#BBA833

sRGB: 187 / 168 / 51

Ancient mountains rise against oblivion
Sacred blossoms echo between distant mountains
Fleeting moments linger beyond yesterday

#BBA833 belongs to the yellow family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 187 red, 168 green and 51 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 51.6° lands in the yellow region. Its 57.1% saturation makes it partway between gray and the most vivid version of this hue at this lightness. HSL lightness is 46.7% 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 (8.76:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 187, 168, 51
HSL: 51.62°, 57.14%, 46.67%
HSV / HSB: 51.62°, 72.73%, 73.33%
CMYK (approx.): 0.00%, 10.16%, 72.73%, 26.67%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 35.093, 38.810, 8.775
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 68.613, -6.013, 59.503
WCAG relative luminance: 0.38809
24-bit decimal: 12298291

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 #BBA833 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: 8.76:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 2.40:1

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

#3346BB sits half a turn (180°) from #BBA833 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.

#BBA833 #3346BB

Analogous

#BB6433 and #8ABB33 sit 30° to either side of #BBA833. 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.

#BB6433 #BBA833 #8ABB33

Triadic

#BBA833, #33BBA8 and #A833BB are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#BBA833 #33BBA8 #A833BB

Split complementary

Start at #BBA833 and look across the wheel. #338ABB and #6433BB sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#BBA833 #338ABB #6433BB

Square

Starting with #BBA833, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #33BB64, #3346BB, then #BB338A. Across the square, #BBA833 pairs with #3346BB, and #33BB64 with #BB338A.

#BBA833 #33BB64 #3346BB #BB338A

Tetradic

#BBA833 and #3346BB are opposites, as are #46BB33 and #A833BB. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#BBA833 #46BB33 #3346BB #A833BB

Tints

Mixing #BBA833 with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #C9B95C, keeps 80% of the original. By #F1EED6, the mixture is 80% white.

#BBA833 #C9B95C #D6CB85 #E4DCAD #F1EED6 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #BBA833 with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #968629, keeps 80% of the original. By #25220A, the mixture is 80% black.

#BBA833 #968629 #70651F #4B4314 #25220A #000000

Tones

Mixing #BBA833 with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #AFA042, keeps 80% of the original. By #8C8871, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#BBA833 #AFA042 #A39852 #989061 #8C8871 #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

#BBA833

RGB

rgb(187 168 51)

HSL

hsl(51.618 57.143% 46.667%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #BBA833;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#BBA833 uses 187 red, 168 green and 51 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 73.3%

Green 65.9%

Blue 20.0%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #BBA833 is 0.0% cyan, 10.2% magenta, 72.7% yellow and 26.7% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 0.0%

Magenta 10.2%

Yellow 72.7%

Black 26.7%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #BBAA33. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #BA3 in CSS. For a modern design, keep #BBA833 when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #CC9933, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand: #BBAA33 Nearest web-safe: #CC9933

Gradient to complement

#BBA833 #A4984A #8E8760 #777777 #60678E #4A56A4 #3346BB

Color vision previews

Compare how #BBA833 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.

#B8A31F

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.

#BEAA3A

Tritanopia

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

#CA9C91

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.

#BAA62A

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.

#BCA937

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#BEA563

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#A7A7A7

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.

#B2A87F

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 0.49693 G 0.39157 B 0.03310

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 0.72083 G 0.66147 B 0.28703

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.47823 G 0.39507 B 0.06698

CIE xyY

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

x 0.424 y 0.469 Y 38.810

CMY

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

C % 26.667 M % 34.118 Y % 80.000

Binary RGB

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

10111011 10101000 00110011