#BC997E

sRGB: 188 / 153 / 126

Ancient mountains pierce eternal darkness
Shimmering rivers cascade across forgotten valleys
Silver wings transcend the limits of dreams

#BC997E belongs to the orange family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 188 red, 153 green and 126 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 26.1° lands in the orange region. Its 31.6% saturation makes it partway between gray and the most vivid version of this hue at this lightness. HSL lightness is 61.6% 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 (8.00:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 188, 153, 126
HSL: 26.13°, 31.63%, 61.57%
HSV / HSB: 26.13°, 32.98%, 73.73%
CMYK (approx.): 0.00%, 18.62%, 32.98%, 26.27%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 35.895, 34.981, 24.601
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 65.734, 9.111, 19.116
WCAG relative luminance: 0.34980
24-bit decimal: 12360062

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 #BC997E 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: 8.00:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 2.63:1

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

#7EA1BC sits half a turn (180°) from #BC997E 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.

#BC997E #7EA1BC

Analogous

#BC7E82 and #BCB87E sit 30° to either side of #BC997E. 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.

#BC7E82 #BC997E #BCB87E

Triadic

#BC997E, #7EBC99 and #997EBC are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#BC997E #7EBC99 #997EBC

Split complementary

Start at #BC997E and look across the wheel. #7EBCB8 and #7E82BC sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#BC997E #7EBCB8 #7E82BC

Square

Starting with #BC997E, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #82BC7E, #7EA1BC, then #B87EBC. Across the square, #BC997E pairs with #7EA1BC, and #82BC7E with #B87EBC.

#BC997E #82BC7E #7EA1BC #B87EBC

Tetradic

#BC997E and #7EA1BC are opposites, as are #A1BC7E and #997EBC. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#BC997E #A1BC7E #7EA1BC #997EBC

Tints

Mixing #BC997E with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #C9AD98, keeps 80% of the original. By #F2EBE5, the mixture is 80% white.

#BC997E #C9AD98 #D7C2B2 #E4D6CB #F2EBE5 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #BC997E with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #967A65, keeps 80% of the original. By #261F19, the mixture is 80% black.

#BC997E #967A65 #715C4C #4B3D32 #261F19 #000000

Tones

Mixing #BC997E with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #B0947E, keeps 80% of the original. By #8C8580, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#BC997E #B0947E #A48F7F #988A7F #8C8580 #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

#BC997E

RGB

rgb(188 153 126)

HSL

hsl(26.129 31.633% 61.569%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #BC997E;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#BC997E uses 188 red, 153 green and 126 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 73.7%

Green 60.0%

Blue 49.4%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #BC997E is 0.0% cyan, 18.6% magenta, 33.0% yellow and 26.3% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 0.0%

Magenta 18.6%

Yellow 33.0%

Black 26.3%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #BB9977. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #B97 in CSS. For a modern design, keep #BC997E when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #CC9966, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand: #BB9977 Nearest web-safe: #CC9966

Gradient to complement

#BC997E #B29A88 #A79C93 #9D9D9D #939EA7 #88A0B2 #7EA1BC

Color vision previews

Compare how #BC997E 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.

#A49B7C

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.

#ACA37E

Tritanopia

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

#C79292

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.

#AD9B7D

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.

#B09F7E

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#BD9886

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#A0A0A0

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.

#AF9C90

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 0.50289 G 0.31855 B 0.20864

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 0.71535 G 0.60521 B 0.50811

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.47016 G 0.32467 B 0.22162

CIE xyY

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

x 0.376 y 0.366 Y 34.981

CMY

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

C % 26.275 M % 40.000 Y % 50.588

Binary RGB

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

10111100 10011001 01111110