A soft, pale colour that still has a hint of colour rather than reading as pure white.
Colourwise classifies a colour as pastel when HSL lightness is high (≥70%) and HSV saturation is low-to-moderate (8–45%) — pale but not washed all the way to neutral.
Not every pale colour is a pastel — a pale but strongly saturated yellow reads as 'light and vivid', not pastel.
Baby blue and mint are pastels.
Pastel palettes are a recurring, distinct design trend from muted or jewel-tone palettes.
Pastel is a region, not a quantity: high lightness together with modest saturation. Colourwise's rule is HSL lightness of 70% or more and HSV saturation from 8% to 45%. In CIELAB terms that is a high L* with a small-to-moderate C*, the corner of colour space reached by adding a great deal of white to a clean hue.
| Colour | HSL lightness | HSV saturation | Pastel? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baby Pink #f9dde2 | 92% | 11.2% | Yes |
| Mint Green #98ff98 | 80% | 40.4% | Yes |
| Ivory #fffff0 | 97% | 5.9% | No |
| Lemon Yellow #fff44f | 65% | 69.0% | No |
| Dusty Rose #c08081 | 63% | 33.3% | No |
Ivory fails from below: at 5.9% saturation it is an off-white, not a pastel. Lemon yellow fails from above, light enough at 65% but too strong at 69.0%. Dusty rose has a pastel's softness and a lightness of only 63%, which makes it muted rather than pastel.
How this was calculated: Colourwise's rule, applied to each catalogue HEX value: HSL lightness of at least 70% and HSV saturation from 8% to 45%.
Pastel fills are used for chart categories, tags or calendar events with white or pale text.
All pastels have similar, high lightness, so they contrast poorly with white text and with one another. Dark text is the only readable choice, and anyone who cannot rely on hue needs borders or labels to tell the categories apart.
A pastel is printed on uncoated or recycled paper.
The paper's own greyish or yellowish white is close in strength to the ink, so it shifts the colour visibly. A pale blue on cream stock moves towards green.