#BCDEED

sRGB: 188 / 222 / 237

Ancient mountains pierce eternal darkness
Electric visions transcend the boundaries of time
Infinite wonders shatter the chains of fate

#BCDEED belongs to the azure family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 188 red, 222 green and 237 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 198.4° lands in the azure region. Its 57.6% saturation makes it partway between gray and the most vivid version of this hue at this lightness. HSL lightness is 83.3% 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 (14.81:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 188, 222, 237
HSL: 198.37°, 57.65%, 83.33%
HSV / HSB: 198.37°, 20.68%, 92.94%
CMYK (approx.): 20.68%, 6.33%, 0.00%, 7.06%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 62.143, 69.047, 90.177
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 86.527, -7.961, -11.035
WCAG relative luminance: 0.69048
24-bit decimal: 12377837

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 #BCDEED 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: 14.81:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 1.42:1

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

#EDCBBC sits half a turn (180°) from #BCDEED 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.

#BCDEED #EDCBBC

Analogous

#BCEDE4 and #BCC5ED sit 30° to either side of #BCDEED. 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.

#BCEDE4 #BCDEED #BCC5ED

Triadic

#BCDEED, #EDBCDE and #DEEDBC are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#BCDEED #EDBCDE #DEEDBC

Split complementary

Start at #BCDEED and look across the wheel. #EDBCC5 and #EDE4BC sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#BCDEED #EDBCC5 #EDE4BC

Square

Starting with #BCDEED, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #E4BCED, #EDCBBC, then #C5EDBC. Across the square, #BCDEED pairs with #EDCBBC, and #E4BCED with #C5EDBC.

#BCDEED #E4BCED #EDCBBC #C5EDBC

Tetradic

#BCDEED and #EDCBBC are opposites, as are #CBBCED and #DEEDBC. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#BCDEED #CBBCED #EDCBBC #DEEDBC

Tints

Mixing #BCDEED with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #C9E5F1, keeps 80% of the original. By #F2F8FB, the mixture is 80% white.

#BCDEED #C9E5F1 #D7EBF4 #E4F2F8 #F2F8FB #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #BCDEED with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #96B2BE, keeps 80% of the original. By #262C2F, the mixture is 80% black.

#BCDEED #96B2BE #71858E #4B595F #262C2F #000000

Tones

Mixing #BCDEED with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #B0CBD7, keeps 80% of the original. By #8C9396, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#BCDEED #B0CBD7 #A4B8C1 #98A6AC #8C9396 #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

#BCDEED

RGB

rgb(188 222 237)

HSL

hsl(198.367 57.647% 83.333%)

CSS example

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

Channel breakdown

RGB

#BCDEED uses 188 red, 222 green and 237 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 73.7%

Green 87.1%

Blue 92.9%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #BCDEED is 20.7% cyan, 6.3% magenta, 0.0% yellow and 7.1% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 20.7%

Magenta 6.3%

Yellow 0.0%

Black 7.1%

Nearby colors

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

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

Gradient to complement

#BCDEED #C4DBE5 #CCD8DD #D5D5D5 #DDD1CC #E5CEC4 #EDCBBC

Color vision previews

Compare how #BCDEED 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.

#D6DCEE

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.

#CED6ED

Tritanopia

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

#AEE3E3

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.

#CDDCEE

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.

#CAD9ED

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#BADFE9

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#D9D9D9

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.

#CBDBE3

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 0.73046 B 0.84687

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 0.76318 G 0.86659 B 0.92245

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.54329 G 0.72291 B 0.83257

CIE xyY

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

x 0.281 y 0.312 Y 69.047

CMY

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

C % 26.275 M % 12.941 Y % 7.059

Binary RGB

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

10111100 11011110 11101101