#B9DFD0

sRGB: 185 / 223 / 208

Ancient mountains surge toward distant shores
Electric visions transform the fabric of existence
Fierce revelations vanish without farewell

#B9DFD0 belongs to the green-cyan family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 185 red, 223 green and 208 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 156.3° lands in the green-cyan region. Its 37.3% saturation makes it partway between gray and the most vivid version of this hue at this lightness. HSL lightness is 80.0% 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 (14.53:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 185, 223, 208
HSL: 156.32°, 37.25%, 80.00%
HSV / HSB: 156.32°, 17.04%, 87.45%
CMYK (approx.): 17.04%, 0.00%, 6.73%, 12.55%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 57.778, 67.643, 69.689
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 85.828, -15.354, 3.219
WCAG relative luminance: 0.67644
24-bit decimal: 12181456

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 #B9DFD0 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: 14.53:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 1.45:1

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

#DFB9C8 sits half a turn (180°) from #B9DFD0 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.

#B9DFD0 #DFB9C8

Analogous

#B9DFBD and #B9DBDF sit 30° to either side of #B9DFD0. 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.

#B9DFBD #B9DFD0 #B9DBDF

Triadic

#B9DFD0, #D0B9DF and #DFD0B9 are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#B9DFD0 #D0B9DF #DFD0B9

Split complementary

Start at #B9DFD0 and look across the wheel. #DFB9DB and #DFBDB9 sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#B9DFD0 #DFB9DB #DFBDB9

Square

Starting with #B9DFD0, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #BDB9DF, #DFB9C8, then #DBDFB9. Across the square, #B9DFD0 pairs with #DFB9C8, and #BDB9DF with #DBDFB9.

#B9DFD0 #BDB9DF #DFB9C8 #DBDFB9

Tetradic

#B9DFD0 and #DFB9C8 are opposites, as are #B9C8DF and #DFD0B9. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#B9DFD0 #B9C8DF #DFB9C8 #DFD0B9

Tints

Mixing #B9DFD0 with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #C7E5D9, keeps 80% of the original. By #F1F9F6, the mixture is 80% white.

#B9DFD0 #C7E5D9 #D5ECE3 #E3F2EC #F1F9F6 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #B9DFD0 with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #94B2A6, keeps 80% of the original. By #252D2A, the mixture is 80% black.

#B9DFD0 #94B2A6 #6F867D #4A5953 #252D2A #000000

Tones

Mixing #B9DFD0 with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #AECCC0, keeps 80% of the original. By #8B9390, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#B9DFD0 #AECCC0 #A2B9B0 #97A6A0 #8B9390 #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

#B9DFD0

RGB

rgb(185 223 208)

HSL

hsl(156.316 37.255% 80.000%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #B9DFD0;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#B9DFD0 uses 185 red, 223 green and 208 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 72.5%

Green 87.5%

Blue 81.6%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #B9DFD0 is 17.0% cyan, 0.0% magenta, 6.7% yellow and 12.5% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 17.0%

Magenta 0.0%

Yellow 6.7%

Black 12.5%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #BBDDCC. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #BDC in CSS. For a modern design, keep #B9DFD0 when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #CCCCCC, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand: #BBDDCC Nearest web-safe: #CCCCCC

Gradient to complement

#B9DFD0 #BFD9CF #C6D2CD #CCCCCC #D2C6CB #D9BFC9 #DFB9C8

Color vision previews

Compare how #B9DFD0 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.

#DDDACF

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.

#D6D5D1

Tritanopia

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

#B1E0DA

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.

#D1DBD0

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.

#CED8D1

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#B9DFD4

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#D7D7D7

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.

#C8DBD3

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 0.48515 G 0.73791 B 0.63076

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 0.75480 G 0.87009 B 0.81871

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.53002 G 0.72952 B 0.63603

CIE xyY

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

x 0.296 y 0.347 Y 67.643

CMY

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

C % 27.451 M % 12.549 Y % 18.431

Binary RGB

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

10111001 11011111 11010000