#BBAFBB

sRGB: 187 / 175 / 187

Ancient mountains rise against oblivion
Sacred blossoms transform the fabric of existence
Eternal flames defy the passing ages

#BBAFBB belongs to the magenta family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 187 red, 175 green and 187 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 300.0° lands in the magenta region. Its 8.1% saturation makes it close to gray at this lightness. HSL lightness is 71.0% 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 (9.96:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 187, 175, 187
HSL: 300.00°, 8.11%, 70.98%
HSV / HSB: 300.00°, 6.42%, 73.33%
CMYK (approx.): 0.00%, 6.42%, 0.00%, 26.67%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 44.791, 44.813, 53.305
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 72.768, 6.473, -4.568
WCAG relative luminance: 0.44813
24-bit decimal: 12300219

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 #BBAFBB 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: 9.96:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 2.11:1

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

#AFBBAF sits half a turn (180°) from #BBAFBB 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.

#BBAFBB #AFBBAF

Analogous

#B5AFBB and #BBAFB5 sit 30° to either side of #BBAFBB. 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.

#B5AFBB #BBAFBB #BBAFB5

Triadic

#BBAFBB, #BBBBAF and #AFBBBB are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#BBAFBB #BBBBAF #AFBBBB

Split complementary

Start at #BBAFBB and look across the wheel. #B5BBAF and #AFBBB5 sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#BBAFBB #B5BBAF #AFBBB5

Square

Starting with #BBAFBB, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #BBB5AF, #AFBBAF, then #AFB5BB. Across the square, #BBAFBB pairs with #AFBBAF, and #BBB5AF with #AFB5BB.

#BBAFBB #BBB5AF #AFBBAF #AFB5BB

Tetradic

#BBAFBB and #AFBBAF are opposites, as are #BBAFAF and #AFBBBB. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#BBAFBB #BBAFAF #AFBBAF #AFBBBB

Tints

Mixing #BBAFBB with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #C9BFC9, keeps 80% of the original. By #F1EFF1, the mixture is 80% white.

#BBAFBB #C9BFC9 #D6CFD6 #E4DFE4 #F1EFF1 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #BBAFBB with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #968C96, keeps 80% of the original. By #252325, the mixture is 80% black.

#BBAFBB #968C96 #706970 #4B464B #252325 #000000

Tones

Mixing #BBAFBB with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #AFA6AF, keeps 80% of the original. By #8C898C, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#BBAFBB #AFA6AF #A39CA3 #989398 #8C898C #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

#BBAFBB

RGB

rgb(187 175 187)

HSL

hsl(300.000 8.108% 70.980%)

CSS example

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

Channel breakdown

RGB

#BBAFBB uses 187 red, 175 green and 187 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 73.3%

Green 68.6%

Blue 73.3%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #BBAFBB is 0.0% cyan, 6.4% magenta, 0.0% yellow and 26.7% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 0.0%

Magenta 6.4%

Yellow 0.0%

Black 26.7%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #BBAABB. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #BAB in CSS. For a modern design, keep #BBAFBB when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #CC99CC, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand: #BBAABB Nearest web-safe: #CC99CC

Gradient to complement

#BBAFBB #B9B1B9 #B7B3B7 #B5B5B5 #B3B7B3 #B1B9B1 #AFBBAF

Color vision previews

Compare how #BBAFBB 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.

#AEB2BC

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.

#B1B3BB

Tritanopia

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

#BCB0B3

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.

#B3B1BB

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.

#B4B2BB

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#BBB0B8

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#B3B3B3

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.

#B7B1B7

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 0.42869 B 0.49693

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 0.72527 G 0.68790 B 0.73006

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.48482 G 0.43096 B 0.49199

CIE xyY

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

x 0.313 y 0.314 Y 44.813

CMY

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

C % 26.667 M % 31.373 Y % 26.667

Binary RGB

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

10111011 10101111 10111011