#ABB5BC

sRGB: 171 / 181 / 188

Radiant blossoms rise against oblivion
Restless constellations wander across quiet meadows
Eternal flames awaken sleeping galaxies

#ABB5BC belongs to the azure family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 171 red, 181 green and 188 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 204.7° lands in the azure region. Its 11.3% saturation makes it close to gray at this lightness. HSL lightness is 70.4% 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 (10.07:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 171, 181, 188
HSL: 204.71°, 11.26%, 70.39%
HSV / HSB: 204.71°, 9.04%, 73.73%
CMYK (approx.): 9.04%, 3.72%, 0.00%, 26.27%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 42.393, 45.336, 54.096
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 73.113, -2.081, -4.750
WCAG relative luminance: 0.45337
24-bit decimal: 11253180

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 #ABB5BC 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: 10.07:1

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

#BCB2AB sits half a turn (180°) from #ABB5BC 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.

#ABB5BC #BCB2AB

Analogous

#ABBCBB and #ABADBC sit 30° to either side of #ABB5BC. 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.

#ABBCBB #ABB5BC #ABADBC

Triadic

#ABB5BC, #BCABB5 and #B5BCAB are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#ABB5BC #BCABB5 #B5BCAB

Split complementary

Start at #ABB5BC and look across the wheel. #BCABAD and #BCBBAB sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#ABB5BC #BCABAD #BCBBAB

Square

Starting with #ABB5BC, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #BBABBC, #BCB2AB, then #ADBCAB. Across the square, #ABB5BC pairs with #BCB2AB, and #BBABBC with #ADBCAB.

#ABB5BC #BBABBC #BCB2AB #ADBCAB

Tetradic

#ABB5BC and #BCB2AB are opposites, as are #B2ABBC and #B5BCAB. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#ABB5BC #B2ABBC #BCB2AB #B5BCAB

Tints

Mixing #ABB5BC with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #BCC4C9, keeps 80% of the original. By #EEF0F2, the mixture is 80% white.

#ABB5BC #BCC4C9 #CDD3D7 #DDE1E4 #EEF0F2 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #ABB5BC with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #899196, keeps 80% of the original. By #222426, the mixture is 80% black.

#ABB5BC #899196 #676D71 #44484B #222426 #000000

Tones

Mixing #ABB5BC with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #A2AAB0, keeps 80% of the original. By #898B8C, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#ABB5BC #A2AAB0 #9AA0A4 #919598 #898B8C #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

#ABB5BC

RGB

rgb(171 181 188)

HSL

hsl(204.706 11.258% 70.392%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #ABB5BC;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#ABB5BC uses 171 red, 181 green and 188 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 67.1%

Green 71.0%

Blue 73.7%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #ABB5BC is 9.0% cyan, 3.7% magenta, 0.0% yellow and 26.3% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 9.0%

Magenta 3.7%

Yellow 0.0%

Black 26.3%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #AABBBB. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #ABB in CSS. For a modern design, keep #ABB5BC when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #99CCCC, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand: #AABBBB Nearest web-safe: #99CCCC

Gradient to complement

#ABB5BC #AEB5B9 #B1B4B6 #B4B4B4 #B6B3B1 #B9B3AE #BCB2AB

Color vision previews

Compare how #ABB5BC 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.

#B2B5BC

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.

#B0B3BC

Tritanopia

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

#A7B7B7

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.

#AFB5BC

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.

#AEB4BC

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#AAB5BA

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.

#AFB4B8

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 0.46208 B 0.50289

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 0.67777 G 0.70855 B 0.73423

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.41698 G 0.46026 B 0.49830

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 0.320 Y 45.336

CMY

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

C % 32.941 M % 29.020 Y % 26.275

Binary RGB

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

10101011 10110101 10111100