#BBABB1

sRGB: 187 / 171 / 177

Ancient mountains rise against oblivion
Sacred blossoms shimmer across boundless heavens
Eternal flames surrender to silence

#BBABB1 belongs to the rose family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 187 red, 171 green and 177 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 337.5° lands in the rose region. Its 10.5% saturation makes it close to gray at this lightness. HSL lightness is 70.2% 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 (9.57:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 187, 171, 177
HSL: 337.50°, 10.53%, 70.20%
HSV / HSB: 337.50°, 8.56%, 73.33%
CMYK (approx.): 0.00%, 8.56%, 5.35%, 26.67%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 42.990, 42.865, 47.606
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 71.463, 6.812, -0.987
WCAG relative luminance: 0.42865
24-bit decimal: 12299185

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 #BBABB1 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: 9.57:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 2.19:1

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

#ABBBB5 sits half a turn (180°) from #BBABB1 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.

#BBABB1 #ABBBB5

Analogous

#BBABB9 and #BBADAB sit 30° to either side of #BBABB1. 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.

#BBABB9 #BBABB1 #BBADAB

Triadic

#BBABB1, #B1BBAB and #ABB1BB are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#BBABB1 #B1BBAB #ABB1BB

Split complementary

Start at #BBABB1 and look across the wheel. #ABBBAD and #ABB9BB sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#BBABB1 #ABBBAD #ABB9BB

Square

Starting with #BBABB1, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #B9BBAB, #ABBBB5, then #ADABBB. Across the square, #BBABB1 pairs with #ABBBB5, and #B9BBAB with #ADABBB.

#BBABB1 #B9BBAB #ABBBB5 #ADABBB

Tetradic

#BBABB1 and #ABBBB5 are opposites, as are #BBB5AB and #ABB1BB. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#BBABB1 #BBB5AB #ABBBB5 #ABB1BB

Tints

Mixing #BBABB1 with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #C9BCC1, keeps 80% of the original. By #F1EEEF, the mixture is 80% white.

#BBABB1 #C9BCC1 #D6CDD0 #E4DDE0 #F1EEEF #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #BBABB1 with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #96898E, keeps 80% of the original. By #252223, the mixture is 80% black.

#BBABB1 #96898E #70676A #4B4447 #252223 #000000

Tones

Mixing #BBABB1 with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #AFA2A7, keeps 80% of the original. By #8C898A, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#BBABB1 #AFA2A7 #A39A9D #989194 #8C898A #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

#BBABB1

RGB

rgb(187 171 177)

HSL

hsl(337.500 10.526% 70.196%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #BBABB1;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#BBABB1 uses 187 red, 171 green and 177 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 73.3%

Green 67.1%

Blue 69.4%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #BBABB1 is 0.0% cyan, 8.6% magenta, 5.3% yellow and 26.7% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 0.0%

Magenta 8.6%

Yellow 5.3%

Black 26.7%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #BBAAAA. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #BAA in CSS. For a modern design, keep #BBABB1 when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #CC9999, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand: #BBAAAA Nearest web-safe: #CC9999

Gradient to complement

#BBABB1 #B8AEB2 #B6B0B2 #B3B3B3 #B0B6B4 #AEB8B4 #ABBBB5

Color vision previews

Compare how #BBABB1 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.

#ACAEB1

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.

#B0B0B1

Tritanopia

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

#BEABAD

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.

#B2ADB1

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.

#B3AEB1

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#BBABB0

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.

#B5ADB0

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 0.40724 B 0.43966

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 0.72271 G 0.67279 B 0.69315

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.48101 G 0.41022 B 0.43829

CIE xyY

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

x 0.322 y 0.321 Y 42.865

CMY

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

C % 26.667 M % 32.941 Y % 30.588

Binary RGB

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

10111011 10101011 10110001