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blue · cool

#bbcbd9

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

Token name suggestion: Linen Sapphire

RGB
187, 203, 217
HSL
208°, 28%, 79%
CMYK
14, 7, 0, 15
Luminance
0.5829

#bbcbd9 is a light soft blue, 208° on the wheel and 90/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.66:1). As text it scores 1.66:1 on white — use #547897 instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(208 28% 79%)rgb(187 203 217)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bbcbd9 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bbcbd9
Hue
208°
blue
Saturation
28%
soft
Lightness
79%
light
Brightness
85%
HSV value
Perceived
78%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5829
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
90/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
12.66:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 4.8
Chroma
9.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.834
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 19.3
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue208° of 360°
Saturation28%
Lightness79%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bbcbd9.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool90% 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
Red18%
Green73%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#bbcbd9
HEX (8-digit)#bbcbd9ff
RGBrgb(187, 203, 217)
RGBArgba(187, 203, 217, 1)
HSLhsl(208, 28%, 79%)
HSV / HSBhsv(208, 14%, 85%)
HWBhwb(208 73% 15%)
CMYKcmyk(14%, 7%, 0%, 15%)
LABlab(80.9 -2.6 -8.8)
LCHlch(80.9 9.2 253.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.834 0.026 244.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(54.37, 58.29, 74.02)
Decimal12307417
Display P3color(display-p3 0.733 0.796 0.851)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bbcbd9;
background-color: #bbcbd9;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bbcbd9;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bbcbd9] bg-[#bbcbd9]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bbcbd9;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.733, green: 0.796, blue: 0.851)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.733, green: 0.796, blue: 0.851, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BBCBD9</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBBCBD9)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBBCBD9)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(217, 203, 187)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(187, 203, 217)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(187, 203, 217)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 187, 203, 217)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7333f, 0.7961f, 0.8510f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{187,203,217}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bbcbd9 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bbcbd9 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#2E4152, #D8E1E9);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bbcbd9 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: #ECF0F3;
  --brand-200: #D6DEE6;
  --brand-300: #bbcbd9;
  --brand-400: #93ACC3;
  --brand-500: #6F91AF;
  --brand-600: #587D9D;
  --brand-700: #496883;
  --brand-800: #3B5369;
  --brand-900: #2D3E4D;
  --brand-950: #1C2730;
  --brand: #bbcbd9;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5F7FA;
  --brand-border: #CBD7E2;
  --brand-hover: #A4B9CC;
  --brand-pressed: #8DA8BF;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141D24;
    --brand-ink: #D8E1E9;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F7F9',
        100: '#ECF0F3',
        200: '#D6DEE6',
        300: '#bbcbd9',
        400: '#93ACC3',
        500: '#6F91AF',
        600: '#587D9D',
        700: '#496883',
        800: '#3B5369',
        900: '#2D3E4D',
        950: '#1C2730',
        DEFAULT: '#bbcbd9',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F7F9,
  '100': #ECF0F3,
  '200': #D6DEE6,
  '300': #bbcbd9,
  '400': #93ACC3,
  '500': #6F91AF,
  '600': #587D9D,
  '700': #496883,
  '800': #3B5369,
  '900': #2D3E4D,
  '950': #1C2730,
);
$brand-base: #bbcbd9;
$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": "#ECF0F3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D6DEE6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#bbcbd9", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#93ACC3", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#6F91AF", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#587D9D", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#496883", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#3B5369", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2D3E4D", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1C2730", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bbcbd9 · 12.66:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.66:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.66:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bbcbd9 as text scores 1.66:1 on white and 12.66:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #2E4152 at 6.35:1.

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
#547897 · 4.66:1
AA on white−33% L
#547897
The quick fox
#405B73 · 7.09:1
AAA on white−44% L
#405B73
The quick fox
#bbcbd9 · 12.66:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bbcbd9
The quick fox
#bbcbd9 · 12.66:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bbcbd9

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #7696B3 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
#bbcbd9 on white: 1.66:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bbcbd9 on black: 12.66:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bbcbd9 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bbcbd9.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.66:1AaAa
Slate 501.59:1AaAa
Slate 1001.51:1AaAa
Slate 2001.35:1AaAa
Slate 3001.12:1AaAa
Slate 4001.55:1AaAa
Slate 5002.87:1AaAa
Slate 6004.57:1AaAa
Slate 7006.24:1AaAa
Slate 8008.82:1AaAa
Slate 90010.76:1AaAa
Black12.66:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C6CBDA
deuteranopia · #C2C7D9
tritanopia · #B4CECF

