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violet · neutral

#bbaec0

a light, muted violet · neutral · closest name: Thistle

Token name suggestion: Morning Thistle

RGB
187, 174, 192
HSL
283°, 13%, 72%
CMYK
3, 9, 0, 25
Luminance
0.4464

#bbaec0 is a light muted violet, 283° on the wheel and 53/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.93:1). As text it scores 2.12:1 on white — use #836D8C instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(283 13% 72%)rgb(187 174 192)Base step 400AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bbaec0 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bbaec0
Hue
283°
violet
Saturation
13%
muted
Lightness
72%
light
Brightness
75%
HSV value
Perceived
71%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4464
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
53/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
9.93:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 7
Chroma
10.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.767
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 22.8
Web-safe
#CC99CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue283° of 360°
Saturation13%
Lightness72%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bbaec0.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool53% cool

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

Luminance by channel
Red24%
Green68%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#bbaec0
HEX (8-digit)#bbaec0ff
RGBrgb(187, 174, 192)
RGBArgba(187, 174, 192, 1)
HSLhsl(283, 13%, 72%)
HSV / HSBhsv(283, 9%, 75%)
HWBhwb(283 68% 25%)
CMYKcmyk(3%, 9%, 0%, 25%)
LABlab(72.7 8.0 -7.5)
LCHlch(72.7 10.9 316.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.767 0.029 316.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(45.14, 44.64, 56.10)
Decimal12299968
Display P3color(display-p3 0.733 0.682 0.753)
Web-safe#CC99CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bbaec0;
background-color: #bbaec0;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bbaec0;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bbaec0] bg-[#bbaec0]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bbaec0;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.733, green: 0.682, blue: 0.753)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.733, green: 0.682, blue: 0.753, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BBAEC0</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBBAEC0)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBBAEC0)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(192, 174, 187)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(187, 174, 192)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(187, 174, 192)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 187, 174, 192)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7333f, 0.6824f, 0.7529f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{187,174,192}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bbaec0 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bbaec0 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#433848, #E2DDE4);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bbaec0 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: #F8F7F8;
  --brand-100: #F0EEF1;
  --brand-200: #DFDAE1;
  --brand-300: #CAC0CE;
  --brand-400: #bbaec0;
  --brand-500: #95819D;
  --brand-600: #816B8A;
  --brand-700: #6C5973;
  --brand-800: #56475C;
  --brand-900: #403644;
  --brand-950: #28222B;
  --brand: #bbaec0;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F6F8;
  --brand-border: #D8D1DB;
  --brand-hover: #AA9AB0;
  --brand-pressed: #9986A1;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1E1920;
    --brand-ink: #E2DDE4;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F7F8',
        100: '#F0EEF1',
        200: '#DFDAE1',
        300: '#CAC0CE',
        400: '#bbaec0',
        500: '#95819D',
        600: '#816B8A',
        700: '#6C5973',
        800: '#56475C',
        900: '#403644',
        950: '#28222B',
        DEFAULT: '#bbaec0',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F7F8,
  '100': #F0EEF1,
  '200': #DFDAE1,
  '300': #CAC0CE,
  '400': #bbaec0,
  '500': #95819D,
  '600': #816B8A,
  '700': #6C5973,
  '800': #56475C,
  '900': #403644,
  '950': #28222B,
);
$brand-base: #bbaec0;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F7F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F0EEF1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DFDAE1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#CAC0CE", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#bbaec0", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#95819D", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#816B8A", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#6C5973", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#56475C", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#403644", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#28222B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bbaec0 · 9.93:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.12:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.93:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bbaec0 as text scores 2.12:1 on white and 9.93:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #433848 at 5.23:1.

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
#836D8C · 4.63:1
AA on white−23% L
#836D8C
The quick fox
#63526A · 7.13:1
AAA on white−35% L
#63526A
The quick fox
#bbaec0 · 9.93:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bbaec0
The quick fox
#bbaec0 · 9.93:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bbaec0

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A18FA8 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
#bbaec0 on white: 2.12:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bbaec0 on black: 9.93:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bbaec0 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bbaec0.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.12:1AaAa
Slate 502.02:1AaAa
Slate 1001.93:1AaAa
Slate 2001.72:1AaAa
Slate 3001.42:1AaAa
Slate 4001.21:1AaAa
Slate 5002.25:1AaAa
Slate 6003.58:1AaAa
Slate 7004.90:1AaAa
Slate 8006.92:1AaAa
Slate 9008.44:1AaAa
Black9.93:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #ACB1C1
deuteranopia · #AFB3BF
tritanopia · #BBB0B4

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. #bbaec0 is pinned to step 400; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F8F7F8
#F0EEF1
#DFDAE1
#CAC0CE
#bbaec0
#95819D
#816B8A
#6C5973
#56475C
#403644
#28222B
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F8F7F8Darkest = 950 · #28222BText 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 0.007 316.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.012 316.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.017 316.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.023 316.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.027 316.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.029 316.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.029 316.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.027 316.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.024 316.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.020 316.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.016 316.7);
}

Colors that work with #bbaec0

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#F8F6F8
Tinted page background
Border#D8D1DB
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#796481
Captions on the surface
Accent#677755
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#433848
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F3F1F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1E1920
Dark-mode background
Hover#AA9AB0
One step down in lightness
Pressed#9986A1
Two steps down
Disabled#F0EDF1
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C7B3CF
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 #bbaec0

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 #433848
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A18FA8

Meaning and mood

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

creativepremiummodernimaginative

Violet sits between the warmth of red and the calm of blue, so it reads as inventive without reading as risky. Current shorthand for software craft.

