#DCD8CB

sRGB: 220 / 216 / 203

Thunderous oceans pierce eternal darkness
Electric visions echo between distant mountains
Boundless spirits defy the passing ages

#DCD8CB belongs to the yellow family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 220 red, 216 green and 203 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 45.9° lands in the yellow region. Its 19.5% saturation makes it close to gray at this lightness. HSL lightness is 82.9% 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 (14.73:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 220, 216, 203
HSL: 45.88°, 19.54%, 82.94%
HSV / HSB: 45.88°, 7.73%, 86.27%
CMYK (approx.): 0.00%, 1.82%, 7.73%, 13.73%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 64.848, 68.639, 66.334
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 86.325, -0.883, 6.888
WCAG relative luminance: 0.68639
24-bit decimal: 14473419

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 #DCD8CB 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: 14.73:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 1.43:1

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

#CBCFDC sits half a turn (180°) from #DCD8CB 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.

#DCD8CB #CBCFDC

Analogous

#DCD0CB and #D8DCCB sit 30° to either side of #DCD8CB. 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.

#DCD0CB #DCD8CB #D8DCCB

Triadic

#DCD8CB, #CBDCD8 and #D8CBDC are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#DCD8CB #CBDCD8 #D8CBDC

Split complementary

Start at #DCD8CB and look across the wheel. #CBD8DC and #D0CBDC sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#DCD8CB #CBD8DC #D0CBDC

Square

Starting with #DCD8CB, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #CBDCD0, #CBCFDC, then #DCCBD8. Across the square, #DCD8CB pairs with #CBCFDC, and #CBDCD0 with #DCCBD8.

#DCD8CB #CBDCD0 #CBCFDC #DCCBD8

Tetradic

#DCD8CB and #CBCFDC are opposites, as are #CFDCCB and #D8CBDC. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#DCD8CB #CFDCCB #CBCFDC #D8CBDC

Tints

Mixing #DCD8CB with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #E3E0D5, keeps 80% of the original. By #F8F7F5, the mixture is 80% white.

#DCD8CB #E3E0D5 #EAE8E0 #F1EFEA #F8F7F5 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #DCD8CB with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #B0ADA2, keeps 80% of the original. By #2C2B29, the mixture is 80% black.

#DCD8CB #B0ADA2 #84827A #585651 #2C2B29 #000000

Tones

Mixing #DCD8CB with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #CAC6BC, keeps 80% of the original. By #92928F, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#DCD8CB #CAC6BC #B7B5AD #A5A39E #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

#DCD8CB

RGB

rgb(220 216 203)

HSL

hsl(45.882 19.540% 82.941%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #DCD8CB;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#DCD8CB uses 220 red, 216 green and 203 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 86.3%

Green 84.7%

Blue 79.6%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #DCD8CB is 0.0% cyan, 1.8% magenta, 7.7% yellow and 13.7% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 0.0%

Magenta 1.8%

Yellow 7.7%

Black 13.7%

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 #DCD8CB 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

#DCD8CB #D9D7CE #D6D5D1 #D4D4D4 #D1D2D6 #CED1D9 #CBCFDC

Color vision previews

Compare how #DCD8CB 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.

#DBD7CA

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.

#DCD9CB

Tritanopia

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

#DFD6D4

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.

#DCD8CB

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.

#DCD8CB

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#DDD7CE

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#D8D8D8

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.

#DAD8D2

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 0.68669 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 0.85999 G 0.84759 B 0.80111

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.71054 G 0.68765 B 0.60570

CIE xyY

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

x 0.325 y 0.344 Y 68.639

CMY

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

C % 13.725 M % 15.294 Y % 20.392

Binary RGB

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

11011100 11011000 11001011