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blue · cool

#bec1cd

a light, muted blue · cool · closest name: Silver

Token name suggestion: Linen Cobalt

RGB
190, 193, 205
HSL
228°, 13%, 78%
CMYK
7, 6, 0, 20
Luminance
0.5349

#bec1cd is a light muted blue, 228° on the wheel and 65/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.70:1). As text it scores 1.80:1 on white — use #6E748F instead. Nearest name is Silver, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(228 13% 78%)rgb(190 193 205)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bec1cd is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bec1cd
Hue
228°
blue
Saturation
13%
muted
Lightness
78%
light
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
76%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5349
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
65/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
11.70:1
Closest name
Silver
ΔE2000 5.8
Chroma
6.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.812
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 24.7
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue228° of 360°
Saturation13%
Lightness78%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bec1cd.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool65% 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
Red20%
Green71%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#bec1cd
HEX (8-digit)#bec1cdff
RGBrgb(190, 193, 205)
RGBArgba(190, 193, 205, 1)
HSLhsl(228, 13%, 78%)
HSV / HSBhsv(228, 7%, 80%)
HWBhwb(228 75% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(7%, 6%, 0%, 20%)
LABlab(78.2 1.3 -6.4)
LCHlch(78.2 6.5 281.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.812 0.017 274.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(51.32, 53.49, 65.37)
Decimal12501453
Display P3color(display-p3 0.745 0.757 0.804)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bec1cd;
background-color: #bec1cd;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bec1cd;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bec1cd] bg-[#bec1cd]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bec1cd;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.745, green: 0.757, blue: 0.804)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.745, green: 0.757, blue: 0.804, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BEC1CD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBEC1CD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBEC1CD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(205, 193, 190)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(190, 193, 205)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(190, 193, 205)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 190, 193, 205)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7451f, 0.7569f, 0.8039f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{190,193,205}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bec1cd 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bec1cd 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#373B48, #DCDEE4);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bec1cd 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: #F7F7F8;
  --brand-100: #EEEFF1;
  --brand-200: #DADCE2;
  --brand-300: #bec1cd;
  --brand-400: #A0A4B6;
  --brand-500: #80869D;
  --brand-600: #6A718A;
  --brand-700: #595E73;
  --brand-800: #474B5C;
  --brand-900: #363945;
  --brand-950: #22242B;
  --brand: #bec1cd;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F7F8;
  --brand-border: #D1D3DC;
  --brand-hover: #AAAEBE;
  --brand-pressed: #969BAE;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #181A20;
    --brand-ink: #DCDEE4;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F7F8',
        100: '#EEEFF1',
        200: '#DADCE2',
        300: '#bec1cd',
        400: '#A0A4B6',
        500: '#80869D',
        600: '#6A718A',
        700: '#595E73',
        800: '#474B5C',
        900: '#363945',
        950: '#22242B',
        DEFAULT: '#bec1cd',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F7F8,
  '100': #EEEFF1,
  '200': #DADCE2,
  '300': #bec1cd,
  '400': #A0A4B6,
  '500': #80869D,
  '600': #6A718A,
  '700': #595E73,
  '800': #474B5C,
  '900': #363945,
  '950': #22242B,
);
$brand-base: #bec1cd;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F7F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EEEFF1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DADCE2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#bec1cd", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#A0A4B6", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#80869D", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#6A718A", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#595E73", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#474B5C", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#363945", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#22242B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bec1cd · 11.70:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.80:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.70:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bec1cd as text scores 1.80:1 on white and 11.70:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #373B48 at 6.22:1.

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
#6E748F · 4.61:1
AA on white−28% L
#6E748F
The quick fox
#53586C · 7.05:1
AAA on white−40% L
#53586C
The quick fox
#bec1cd · 11.70:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bec1cd
The quick fox
#bec1cd · 11.70:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bec1cd

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #8D92A7 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
#bec1cd on white: 1.80:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bec1cd on black: 11.70:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bec1cd as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bec1cd.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.80:1AaAa
Slate 501.72:1AaAa
Slate 1001.64:1AaAa
Slate 2001.46:1AaAa
Slate 3001.21:1AaAa
Slate 4001.43:1AaAa
Slate 5002.65:1AaAa
Slate 6004.22:1AaAa
Slate 7005.77:1AaAa
Slate 8008.15:1AaAa
Slate 9009.95:1AaAa
Black11.70:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #BEC2CE
deuteranopia · #BDC1CD
tritanopia · #BBC3C5

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. #bec1cd 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.

