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green · neutral

#bbc4aa

a light, soft green · neutral · closest name: Dark Sea Green

Token name suggestion: Drift Fern

RGB
187, 196, 170
HSL
81°, 18%, 72%
CMYK
5, 0, 13, 23
Luminance
0.5295

#bbc4aa is a light soft green, 81° on the wheel and 46/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.59:1). As text it scores 1.81:1 on white — use #6E7B55 instead. Nearest name is Dark Sea Green, nearest Tailwind family is emerald.

hsl(81 18% 72%)rgb(187 196 170)Base step 400AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bbc4aa is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bbc4aa
Hue
81°
green
Saturation
18%
soft
Lightness
72%
light
Brightness
77%
HSV value
Perceived
75%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5295
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
46/100 cool
Color family
Green
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
11.59:1
Closest name
Dark Sea Green
ΔE2000 11.2
Chroma
14.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.806
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
emerald
500 · ΔE 21.1
Web-safe
#CCCC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue81° of 360°
Saturation18%
Lightness72%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bbc4aa.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool46% 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
Red20%
Green75%
Blue5%

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

Every format

HEX#bbc4aa
HEX (8-digit)#bbc4aaff
RGBrgb(187, 196, 170)
RGBArgba(187, 196, 170, 1)
HSLhsl(81, 18%, 72%)
HSV / HSBhsv(81, 13%, 77%)
HWBhwb(81 67% 23%)
CMYKcmyk(5%, 0%, 13%, 23%)
LABlab(77.8 -7.8 12.0)
LCHlch(77.8 14.3 122.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.806 0.037 122.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(47.49, 52.95, 45.74)
Decimal12305578
Display P3color(display-p3 0.733 0.769 0.667)
Web-safe#CCCC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bbc4aa;
background-color: #bbc4aa;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bbc4aa;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bbc4aa] bg-[#bbc4aa]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bbc4aa;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.733, green: 0.769, blue: 0.667)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.733, green: 0.769, blue: 0.667, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BBC4AA</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBBC4AA)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBBC4AA)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(170, 196, 187)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(187, 196, 170)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(187, 196, 170)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 187, 196, 170)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7333f, 0.7686f, 0.6667f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{187,196,170}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bbc4aa 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bbc4aa 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#434B34, #E2E6DB);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bbc4aa 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: #F8F8F6;
  --brand-100: #F0F2EE;
  --brand-200: #DFE3D9;
  --brand-300: #CAD1BD;
  --brand-400: #bbc4aa;
  --brand-500: #95A37A;
  --brand-600: #819164;
  --brand-700: #6C7854;
  --brand-800: #566043;
  --brand-900: #404733;
  --brand-950: #282D20;
  --brand: #bbc4aa;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F9F6;
  --brand-border: #D8DECF;
  --brand-hover: #AAB595;
  --brand-pressed: #99A780;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1E2117;
    --brand-ink: #E2E6DB;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F8F6',
        100: '#F0F2EE',
        200: '#DFE3D9',
        300: '#CAD1BD',
        400: '#bbc4aa',
        500: '#95A37A',
        600: '#819164',
        700: '#6C7854',
        800: '#566043',
        900: '#404733',
        950: '#282D20',
        DEFAULT: '#bbc4aa',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F8F6,
  '100': #F0F2EE,
  '200': #DFE3D9,
  '300': #CAD1BD,
  '400': #bbc4aa,
  '500': #95A37A,
  '600': #819164,
  '700': #6C7854,
  '800': #566043,
  '900': #404733,
  '950': #282D20,
);
$brand-base: #bbc4aa;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F8F6", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F0F2EE", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DFE3D9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#CAD1BD", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#bbc4aa", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#95A37A", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#819164", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#6C7854", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#566043", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#404733", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#282D20", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bbc4aa · 11.59:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.81:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.59:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bbc4aa as text scores 1.81:1 on white and 11.59:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #434B34 at 5.05:1.

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
#6E7B55 · 4.54:1
AA on white−31% L
#6E7B55
The quick fox
#505A3E · 7.31:1
AAA on white−42% L
#505A3E
The quick fox
#bbc4aa · 11.59:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bbc4aa
The quick fox
#bbc4aa · 11.59:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bbc4aa

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #8B9A6E 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
#bbc4aa on white: 1.81:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bbc4aa on black: 11.59:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bbc4aa as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bbc4aa.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.81:1AaAa
Slate 501.73:1AaAa
Slate 1001.65:1AaAa
Slate 2001.47:1AaAa
Slate 3001.22:1AaAa
Slate 4001.42:1AaAa
Slate 5002.63:1AaAa
Slate 6004.18:1AaAa
Slate 7005.71:1AaAa
Slate 8008.07:1AaAa
Slate 9009.85:1AaAa
Black11.59:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C8C1A9
deuteranopia · #C6C0AB
tritanopia · #BDC1BD

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. #bbc4aa 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.

