What Accent Colors Go with Blue? Combinations That Keep the Palette Fresh

When blue is the main color and you want an accent that stands out without losing a fresh feel, a subdued red-orange can be a good counterpoint. This example pairs blue ■#3D6F8E with burnt orange ■#A85D32 as the accent. Adding a small amount of warm color to the cooler blue, then keeping the background and body text neutral, helps preserve the freshness of the palette while creating a clear focal point.

Pair blue with a small amount of subdued red-orange

■#3D6F8E is a medium blue with a slightly muted character. If the accent is also a vivid blue or cyan, the whole palette can lean heavily cool. Here, the accent is ■#A85D32, which is farther away in hue (the basic family of color, such as red, blue, or green). Choosing a muted red-orange instead of a highly saturated one creates visible contrast without letting the accent overpower the blue.

For body text, use charcoal blue ■#263640. Use off-white ■#F7FAFB for the page background and pale blue ■#E7F1F6 for supporting panels. Keeping the non-accent colors quiet makes the information hierarchy easier to control.

On a harbor-town itinerary page, use red-orange for times and reservation notes

For a one-day harbor-town itinerary, set the page background to ■#F7FAFB and the body text to ■#263640. The contrast ratio (a measure of the relative brightness difference between foreground and background colors) is about 11.89:1.

Use ■#3D6F8E for the page title band or route headings, with ■#FFFFFF text. The contrast ratio is about 5.44:1, above the 4.5:1 minimum for normal-size text. For cards containing travel time or stop descriptions, use ■#E7F1F6 with ■#263640 text, which gives about 10.87:1.

Reserve the accent ■#A85D32 for short time and reservation labels such as “10:20 Departure” or “Reservation recommended.” Red-orange text on ■#F7FAFB has a contrast ratio of about 4.68:1, while ■#FFFFFF text on a red-orange label background is about 4.91:1. If ferry, walking, and bus segments are color-coded, include text or icons such as “Ferry” and “Walk” as well, rather than relying on color alone.

WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) 2.2 requires at least a 4.5:1 contrast ratio for normal-size text. It also requires that color not be the only visual means used to convey information, so text, shape, or another cue should be available as well.

To keep the palette fresh, do not place blue and red-orange directly on top of each other

■#3D6F8E against ■#A85D32 has a contrast ratio of only about 1.11:1. Even though the hues look very different, their brightness is similar, so avoid using one as text on the other or relying on their boundary alone to communicate an important distinction. Add ■#F7FAFB space between them, or use ■#263640 text labels or borders.

Keeping the red-orange accent limited to times, reservation notes, and other short pieces of important information makes it easier to preserve the blue area and the overall fresh impression. In HueRoll, you can enter ■#3D6F8E and review complementary and analogous colors, palette suggestions, and the selected color’s contrast with white and black. HueRoll does not compare arbitrary color pairs or automatically judge WCAG AA or AAA conformance, so the two-color ratios shown in this article were calculated separately.