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blue · cool

#bbc4d6

a light, soft blue · cool · closest name: Light Steel Blue

Token name suggestion: Drift Harbour

RGB
187, 196, 214
HSL
220°, 25%, 79%
CMYK
13, 8, 0, 16
Luminance
0.5490

#bbc4d6 is a light soft blue, 220° on the wheel and 81/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.98:1). As text it scores 1.75:1 on white — use #6277A0 instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(220 25% 79%)rgb(187 196 214)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bbc4d6 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bbc4d6
Hue
220°
blue
Saturation
25%
soft
Lightness
79%
light
Brightness
84%
HSV value
Perceived
77%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5490
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
81/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
11.98:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 4.1
Chroma
10.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.819
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 22.1
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue220° of 360°
Saturation25%
Lightness79%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bbc4d6.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool81% 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
Red19%
Green72%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#bbc4d6
HEX (8-digit)#bbc4d6ff
RGBrgb(187, 196, 214)
RGBArgba(187, 196, 214, 1)
HSLhsl(220, 25%, 79%)
HSV / HSBhsv(220, 13%, 84%)
HWBhwb(220 73% 16%)
CMYKcmyk(13%, 8%, 0%, 16%)
LABlab(79.0 0.5 -10.0)
LCHlch(79.0 10.0 272.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.819 0.027 264.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(52.37, 54.90, 71.44)
Decimal12305622
Display P3color(display-p3 0.733 0.769 0.839)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bbc4d6;
background-color: #bbc4d6;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bbc4d6;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bbc4d6] bg-[#bbc4d6]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bbc4d6;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.733, green: 0.769, blue: 0.839)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.733, green: 0.769, blue: 0.839, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BBC4D6</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBBC4D6)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBBC4D6)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(214, 196, 187)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(187, 196, 214)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(187, 196, 214)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 187, 196, 214)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7333f, 0.7686f, 0.8392f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{187,196,214}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bbc4d6 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bbc4d6 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#303A50, #D9DEE8);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bbc4d6 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: #F6F7F9;
  --brand-100: #EDEFF3;
  --brand-200: #D7DBE5;
  --brand-300: #bbc4d6;
  --brand-400: #96A4C0;
  --brand-500: #7386AB;
  --brand-600: #5C7099;
  --brand-700: #4D5E7F;
  --brand-800: #3D4B66;
  --brand-900: #2F394B;
  --brand-950: #1E232F;
  --brand: #bbc4d6;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5F7F9;
  --brand-border: #CCD3E0;
  --brand-hover: #A5B1C9;
  --brand-pressed: #8E9DBB;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #151A23;
    --brand-ink: #D9DEE8;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F7F9',
        100: '#EDEFF3',
        200: '#D7DBE5',
        300: '#bbc4d6',
        400: '#96A4C0',
        500: '#7386AB',
        600: '#5C7099',
        700: '#4D5E7F',
        800: '#3D4B66',
        900: '#2F394B',
        950: '#1E232F',
        DEFAULT: '#bbc4d6',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F7F9,
  '100': #EDEFF3,
  '200': #D7DBE5,
  '300': #bbc4d6,
  '400': #96A4C0,
  '500': #7386AB,
  '600': #5C7099,
  '700': #4D5E7F,
  '800': #3D4B66,
  '900': #2F394B,
  '950': #1E232F,
);
$brand-base: #bbc4d6;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F7F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EDEFF3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D7DBE5", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#bbc4d6", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#96A4C0", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7386AB", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#5C7099", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#4D5E7F", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#3D4B66", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2F394B", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1E232F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bbc4d6 · 11.98:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.75:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.98:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bbc4d6 as text scores 1.75:1 on white and 11.98:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #303A50 at 6.49:1.

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
#6277A0 · 4.50:1
AA on white−28% L
#6277A0
The quick fox
#485878 · 7.14:1
AAA on white−41% L
#485878
The quick fox
#bbc4d6 · 11.98:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bbc4d6
The quick fox
#bbc4d6 · 11.98:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bbc4d6

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #8595B5 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
#bbc4d6 on white: 1.75:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bbc4d6 on black: 11.98:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bbc4d6 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bbc4d6.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.75:1AaAa
Slate 501.68:1AaAa
Slate 1001.60:1AaAa
Slate 2001.42:1AaAa
Slate 3001.18:1AaAa
Slate 4001.46:1AaAa
Slate 5002.71:1AaAa
Slate 6004.32:1AaAa
Slate 7005.91:1AaAa
Slate 8008.35:1AaAa
Slate 90010.18:1AaAa
Black11.98:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #BFC5D7
deuteranopia · #BCC2D6
tritanopia · #B5C7CA

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. #bbc4d6 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.

