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blue · cool

#babbc8

a light, muted blue · cool · closest name: Silver

Token name suggestion: Morning Sapphire

RGB
186, 187, 200
HSL
236°, 11%, 76%
CMYK
7, 7, 0, 22
Luminance
0.5015

#babbc8 is a light muted blue, 236° on the wheel and 62/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.03:1). As text it scores 1.90:1 on white — use #73758F instead. Nearest name is Silver, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(236 11% 76%)rgb(186 187 200)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #babbc8 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#babbc8
Hue
236°
blue
Saturation
11%
muted
Lightness
76%
light
Brightness
78%
HSV value
Perceived
74%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5015
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
62/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
11.03:1
Closest name
Silver
ΔE2000 6.4
Chroma
7.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.795
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 24.2
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue236° of 360°
Saturation11%
Lightness76%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #babbc8.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool62% 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
Red21%
Green71%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#babbc8
HEX (8-digit)#babbc8ff
RGBrgb(186, 187, 200)
RGBArgba(186, 187, 200, 1)
HSLhsl(236, 11%, 76%)
HSV / HSBhsv(236, 7%, 78%)
HWBhwb(236 73% 22%)
CMYKcmyk(7%, 7%, 0%, 22%)
LABlab(76.2 2.1 -6.7)
LCHlch(76.2 7.0 287.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.795 0.018 282.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(48.44, 50.15, 61.76)
Decimal12237768
Display P3color(display-p3 0.729 0.733 0.784)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #babbc8;
background-color: #babbc8;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #babbc8;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#babbc8] bg-[#babbc8]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #babbc8;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.729, green: 0.733, blue: 0.784)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.729, green: 0.733, blue: 0.784, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BABBC8</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBABBC8)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBABBC8)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(200, 187, 186)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(186, 187, 200)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(186, 187, 200)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 186, 187, 200)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7294f, 0.7333f, 0.7843f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{186,187,200}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #babbc8 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #babbc8 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#393A47, #DDDDE4);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #babbc8 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: #F7F7F8;
  --brand-100: #EEEFF1;
  --brand-200: #DBDBE1;
  --brand-300: #babbc8;
  --brand-400: #A1A3B4;
  --brand-500: #82849B;
  --brand-600: #6D6F88;
  --brand-700: #5A5C72;
  --brand-800: #484A5B;
  --brand-900: #373844;
  --brand-950: #22232A;
  --brand: #babbc8;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F7F8;
  --brand-border: #D2D2DB;
  --brand-hover: #A6A7B8;
  --brand-pressed: #9294A8;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #19191F;
    --brand-ink: #DDDDE4;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F7F8',
        100: '#EEEFF1',
        200: '#DBDBE1',
        300: '#babbc8',
        400: '#A1A3B4',
        500: '#82849B',
        600: '#6D6F88',
        700: '#5A5C72',
        800: '#484A5B',
        900: '#373844',
        950: '#22232A',
        DEFAULT: '#babbc8',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F7F8,
  '100': #EEEFF1,
  '200': #DBDBE1,
  '300': #babbc8,
  '400': #A1A3B4,
  '500': #82849B,
  '600': #6D6F88,
  '700': #5A5C72,
  '800': #484A5B,
  '900': #373844,
  '950': #22232A,
);
$brand-base: #babbc8;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F7F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EEEFF1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DBDBE1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#babbc8", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#A1A3B4", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#82849B", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#6D6F88", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#5A5C72", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#484A5B", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#373844", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#22232A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #babbc8 · 11.03:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.90:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.03:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #babbc8 as text scores 1.90:1 on white and 11.03:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #393A47 at 5.90:1.

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
#73758F · 4.50:1
AA on white−25% L
#73758F
The quick fox
#55576B · 7.09:1
AAA on white−38% L
#55576B
The quick fox
#babbc8 · 11.03:1
AA on blackalready passes
#babbc8
The quick fox
#babbc8 · 11.03:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#babbc8

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #8F91A6 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
#babbc8 on white: 1.90:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#babbc8 on black: 11.03:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #babbc8 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #babbc8.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.90:1AaAa
Slate 501.82:1AaAa
Slate 1001.74:1AaAa
Slate 2001.54:1AaAa
Slate 3001.28:1AaAa
Slate 4001.35:1AaAa
Slate 5002.50:1AaAa
Slate 6003.98:1AaAa
Slate 7005.44:1AaAa
Slate 8007.68:1AaAa
Slate 9009.38:1AaAa
Black11.03:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B8BCC9
deuteranopia · #B7BBC8
tritanopia · #B7BDBF

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. #babbc8 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.

