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blue · cool

#b4acce

a light, soft blue · cool · closest name: Thistle

Token name suggestion: Drift Harbour

RGB
180, 172, 206
HSL
254°, 26%, 74%
CMYK
13, 17, 0, 19
Luminance
0.4366

#b4acce is a light soft blue, 254° on the wheel and 69/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.73:1). As text it scores 2.16:1 on white — use #7A6CA8 instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(254 26% 74%)rgb(180 172 206)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #b4acce is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#b4acce
Hue
254°
blue
Saturation
26%
soft
Lightness
74%
light
Brightness
81%
HSV value
Perceived
70%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4366
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
69/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
9.73:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 8.8
Chroma
18.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.762
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 23.4
Web-safe
#CC99CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue254° of 360°
Saturation26%
Lightness74%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #b4acce.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool69% cool

Reads cool. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Luminance by channel
Red22%
Green68%
Blue10%

Green carries most of what the eye calls brightness — that is why WCAG weights it 0.7152.

Every format

HEX#b4acce
HEX (8-digit)#b4acceff
RGBrgb(180, 172, 206)
RGBArgba(180, 172, 206, 1)
HSLhsl(254, 26%, 74%)
HSV / HSBhsv(254, 17%, 81%)
HWBhwb(254 67% 19%)
CMYKcmyk(13%, 17%, 0%, 19%)
LABlab(72.0 9.5 -16.2)
LCHlch(72.0 18.8 300.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.762 0.049 296.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(44.71, 43.66, 64.45)
Decimal11840718
Display P3color(display-p3 0.706 0.675 0.808)
Web-safe#CC99CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #b4acce;
background-color: #b4acce;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #b4acce;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#b4acce] bg-[#b4acce]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #b4acce;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.706, green: 0.675, blue: 0.808)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.706, green: 0.675, blue: 0.808, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#B4ACCE</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFB4ACCE)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFB4ACCE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(206, 172, 180)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(180, 172, 206)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(180, 172, 206)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 180, 172, 206)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7059f, 0.6745f, 0.8078f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{180,172,206}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #b4acce 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #b4acce 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#372F50, #DCD9E8);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #b4acce h s calc(l - 7));

Design tokens

The same ramp in the four formats a team actually needs. Paste one and the whole palette lands with it.

css custom propertiesclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: #F7F6F9;
  --brand-100: #EEEDF3;
  --brand-200: #DAD6E5;
  --brand-300: #b4acce;
  --brand-400: #9F95C1;
  --brand-500: #7F72AC;
  --brand-600: #6A5B9A;
  --brand-700: #584C80;
  --brand-800: #463D67;
  --brand-900: #362F4C;
  --brand-950: #211D2F;
  --brand: #b4acce;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F5F9;
  --brand-border: #D1CCE1;
  --brand-hover: #A095C1;
  --brand-pressed: #8B7FB4;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #181523;
    --brand-ink: #DCD9E8;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F6F9',
        100: '#EEEDF3',
        200: '#DAD6E5',
        300: '#b4acce',
        400: '#9F95C1',
        500: '#7F72AC',
        600: '#6A5B9A',
        700: '#584C80',
        800: '#463D67',
        900: '#362F4C',
        950: '#211D2F',
        DEFAULT: '#b4acce',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F6F9,
  '100': #EEEDF3,
  '200': #DAD6E5,
  '300': #b4acce,
  '400': #9F95C1,
  '500': #7F72AC,
  '600': #6A5B9A,
  '700': #584C80,
  '800': #463D67,
  '900': #362F4C,
  '950': #211D2F,
);
$brand-base: #b4acce;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F6F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EEEDF3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DAD6E5", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#b4acce", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#9F95C1", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7F72AC", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#6A5B9A", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#584C80", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#463D67", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#362F4C", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#211D2F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#000000", "$type": "color" }
  }
}

Best text color

Only one of black and white can be right. This is the one, with the number that proves it.

Readable at a glance#000000 on #b4acce · 9.73:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.16:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.73:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #b4acce as text scores 2.16:1 on white and 9.73:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #372F50 at 5.78:1.

Make it accessible

A contrast checker tells you that you failed. This tells you what to ship instead — same hue, same saturation, lightness moved only as far as WCAG demands.

The quick fox
#7A6CA8 · 4.63:1
AA on white−20% L
#7A6CA8
The quick fox
#5D5087 · 7.09:1
AAA on white−32% L
#5D5087
The quick fox
#b4acce · 9.73:1
AA on blackalready passes
#b4acce
The quick fox
#b4acce · 9.73:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#b4acce

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #978CBB is enough for headings on white. Non-text elements such as icons, chart strokes and focus rings also sit at 3:1 under WCAG 2.2 (1.4.11).

