#BBCAFE

sRGB: 187 / 202 / 254

Ancient mountains rise against oblivion
Majestic waterfalls awaken beneath celestial skies
Celestial symphonies transcend the limits of dreams

#BBCAFE belongs to the blue family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 187 red, 202 green and 254 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 226.6° lands in the blue region. Its 97.1% saturation makes it strong in color at this lightness. HSL lightness is 86.5% 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 (12.99:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 187, 202, 254
HSL: 226.57°, 97.10%, 86.47%
HSV / HSB: 226.57°, 26.38%, 99.61%
CMYK (approx.): 26.38%, 20.47%, 0.00%, 0.39%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 59.500, 59.961, 102.208
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 81.817, 6.101, -27.163
WCAG relative luminance: 0.59962
24-bit decimal: 12307198

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 #BBCAFE 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: 12.99:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 1.62:1

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

#FEEFBB sits half a turn (180°) from #BBCAFE 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.

#BBCAFE #FEEFBB

Analogous

#BBECFE and #CDBBFE sit 30° to either side of #BBCAFE. 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.

#BBECFE #BBCAFE #CDBBFE

Triadic

#BBCAFE, #FEBBCA and #CAFEBB are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#BBCAFE #FEBBCA #CAFEBB

Split complementary

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

#BBCAFE #FECDBB #ECFEBB

Square

Starting with #BBCAFE, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #FEBBEC, #FEEFBB, then #BBFECD. Across the square, #BBCAFE pairs with #FEEFBB, and #FEBBEC with #BBFECD.

#BBCAFE #FEBBEC #FEEFBB #BBFECD

Tetradic

#BBCAFE and #FEEFBB are opposites, as are #EFBBFE and #CAFEBB. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#BBCAFE #EFBBFE #FEEFBB #CAFEBB

Tints

Mixing #BBCAFE with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #C9D5FE, keeps 80% of the original. By #F1F4FF, the mixture is 80% white.

#BBCAFE #C9D5FE #D6DFFE #E4EAFF #F1F4FF #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #BBCAFE with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #96A2CB, keeps 80% of the original. By #252833, the mixture is 80% black.

#BBCAFE #96A2CB #707998 #4B5166 #252833 #000000

Tones

Mixing #BBCAFE with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #AFBBE5, keeps 80% of the original. By #8C8F99, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#BBCAFE #AFBBE5 #A3ACCC #989EB2 #8C8F99 #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

#BBCAFE

RGB

rgb(187 202 254)

HSL

hsl(226.567 97.101% 86.471%)

CSS example

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

Channel breakdown

RGB

#BBCAFE uses 187 red, 202 green and 254 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 73.3%

Green 79.2%

Blue 99.6%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #BBCAFE is 26.4% cyan, 20.5% magenta, 0.0% yellow and 0.4% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 26.4%

Magenta 20.5%

Yellow 0.0%

Black 0.4%

Nearby colors

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

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

Gradient to complement

#BBCAFE #C6D0F3 #D1D6E8 #DDDDDD #E8E3D1 #F3E9C6 #FEEFBB

Color vision previews

Compare how #BBCAFE 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.

#BBCEFF

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.

#B5C9FD

Tritanopia

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

#AAD4DB

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.

#BACCFF

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.

#B8CAFD

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#B8CDF2

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#CBCBCB

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.

#C3CBE7

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 0.59062 B 0.99110

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 0.74422 G 0.79030 B 0.97935

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.51357 G 0.58751 B 0.95367

CIE xyY

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

x 0.268 y 0.270 Y 59.961

CMY

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

C % 26.667 M % 20.784 Y % 0.392

Binary RGB

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

10111011 11001010 11111110