#AAA8BB

sRGB: 170 / 168 / 187

Radiant blossoms flourish beyond boundaries
Sacred blossoms echo between distant mountains
Eternal flames defy the passing ages

#AAA8BB belongs to the blue family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 170 red, 168 green and 187 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 246.3° lands in the blue region. Its 12.3% saturation makes it close to gray at this lightness. HSL lightness is 69.6% 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 (9.03:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 170, 168, 187
HSL: 246.32°, 12.26%, 69.61%
HSV / HSB: 246.32°, 10.16%, 73.33%
CMYK (approx.): 9.09%, 10.16%, 0.00%, 26.67%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 39.548, 40.139, 52.679
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 69.569, 4.449, -9.466
WCAG relative luminance: 0.40139
24-bit decimal: 11184315

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 #AAA8BB 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: 9.03:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 2.33:1

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

#B9BBA8 sits half a turn (180°) from #AAA8BB 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.

#AAA8BB #B9BBA8

Analogous

#A8B0BB and #B3A8BB sit 30° to either side of #AAA8BB. 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.

#A8B0BB #AAA8BB #B3A8BB

Triadic

#AAA8BB, #BBAAA8 and #A8BBAA are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#AAA8BB #BBAAA8 #A8BBAA

Split complementary

Start at #AAA8BB and look across the wheel. #BBB3A8 and #B0BBA8 sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#AAA8BB #BBB3A8 #B0BBA8

Square

Starting with #AAA8BB, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #BBA8B0, #B9BBA8, then #A8BBB3. Across the square, #AAA8BB pairs with #B9BBA8, and #BBA8B0 with #A8BBB3.

#AAA8BB #BBA8B0 #B9BBA8 #A8BBB3

Tetradic

#AAA8BB and #B9BBA8 are opposites, as are #BBA8B9 and #A8BBAA. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#AAA8BB #BBA8B9 #B9BBA8 #A8BBAA

Tints

Mixing #AAA8BB with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #BBB9C9, keeps 80% of the original. By #EEEEF1, the mixture is 80% white.

#AAA8BB #BBB9C9 #CCCBD6 #DDDCE4 #EEEEF1 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #AAA8BB with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #888696, keeps 80% of the original. By #222225, the mixture is 80% black.

#AAA8BB #888696 #666570 #44434B #222225 #000000

Tones

Mixing #AAA8BB with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #A2A0AF, keeps 80% of the original. By #88888C, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#AAA8BB #A2A0AF #9998A3 #919098 #88888C #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

#AAA8BB

RGB

rgb(170 168 187)

HSL

hsl(246.316 12.258% 69.608%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #AAA8BB;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#AAA8BB uses 170 red, 168 green and 187 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 66.7%

Green 65.9%

Blue 73.3%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #AAA8BB is 9.1% cyan, 10.2% magenta, 0.0% yellow and 26.7% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 9.1%

Magenta 10.2%

Yellow 0.0%

Black 26.7%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #AAAABB. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #AAB in CSS. For a modern design, keep #AAA8BB when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #9999CC, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand: #AAAABB Nearest web-safe: #9999CC

Gradient to complement

#AAA8BB #ADABB8 #AFAEB5 #B2B2B2 #B4B5AE #B7B8AB #B9BBA8

Color vision previews

Compare how #AAA8BB 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.

#A4AABC

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.

#A4AABA

Tritanopia

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

#A7ABAE

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.

#A6A9BB

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.

#A6A9BB

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#A9A9B6

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#AAAAAA

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.

#AAA9B3

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 0.40198 G 0.39157 B 0.49693

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 0.66528 G 0.65909 B 0.72719

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.40013 G 0.39192 B 0.48768

CIE xyY

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

x 0.299 y 0.303 Y 40.139

CMY

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

C % 33.333 M % 34.118 Y % 26.667

Binary RGB

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

10101010 10101000 10111011