#ACAFBC

sRGB: 172 / 175 / 188

Radiant blossoms pierce eternal darkness
Sacred blossoms transform the fabric of existence
Eternal flames awaken sleeping galaxies

#ACAFBC belongs to the blue family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 172 red, 175 green and 188 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 228.8° lands in the blue region. Its 10.7% saturation makes it close to gray at this lightness. HSL lightness is 70.6% 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 (9.61:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 172, 175, 188
HSL: 228.75°, 10.67%, 70.59%
HSV / HSB: 228.75°, 8.51%, 73.73%
CMYK (approx.): 8.51%, 6.91%, 0.00%, 26.27%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 41.418, 43.061, 53.708
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 71.597, 1.502, -6.985
WCAG relative luminance: 0.43061
24-bit decimal: 11317180

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 #ACAFBC 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: 9.61:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 2.18:1

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

#BCB9AC sits half a turn (180°) from #ACAFBC 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.

#ACAFBC #BCB9AC

Analogous

#ACB7BC and #B1ACBC sit 30° to either side of #ACAFBC. 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.

#ACB7BC #ACAFBC #B1ACBC

Triadic

#ACAFBC, #BCACAF and #AFBCAC are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#ACAFBC #BCACAF #AFBCAC

Split complementary

Start at #ACAFBC and look across the wheel. #BCB1AC and #B7BCAC sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#ACAFBC #BCB1AC #B7BCAC

Square

Starting with #ACAFBC, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #BCACB7, #BCB9AC, then #ACBCB1. Across the square, #ACAFBC pairs with #BCB9AC, and #BCACB7 with #ACBCB1.

#ACAFBC #BCACB7 #BCB9AC #ACBCB1

Tetradic

#ACAFBC and #BCB9AC are opposites, as are #B9ACBC and #AFBCAC. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#ACAFBC #B9ACBC #BCB9AC #AFBCAC

Tints

Mixing #ACAFBC with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #BDBFC9, keeps 80% of the original. By #EEEFF2, the mixture is 80% white.

#ACAFBC #BDBFC9 #CDCFD7 #DEDFE4 #EEEFF2 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #ACAFBC with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #8A8C96, keeps 80% of the original. By #222326, the mixture is 80% black.

#ACAFBC #8A8C96 #676971 #45464B #222326 #000000

Tones

Mixing #ACAFBC with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #A3A6B0, keeps 80% of the original. By #89898C, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#ACAFBC #A3A6B0 #9A9CA4 #929398 #89898C #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

#ACAFBC

RGB

rgb(172 175 188)

HSL

hsl(228.750 10.667% 70.588%)

CSS example

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

Channel breakdown

RGB

#ACAFBC uses 172 red, 175 green and 188 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 67.5%

Green 68.6%

Blue 73.7%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #ACAFBC is 8.5% cyan, 6.9% magenta, 0.0% yellow and 26.3% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 8.5%

Magenta 6.9%

Yellow 0.0%

Black 26.3%

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 #ACAFBC 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

#ACAFBC #AFB1B9 #B1B2B7 #B4B4B4 #B7B6B1 #B9B7AF #BCB9AC

Color vision previews

Compare how #ACAFBC 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.

#ACB0BD

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.

#ABAFBC

Tritanopia

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

#A9B1B3

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.

#ACB0BC

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.

#ABAFBC

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#ABB0B9

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#AFAFAF

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.

#AEAFB6

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 0.42869 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 0.67662 G 0.68589 B 0.73270

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.41541 G 0.42815 B 0.49597

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 0.312 Y 43.061

CMY

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

C % 32.549 M % 31.373 Y % 26.275

Binary RGB

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

10101100 10101111 10111100