#BBBEC4

sRGB: 187 / 190 / 196

Ancient mountains rise against oblivion
Restless constellations transcend the boundaries of time
Boundless spirits drift toward tomorrow

#BBBEC4 belongs to the azure family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 187 red, 190 green and 196 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 220.0° lands in the azure region. Its 7.1% saturation makes it close to gray at this lightness. HSL lightness is 75.1% 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 (11.28:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 187, 190, 196
HSL: 220.00°, 7.09%, 75.10%
HSV / HSB: 220.00°, 4.59%, 76.86%
CMYK (approx.): 4.59%, 3.06%, 0.00%, 23.14%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 48.868, 51.377, 59.569
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 76.907, 0.100, -3.379
WCAG relative luminance: 0.51377
24-bit decimal: 12304068

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 #BBBEC4 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: 11.28:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 1.86:1

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

#C4C1BB sits half a turn (180°) from #BBBEC4 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.

#BBBEC4 #C4C1BB

Analogous

#BBC3C4 and #BCBBC4 sit 30° to either side of #BBBEC4. 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.

#BBC3C4 #BBBEC4 #BCBBC4

Triadic

#BBBEC4, #C4BBBE and #BEC4BB are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#BBBEC4 #C4BBBE #BEC4BB

Split complementary

Start at #BBBEC4 and look across the wheel. #C4BCBB and #C3C4BB sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#BBBEC4 #C4BCBB #C3C4BB

Square

Starting with #BBBEC4, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #C4BBC3, #C4C1BB, then #BBC4BC. Across the square, #BBBEC4 pairs with #C4C1BB, and #C4BBC3 with #BBC4BC.

#BBBEC4 #C4BBC3 #C4C1BB #BBC4BC

Tetradic

#BBBEC4 and #C4C1BB are opposites, as are #C1BBC4 and #BEC4BB. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#BBBEC4 #C1BBC4 #C4C1BB #BEC4BB

Tints

Mixing #BBBEC4 with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #C9CBD0, keeps 80% of the original. By #F1F2F3, the mixture is 80% white.

#BBBEC4 #C9CBD0 #D6D8DC #E4E5E7 #F1F2F3 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #BBBEC4 with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #96989D, keeps 80% of the original. By #252627, the mixture is 80% black.

#BBBEC4 #96989D #707276 #4B4C4E #252627 #000000

Tones

Mixing #BBBEC4 with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #AFB2B6, keeps 80% of the original. By #8C8C8E, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#BBBEC4 #AFB2B6 #A3A5A9 #98999B #8C8C8E #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

#BBBEC4

RGB

rgb(187 190 196)

HSL

hsl(220.000 7.087% 75.098%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #BBBEC4;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#BBBEC4 uses 187 red, 190 green and 196 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 73.3%

Green 74.5%

Blue 76.9%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #BBBEC4 is 4.6% cyan, 3.1% magenta, 0.0% yellow and 23.1% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 4.6%

Magenta 3.1%

Yellow 0.0%

Black 23.1%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #BBBBCC. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #BBC in CSS. For a modern design, keep #BBBEC4 when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #CCCCCC, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand: #BBBBCC Nearest web-safe: #CCCCCC

Gradient to complement

#BBBEC4 #BDBFC3 #BEBFC1 #C0C0C0 #C1C0BE #C3C1BD #C4C1BB

Color vision previews

Compare how #BBBEC4 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.

#BCBEC4

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.

#BBBDC4

Tritanopia

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

#B9BFC0

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.

#BCBEC4

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.

#BBBEC4

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#BBBEC2

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#BEBEBE

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.

#BCBEC1

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 0.51492 B 0.55201

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 0.73544 G 0.74471 B 0.76637

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.50013 G 0.51432 B 0.54839

CIE xyY

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

x 0.306 y 0.321 Y 51.377

CMY

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

C % 26.667 M % 25.490 Y % 23.137

Binary RGB

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

10111011 10111110 11000100