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

Aa
#b4acce on white: 2.16:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#b4acce on black: 9.73:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #b4acce as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #b4acce.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.16:1AaAa
Slate 502.06:1AaAa
Slate 1001.97:1AaAa
Slate 2001.75:1AaAa
Slate 3001.45:1AaAa
Slate 4001.19:1AaAa
Slate 5002.21:1AaAa
Slate 6003.51:1AaAa
Slate 7004.80:1AaAa
Slate 8006.78:1AaAa
Slate 9008.27:1AaAa
Black9.73:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A5B1D0
deuteranopia · #A6B0CD
tritanopia · #AFB1B7

Roughly one man in twelve has some form of colour vision deficiency. If any of the three panels above is hard to tell apart from a neighbouring colour in your palette, add a shape, an icon or a label so the meaning does not rest on hue alone.

Color scale — 50 to 950

A Tailwind-shaped ramp built around this exact hex. #b4acce is pinned to step 300; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F7F6F9
#EEEDF3
#DAD6E5
#b4acce
#9F95C1
#7F72AC
#6A5B9A
#584C80
#463D67
#362F4C
#211D2F
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F7F6F9Darkest = 950 · #211D2FText step on white = 600
Perceptual ramp — OKLCH

The same eleven steps expressed in OKLCH, where equal lightness numbers actually look equally spaced. HSL ramps go muddy in the yellows and washed out in the blues; this one does not. Modern browsers render it natively — the hex ramp above is the fallback.

50100200300400500600700800900950
oklch tokensclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: oklch(0.97 0.012 296.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.020 296.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.029 296.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.038 296.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.045 296.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.049 296.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.049 296.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.046 296.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.041 296.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.034 296.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.027 296.0);
}

Colors that work with #b4acce

Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.

Text on it#000000
Black wins here
Surface#F6F5F9
Tinted page background
Border#D1CCE1
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#635590
Captions on the surface
Accent#858347
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#372F50
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F1EFF6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#181523
Dark-mode background
Hover#A095C1
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8B7FB4
Two steps down
Disabled#F4F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#BDB3DB
Offset from the fill so it reads
Light mode
Everything in its place

Surface, border, heading and body all derive from this one hue, so the screen stays coherent without a second palette.

Primary actionSecondaryBadge
Dark mode
Same hue, inverted

Lightness flips, hue holds. The accent stays the anchor in both themes.

Primary actionSecondaryAccent

In real components

The same eight roles, wired into the interface patterns you will actually build with them. Every state below is a computed value, not a mock-up.

Buttons and states
Save changesHoverPressedDisabled
OutlineSubtleLinkFocused
Form field
you@company.com

Focus ring uses the light variant so the field still reads as one shape.

Send me product updates
Notice
Your export is ready

The file stays available for seven days. Download it before it expires.

NewBetaDraft
Data
Storage used68%
Acme LtdActive
NorthwindTrial
GlobexActive

How to use #b4acce

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • White text placed on it
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
Not as text
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #372F50
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #978CBB

Meaning and mood

What a colour in this family tends to signal, and how this particular chroma and lightness change the reading.

trustedcalmcompetentcorporate

The default of institutions for a reason: blue is read as stable and safe across nearly every culture that has been surveyed.

The muted chroma softens the association — it reads considered rather than loud, which suits long-form and data-heavy screens. The lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

It is also the most crowded hue on the web. Distinctiveness has to come from your other choices.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight26/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • ApproachabilityReserved

Colour associations are cultural and vary by market. Treat these as a starting point for a conversation with your audience, not a finding about them.

Similar colors

One move away from this hex in each direction. Every swatch is its own page.

Color relationships

The wheel positions with their names attached, so you can grab the one you actually need.

