#89BBCC

sRGB: 137 / 187 / 204

Golden embers surge toward distant shores
Restless constellations shimmer across boundless heavens
Boundless spirits awaken sleeping galaxies

#89BBCC belongs to the azure family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 137 red, 187 green and 204 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 195.2° lands in the azure region. Its 39.6% saturation makes it partway between gray and the most vivid version of this hue at this lightness. HSL lightness is 66.9% on a scale from black (0%) to white (100%). Of black and white lettering, black has the clearer light-to-dark separation on this background (10.04:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 137, 187, 204
HSL: 195.22°, 39.64%, 66.86%
HSV / HSB: 195.22°, 32.84%, 80.00%
CMYK (approx.): 32.84%, 8.33%, 0.00%, 20.00%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 38.984, 45.218, 63.802
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 73.035, -12.275, -13.841
WCAG relative luminance: 0.45219
24-bit decimal: 9026508

CMYK uses a profile-free approximation. Printed output depends on the press, ink and paper. Lab uses a D65 white point.

Text contrast

Contrast tells you how clearly lettering separates from #89BBCC in light and dark. The ratio compares relative luminance, a measure of light weighted for human vision. Identical colors give 1:1 and black against white gives 21:1. A ratio of 2.99:1 falls just below the 3:1 AA minimum for large text. Body text needs at least 4.5:1 because its finer strokes are harder to distinguish.

Black text: 10.04:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 2.09:1

Normal text: Fail
Large text: Fail

AA and AAA are WCAG accessibility levels. AAA sets a higher bar: 7:1 for normal text and 4.5:1 for large text. Large text begins at 18 pt regular or 14 pt bold. Ratings use the unrounded ratio.

Reference: WCAG text contrast guidance

Palettes & scales

Harmonies rotate the hue. Scales mix the starting color with white, black or middle gray in 20% steps in encoded sRGB.

Complementary

#CC9A89 sits half a turn (180°) from #89BBCC on the HSL wheel. Keeping saturation and lightness steady while crossing to the opposite hue gives you a contrasting accent. Check text contrast separately before using the pair for lettering.

#89BBCC #CC9A89

Analogous

#89CCBC and #8999CC sit 30° to either side of #89BBCC. The three hues are neighbors on the wheel, so you can change the color of a border or highlight while keeping it close to the original.

#89CCBC #89BBCC #8999CC

Triadic

#89BBCC, #CC89BB and #BBCC89 are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#89BBCC #CC89BB #BBCC89

Split complementary

Start at #89BBCC and look across the wheel. #CC899A and #CCBC89 sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#89BBCC #CC899A #CCBC89

Square

Starting with #89BBCC, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #BC89CC, #CC9A89, then #99CC89. Across the square, #89BBCC pairs with #CC9A89, and #BC89CC with #99CC89.

#89BBCC #BC89CC #CC9A89 #99CC89

Tetradic

#89BBCC and #CC9A89 are opposites, as are #9A89CC and #BBCC89. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#89BBCC #9A89CC #CC9A89 #BBCC89

Tints

Mixing #89BBCC with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #A1C9D6, keeps 80% of the original. By #E7F1F5, the mixture is 80% white.

#89BBCC #A1C9D6 #B8D6E0 #D0E4EB #E7F1F5 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #89BBCC with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #6E96A3, keeps 80% of the original. By #1B2529, the mixture is 80% black.

#89BBCC #6E96A3 #52707A #374B52 #1B2529 #000000

Tones

Mixing #89BBCC with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #87AFBD, keeps 80% of the original. By #828C8F, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#89BBCC #87AFBD #85A3AE #84989E #828C8F #808080

Copy color codes

Hex, RGB and HSL are three ways to write this screen color. Paste any of them into a CSS color property.

Hex

#89BBCC

RGB

rgb(137 187 204)

HSL

hsl(195.224 39.645% 66.863%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #89BBCC;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#89BBCC uses 137 red, 187 green and 204 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 53.7%

Green 73.3%

Blue 80.0%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #89BBCC is 32.8% cyan, 8.3% magenta, 0.0% yellow and 20.0% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 32.8%

Magenta 8.3%

Yellow 0.0%

Black 20.0%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #88BBCC. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #8BC in CSS. For a modern design, keep #89BBCC when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #99CCCC, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand: #88BBCC Nearest web-safe: #99CCCC

Gradient to complement

#89BBCC #94B6C1 #9FB0B6 #ABABAB #B6A59F #C1A094 #CC9A89

Color vision previews

Compare how #89BBCC appears in each simulation. When two chart lines or status indicators become hard to tell apart, a label, shape or line pattern gives readers another way to distinguish them. Individual perception varies.

Protanopia

A red–green color vision deficiency. Without a distinct response from long-wavelength cones, some reds and greens can look alike, and reds can appear darker.

#B1B8CD

Deuteranopia

A red–green color vision deficiency. Without a distinct response from medium-wavelength cones, some greens can be difficult to distinguish from reds or browns.

#A6B0CC

Tritanopia

A blue–yellow color vision deficiency. Without a distinct response from short-wavelength cones, blue can resemble green, and yellow can resemble pink.

#72C1C0

Protanomaly (50%)

An altered long-wavelength cone response can make reds appear dimmer and harder to distinguish from greens. This swatch shows the model’s halfway setting.

#A4B8CD

Deuteranomaly (50%)

An altered medium-wavelength cone response can reduce the visible difference between reds and greens. This swatch shows the model’s halfway setting.

#9FB4CC

Tritanomaly (50%)

An altered short-wavelength cone response can make blue harder to distinguish from green. This swatch shows the model’s halfway setting.

#87BCC8

Grayscale (luminance)

This design check removes hue and preserves relative luminance so you can compare light and dark areas.

#B3B3B3

Partial grayscale (50% blend)

This design check mixes the original color halfway toward its grayscale equivalent in linear light. Use it to see how a design holds up as color fades.

#A0B7C0

Reference: National Eye Institute: Types of Color Vision Deficiency

Technical reference

CAM16 and CIECAM02 below assume D65 white, an average surround, background Y of 20 against white at 100, and adapting luminance of 4.07 cd/m².

Linear sRGB

These channels scale with emitted light. Use them for lighting calculations and physically meaningful blends.

R 0.25016 G 0.49693 B 0.60383

Display P3

P3 displays can reproduce a wider range of reds and greens. These coordinates reproduce this same sRGB swatch on a color-managed P3 display.

R 0.57845 G 0.72789 B 0.79181

Linear Display P3

These P3 channels are proportional to light, before display encoding.

R 0.29397 G 0.48874 B 0.59005

CIE xyY

The x and y coordinates locate chromaticity on a diagram. Y gives relative luminance on a scale where white is 100.

x 0.263 y 0.306 Y 45.218

CMY

Ideal cyan, magenta and yellow are the complements of the encoded red, green and blue channels.

C % 46.275 M % 26.667 Y % 20.000

Binary RGB

Each eight-bit group represents one channel. Together they store the 24-bit hex color.

10001001 10111011 11001100