#DCBDBF

sRGB: 220 / 189 / 191

Thunderous oceans pierce eternal darkness
Restless constellations illuminate forgotten empires
Eternal flames echo beyond eternity

#DCBDBF belongs to the red family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 220 red, 189 green and 191 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 356.1° lands in the red region. Its 30.7% saturation makes it partway between gray and the most vivid version of this hue at this lightness. HSL lightness is 80.2% 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 (12.07:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 220, 189, 191
HSL: 356.13°, 30.69%, 80.20%
HSV / HSB: 356.13°, 14.09%, 86.27%
CMYK (approx.): 0.00%, 14.09%, 13.18%, 13.73%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 57.114, 55.373, 56.971
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 79.256, 11.345, 3.083
WCAG relative luminance: 0.55372
24-bit decimal: 14466495

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 #DCBDBF 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: 12.07:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 1.74:1

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

#BDDCDA sits half a turn (180°) from #DCBDBF 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.

#DCBDBF #BDDCDA

Analogous

#DCBDCF and #DCCBBD sit 30° to either side of #DCBDBF. 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.

#DCBDCF #DCBDBF #DCCBBD

Triadic

#DCBDBF, #BFDCBD and #BDBFDC are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#DCBDBF #BFDCBD #BDBFDC

Split complementary

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

#DCBDBF #BDDCCB #BDCFDC

Square

Starting with #DCBDBF, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #CFDCBD, #BDDCDA, then #CBBDDC. Across the square, #DCBDBF pairs with #BDDCDA, and #CFDCBD with #CBBDDC.

#DCBDBF #CFDCBD #BDDCDA #CBBDDC

Tetradic

#DCBDBF and #BDDCDA are opposites, as are #DCDABD and #BDBFDC. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#DCBDBF #DCDABD #BDDCDA #BDBFDC

Tints

Mixing #DCBDBF with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #E3CACC, keeps 80% of the original. By #F8F2F2, the mixture is 80% white.

#DCBDBF #E3CACC #EAD7D9 #F1E5E5 #F8F2F2 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #DCBDBF with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #B09799, keeps 80% of the original. By #2C2626, the mixture is 80% black.

#DCBDBF #B09799 #847173 #584C4C #2C2626 #000000

Tones

Mixing #DCBDBF with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #CAB1B2, keeps 80% of the original. By #928C8D, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#DCBDBF #CAB1B2 #B7A5A6 #A59899 #928C8D #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

#DCBDBF

RGB

rgb(220 189 191)

HSL

hsl(356.129 30.693% 80.196%)

CSS example

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

Channel breakdown

RGB

#DCBDBF uses 220 red, 189 green and 191 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 86.3%

Green 74.1%

Blue 74.9%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #DCBDBF is 0.0% cyan, 14.1% magenta, 13.2% yellow and 13.7% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 0.0%

Magenta 14.1%

Yellow 13.2%

Black 13.7%

Nearby colors

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

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

Gradient to complement

#DCBDBF #D7C2C4 #D2C7C8 #CDCDCD #C7D2D1 #C2D7D6 #BDDCDA

Color vision previews

Compare how #DCBDBF 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.

#C2C1BF

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.

#C9C6BF

Tritanopia

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

#E3BBBE

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.

#CCC0BF

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.

#CEC3BF

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#DCBDBF

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#C4C4C4

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.

#D1C1C2

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 0.71569 G 0.50888 B 0.52100

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 0.84283 G 0.74563 B 0.75059

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.67898 G 0.51575 B 0.52344

CIE xyY

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

x 0.337 y 0.327 Y 55.373

CMY

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

C % 13.725 M % 25.882 Y % 25.098

Binary RGB

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

11011100 10111101 10111111