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blue · cool

#bccade

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Denim

RGB
188, 202, 222
HSL
215°, 34%, 80%
CMYK
15, 9, 0, 13
Luminance
0.5821

#bccade is a light soft blue, 215° on the wheel and 96/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.64:1). As text it scores 1.66:1 on white — use #5376A9 instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(215 34% 80%)rgb(188 202 222)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

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

Hex
#bccade
Hue
215°
blue
Saturation
34%
soft
Lightness
80%
light
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
79%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5821
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
96/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
12.64:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 2.9
Chroma
11.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.835
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 20.7
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue215° of 360°
Saturation34%
Lightness80%
Saturation × lightness field

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

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool96% 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#bccade
HEX (8-digit)#bccadeff
RGBrgb(188, 202, 222)
RGBArgba(188, 202, 222, 1)
HSLhsl(215, 34%, 80%)
HSV / HSBhsv(215, 15%, 87%)
HWBhwb(215 74% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(15%, 9%, 0%, 13%)
LABlab(80.8 -0.7 -11.5)
LCHlch(80.8 11.6 266.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.835 0.032 257.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(55.04, 58.21, 77.43)
Decimal12372702
Display P3color(display-p3 0.737 0.792 0.871)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bccade;
background-color: #bccade;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bccade;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bccade] bg-[#bccade]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bccade;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.737, green: 0.792, blue: 0.871)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.737, green: 0.792, blue: 0.871, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BCCADE</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBCCADE)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBCCADE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(222, 202, 188)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(188, 202, 222)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(188, 202, 222)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 188, 202, 222)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7373f, 0.7922f, 0.8706f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{188,202,222}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bccade 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bccade 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#2A3C55, #D6DFEB);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bccade 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: #F5F7F9;
  --brand-100: #ECEFF4;
  --brand-200: #D4DCE8;
  --brand-300: #bccade;
  --brand-400: #8EA6C7;
  --brand-500: #6988B5;
  --brand-600: #5173A4;
  --brand-700: #436089;
  --brand-800: #364D6D;
  --brand-900: #2A3A50;
  --brand-950: #1A2432;
  --brand: #bccade;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5F7FA;
  --brand-border: #C8D4E4;
  --brand-hover: #A4B7D2;
  --brand-pressed: #8CA4C6;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141B24;
    --brand-ink: #D6DFEB;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F7F9',
        100: '#ECEFF4',
        200: '#D4DCE8',
        300: '#bccade',
        400: '#8EA6C7',
        500: '#6988B5',
        600: '#5173A4',
        700: '#436089',
        800: '#364D6D',
        900: '#2A3A50',
        950: '#1A2432',
        DEFAULT: '#bccade',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F7F9,
  '100': #ECEFF4,
  '200': #D4DCE8,
  '300': #bccade,
  '400': #8EA6C7,
  '500': #6988B5,
  '600': #5173A4,
  '700': #436089,
  '800': #364D6D,
  '900': #2A3A50,
  '950': #1A2432,
);
$brand-base: #bccade;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F7F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#ECEFF4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D4DCE8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#bccade", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#8EA6C7", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#6988B5", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#5173A4", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#436089", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#364D6D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2A3A50", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1A2432", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bccade · 12.64:1
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 · 12.64:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bccade as text scores 1.66:1 on white and 12.64:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #2A3C55 at 6.74:1.

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
#5376A9 · 4.63:1
AA on white−31% L
#5376A9
The quick fox
#3F5A80 · 7.03:1
AAA on white−43% L
#3F5A80
The quick fox
#bccade · 12.64:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bccade
The quick fox
#bccade · 12.64:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bccade

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #7894BC 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
#bccade on white: 1.66:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bccade on black: 12.64:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.66:1AaAa
Slate 501.59:1AaAa
Slate 1001.52:1AaAa
Slate 2001.35:1AaAa
Slate 3001.12:1AaAa
Slate 4001.54:1AaAa
Slate 5002.86:1AaAa
Slate 6004.56:1AaAa
Slate 7006.23:1AaAa
Slate 8008.81:1AaAa
Slate 90010.75:1AaAa
Black12.64:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C3CBDF
deuteranopia · #C0C7DE
tritanopia · #B4CED0

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. #bccade 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.

