#B2BBDA

sRGB: 178 / 187 / 218

Ancient mountains drift beyond memory
Restless constellations shimmer across boundless heavens
Fierce revelations illuminate hidden worlds

#B2BBDA belongs to the blue family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 178 red, 187 green and 218 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 226.5° lands in the blue region. Its 35.1% saturation makes it partway between gray and the most vivid version of this hue at this lightness. HSL lightness is 77.6% 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 (11.01:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 178, 187, 218
HSL: 226.50°, 35.09%, 77.65%
HSV / HSB: 226.50°, 18.35%, 85.49%
CMYK (approx.): 18.35%, 14.22%, 0.00%, 14.51%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 48.783, 50.067, 73.426
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 76.111, 3.299, -16.562
WCAG relative luminance: 0.50068
24-bit decimal: 11713498

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 #B2BBDA 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: 11.01:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 1.91:1

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

#DAD1B2 sits half a turn (180°) from #B2BBDA 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.

#B2BBDA #DAD1B2

Analogous

#B2CFDA and #BDB2DA sit 30° to either side of #B2BBDA. 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.

#B2CFDA #B2BBDA #BDB2DA

Triadic

#B2BBDA, #DAB2BB and #BBDAB2 are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#B2BBDA #DAB2BB #BBDAB2

Split complementary

Start at #B2BBDA and look across the wheel. #DABDB2 and #CFDAB2 sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#B2BBDA #DABDB2 #CFDAB2

Square

Starting with #B2BBDA, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #DAB2CF, #DAD1B2, then #B2DABD. Across the square, #B2BBDA pairs with #DAD1B2, and #DAB2CF with #B2DABD.

#B2BBDA #DAB2CF #DAD1B2 #B2DABD

Tetradic

#B2BBDA and #DAD1B2 are opposites, as are #D1B2DA and #BBDAB2. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#B2BBDA #D1B2DA #DAD1B2 #BBDAB2

Tints

Mixing #B2BBDA with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #C1C9E1, keeps 80% of the original. By #F0F1F8, the mixture is 80% white.

#B2BBDA #C1C9E1 #D1D6E9 #E0E4F0 #F0F1F8 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #B2BBDA with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #8E96AE, keeps 80% of the original. By #24252C, the mixture is 80% black.

#B2BBDA #8E96AE #6B7083 #474B57 #24252C #000000

Tones

Mixing #B2BBDA with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #A8AFC8, keeps 80% of the original. By #8A8C92, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#B2BBDA #A8AFC8 #9EA3B6 #9498A4 #8A8C92 #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

#B2BBDA

RGB

rgb(178 187 218)

HSL

hsl(226.500 35.088% 77.647%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #B2BBDA;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#B2BBDA uses 178 red, 187 green and 218 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 69.8%

Green 73.3%

Blue 85.5%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #B2BBDA is 18.3% cyan, 14.2% magenta, 0.0% yellow and 14.5% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 18.3%

Magenta 14.2%

Yellow 0.0%

Black 14.5%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #AABBDD. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #ABD in CSS. For a modern design, keep #B2BBDA when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #99CCCC, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

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

Gradient to complement

#B2BBDA #B9BFD3 #BFC2CD #C6C6C6 #CDCABF #D3CDB9 #DAD1B2

Color vision previews

Compare how #B2BBDA 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.

#B2BDDB

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.

#AFBAD9

Tritanopia

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

#A9C1C5

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.

#B2BCDB

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.

#B1BBDA

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#B0BDD3

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#BCBCBC

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.

#B7BBCC

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 0.44520 G 0.49693 B 0.70110

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 0.70447 G 0.73220 B 0.84446

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.45439 G 0.49522 B 0.68195

CIE xyY

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

x 0.283 y 0.291 Y 50.067

CMY

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

C % 30.196 M % 26.667 Y % 14.510

Binary RGB

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

10110010 10111011 11011010