#DEC4BF

sRGB: 222 / 196 / 191

Thunderous oceans fracture ancient heavens
Majestic waterfalls breathe beneath silver clouds
Eternal flames echo beyond eternity

#DEC4BF belongs to the red family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 222 red, 196 green and 191 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 9.7° lands in the red region. Its 32.0% saturation makes it partway between gray and the most vivid version of this hue at this lightness. HSL lightness is 81.0% 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 (12.75:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 222, 196, 191
HSL: 9.68°, 31.96%, 80.98%
HSV / HSB: 9.68°, 13.96%, 87.06%
CMYK (approx.): 0.00%, 11.71%, 13.96%, 12.94%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 59.266, 58.772, 57.514
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 81.166, 8.344, 5.867
WCAG relative luminance: 0.58771
24-bit decimal: 14599359

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 #DEC4BF 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: 12.75:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 1.65:1

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

#BFD9DE sits half a turn (180°) from #DEC4BF 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.

#DEC4BF #BFD9DE

Analogous

#DEBFCA and #DED4BF sit 30° to either side of #DEC4BF. 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.

#DEBFCA #DEC4BF #DED4BF

Triadic

#DEC4BF, #BFDEC4 and #C4BFDE are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#DEC4BF #BFDEC4 #C4BFDE

Split complementary

Start at #DEC4BF and look across the wheel. #BFDED4 and #BFC9DE sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#DEC4BF #BFDED4 #BFC9DE

Square

Starting with #DEC4BF, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #CADEBF, #BFD9DE, then #D4BFDE. Across the square, #DEC4BF pairs with #BFD9DE, and #CADEBF with #D4BFDE.

#DEC4BF #CADEBF #BFD9DE #D4BFDE

Tetradic

#DEC4BF and #BFD9DE are opposites, as are #D9DEBF and #C4BFDE. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#DEC4BF #D9DEBF #BFD9DE #C4BFDE

Tints

Mixing #DEC4BF with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #E5D0CC, keeps 80% of the original. By #F8F3F2, the mixture is 80% white.

#DEC4BF #E5D0CC #EBDCD9 #F2E7E5 #F8F3F2 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #DEC4BF with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #B29D99, keeps 80% of the original. By #2C2726, the mixture is 80% black.

#DEC4BF #B29D99 #857673 #594E4C #2C2726 #000000

Tones

Mixing #DEC4BF with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #CBB6B2, keeps 80% of the original. By #938E8D, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#DEC4BF #CBB6B2 #B8A9A6 #A69B99 #938E8D #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

#DEC4BF

RGB

rgb(222 196 191)

HSL

hsl(9.677 31.959% 80.980%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #DEC4BF;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#DEC4BF uses 222 red, 196 green and 191 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 87.1%

Green 76.9%

Blue 74.9%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #DEC4BF is 0.0% cyan, 11.7% magenta, 14.0% yellow and 12.9% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 0.0%

Magenta 11.7%

Yellow 14.0%

Black 12.9%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #DDCCBB. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #DCB in CSS. For a modern design, keep #DEC4BF when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #CCCCCC, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

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

Gradient to complement

#DEC4BF #D9C8C4 #D4CBC9 #CFCFCF #C9D2D4 #C4D6D9 #BFD9DE

Color vision previews

Compare how #DEC4BF 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.

#C9C7BF

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.

#CFCCBF

Tritanopia

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

#E5C1C3

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.

#D1C6BF

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.

#D3C9BF

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#DFC4C0

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#CACACA

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.

#D4C7C4

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 0.73046 G 0.55201 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 0.85364 G 0.77230 B 0.75275

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.69878 G 0.55793 B 0.52682

CIE xyY

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

x 0.338 y 0.335 Y 58.772

CMY

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

C % 12.941 M % 23.137 Y % 25.098

Binary RGB

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

11011110 11000100 10111111