#F5F7F9
#ECEFF4
#D4DCE8
#bccade
#8EA6C7
#6988B5
#5173A4
#436089
#364D6D
#2A3A50
#1A2432
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F5F7F9Darkest = 950 · #1A2432Text 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 0.008 257.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.013 257.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.019 257.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.025 257.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.029 257.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.032 257.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.032 257.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.030 257.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.027 257.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.022 257.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.018 257.2);
}

Colors that work with #bccade

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#C8D4E4
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4C6C9A
Captions on the surface
Accent#8D5A3F
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#2A3C55
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EEF1F7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141B24
Dark-mode background
Hover#A4B7D2
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8CA4C6
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F4F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C6D4E9
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 #bccade

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 #2A3C55
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #7894BC

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
  • Weight20/100
  • 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#DED0BC
Analogous left#BCDBDE
Analogous right#BFBCDE
Split-complement 1#DEBFBC
Split-complement 2#DBDEBC
Triadic 1#DEBCCA
Triadic 2#CADEBC
Tetradic#DEBCDB
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°215°

#bccade sits at 215°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red73.7%
Green79.2%
Blue87.1%
R · 0–255
188
0xbc
G · 0–255
202
0xca
B · 0–255
222
0xde

CMYK percentages

Cyan15.3%
Magenta9.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)12.9%

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

Color previews

#bccade text on a black background

contrast 12.64:1

Card sample

#bccade text on a white background

contrast 1.66:1

Card sample

#bccade on grey

1.52:1

#bccade on its own surface

1.55:1

#bccade on its dark surface

10.43:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(188, 202, 222, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(188, 202, 222, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bccade;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bccade, #C5BCDE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

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

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bccade;
caret-color: #bccade;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bccade;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EEF1F7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bccade;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bccade 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bccade 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(188, 202, 222, 0.5)
rgb(188 202 222 / 50%)
#bccade80
hsl(215 34% 80% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bccade 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bccade1a#F8FAFC
20%#bccade33#F2F4F8
40%#bccade66#E4EAF2
60%#bccade99#D7DFEB
80%#bccadecc#C9D5E5

Gradients from #bccade

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, #E5EAF2, #bccade 45%, #2A3C55);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bccade, #B7A8D4);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bccade, #DED0BC);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F5F7FA 0%, #bccade 45%, #2A3C55 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%, #DEEFEF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D5D1E8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #2A3C55 0%, transparent 65%), #bccade;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bccade

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.

#bccade 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 12.64:1.

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.

#bccade, answered

What color is #bccade?

#bccade is a light soft blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 2.9). It sits at 215° on the hue wheel with 34% saturation and 80% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #bccade?

rgb(188, 202, 222) — 188 red, 202 green and 222 blue out of 255, or 73.7% / 79.2% / 87.1% by channel.

What is #bccade in HSL and HSV?

hsl(215, 34%, 80%) and hsv(215, 15%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bccade a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5821 and perceived brightness is 79%, so black text on it reaches 12.64:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bccade?

Black. It scores 12.64:1 against #bccade, versus 1.66:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bccade accessible on a white background?

#bccade on white scores 1.66:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #5376A9 to reach 4.5:1, or #3F5A80 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bccade?

#DED0BC sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DEBFBC and #DBDEBC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bccade?

For interface work: #F5F7FA as the surface, #C8D4E4 for borders, #4C6C9A for secondary text, #8D5A3F as an accent and #2A3C55 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BCDBDE and #BFBCDE stays calm, while #DED0BC is the loudest partner.

What is #bccade in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(15%, 9%, 0%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bccade warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 96 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #BCBEDE; nudged cooler, #AABFD7.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bccade?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 20.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bccade as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bccade in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(188, 202, 222, 0.5), or #bccade80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DEE5EF; over black, #5E656F.

Is #bccade a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 9.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bccade 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 #bccade?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E5EAF2, #bccade 45%, #2A3C55). For more colour, a short hue run to #B7A8D4 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bccade in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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