#BBD4E4

sRGB: 187 / 212 / 228

Ancient mountains rise against oblivion
Electric visions breathe beneath silver clouds
Infinite wonders drift toward tomorrow

#BBD4E4 belongs to the azure family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 187 red, 212 green and 228 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 203.4° lands in the azure region. Its 43.2% saturation makes it partway between gray and the most vivid version of this hue at this lightness. HSL lightness is 81.4% 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 (13.65:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 187, 212, 228
HSL: 203.41°, 43.16%, 81.37%
HSV / HSB: 203.41°, 17.98%, 89.41%
CMYK (approx.): 17.98%, 7.02%, 0.00%, 10.59%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 58.038, 63.252, 82.552
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 83.575, -5.011, -10.676
WCAG relative luminance: 0.63253
24-bit decimal: 12309732

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 #BBD4E4 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: 13.65:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 1.54:1

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

#E4CBBB sits half a turn (180°) from #BBD4E4 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.

#BBD4E4 #E4CBBB

Analogous

#BBE4E0 and #BBC0E4 sit 30° to either side of #BBD4E4. 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.

#BBE4E0 #BBD4E4 #BBC0E4

Triadic

#BBD4E4, #E4BBD4 and #D4E4BB are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#BBD4E4 #E4BBD4 #D4E4BB

Split complementary

Start at #BBD4E4 and look across the wheel. #E4BBC0 and #E4E0BB sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#BBD4E4 #E4BBC0 #E4E0BB

Square

Starting with #BBD4E4, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #E0BBE4, #E4CBBB, then #C0E4BB. Across the square, #BBD4E4 pairs with #E4CBBB, and #E0BBE4 with #C0E4BB.

#BBD4E4 #E0BBE4 #E4CBBB #C0E4BB

Tetradic

#BBD4E4 and #E4CBBB are opposites, as are #CBBBE4 and #D4E4BB. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#BBD4E4 #CBBBE4 #E4CBBB #D4E4BB

Tints

Mixing #BBD4E4 with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #C9DDE9, keeps 80% of the original. By #F1F6FA, the mixture is 80% white.

#BBD4E4 #C9DDE9 #D6E5EF #E4EEF4 #F1F6FA #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #BBD4E4 with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #96AAB6, keeps 80% of the original. By #252A2E, the mixture is 80% black.

#BBD4E4 #96AAB6 #707F89 #4B555B #252A2E #000000

Tones

Mixing #BBD4E4 with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #AFC3D0, keeps 80% of the original. By #8C9194, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#BBD4E4 #AFC3D0 #A3B2BC #98A2A8 #8C9194 #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

#BBD4E4

RGB

rgb(187 212 228)

HSL

hsl(203.415 43.158% 81.373%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #BBD4E4;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#BBD4E4 uses 187 red, 212 green and 228 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 73.3%

Green 83.1%

Blue 89.4%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #BBD4E4 is 18.0% cyan, 7.0% magenta, 0.0% yellow and 10.6% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 18.0%

Magenta 7.0%

Yellow 0.0%

Black 10.6%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #BBCCDD. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #BCD in CSS. For a modern design, keep #BBD4E4 when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #CCCCCC, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

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

Gradient to complement

#BBD4E4 #C2D3DD #C9D1D6 #D0D0D0 #D6CEC9 #DDCDC2 #E4CBBB

Color vision previews

Compare how #BBD4E4 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.

#CDD3E5

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.

#C7CEE4

Tritanopia

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

#B0D8D9

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.

#C7D3E5

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.

#C4D0E4

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#BAD5E0

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#D0D0D0

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.

#C6D2DA

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 0.65837 B 0.77582

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 0.75197 G 0.82836 B 0.88732

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.52560 G 0.65302 B 0.76256

CIE xyY

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

x 0.285 y 0.310 Y 63.252

CMY

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

C % 26.667 M % 16.863 Y % 10.588

Binary RGB

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

10111011 11010100 11100100