#ABA5BB

sRGB: 171 / 165 / 187

Radiant blossoms rise against oblivion
Sacred blossoms wander across quiet meadows
Eternal flames defy the passing ages

#ABA5BB belongs to the violet family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 171 red, 165 green and 187 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 256.4° lands in the violet region. Its 13.9% saturation makes it close to gray at this lightness. HSL lightness is 69.0% 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 (8.83:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 171, 165, 187
HSL: 256.36°, 13.92%, 69.02%
HSV / HSB: 256.36°, 11.76%, 73.33%
CMYK (approx.): 8.56%, 11.76%, 0.00%, 26.67%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 39.217, 39.156, 52.507
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 68.864, 6.443, -10.509
WCAG relative luminance: 0.39156
24-bit decimal: 11249083

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 #ABA5BB 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: 8.83:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 2.38:1

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

#B5BBA5 sits half a turn (180°) from #ABA5BB 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.

#ABA5BB #B5BBA5

Analogous

#A5AABB and #B6A5BB sit 30° to either side of #ABA5BB. 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.

#A5AABB #ABA5BB #B6A5BB

Triadic

#ABA5BB, #BBABA5 and #A5BBAB are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#ABA5BB #BBABA5 #A5BBAB

Split complementary

Start at #ABA5BB and look across the wheel. #BBB6A5 and #AABBA5 sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#ABA5BB #BBB6A5 #AABBA5

Square

Starting with #ABA5BB, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #BBA5AA, #B5BBA5, then #A5BBB6. Across the square, #ABA5BB pairs with #B5BBA5, and #BBA5AA with #A5BBB6.

#ABA5BB #BBA5AA #B5BBA5 #A5BBB6

Tetradic

#ABA5BB and #B5BBA5 are opposites, as are #BBA5B5 and #A5BBAB. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#ABA5BB #BBA5B5 #B5BBA5 #A5BBAB

Tints

Mixing #ABA5BB with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #BCB7C9, keeps 80% of the original. By #EEEDF1, the mixture is 80% white.

#ABA5BB #BCB7C9 #CDC9D6 #DDDBE4 #EEEDF1 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #ABA5BB with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #898496, keeps 80% of the original. By #222125, the mixture is 80% black.

#ABA5BB #898496 #676370 #44424B #222125 #000000

Tones

Mixing #ABA5BB with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #A29EAF, keeps 80% of the original. By #89878C, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#ABA5BB #A29EAF #9A96A3 #918F98 #89878C #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

#ABA5BB

RGB

rgb(171 165 187)

HSL

hsl(256.364 13.924% 69.020%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #ABA5BB;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#ABA5BB uses 171 red, 165 green and 187 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 67.1%

Green 64.7%

Blue 73.3%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #ABA5BB is 8.6% cyan, 11.8% magenta, 0.0% yellow and 26.7% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 8.6%

Magenta 11.8%

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 #ABA5BB 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

#ABA5BB #ADA9B7 #AEACB4 #B0B0B0 #B2B4AC #B3B7A9 #B5BBA5

Color vision previews

Compare how #ABA5BB 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.

#A1A8BC

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.

#A2A8BA

Tritanopia

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

#A8A8AC

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.

#A5A7BB

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.

#A5A7BB

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#AAA6B6

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#A8A8A8

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.

#AAA7B2

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 0.40724 G 0.37626 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 0.66649 G 0.64786 B 0.72650

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.40174 G 0.37729 B 0.48666

CIE xyY

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

x 0.300 y 0.299 Y 39.156

CMY

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

C % 32.941 M % 35.294 Y % 26.667

Binary RGB

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

10101011 10100101 10111011