#ACA0AE

sRGB: 172 / 160 / 174

Radiant blossoms pierce eternal darkness
Sacred blossoms fade beyond remembrance
Brilliant stars transcend the limits of dreams

#ACA0AE belongs to the magenta family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 172 red, 160 green and 174 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 291.4° lands in the magenta region. Its 8.0% saturation makes it close to gray at this lightness. HSL lightness is 65.5% 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 (8.39:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 172, 160, 174
HSL: 291.43°, 7.95%, 65.49%
HSV / HSB: 291.43°, 8.05%, 68.24%
CMYK (approx.): 1.15%, 8.05%, 0.00%, 31.76%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 37.222, 36.968, 45.221
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 67.253, 6.963, -5.668
WCAG relative luminance: 0.36968
24-bit decimal: 11313326

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 #ACA0AE 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: 8.39:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 2.50:1

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

#A2AEA0 sits half a turn (180°) from #ACA0AE 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.

#ACA0AE #A2AEA0

Analogous

#A5A0AE and #AEA0A9 sit 30° to either side of #ACA0AE. 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.

#A5A0AE #ACA0AE #AEA0A9

Triadic

#ACA0AE, #AEACA0 and #A0AEAC are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#ACA0AE #AEACA0 #A0AEAC

Split complementary

Start at #ACA0AE and look across the wheel. #A9AEA0 and #A0AEA5 sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#ACA0AE #A9AEA0 #A0AEA5

Square

Starting with #ACA0AE, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #AEA5A0, #A2AEA0, then #A0A9AE. Across the square, #ACA0AE pairs with #A2AEA0, and #AEA5A0 with #A0A9AE.

#ACA0AE #AEA5A0 #A2AEA0 #A0A9AE

Tetradic

#ACA0AE and #A2AEA0 are opposites, as are #AEA0A2 and #A0AEAC. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#ACA0AE #AEA0A2 #A2AEA0 #A0AEAC

Tints

Mixing #ACA0AE with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #BDB3BE, keeps 80% of the original. By #EEECEF, the mixture is 80% white.

#ACA0AE #BDB3BE #CDC6CE #DED9DF #EEECEF #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #ACA0AE with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #8A808B, keeps 80% of the original. By #222023, the mixture is 80% black.

#ACA0AE #8A808B #676068 #454046 #222023 #000000

Tones

Mixing #ACA0AE with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #A39AA5, keeps 80% of the original. By #898689, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#ACA0AE #A39AA5 #9A939C #928D92 #898689 #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

#ACA0AE

RGB

rgb(172 160 174)

HSL

hsl(291.429 7.955% 65.490%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #ACA0AE;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#ACA0AE uses 172 red, 160 green and 174 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 67.5%

Green 62.7%

Blue 68.2%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #ACA0AE is 1.1% cyan, 8.0% magenta, 0.0% yellow and 31.8% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 1.1%

Magenta 8.0%

Yellow 0.0%

Black 31.8%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #AA99AA. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #A9A in CSS. For a modern design, keep #ACA0AE when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #999999, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand: #AA99AA Nearest web-safe: #999999

Gradient to complement

#ACA0AE #AAA2AC #A9A5A9 #A7A7A7 #A5A9A5 #A4ACA2 #A2AEA0

Color vision previews

Compare how #ACA0AE 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.

#9FA3AF

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.

#A1A4AD

Tritanopia

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

#ADA1A4

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.

#A4A2AE

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.

#A5A3AE

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#ACA1AB

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#A4A4A4

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.

#A8A2A9

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 0.41254 G 0.35153 B 0.42327

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 0.66647 G 0.62909 B 0.67844

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.40171 G 0.35356 B 0.41789

CIE xyY

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

x 0.312 y 0.310 Y 36.968

CMY

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

C % 32.549 M % 37.255 Y % 31.765

Binary RGB

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

10101100 10100000 10101110