#F7F7F8
#EEEFF1
#DADCE2
#bec1cd
#A0A4B6
#80869D
#6A718A
#595E73
#474B5C
#363945
#22242B
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F7F7F8Darkest = 950 · #22242BText 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 0.004 274.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.007 274.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.010 274.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.013 274.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.016 274.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.017 274.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.017 274.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.016 274.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.014 274.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.012 274.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.009 274.8);
}

Colors that work with #bec1cd

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#F6F7F8
Tinted page background
Border#D1D3DC
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#646A82
Captions on the surface
Accent#776955
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#373B48
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F1F1F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#181A20
Dark-mode background
Hover#AAAEBE
One step down in lightness
Pressed#969BAE
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F4F6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C5C9DB
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 #bec1cd

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 #373B48
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #8D92A7

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.

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

It is also the most crowded hue on the web. Distinctiveness has to come from your other choices.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyLow
  • Weight23/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • 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#CDCABE
Analogous left#BEC9CD
Analogous right#C3BECD
Split-complement 1#CDC3BE
Split-complement 2#C9CDBE
Triadic 1#CDBEC1
Triadic 2#C1CDBE
Tetradic#CDBEC9
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°228°

#bec1cd sits at 228°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red74.5%
Green75.7%
Blue80.4%
R · 0–255
190
0xbe
G · 0–255
193
0xc1
B · 0–255
205
0xcd

CMYK percentages

Cyan7.3%
Magenta5.9%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)19.6%

Total ink coverage is 33%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bec1cd text on a black background

contrast 11.70:1

Card sample

#bec1cd text on a white background

contrast 1.80:1

Card sample

#bec1cd on grey

1.64:1

#bec1cd on its own surface

1.67:1

#bec1cd on its dark surface

9.69:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bec1cd;
Background color
Panel with #bec1cd background
background-color: #bec1cd;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bec1cd;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(190, 193, 205, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(190, 193, 205, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bec1cd;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bec1cd, #C5BECD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bec1cd, #C9BECD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bec1cd;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bec1cd;
caret-color: #bec1cd;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bec1cd;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F1F1F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bec1cd;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bec1cd 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bec1cd 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(190, 193, 205, 0.5)
rgb(190 193 205 / 50%)
#bec1cd80
hsl(228 13% 78% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bec1cd 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bec1cd1a#F9F9FA
20%#bec1cd33#F2F3F5
40%#bec1cd66#E5E6EB
60%#bec1cd99#D8DAE1
80%#bec1cdcc#CBCDD7

Gradients from #bec1cd

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, #E1E2E8, #bec1cd 45%, #373B48);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bec1cd, #B7ADC0);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bec1cd, #CDCABE);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F2F3F5 0%, #bec1cd 45%, #373B48 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F7F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #DBE1E3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D4CFDA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #373B48 0%, transparent 65%), #bec1cd;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bec1cd

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.

#bec1cd 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
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 11.70:1.

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.

#bec1cd, answered

What color is #bec1cd?

#bec1cd is a light muted blue, closest to Silver (ΔE2000 5.8). It sits at 228° on the hue wheel with 13% saturation and 78% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #bec1cd?

rgb(190, 193, 205) — 190 red, 193 green and 205 blue out of 255, or 74.5% / 75.7% / 80.4% by channel.

What is #bec1cd in HSL and HSV?

hsl(228, 13%, 78%) and hsv(228, 7%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bec1cd a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5349 and perceived brightness is 76%, so black text on it reaches 11.70:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bec1cd?

Black. It scores 11.70:1 against #bec1cd, versus 1.80:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bec1cd accessible on a white background?

#bec1cd on white scores 1.80:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #6E748F to reach 4.5:1, or #53586C for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bec1cd?

#CDCABE sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CDC3BE and #C9CDBE, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bec1cd?

For interface work: #F6F7F8 as the surface, #D1D3DC for borders, #646A82 for secondary text, #776955 as an accent and #373B48 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BEC9CD and #C3BECD stays calm, while #CDCABE is the loudest partner.

What is #bec1cd in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(7%, 6%, 0%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bec1cd warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 65 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C1BECD; nudged cooler, #BDC5CE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bec1cd?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 24.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bec1cd as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bec1cd in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bec1cd] or text-[#bec1cd], 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 #bec1cd with 50% opacity?

rgba(190, 193, 205, 0.5), or #bec1cd80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DFE0E6; over black, #5F6167.

Is #bec1cd a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 6.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bec1cd 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 low chroma the association is faint; it behaves more like a neutral.

What gradient works with #bec1cd?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E1E2E8, #bec1cd 45%, #373B48). For more colour, a short hue run to #B7ADC0 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bec1cd in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bec1cd at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.