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blue · cool

#bab6cc

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

Token name suggestion: Morning Denim

RGB
186, 182, 204
HSL
251°, 18%, 76%
CMYK
9, 11, 0, 20
Luminance
0.4825

#bab6cc is a light soft blue, 251° on the wheel and 64/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.65:1). As text it scores 1.97:1 on white — use #79719C instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(251 18% 76%)rgb(186 182 204)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bab6cc is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bab6cc
Hue
251°
blue
Saturation
18%
soft
Lightness
76%
light
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
73%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4825
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
64/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
10.65:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 8.3
Chroma
12.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.786
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 24
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue251° of 360°
Saturation18%
Lightness76%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bab6cc.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool64% 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%
Green69%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#bab6cc
HEX (8-digit)#bab6ccff
RGBrgb(186, 182, 204)
RGBArgba(186, 182, 204, 1)
HSLhsl(251, 18%, 76%)
HSV / HSBhsv(251, 11%, 80%)
HWBhwb(251 71% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(9%, 11%, 0%, 20%)
LABlab(75.0 5.7 -10.6)
LCHlch(75.0 12.0 298.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.786 0.031 294.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(47.87, 48.25, 63.91)
Decimal12236492
Display P3color(display-p3 0.729 0.714 0.800)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bab6cc;
background-color: #bab6cc;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bab6cc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bab6cc] bg-[#bab6cc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bab6cc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.729, green: 0.714, blue: 0.800)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.729, green: 0.714, blue: 0.800, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BAB6CC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBAB6CC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBAB6CC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(204, 182, 186)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(186, 182, 204)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(186, 182, 204)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 186, 182, 204)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7294f, 0.7137f, 0.8000f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{186,182,204}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bab6cc 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bab6cc 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#39344B, #DDDBE6);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bab6cc 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: #F7F6F8;
  --brand-100: #EEEEF2;
  --brand-200: #DBD9E3;
  --brand-300: #bab6cc;
  --brand-400: #A19CBA;
  --brand-500: #827BA3;
  --brand-600: #6D6590;
  --brand-700: #5B5478;
  --brand-800: #484360;
  --brand-900: #373347;
  --brand-950: #22202C;
  --brand: #bab6cc;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F6F9;
  --brand-border: #D2CFDD;
  --brand-hover: #A6A1BD;
  --brand-pressed: #928CAF;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #191721;
    --brand-ink: #DDDBE6;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F6F8',
        100: '#EEEEF2',
        200: '#DBD9E3',
        300: '#bab6cc',
        400: '#A19CBA',
        500: '#827BA3',
        600: '#6D6590',
        700: '#5B5478',
        800: '#484360',
        900: '#373347',
        950: '#22202C',
        DEFAULT: '#bab6cc',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F6F8,
  '100': #EEEEF2,
  '200': #DBD9E3,
  '300': #bab6cc,
  '400': #A19CBA,
  '500': #827BA3,
  '600': #6D6590,
  '700': #5B5478,
  '800': #484360,
  '900': #373347,
  '950': #22202C,
);
$brand-base: #bab6cc;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F6F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EEEEF2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DBD9E3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#bab6cc", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#A19CBA", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#827BA3", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#6D6590", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#5B5478", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#484360", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#373347", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#22202C", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bab6cc · 10.65:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.97:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.65:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bab6cc as text scores 1.97:1 on white and 10.65:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #39344B at 6.03:1.

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
#79719C · 4.51:1
AA on white−23% L
#79719C
The quick fox
#5A5377 · 7.15:1
AAA on white−36% L
#5A5377
The quick fox
#bab6cc · 10.65:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bab6cc
The quick fox
#bab6cc · 10.65:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bab6cc

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #958FB1 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
#bab6cc on white: 1.97:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bab6cc on black: 10.65:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bab6cc as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bab6cc.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.97:1AaAa
Slate 501.88:1AaAa
Slate 1001.80:1AaAa
Slate 2001.60:1AaAa
Slate 3001.33:1AaAa
Slate 4001.30:1AaAa
Slate 5002.41:1AaAa
Slate 6003.84:1AaAa
Slate 7005.25:1AaAa
Slate 8007.42:1AaAa
Slate 9009.05:1AaAa
Black10.65:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B2B9CD
deuteranopia · #B2B8CB
tritanopia · #B7B9BD

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. #bab6cc 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.