Complementary#C6CEAC
Analogous left#ACB5CE
Analogous right#C5ACCE
Split-complement 1#CEC5AC
Split-complement 2#B5CEAC
Triadic 1#CEB4AC
Triadic 2#ACCEB4
Tetradic#CEACB5
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°254°

#b4acce sits at 254°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red70.6%
Green67.5%
Blue80.8%
R · 0–255
180
0xb4
G · 0–255
172
0xac
B · 0–255
206
0xce

CMYK percentages

Cyan12.6%
Magenta16.5%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)19.2%

Total ink coverage is 48%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#b4acce text on a black background

contrast 9.73:1

Card sample

#b4acce text on a white background

contrast 2.16:1

Card sample

#b4acce on grey

1.97:1

#b4acce on its own surface

1.99:1

#b4acce on its dark surface

8.32:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #b4acce;
Background color
Panel with #b4acce background
background-color: #b4acce;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #b4acce;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(180, 172, 206, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(180, 172, 206, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #b4acce;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #b4acce, #CBACCE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #b4acce, #CEACC9);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #b4acce;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #b4acce;
caret-color: #b4acce;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #b4acce;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F1EFF6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #b4acce;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#b4acce 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #b4acce over white; the bottom row is the same alpha over a checkerboard, so you can see what survives on a photo or a video.

Bottom row of hexes is the flattened result over white — use those when a design tool refuses transparency, or when you need a solid fallback.

alpha in every syntaxclick to select
rgba(180, 172, 206, 0.5)
rgb(180 172 206 / 50%)
#b4acce80
hsl(254 26% 74% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #b4acce 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#b4acce1a#F8F7FA
20%#b4acce33#F0EEF5
40%#b4acce66#E1DEEB
60%#b4acce99#D2CDE2
80%#b4accecc#C3BDD8

Gradients from #b4acce

Six recipes, each built from this hex and shown with the exact CSS that produced it.

Elevation
Same hue, three lightnesses — safe anywhere
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #D7D2E5, #b4acce 45%, #372F50);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #b4acce, #C299C3);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #b4acce, #C6CEAC);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E8E6F0 0%, #b4acce 45%, #372F50 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F5F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #CCD3E1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D5BFD9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #372F50 0%, transparent 65%), #b4acce;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #b4acce

Shades — darker

Tints — lighter

Tones — desaturated

Color harmonies

Nearest named colors

Ranked with CIEDE2000 across all 139 CSS keywords. Under ΔE 2 the eye stops telling them apart; over ΔE 10 they are plainly different colors.

#b4acce in the real world

Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.

Industries
TechnologyFinanceHealthcareEnterprise SaaS
Common UI roles
SurfacesBadgesHighlightsEmpty states
Print note

Converts to four-color process without much drama. Proof it anyway.

On screens

Holds up across typical panel gamma. Still worth checking on an uncalibrated laptop, where mid-tones shift most.

In dark mode

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 9.73:1.

Explore nearby colors

Small, deliberate steps away from this hex — useful when you are hunting for the version of a colour that finally feels right.

#b4acce, answered

What color is #b4acce?

#b4acce is a light soft blue, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 8.8). It sits at 254° on the hue wheel with 26% saturation and 74% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #b4acce?

rgb(180, 172, 206) — 180 red, 172 green and 206 blue out of 255, or 70.6% / 67.5% / 80.8% by channel.

What is #b4acce in HSL and HSV?

hsl(254, 26%, 74%) and hsv(254, 17%, 81%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #b4acce a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4366 and perceived brightness is 70%, so black text on it reaches 9.73:1.

Should I use black or white text on #b4acce?

Black. It scores 9.73:1 against #b4acce, versus 2.16:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #b4acce accessible on a white background?

#b4acce on white scores 2.16:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7A6CA8 to reach 4.5:1, or #5D5087 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #b4acce?

#C6CEAC sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CEC5AC and #B5CEAC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #b4acce?

For interface work: #F6F5F9 as the surface, #D1CCE1 for borders, #635590 for secondary text, #858347 as an accent and #372F50 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #ACB5CE and #C5ACCE stays calm, while #C6CEAC is the loudest partner.

What is #b4acce in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(13%, 17%, 0%, 19%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #b4acce warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 69 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C0ACCE; nudged cooler, #ABAFCF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #b4acce?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 23.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #b4acce as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #b4acce in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#b4acce] or text-[#b4acce], or register the whole ramp under theme.extend.colors.brand so you get bg-brand-500 and friends. The generated 50–950 scale on this page is ready to paste into your config.

What is #b4acce with 50% opacity?

rgba(180, 172, 206, 0.5), or #b4acce80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DAD6E7; over black, #5A5667.

Is #b4acce a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99CC, ΔE2000 11.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #b4acce mean?

As a blue, it reads trusted, calm, competent. The default of institutions for a reason: blue is read as stable and safe across nearly every culture that has been surveyed. At this moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #b4acce?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D7D2E5, #b4acce 45%, #372F50). For more colour, a short hue run to #C299C3 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #b4acce in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #b4acce at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.