility
Contrast checker: is Denim accessible?
Measured against white and against black, with a separate verdict for each element type. Small text, large text and UI components have different thresholds, so one pass or fail for the whole color would be wrong roughly a third of the time.
White background
6.10:16.10
contrast ratio on white background
| Element | AA | AAA |
|---|---|---|
| Small text needs 4.5:1 / 7:1 | Passes | Fails |
| Large text needs 3:1 / 4.5:1 | Passes | Passes |
| UI component needs 3:1 | Passes | n/a |
Black background
3.44:13.44
contrast ratio on black background
| Element | AA | AAA |
|---|---|---|
| Small text needs 4.5:1 / 7:1 | Fails | Fails |
| Large text needs 3:1 / 4.5:1 | Passes | Fails |
| UI component needs 3:1 | Passes | n/a |
Denim clears WCAG AA against white at 6.10:1, so it is safe for body copy as well as headings. Text placed on it should be white, which gives 6.10:1. It is a highly saturated color, so it will dominate anything it sits beside. Give it space rather than surrounding it with other strong colors.
Color vision
How Denim looks with color blindness
Around 300 million people see color differently from the way it is specified. Each card shows the actual color beside how it appears, and how common that form of vision is.
Protanopia
About 1% of men#4243AC
Denim shifts noticeably here. ΔE 19.4
No working red cones. Reds darken sharply and drift toward the same muddy olive as green.
Deuteranopia
About 1% of men#3E39A8
Denim shifts noticeably here. ΔE 24.8
No working green cones. With the milder deuteranomaly at nearer 6% of men, this is by far the most common form, and the one worth designing around.
Tritanopia
About 1 in 10,000#1E9D9A
Denim changes substantially here. ΔE 68.5
No working blue cones. Blues shift toward green and yellows toward pink. Rare, and unlike the others it is not sex-linked, so it affects men and women equally.
Achromatopsia
About 1 in 30,000#626262
Denim changes substantially here. ΔE 56.6
No color vision at all. Also a fair proxy for how the color survives a greyscale print or a failing screen.
To a deuteranope, the most common form, Denim reads as #3E39A8. That is a shift of ΔE 24.8, so it is a different color to roughly one man in sixteen. Blues survive red-green deficiency well, which is why so much interface design leans on them. The form to watch here is tritanopia, though at roughly 1 in 10,000 it affects far fewer people. The widest shift is under tritanopia, at ΔE 68.5. The rule this leads to needs no simulator: never let color be the only thing carrying a message. Add a label, an icon, or a clear difference in lightness, and the problem disappears for everyone.
Snippets
Using Denim in code
:root {
--denim: #1560BD;
}
.example {
color: var(--denim);
}// tailwind.config.js
theme: {
extend: {
colors: {
'denim': '#1560BD',
},
},
}// SwiftUI takes 0–1 components, not 0–255.
let denim = Color(
red: 0.082,
green: 0.376,
blue: 0.741
)<!-- res/values/colors.xml -->
<color name="denim">#1560BD</color>// Flutter wants ARGB: FF for full opacity, then the hex.
const denim = Color(0xFF1560BD);