#F7F6F8
#EEEEF2
#DBD9E3
#bab6cc
#A19CBA
#827BA3
#6D6590
#5B5478
#484360
#373347
#22202C
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F7F6F8Darkest = 950 · #22202CText 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 0.008 294.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.012 294.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.019 294.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.024 294.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.029 294.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.031 294.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.031 294.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.029 294.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.026 294.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.022 294.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.017 294.0);
}

Colors that work with #bab6cc

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#F6F6F9
Tinted page background
Border#D2CFDD
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#665E87
Captions on the surface
Accent#7B7A51
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#39344B
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F1F0F5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#191721
Dark-mode background
Hover#A6A1BD
One step down in lightness
Pressed#928CAF
Two steps down
Disabled#F4F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C2BDDA
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 #bab6cc

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 #39344B
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #958FB1

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
  • Weight24/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • ApproachabilityBalanced

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#C8CCB6
Analogous left#B6BDCC
Analogous right#C5B6CC
Split-complement 1#CCC5B6
Split-complement 2#BDCCB6
Triadic 1#CCBAB6
Triadic 2#B6CCBA
Tetradic#CCB6BD
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°251°

#bab6cc sits at 251°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red72.9%
Green71.4%
Blue80.0%
R · 0–255
186
0xba
G · 0–255
182
0xb6
B · 0–255
204
0xcc

CMYK percentages

Cyan8.8%
Magenta10.8%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)20.0%

Total ink coverage is 40%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bab6cc text on a black background

contrast 10.65:1

Card sample

#bab6cc text on a white background

contrast 1.97:1

Card sample

#bab6cc on grey

1.80:1

#bab6cc on its own surface

1.83:1

#bab6cc on its dark surface

8.98:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bab6cc;
Background color
Panel with #bab6cc background
background-color: #bab6cc;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bab6cc;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(186, 182, 204, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(186, 182, 204, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bab6cc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bab6cc, #C9B6CC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bab6cc, #CCB6CA);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bab6cc;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bab6cc;
caret-color: #bab6cc;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bab6cc;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F1F0F5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bab6cc;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bab6cc 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bab6cc 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(186, 182, 204, 0.5)
rgb(186 182 204 / 50%)
#bab6cc80
hsl(251 18% 76% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bab6cc 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bab6cc1a#F8F8FA
20%#bab6cc33#F1F0F5
40%#bab6cc66#E3E2EB
60%#bab6cc99#D6D3E0
80%#bab6cccc#C8C5D6

Gradients from #bab6cc

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, #DCDAE5, #bab6cc 45%, #39344B);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bab6cc, #BEA4BF);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bab6cc, #C8CCB6);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EDECF2 0%, #bab6cc 45%, #39344B 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F6F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #D4D9E1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D5C8D9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #39344B 0%, transparent 65%), #bab6cc;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bab6cc

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.

#bab6cc 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 10.65:1.

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.

#bab6cc, answered

What color is #bab6cc?

#bab6cc is a light soft blue, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 8.3). It sits at 251° on the hue wheel with 18% saturation and 76% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #bab6cc?

rgb(186, 182, 204) — 186 red, 182 green and 204 blue out of 255, or 72.9% / 71.4% / 80% by channel.

What is #bab6cc in HSL and HSV?

hsl(251, 18%, 76%) and hsv(251, 11%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bab6cc a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4825 and perceived brightness is 73%, so black text on it reaches 10.65:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bab6cc?

Black. It scores 10.65:1 against #bab6cc, versus 1.97:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bab6cc accessible on a white background?

#bab6cc on white scores 1.97:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #79719C to reach 4.5:1, or #5A5377 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bab6cc?

#C8CCB6 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CCC5B6 and #BDCCB6, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bab6cc?

For interface work: #F6F6F9 as the surface, #D2CFDD for borders, #665E87 for secondary text, #7B7A51 as an accent and #39344B for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #B6BDCC and #C5B6CC stays calm, while #C8CCB6 is the loudest partner.

What is #bab6cc in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(9%, 11%, 0%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bab6cc warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 64 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C2B6CC; nudged cooler, #B5B9CD.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bab6cc?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 24 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bab6cc as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bab6cc in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bab6cc] or text-[#bab6cc], 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 #bab6cc with 50% opacity?

rgba(186, 182, 204, 0.5), or #bab6cc80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DDDBE6; over black, #5D5B66.

Is #bab6cc a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 11.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bab6cc 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 #bab6cc?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #DCDAE5, #bab6cc 45%, #39344B). For more colour, a short hue run to #BEA4BF keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bab6cc in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bab6cc at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.