#BBAFBF

sRGB: 187 / 175 / 191

Ancient mountains rise against oblivion
Sacred blossoms transform the fabric of existence
Eternal flames echo beyond eternity

#BBAFBF belongs to the magenta family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 187 red, 175 green and 191 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 285.0° lands in the magenta region. Its 11.1% saturation makes it close to gray at this lightness. HSL lightness is 71.8% 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 (10.00:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 187, 175, 191
HSL: 285.00°, 11.11%, 71.76%
HSV / HSB: 285.00°, 8.38%, 74.90%
CMYK (approx.): 2.09%, 8.38%, 0.00%, 25.10%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 45.225, 44.987, 55.593
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 72.883, 7.233, -6.593
WCAG relative luminance: 0.44986
24-bit decimal: 12300223

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 #BBAFBF 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: 10.00:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 2.10:1

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

#B3BFAF sits half a turn (180°) from #BBAFBF 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.

#BBAFBF #B3BFAF

Analogous

#B3AFBF and #BFAFBB sit 30° to either side of #BBAFBF. 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.

#B3AFBF #BBAFBF #BFAFBB

Triadic

#BBAFBF, #BFBBAF and #AFBFBB are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#BBAFBF #BFBBAF #AFBFBB

Split complementary

Start at #BBAFBF and look across the wheel. #BBBFAF and #AFBFB3 sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#BBAFBF #BBBFAF #AFBFB3

Square

Starting with #BBAFBF, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #BFB3AF, #B3BFAF, then #AFBBBF. Across the square, #BBAFBF pairs with #B3BFAF, and #BFB3AF with #AFBBBF.

#BBAFBF #BFB3AF #B3BFAF #AFBBBF

Tetradic

#BBAFBF and #B3BFAF are opposites, as are #BFAFB3 and #AFBFBB. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#BBAFBF #BFAFB3 #B3BFAF #AFBFBB

Tints

Mixing #BBAFBF with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #C9BFCC, keeps 80% of the original. By #F1EFF2, the mixture is 80% white.

#BBAFBF #C9BFCC #D6CFD9 #E4DFE5 #F1EFF2 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #BBAFBF with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #968C99, keeps 80% of the original. By #252326, the mixture is 80% black.

#BBAFBF #968C99 #706973 #4B464C #252326 #000000

Tones

Mixing #BBAFBF with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #AFA6B2, keeps 80% of the original. By #8C898D, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#BBAFBF #AFA6B2 #A39CA6 #989399 #8C898D #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

#BBAFBF

RGB

rgb(187 175 191)

HSL

hsl(285.000 11.111% 71.765%)

CSS example

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

Channel breakdown

RGB

#BBAFBF uses 187 red, 175 green and 191 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 73.3%

Green 68.6%

Blue 74.9%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #BBAFBF is 2.1% cyan, 8.4% magenta, 0.0% yellow and 25.1% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 2.1%

Magenta 8.4%

Yellow 0.0%

Black 25.1%

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 #BBAFBF 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

#BBAFBF #BAB2BC #B8B4BA #B7B7B7 #B6BAB4 #B4BCB2 #B3BFAF

Color vision previews

Compare how #BBAFBF 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.

#ADB2C0

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.

#B0B3BE

Tritanopia

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

#BBB1B4

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.

#B2B1BF

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.

#B3B2BF

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#BBB0BB

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.

#B7B1B9

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 0.52100

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 0.74444

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.48482 G 0.43096 B 0.51390

CIE xyY

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

x 0.310 y 0.309 Y 44.987

CMY

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

C % 26.667 M % 31.373 Y % 25.098

Binary RGB

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

10111011 10101111 10111111