#F8F8F6
#F0F2EE
#DFE3D9
#CAD1BD
#bbc4aa
#95A37A
#819164
#6C7854
#566043
#404733
#282D20
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F8F8F6Darkest = 950 · #282D20Text step on white = 700
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 0.009 122.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.015 122.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.022 122.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.029 122.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.034 122.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.037 122.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.037 122.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.035 122.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.031 122.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.026 122.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.020 122.8);
}

Colors that work with #bbc4aa

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#F8F9F6
Tinted page background
Border#D8DECF
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#79885E
Captions on the surface
Accent#544F7D
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#434B34
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F3F5F0
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1E2117
Dark-mode background
Hover#AAB595
One step down in lightness
Pressed#99A780
Two steps down
Disabled#F0F2EC
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C7D3B0
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 #bbc4aa

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
  • Status meaning — pair it with an icon or label, never colour alone
  • 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 #434B34
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #8B9A6E

Meaning and mood

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

safegrowingnaturalpermissive

Green means go, well, and grown. It carries finance, sustainability and health with almost no explanation needed.

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

Red/green pairs are the most common colour-blindness failure — never let the two carry meaning alone.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • 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#B3AAC4
Analogous left#C4C0AA
Analogous right#AEC4AA
Split-complement 1#AAAEC4
Split-complement 2#C0AAC4
Triadic 1#AABBC4
Triadic 2#C4AABB
Tetradic#AAC4C0
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°81°

#bbc4aa sits at 81°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red73.3%
Green76.9%
Blue66.7%
R · 0–255
187
0xbb
G · 0–255
196
0xc4
B · 0–255
170
0xaa

CMYK percentages

Cyan4.6%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow13.3%
Key (black)23.1%

Total ink coverage is 41%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bbc4aa text on a black background

contrast 11.59:1

Card sample

#bbc4aa text on a white background

contrast 1.81:1

Card sample

#bbc4aa on grey

1.65:1

#bbc4aa on its own surface

1.71:1

#bbc4aa on its dark surface

9.02:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bbc4aa;
Background color
Panel with #bbc4aa background
background-color: #bbc4aa;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bbc4aa;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(187, 196, 170, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(187, 196, 170, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bbc4aa;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bbc4aa, #AAC4AA);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bbc4aa, #AAC4B1);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bbc4aa;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bbc4aa;
caret-color: #bbc4aa;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bbc4aa;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F3F5F0;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bbc4aa;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bbc4aa 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bbc4aa 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, 196, 170, 0.5)
rgb(187 196 170 / 50%)
#bbc4aa80
hsl(81 18% 72% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bbc4aa 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bbc4aa1a#F8F9F7
20%#bbc4aa33#F1F3EE
40%#bbc4aa66#E4E7DD
60%#bbc4aa99#D6DCCC
80%#bbc4aacc#C9D0BB

Gradients from #bbc4aa

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, #D8DDCE, #bbc4aa 45%, #434B34);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bbc4aa, #98B89B);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bbc4aa, #B3AAC4);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E6EAE0 0%, #bbc4aa 45%, #434B34 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F9F6, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #D9D5C8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #BED1BC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #434B34 0%, transparent 65%), #bbc4aa;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bbc4aa

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.

#bbc4aa in the real world

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

Industries
SustainabilityFinanceHealth and wellnessAgriculture
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 11.59:1.

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.

#bbc4aa, answered

What color is #bbc4aa?

#bbc4aa is a light soft green, closest to Dark Sea Green (ΔE2000 11.2). It sits at 81° on the hue wheel with 18% saturation and 72% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #bbc4aa?

rgb(187, 196, 170) — 187 red, 196 green and 170 blue out of 255, or 73.3% / 76.9% / 66.7% by channel.

What is #bbc4aa in HSL and HSV?

hsl(81, 18%, 72%) and hsv(81, 13%, 77%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bbc4aa a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5295 and perceived brightness is 75%, so black text on it reaches 11.59:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bbc4aa?

Black. It scores 11.59:1 against #bbc4aa, versus 1.81:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bbc4aa accessible on a white background?

#bbc4aa on white scores 1.81:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #6E7B55 to reach 4.5:1, or #505A3E for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bbc4aa?

#B3AAC4 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #AAAEC4 and #C0AAC4, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bbc4aa?

For interface work: #F8F9F6 as the surface, #D8DECF for borders, #79885E for secondary text, #544F7D as an accent and #434B34 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #C4C0AA and #AEC4AA stays calm, while #B3AAC4 is the loudest partner.

What is #bbc4aa in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(5%, 0%, 13%, 23%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bbc4aa warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 46 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C4C4AA; nudged cooler, #B1C6A9.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bbc4aa?

The emerald family — its 500 step is #10b981, ΔE2000 21.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bbc4aa as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bbc4aa in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bbc4aa] or text-[#bbc4aa], 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 #bbc4aa with 50% opacity?

rgba(187, 196, 170, 0.5), or #bbc4aa80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DDE2D5; over black, #5E6255.

Is #bbc4aa a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCC99, ΔE2000 7.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bbc4aa mean?

As a green, it reads safe, growing, natural. Green means go, well, and grown. It carries finance, sustainability and health with almost no explanation needed. At this moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #bbc4aa?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D8DDCE, #bbc4aa 45%, #434B34). For more colour, a short hue run to #98B89B keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bbc4aa in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bbc4aa at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.