#F6F7F9
#EDEFF3
#D7DBE5
#bbc4d6
#96A4C0
#7386AB
#5C7099
#4D5E7F
#3D4B66
#2F394B
#1E232F
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F6F7F9Darkest = 950 · #1E232FText 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 0.007 264.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.011 264.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.016 264.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.021 264.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.025 264.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.027 264.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.027 264.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.026 264.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.023 264.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.019 264.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.015 264.4);
}

Colors that work with #bbc4d6

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#F5F7F9
Tinted page background
Border#CCD3E0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#56698F
Captions on the surface
Accent#836149
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#303A50
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EFF1F5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#151A23
Dark-mode background
Hover#A5B1C9
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8E9DBB
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F4F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C3CDE2
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 #bbc4d6

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 #303A50
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #8595B5

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
  • Weight21/100
  • 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#D6CDBB
Analogous left#BBD1D6
Analogous right#BFBBD6
Split-complement 1#D6BFBB
Split-complement 2#D1D6BB
Triadic 1#D6BBC4
Triadic 2#C4D6BB
Tetradic#D6BBD1
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°220°

#bbc4d6 sits at 220°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red73.3%
Green76.9%
Blue83.9%
R · 0–255
187
0xbb
G · 0–255
196
0xc4
B · 0–255
214
0xd6

CMYK percentages

Cyan12.6%
Magenta8.4%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)16.1%

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

Color previews

#bbc4d6 text on a black background

contrast 11.98:1

Card sample

#bbc4d6 text on a white background

contrast 1.75:1

Card sample

#bbc4d6 on grey

1.60:1

#bbc4d6 on its own surface

1.63:1

#bbc4d6 on its dark surface

9.95:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bbc4d6;
Background color
Panel with #bbc4d6 background
background-color: #bbc4d6;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bbc4d6;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(187, 196, 214, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(187, 196, 214, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bbc4d6;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bbc4d6, #C4BBD6);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bbc4d6, #CBBBD6);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bbc4d6;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bbc4d6;
caret-color: #bbc4d6;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bbc4d6;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EFF1F5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bbc4d6;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bbc4d6 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bbc4d6 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, 214, 0.5)
rgb(187 196 214 / 50%)
#bbc4d680
hsl(220 25% 79% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bbc4d6 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bbc4d61a#F8F9FB
20%#bbc4d633#F1F3F7
40%#bbc4d666#E4E7EF
60%#bbc4d699#D6DCE6
80%#bbc4d6cc#C9D0DE

Gradients from #bbc4d6

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, #E1E5ED, #bbc4d6 45%, #303A50);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bbc4d6, #B6A8CA);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bbc4d6, #D6CDBB);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F4F6F8 0%, #bbc4d6 45%, #303A50 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5F7F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #DBE8E9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D3CEE1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #303A50 0%, transparent 65%), #bbc4d6;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bbc4d6

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.

#bbc4d6 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 11.98:1.

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.

#bbc4d6, answered

What color is #bbc4d6?

#bbc4d6 is a light soft blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 4.1). It sits at 220° on the hue wheel with 25% saturation and 79% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #bbc4d6?

rgb(187, 196, 214) — 187 red, 196 green and 214 blue out of 255, or 73.3% / 76.9% / 83.9% by channel.

What is #bbc4d6 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(220, 25%, 79%) and hsv(220, 13%, 84%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bbc4d6 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5490 and perceived brightness is 77%, so black text on it reaches 11.98:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bbc4d6?

Black. It scores 11.98:1 against #bbc4d6, versus 1.75:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bbc4d6 accessible on a white background?

#bbc4d6 on white scores 1.75:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #6277A0 to reach 4.5:1, or #485878 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bbc4d6?

#D6CDBB sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #D6BFBB and #D1D6BB, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bbc4d6?

For interface work: #F5F7F9 as the surface, #CCD3E0 for borders, #56698F for secondary text, #836149 as an accent and #303A50 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BBD1D6 and #BFBBD6 stays calm, while #D6CDBB is the loudest partner.

What is #bbc4d6 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(13%, 8%, 0%, 16%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bbc4d6 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 81 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #BCBBD6; nudged cooler, #BAC7D7.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bbc4d6?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 22.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bbc4d6 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bbc4d6 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bbc4d6] or text-[#bbc4d6], 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 #bbc4d6 with 50% opacity?

rgba(187, 196, 214, 0.5), or #bbc4d680 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DDE2EB; over black, #5E626B.

Is #bbc4d6 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 8.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bbc4d6 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 #bbc4d6?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E1E5ED, #bbc4d6 45%, #303A50). For more colour, a short hue run to #B6A8CA keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bbc4d6 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bbc4d6 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.