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

Deep violets swallow detail on screens with poor gamma; check it on a cheap laptop panel.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyLow
  • Weight28/100
  • TemperatureNeutral
  • 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#B3C0AE
Analogous left#B2AEC0
Analogous right#C0AEBC
Split-complement 1#BCC0AE
Split-complement 2#AEC0B2
Triadic 1#C0BBAE
Triadic 2#AEC0BB
Tetradic#C0B2AE
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°283°

#bbaec0 sits at 283°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red73.3%
Green68.2%
Blue75.3%
R · 0–255
187
0xbb
G · 0–255
174
0xae
B · 0–255
192
0xc0

CMYK percentages

Cyan2.6%
Magenta9.4%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)24.7%

Total ink coverage is 37%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bbaec0 text on a black background

contrast 9.93:1

Card sample

#bbaec0 text on a white background

contrast 2.12:1

Card sample

#bbaec0 on grey

1.93:1

#bbaec0 on its own surface

1.97:1

#bbaec0 on its dark surface

8.17:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bbaec0;
Background color
Panel with #bbaec0 background
background-color: #bbaec0;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bbaec0;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(187, 174, 192, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(187, 174, 192, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bbaec0;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bbaec0, #C0AEB9);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bbaec0, #C0AEB5);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bbaec0;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bbaec0;
caret-color: #bbaec0;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bbaec0;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F3F1F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bbaec0;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bbaec0 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bbaec0 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(187, 174, 192, 0.5)
rgb(187 174 192 / 50%)
#bbaec080
hsl(283 13% 72% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bbaec0 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bbaec01a#F8F7F9
20%#bbaec033#F1EFF2
40%#bbaec066#E4DFE6
60%#bbaec099#D6CED9
80%#bbaec0cc#C9BECD

Gradients from #bbaec0

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, #D8D1DB, #bbaec0 45%, #433848);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bbaec0, #B39DA8);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bbaec0, #B3C0AE);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E6E2E8 0%, #bbaec0 45%, #433848 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F6F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #CCCBD6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #CDBFC9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #433848 0%, transparent 65%), #bbaec0;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bbaec0

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.

#bbaec0 in the real world

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

Industries
Creative toolsFintechBeautyLuxury
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 9.93:1.

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.

#bbaec0, answered

What color is #bbaec0?

#bbaec0 is a light muted violet, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 7). It sits at 283° on the hue wheel with 13% saturation and 72% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #bbaec0?

rgb(187, 174, 192) — 187 red, 174 green and 192 blue out of 255, or 73.3% / 68.2% / 75.3% by channel.

What is #bbaec0 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(283, 13%, 72%) and hsv(283, 9%, 75%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bbaec0 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4464 and perceived brightness is 71%, so black text on it reaches 9.93:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bbaec0?

Black. It scores 9.93:1 against #bbaec0, versus 2.12:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bbaec0 accessible on a white background?

#bbaec0 on white scores 2.12:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #836D8C to reach 4.5:1, or #63526A for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bbaec0?

#B3C0AE sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BCC0AE and #AEC0B2, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bbaec0?

For interface work: #F8F6F8 as the surface, #D8D1DB for borders, #796481 for secondary text, #677755 as an accent and #433848 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #B2AEC0 and #C0AEBC stays calm, while #B3C0AE is the loudest partner.

What is #bbaec0 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(3%, 9%, 0%, 25%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bbaec0 warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 53 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C0AEBE; nudged cooler, #B4ADC2.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bbaec0?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 22.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bbaec0 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bbaec0 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bbaec0] or text-[#bbaec0], 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 #bbaec0 with 50% opacity?

rgba(187, 174, 192, 0.5), or #bbaec080 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DDD7E0; over black, #5E5760.

Is #bbaec0 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99CC, ΔE2000 12.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bbaec0 mean?

As a violet, it reads creative, premium, modern. Violet sits between the warmth of red and the calm of blue, so it reads as inventive without reading as risky. Current shorthand for software craft. At this low chroma the association is faint; it behaves more like a neutral.

What gradient works with #bbaec0?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D8D1DB, #bbaec0 45%, #433848). For more colour, a short hue run to #B39DA8 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bbaec0 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bbaec0 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.