#DBDBCB

sRGB: 219 / 219 / 203

Thunderous oceans rise against oblivion
Electric visions shimmer across boundless heavens
Boundless spirits defy the passing ages

#DBDBCB belongs to the yellow family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 219 red, 219 green and 203 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 60.0° lands in the yellow region. Its 18.2% saturation makes it close to gray at this lightness. HSL lightness is 82.7% 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 (15.01:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 219, 219, 203
HSL: 60.00°, 18.18%, 82.75%
HSV / HSB: 60.00°, 7.31%, 85.88%
CMYK (approx.): 0.00%, 0.00%, 7.31%, 14.12%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 65.322, 70.035, 66.579
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 87.014, -2.783, 7.867
WCAG relative luminance: 0.70035
24-bit decimal: 14408651

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 #DBDBCB 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: 15.01:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 1.40:1

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

#CBCBDB sits half a turn (180°) from #DBDBCB 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.

#DBDBCB #CBCBDB

Analogous

#DBD3CB and #D3DBCB sit 30° to either side of #DBDBCB. 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.

#DBD3CB #DBDBCB #D3DBCB

Triadic

#DBDBCB, #CBDBDB and #DBCBDB are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#DBDBCB #CBDBDB #DBCBDB

Split complementary

Start at #DBDBCB and look across the wheel. #CBD3DB and #D3CBDB sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#DBDBCB #CBD3DB #D3CBDB

Square

Starting with #DBDBCB, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #CBDBD3, #CBCBDB, then #DBCBD3. Across the square, #DBDBCB pairs with #CBCBDB, and #CBDBD3 with #DBCBD3.

#DBDBCB #CBDBD3 #CBCBDB #DBCBD3

Tetradic

#DBDBCB and #CBCBDB are opposites, as are #CBDBCB and #DBCBDB. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#DBDBCB #CBDBCB #CBCBDB #DBCBDB

Tints

Mixing #DBDBCB with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #E2E2D5, keeps 80% of the original. By #F8F8F5, the mixture is 80% white.

#DBDBCB #E2E2D5 #E9E9E0 #F1F1EA #F8F8F5 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #DBDBCB with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #AFAFA2, keeps 80% of the original. By #2C2C29, the mixture is 80% black.

#DBDBCB #AFAFA2 #83837A #585851 #2C2C29 #000000

Tones

Mixing #DBDBCB with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #C9C9BC, keeps 80% of the original. By #92928F, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#DBDBCB #C9C9BC #B7B7AD #A4A49E #92928F #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

#DBDBCB

RGB

rgb(219 219 203)

HSL

hsl(60.000 18.182% 82.745%)

CSS example

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

Channel breakdown

RGB

#DBDBCB uses 219 red, 219 green and 203 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 85.9%

Green 85.9%

Blue 79.6%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #DBDBCB is 0.0% cyan, 0.0% magenta, 7.3% yellow and 14.1% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 0.0%

Magenta 0.0%

Yellow 7.3%

Black 14.1%

Nearby colors

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

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

Gradient to complement

#DBDBCB #D8D8CE #D6D6D0 #D3D3D3 #D0D0D6 #CECED8 #CBCBDB

Color vision previews

Compare how #DBDBCB 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.

#DED9CA

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.

#DEDACC

Tritanopia

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

#DED9D6

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.

#DDDACB

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.

#DDDACB

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#DCDACF

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#DADADA

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.

#DADAD3

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 0.70838 G 0.70838 B 0.59720

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 0.85882 G 0.85882 B 0.80196

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.70838 G 0.70838 B 0.60715

CIE xyY

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

x 0.323 y 0.347 Y 70.035

CMY

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

C % 14.118 M % 14.118 Y % 20.392

Binary RGB

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

11011011 11011011 11001011