#BDBECC

sRGB: 189 / 190 / 204

Ancient mountains command forgotten kingdoms
Restless constellations transcend the boundaries of time
Boundless spirits awaken sleeping galaxies

#BDBECC belongs to the blue family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 189 red, 190 green and 204 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 236.0° lands in the blue region. Its 12.8% saturation makes it close to gray at this lightness. HSL lightness is 77.1% 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 (11.40:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 189, 190, 204
HSL: 236.00°, 12.82%, 77.06%
HSV / HSB: 236.00°, 7.35%, 80.00%
CMYK (approx.): 7.35%, 6.86%, 0.00%, 20.00%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 50.296, 52.005, 64.517
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 77.284, 2.339, -7.138
WCAG relative luminance: 0.52005
24-bit decimal: 12435148

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 #BDBECC 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: 11.40:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 1.84:1

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

#CCCBBD sits half a turn (180°) from #BDBECC 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.

#BDBECC #CCCBBD

Analogous

#BDC6CC and #C4BDCC sit 30° to either side of #BDBECC. 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.

#BDC6CC #BDBECC #C4BDCC

Triadic

#BDBECC, #CCBDBE and #BECCBD are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#BDBECC #CCBDBE #BECCBD

Split complementary

Start at #BDBECC and look across the wheel. #CCC4BD and #C6CCBD sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#BDBECC #CCC4BD #C6CCBD

Square

Starting with #BDBECC, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #CCBDC6, #CCCBBD, then #BDCCC4. Across the square, #BDBECC pairs with #CCCBBD, and #CCBDC6 with #BDCCC4.

#BDBECC #CCBDC6 #CCCBBD #BDCCC4

Tetradic

#BDBECC and #CCCBBD are opposites, as are #CBBDCC and #BECCBD. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#BDBECC #CBBDCC #CCCBBD #BECCBD

Tints

Mixing #BDBECC with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #CACBD6, keeps 80% of the original. By #F2F2F5, the mixture is 80% white.

#BDBECC #CACBD6 #D7D8E0 #E5E5EB #F2F2F5 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #BDBECC with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #9798A3, keeps 80% of the original. By #262629, the mixture is 80% black.

#BDBECC #9798A3 #71727A #4C4C52 #262629 #000000

Tones

Mixing #BDBECC with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #B1B2BD, keeps 80% of the original. By #8C8C8F, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#BDBECC #B1B2BD #A5A5AE #98999E #8C8C8F #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

#BDBECC

RGB

rgb(189 190 204)

HSL

hsl(236.000 12.821% 77.059%)

CSS example

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

Channel breakdown

RGB

#BDBECC uses 189 red, 190 green and 204 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 74.1%

Green 74.5%

Blue 80.0%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #BDBECC is 7.4% cyan, 6.9% magenta, 0.0% yellow and 20.0% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 7.4%

Magenta 6.9%

Yellow 0.0%

Black 20.0%

Nearby colors

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

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

Gradient to complement

#BDBECC #C0C0CA #C2C2C7 #C5C5C5 #C7C7C2 #CAC9C0 #CCCBBD

Color vision previews

Compare how #BDBECC 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.

#BBBFCD

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.

#BABECC

Tritanopia

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

#BAC0C2

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.

#BCBFCC

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.

#BBBECC

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#BCBFC9

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#BFBFBF

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.

#BEBEC6

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 0.51492 B 0.60383

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 0.74187 G 0.74497 B 0.79523

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.50995 G 0.51472 B 0.59577

CIE xyY

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

x 0.302 y 0.312 Y 52.005

CMY

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

C % 25.882 M % 25.490 Y % 20.000

Binary RGB

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

10111101 10111110 11001100