#BBC8EA

sRGB: 187 / 200 / 234

Ancient mountains rise against oblivion
Majestic waterfalls echo between distant mountains
Infinite wonders illuminate hidden worlds

#BBC8EA belongs to the azure family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 187 red, 200 green and 234 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 223.4° lands in the azure region. Its 52.8% saturation makes it partway between gray and the most vivid version of this hue at this lightness. HSL lightness is 82.5% 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 (12.56:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 187, 200, 234
HSL: 223.40°, 52.81%, 82.55%
HSV / HSB: 223.40°, 20.09%, 91.76%
CMYK (approx.): 20.09%, 14.53%, 0.00%, 8.24%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 55.996, 57.813, 86.054
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 80.635, 2.629, -18.288
WCAG relative luminance: 0.57814
24-bit decimal: 12306666

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 #BBC8EA 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: 12.56:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 1.67:1

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

#EADDBB sits half a turn (180°) from #BBC8EA 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.

#BBC8EA #EADDBB

Analogous

#BBE0EA and #C5BBEA sit 30° to either side of #BBC8EA. 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.

#BBE0EA #BBC8EA #C5BBEA

Triadic

#BBC8EA, #EABBC8 and #C8EABB are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#BBC8EA #EABBC8 #C8EABB

Split complementary

Start at #BBC8EA and look across the wheel. #EAC5BB and #E0EABB sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#BBC8EA #EAC5BB #E0EABB

Square

Starting with #BBC8EA, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #EABBE0, #EADDBB, then #BBEAC5. Across the square, #BBC8EA pairs with #EADDBB, and #EABBE0 with #BBEAC5.

#BBC8EA #EABBE0 #EADDBB #BBEAC5

Tetradic

#BBC8EA and #EADDBB are opposites, as are #DDBBEA and #C8EABB. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#BBC8EA #DDBBEA #EADDBB #C8EABB

Tints

Mixing #BBC8EA with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #C9D3EE, keeps 80% of the original. By #F1F4FB, the mixture is 80% white.

#BBC8EA #C9D3EE #D6DEF2 #E4E9F7 #F1F4FB #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #BBC8EA with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #96A0BB, keeps 80% of the original. By #25282F, the mixture is 80% black.

#BBC8EA #96A0BB #70788C #4B505E #25282F #000000

Tones

Mixing #BBC8EA with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #AFBAD5, keeps 80% of the original. By #8C8E95, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#BBC8EA #AFBAD5 #A3ABC0 #989DAA #8C8E95 #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

#BBC8EA

RGB

rgb(187 200 234)

HSL

hsl(223.404 52.809% 82.549%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #BBC8EA;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#BBC8EA uses 187 red, 200 green and 234 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 73.3%

Green 78.4%

Blue 91.8%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #BBC8EA is 20.1% cyan, 14.5% magenta, 0.0% yellow and 8.2% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 20.1%

Magenta 14.5%

Yellow 0.0%

Black 8.2%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #BBCCEE. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #BCE in CSS. For a modern design, keep #BBC8EA when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #CCCCFF, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand: #BBCCEE Nearest web-safe: #CCCCFF

Gradient to complement

#BBC8EA #C3CCE2 #CBCFDA #D3D3D3 #DAD6CB #E2DAC3 #EADDBB

Color vision previews

Compare how #BBC8EA 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.

#BECAEC

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.

#BAC6E9

Tritanopia

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

#B0CED3

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.

#BDC9EB

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.

#BBC7EA

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#B9CAE2

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#C8C8C8

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.

#C2C8DA

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 0.82279

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 0.90606

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.51125 G 0.57490 B 0.79947

CIE xyY

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

x 0.280 y 0.289 Y 57.813

CMY

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

C % 26.667 M % 21.569 Y % 8.235

Binary RGB

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

10111011 11001000 11101010