#BBC8CB

sRGB: 187 / 200 / 203

Ancient mountains rise against oblivion
Majestic waterfalls echo between distant mountains
Boundless spirits defy the passing ages

#BBC8CB belongs to the cyan family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 187 red, 200 green and 203 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 191.2° lands in the cyan region. Its 13.3% saturation makes it close to gray at this lightness. HSL lightness is 76.5% 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 (12.24:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 187, 200, 203
HSL: 191.25°, 13.33%, 76.47%
HSV / HSB: 191.25°, 7.88%, 79.61%
CMYK (approx.): 7.88%, 1.48%, 0.00%, 20.39%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 51.925, 56.185, 64.611
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 79.719, -3.838, -3.021
WCAG relative luminance: 0.56185
24-bit decimal: 12306635

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 #BBC8CB 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: 12.24:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 1.72:1

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

#CBBEBB sits half a turn (180°) from #BBC8CB 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.

#BBC8CB #CBBEBB

Analogous

#BBCBC6 and #BBC0CB sit 30° to either side of #BBC8CB. 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.

#BBCBC6 #BBC8CB #BBC0CB

Triadic

#BBC8CB, #CBBBC8 and #C8CBBB are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#BBC8CB #CBBBC8 #C8CBBB

Split complementary

Start at #BBC8CB and look across the wheel. #CBBBC0 and #CBC6BB sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#BBC8CB #CBBBC0 #CBC6BB

Square

Starting with #BBC8CB, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #C6BBCB, #CBBEBB, then #C0CBBB. Across the square, #BBC8CB pairs with #CBBEBB, and #C6BBCB with #C0CBBB.

#BBC8CB #C6BBCB #CBBEBB #C0CBBB

Tetradic

#BBC8CB and #CBBEBB are opposites, as are #BEBBCB and #C8CBBB. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#BBC8CB #BEBBCB #CBBEBB #C8CBBB

Tints

Mixing #BBC8CB with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #C9D3D5, keeps 80% of the original. By #F1F4F5, the mixture is 80% white.

#BBC8CB #C9D3D5 #D6DEE0 #E4E9EA #F1F4F5 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #BBC8CB with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #96A0A2, keeps 80% of the original. By #252829, the mixture is 80% black.

#BBC8CB #96A0A2 #70787A #4B5051 #252829 #000000

Tones

Mixing #BBC8CB with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #AFBABC, keeps 80% of the original. By #8C8E8F, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#BBC8CB #AFBABC #A3ABAD #989D9E #8C8E8F #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

#BBC8CB

RGB

rgb(187 200 203)

HSL

hsl(191.250 13.333% 76.471%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #BBC8CB;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#BBC8CB uses 187 red, 200 green and 203 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 73.3%

Green 78.4%

Blue 79.6%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #BBC8CB is 7.9% cyan, 1.5% magenta, 0.0% yellow and 20.4% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 7.9%

Magenta 1.5%

Yellow 0.0%

Black 20.4%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #BBCCCC. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #BCC in CSS. For a modern design, keep #BBC8CB when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #CCCCCC, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

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

Gradient to complement

#BBC8CB #BEC6C8 #C0C5C6 #C3C3C3 #C6C1C0 #C8C0BE #CBBEBB

Color vision previews

Compare how #BBC8CB 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.

#C5C7CB

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.

#C3C5CB

Tritanopia

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

#B7C9C9

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.

#C2C7CB

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.

#C1C6CB

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#BBC8CA

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#C6C6C6

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.

#C0C7C8

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 0.57758 B 0.59720

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 0.74272 G 0.78269 B 0.79421

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.51125 G 0.57490 B 0.59407

CIE xyY

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

x 0.301 y 0.325 Y 56.185

CMY

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

C % 26.667 M % 21.569 Y % 20.392

Binary RGB

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

10111011 11001000 11001011