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. #bbcbd9 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
#ECF0F3
#D6DEE6
#bbcbd9
#93ACC3
#6F91AF
#587D9D
#496883
#3B5369
#2D3E4D
#1C2730
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F6F7F9Darkest = 950 · #1C2730Text 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 0.007 244.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.011 244.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.016 244.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.021 244.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.024 244.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.026 244.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.026 244.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.025 244.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.022 244.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.018 244.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.014 244.5);
}

Colors that work with #bbcbd9

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#F5F7FA
Tinted page background
Border#CBD7E2
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#527593
Captions on the surface
Accent#875345
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#2E4152
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EFF2F6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141D24
Dark-mode background
Hover#A4B9CC
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8DA8BF
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F5F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C4D5E5
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 #bbcbd9

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 #2E4152
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #7696B3

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#D9C9BB
Analogous left#BBD9D8
Analogous right#BBBCD9
Split-complement 1#D9BBBC
Split-complement 2#D9D8BB
Triadic 1#D9BBCB
Triadic 2#CBD9BB
Tetradic#D8BBD9
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°208°

#bbcbd9 sits at 208°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red73.3%
Green79.6%
Blue85.1%
R · 0–255
187
0xbb
G · 0–255
203
0xcb
B · 0–255
217
0xd9

CMYK percentages

Cyan13.8%
Magenta6.5%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)14.9%

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

Color previews

#bbcbd9 text on a black background

contrast 12.66:1

Card sample

#bbcbd9 text on a white background

contrast 1.66:1

Card sample

#bbcbd9 on grey

1.51:1

#bbcbd9 on its own surface

1.55:1

#bbcbd9 on its dark surface

10.28:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bbcbd9;
Background color
Panel with #bbcbd9 background
background-color: #bbcbd9;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bbcbd9;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(187, 203, 217, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(187, 203, 217, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bbcbd9;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bbcbd9, #BFBBD9);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bbcbd9, #C6BBD9);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bbcbd9;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bbcbd9;
caret-color: #bbcbd9;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bbcbd9;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EFF2F6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bbcbd9;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bbcbd9 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bbcbd9 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, 203, 217, 0.5)
rgb(187 203 217 / 50%)
#bbcbd980
hsl(208 28% 79% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bbcbd9 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bbcbd91a#F8FAFB
20%#bbcbd933#F1F5F7
40%#bbcbd966#E4EAF0
60%#bbcbd999#D6E0E8
80%#bbcbd9cc#C9D5E1

Gradients from #bbcbd9

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, #E2E9EF, #bbcbd9 45%, #2E4152);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bbcbd9, #B0A7CE);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bbcbd9, #D9C9BB);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F5F7FA 0%, #bbcbd9 45%, #2E4152 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5F7FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #DCEBE9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D0CFE4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #2E4152 0%, transparent 65%), #bbcbd9;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bbcbd9

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.

#bbcbd9 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 12.66:1.

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.

#bbcbd9, answered

What color is #bbcbd9?

#bbcbd9 is a light soft blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 4.8). It sits at 208° on the hue wheel with 28% saturation and 79% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #bbcbd9?

rgb(187, 203, 217) — 187 red, 203 green and 217 blue out of 255, or 73.3% / 79.6% / 85.1% by channel.

What is #bbcbd9 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(208, 28%, 79%) and hsv(208, 14%, 85%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bbcbd9 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5829 and perceived brightness is 78%, so black text on it reaches 12.66:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bbcbd9?

Black. It scores 12.66:1 against #bbcbd9, versus 1.66:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bbcbd9 accessible on a white background?

#bbcbd9 on white scores 1.66:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #547897 to reach 4.5:1, or #405B73 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bbcbd9?

#D9C9BB sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #D9BBBC and #D9D8BB, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bbcbd9?

For interface work: #F5F7FA as the surface, #CBD7E2 for borders, #527593 for secondary text, #875345 as an accent and #2E4152 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BBD9D8 and #BBBCD9 stays calm, while #D9C9BB is the loudest partner.

What is #bbcbd9 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(14%, 7%, 0%, 15%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bbcbd9 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 90 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #BBC0D9; nudged cooler, #A9BCD1.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bbcbd9?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 19.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bbcbd9 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bbcbd9 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bbcbd9] or text-[#bbcbd9], 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 #bbcbd9 with 50% opacity?

rgba(187, 203, 217, 0.5), or #bbcbd980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DDE5EC; over black, #5E666D.

Is #bbcbd9 a web-safe color?

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

What does the color #bbcbd9 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 #bbcbd9?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E2E9EF, #bbcbd9 45%, #2E4152). For more colour, a short hue run to #B0A7CE keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bbcbd9 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bbcbd9 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.