#BDABFF

sRGB: 189 / 171 / 255

Ancient mountains command forgotten kingdoms
Sacred blossoms shimmer across boundless heavens
Celestial symphonies echo beyond eternity

#BDABFF belongs to the blue family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 189 red, 171 green and 255 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 252.9° lands in the blue region. Its 100.0% saturation makes it strong in color at this lightness. HSL lightness is 83.5% 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 (10.43:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 189, 171, 255
HSL: 252.86°, 100.00%, 83.53%
HSV / HSB: 252.86°, 32.94%, 100.00%
CMYK (approx.): 25.88%, 32.94%, 0.00%, 0.00%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 53.596, 47.165, 100.891
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 74.295, 23.881, -39.287
WCAG relative luminance: 0.47165
24-bit decimal: 12430335

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 #BDABFF 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: 10.43:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 2.01:1

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

#EDFFAB sits half a turn (180°) from #BDABFF 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.

#BDABFF #EDFFAB

Analogous

#ABC3FF and #E7ABFF sit 30° to either side of #BDABFF. 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.

#ABC3FF #BDABFF #E7ABFF

Triadic

#BDABFF, #FFBDAB and #ABFFBD are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#BDABFF #FFBDAB #ABFFBD

Split complementary

Start at #BDABFF and look across the wheel. #FFE7AB and #C3FFAB sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#BDABFF #FFE7AB #C3FFAB

Square

Starting with #BDABFF, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #FFABC3, #EDFFAB, then #ABFFE7. Across the square, #BDABFF pairs with #EDFFAB, and #FFABC3 with #ABFFE7.

#BDABFF #FFABC3 #EDFFAB #ABFFE7

Tetradic

#BDABFF and #EDFFAB are opposites, as are #FFABED and #ABFFBD. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#BDABFF #FFABED #EDFFAB #ABFFBD

Tints

Mixing #BDABFF with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #CABCFF, keeps 80% of the original. By #F2EEFF, the mixture is 80% white.

#BDABFF #CABCFF #D7CDFF #E5DDFF #F2EEFF #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #BDABFF with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #9789CC, keeps 80% of the original. By #262233, the mixture is 80% black.

#BDABFF #9789CC #716799 #4C4466 #262233 #000000

Tones

Mixing #BDABFF with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #B1A2E6, keeps 80% of the original. By #8C8999, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#BDABFF #B1A2E6 #A59ACC #9891B3 #8C8999 #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

#BDABFF

RGB

rgb(189 171 255)

HSL

hsl(252.857 100.000% 83.529%)

CSS example

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

Channel breakdown

RGB

#BDABFF uses 189 red, 171 green and 255 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 74.1%

Green 67.1%

Blue 100.0%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #BDABFF is 25.9% cyan, 32.9% magenta, 0.0% yellow and 0.0% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 25.9%

Magenta 32.9%

Yellow 0.0%

Black 0.0%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #BBAAFF. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #BAF in CSS. For a modern design, keep #BDABFF when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #CC99FF, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand: #BBAAFF Nearest web-safe: #CC99FF

Gradient to complement

#BDABFF #C5B9F1 #CDC7E3 #D5D5D5 #DDE3C7 #E5F1B9 #EDFFAB

Color vision previews

Compare how #BDABFF 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.

#95B8FF

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.

#97B5FD

Tritanopia

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

#AFB9CA

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.

#A4B3FF

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.

#A4B2FE

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#B9B0ED

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#B7B7B7

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.

#BAB1DF

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 0.50888 G 0.40724 B 1.00000

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 0.72929 G 0.67309 B 0.97710

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.49084 G 0.41061 B 0.94870

CIE xyY

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

x 0.266 y 0.234 Y 47.165

CMY

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

C % 25.882 M % 32.941 Y % 0.000

Binary RGB

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

10111101 10101011 11111111