#BBBB66

sRGB: 187 / 187 / 102

Ancient mountains rise against oblivion
Restless constellations shimmer across boundless heavens
Wandering dreams find forgotten pathways

#BBBB66 belongs to the yellow family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 187 red, 187 green and 102 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 60.0° lands in the yellow region. Its 38.5% saturation makes it partway between gray and the most vivid version of this hue at this lightness. HSL lightness is 56.7% 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 (10.41:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 187, 187, 102
HSL: 60.00°, 38.46%, 56.67%
HSV / HSB: 60.00°, 45.45%, 73.33%
CMYK (approx.): 0.00%, 0.00%, 45.45%, 26.67%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 40.661, 47.065, 19.513
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 74.231, -12.180, 42.819
WCAG relative luminance: 0.47065
24-bit decimal: 12303206

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 #BBBB66 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: 10.41:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 2.02:1

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

#6666BB sits half a turn (180°) from #BBBB66 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.

#BBBB66 #6666BB

Analogous

#BB9166 and #91BB66 sit 30° to either side of #BBBB66. 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.

#BB9166 #BBBB66 #91BB66

Triadic

#BBBB66, #66BBBB and #BB66BB are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#BBBB66 #66BBBB #BB66BB

Split complementary

Start at #BBBB66 and look across the wheel. #6691BB and #9166BB sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#BBBB66 #6691BB #9166BB

Square

Starting with #BBBB66, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #66BB91, #6666BB, then #BB6691. Across the square, #BBBB66 pairs with #6666BB, and #66BB91 with #BB6691.

#BBBB66 #66BB91 #6666BB #BB6691

Tetradic

#BBBB66 and #6666BB are opposites, as are #66BB66 and #BB66BB. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#BBBB66 #66BB66 #6666BB #BB66BB

Tints

Mixing #BBBB66 with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #C9C985, keeps 80% of the original. By #F1F1E0, the mixture is 80% white.

#BBBB66 #C9C985 #D6D6A3 #E4E4C2 #F1F1E0 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #BBBB66 with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #969652, keeps 80% of the original. By #252514, the mixture is 80% black.

#BBBB66 #969652 #70703D #4B4B29 #252514 #000000

Tones

Mixing #BBBB66 with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #AFAF6B, keeps 80% of the original. By #8C8C7B, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#BBBB66 #AFAF6B #A3A370 #989876 #8C8C7B #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

#BBBB66

RGB

rgb(187 187 102)

HSL

hsl(60.000 38.462% 56.667%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #BBBB66;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#BBBB66 uses 187 red, 187 green and 102 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 73.3%

Green 73.3%

Blue 40.0%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #BBBB66 is 0.0% cyan, 0.0% magenta, 45.5% yellow and 26.7% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 0.0%

Magenta 0.0%

Yellow 45.5%

Black 26.7%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #BBBB66. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #BB6 in CSS. For a modern design, keep #BBBB66 when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #CCCC66, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand: #BBBB66 Nearest web-safe: #CCCC66

Gradient to complement

#BBBB66 #ADAD74 #9F9F82 #919191 #82829F #7474AD #6666BB

Color vision previews

Compare how #BBBB66 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.

#C7B55F

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.

#C8B86A

Tritanopia

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

#C6B2A7

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.

#C3B763

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.

#C4B968

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#BEB883

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#B6B6B6

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.

#B9B995

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 0.49693 B 0.13287

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 0.73333 G 0.73333 B 0.44353

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.49693 G 0.49693 B 0.16544

CIE xyY

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

x 0.379 y 0.439 Y 47.065

CMY

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

C % 26.667 M % 26.667 Y % 60.000

Binary RGB

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

10111011 10111011 01100110