#F7F7F8
#EEEFF1
#DBDBE1
#babbc8
#A1A3B4
#82849B
#6D6F88
#5A5C72
#484A5B
#373844
#22232A
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F7F7F8Darkest = 950 · #22232AText 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 0.005 282.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.007 282.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.011 282.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.014 282.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.017 282.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.018 282.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.018 282.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.017 282.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.015 282.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.013 282.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.010 282.5);
}

Colors that work with #babbc8

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#F6F7F8
Tinted page background
Border#D2D2DB
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#666880
Captions on the surface
Accent#766A56
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#393A47
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F1F1F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#19191F
Dark-mode background
Hover#A6A7B8
One step down in lightness
Pressed#9294A8
Two steps down
Disabled#F4F4F6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C0C2D6
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 #babbc8

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Borders, dividers and quiet backgrounds
  • Long-form reading 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 #393A47
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #8F91A6

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.

With almost no chroma left, the family association is barely present; treat it as a neutral that happens to lean this way. 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
  • EnergyLow
  • 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#C8C7BA
Analogous left#BAC2C8
Analogous right#C0BAC8
Split-complement 1#C8C0BA
Split-complement 2#C2C8BA
Triadic 1#C8BABB
Triadic 2#BBC8BA
Tetradic#C8BAC2
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°236°

#babbc8 sits at 236°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red72.9%
Green73.3%
Blue78.4%
R · 0–255
186
0xba
G · 0–255
187
0xbb
B · 0–255
200
0xc8

CMYK percentages

Cyan7.0%
Magenta6.5%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)21.6%

Total ink coverage is 35%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#babbc8 text on a black background

contrast 11.03:1

Card sample

#babbc8 text on a white background

contrast 1.90:1

Card sample

#babbc8 on grey

1.74:1

#babbc8 on its own surface

1.78:1

#babbc8 on its dark surface

9.19:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #babbc8;
Background color
Panel with #babbc8 background
background-color: #babbc8;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #babbc8;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(186, 187, 200, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(186, 187, 200, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #babbc8;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #babbc8, #C2BAC8);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #babbc8, #C6BAC8);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #babbc8;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #babbc8;
caret-color: #babbc8;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #babbc8;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F1F1F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #babbc8;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#babbc8 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #babbc8 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, 187, 200, 0.5)
rgb(186 187 200 / 50%)
#babbc880
hsl(236 11% 76% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #babbc8 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#babbc81a#F8F8FA
20%#babbc833#F1F1F4
40%#babbc866#E3E4E9
60%#babbc899#D6D6DE
80%#babbc8cc#C8C9D3

Gradients from #babbc8

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, #DCDDE3, #babbc8 45%, #393A47);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #babbc8, #B5A9BA);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #babbc8, #C8C7BA);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EDEDF1 0%, #babbc8 45%, #393A47 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F7F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #D6DCDF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D0CBD6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #393A47 0%, transparent 65%), #babbc8;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #babbc8

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.

#babbc8 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
BackgroundsBordersBody textDividers
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 11.03:1.

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.

#babbc8, answered

What color is #babbc8?

#babbc8 is a light muted blue, closest to Silver (ΔE2000 6.4). It sits at 236° on the hue wheel with 11% saturation and 76% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #babbc8?

rgb(186, 187, 200) — 186 red, 187 green and 200 blue out of 255, or 72.9% / 73.3% / 78.4% by channel.

What is #babbc8 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(236, 11%, 76%) and hsv(236, 7%, 78%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #babbc8 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5015 and perceived brightness is 74%, so black text on it reaches 11.03:1.

Should I use black or white text on #babbc8?

Black. It scores 11.03:1 against #babbc8, versus 1.90:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #babbc8 accessible on a white background?

#babbc8 on white scores 1.90:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #73758F to reach 4.5:1, or #55576B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #babbc8?

#C8C7BA sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #C8C0BA and #C2C8BA, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #babbc8?

For interface work: #F6F7F8 as the surface, #D2D2DB for borders, #666880 for secondary text, #766A56 as an accent and #393A47 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BAC2C8 and #C0BAC8 stays calm, while #C8C7BA is the loudest partner.

What is #babbc8 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(7%, 7%, 0%, 22%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #babbc8 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 62 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #BEBAC8; nudged cooler, #B9C0C9.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #babbc8?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 24.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #babbc8 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #babbc8 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#babbc8] or text-[#babbc8], 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 #babbc8 with 50% opacity?

rgba(186, 187, 200, 0.5), or #babbc880 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DDDDE4; over black, #5D5E64.

Is #babbc8 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 7.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #babbc8 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 low chroma the association is faint; it behaves more like a neutral.

What gradient works with #babbc8?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #DCDDE3, #babbc8 45%, #393A47). For more colour, a short hue run to #B5A9BA keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #babbc8 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #babbc8 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.