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blue · cool

#babccd

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

Token name suggestion: Linen Harbour

RGB
186, 188, 205
HSL
234°, 16%, 77%
CMYK
9, 8, 0, 20
Luminance
0.5081

#babccd is a light soft blue, 234° on the wheel and 67/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.16:1). As text it scores 1.88:1 on white — use #707498 instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(234 16% 77%)rgb(186 188 205)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

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

Hex
#babccd
Hue
234°
blue
Saturation
16%
soft
Lightness
77%
light
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
74%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5081
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
67/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
11.16:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 7.2
Chroma
9.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.799
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 24.6
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue234° of 360°
Saturation16%
Lightness77%
Saturation × lightness field

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

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool67% 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
Red21%
Green71%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#babccd
HEX (8-digit)#babccdff
RGBrgb(186, 188, 205)
RGBArgba(186, 188, 205, 1)
HSLhsl(234, 16%, 77%)
HSV / HSBhsv(234, 9%, 80%)
HWBhwb(234 73% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(9%, 8%, 0%, 20%)
LABlab(76.6 2.6 -8.8)
LCHlch(76.6 9.2 286.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.799 0.024 280.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(49.25, 50.81, 64.96)
Decimal12238029
Display P3color(display-p3 0.729 0.737 0.804)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #babccd;
background-color: #babccd;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #babccd;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#babccd] bg-[#babccd]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #babccd;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.729, green: 0.737, blue: 0.804)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.729, green: 0.737, blue: 0.804, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BABCCD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBABCCD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBABCCD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(205, 188, 186)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(186, 188, 205)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(186, 188, 205)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 186, 188, 205)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7294f, 0.7373f, 0.8039f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{186,188,205}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #babccd 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #babccd 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#36384A, #DCDDE5);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #babccd 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: #F6F7F8;
  --brand-100: #EEEEF2;
  --brand-200: #D9DAE3;
  --brand-300: #babccd;
  --brand-400: #9DA0B8;
  --brand-500: #7D81A1;
  --brand-600: #676B8E;
  --brand-700: #565976;
  --brand-800: #45475F;
  --brand-900: #343646;
  --brand-950: #21222C;
  --brand: #babccd;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F6F9;
  --brand-border: #D0D1DD;
  --brand-hover: #A5A8BE;
  --brand-pressed: #9194AF;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #181921;
    --brand-ink: #DCDDE5;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F7F8',
        100: '#EEEEF2',
        200: '#D9DAE3',
        300: '#babccd',
        400: '#9DA0B8',
        500: '#7D81A1',
        600: '#676B8E',
        700: '#565976',
        800: '#45475F',
        900: '#343646',
        950: '#21222C',
        DEFAULT: '#babccd',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F7F8,
  '100': #EEEEF2,
  '200': #D9DAE3,
  '300': #babccd,
  '400': #9DA0B8,
  '500': #7D81A1,
  '600': #676B8E,
  '700': #565976,
  '800': #45475F,
  '900': #343646,
  '950': #21222C,
);
$brand-base: #babccd;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F7F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EEEEF2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D9DAE3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#babccd", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#9DA0B8", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7D81A1", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#676B8E", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#565976", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#45475F", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#343646", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#21222C", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #babccd · 11.16:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.88:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.16:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #babccd as text scores 1.88:1 on white and 11.16:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #36384A at 6.13:1.

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
#707498 · 4.53:1
AA on white−25% L
#707498
The quick fox
#535672 · 7.14:1
AAA on white−38% L
#535672
The quick fox
#babccd · 11.16:1
AA on blackalready passes
#babccd
The quick fox
#babccd · 11.16:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#babccd

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #8E91AD 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
#babccd on white: 1.88:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#babccd on black: 11.16:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.88:1AaAa
Slate 501.80:1AaAa
Slate 1001.72:1AaAa
Slate 2001.53:1AaAa
Slate 3001.27:1AaAa
Slate 4001.36:1AaAa
Slate 5002.53:1AaAa
Slate 6004.03:1AaAa
Slate 7005.50:1AaAa
Slate 8007.78:1AaAa
Slate 9009.49:1AaAa
Black11.16:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B8BECE
deuteranopia · #B7BCCD
tritanopia · #B6BFC1

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. #babccd 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.

#F6F7F8
#EEEEF2
#D9DAE3
#babccd
#9DA0B8
#7D81A1
#676B8E
#565976
#45475F
#343646
#21222C
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F6F7F8Darkest = 950 · #21222CText 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 0.006 280.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.010 280.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.014 280.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.019 280.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.022 280.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.024 280.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.024 280.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.023 280.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.020 280.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.017 280.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.013 280.5);
}

Colors that work with #babccd

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#F6F6F9
Tinted page background
Border#D0D1DD
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#606485
Captions on the surface
Accent#7A6C52
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#36384A
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F0F1F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#181921
Dark-mode background
Hover#A5A8BE
One step down in lightness
Pressed#9194AF
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F4F6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C1C4DB
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 #babccd

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 #36384A
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #8E91AD

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
  • Weight23/100
  • 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#CDCBBA
Analogous left#BAC6CD
Analogous right#C2BACD
Split-complement 1#CDC2BA
Split-complement 2#C6CDBA
Triadic 1#CDBABC
Triadic 2#BCCDBA
Tetradic#CDBAC6
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°234°

#babccd sits at 234°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red72.9%
Green73.7%
Blue80.4%
R · 0–255
186
0xba
G · 0–255
188
0xbc
B · 0–255
205
0xcd

CMYK percentages

Cyan9.3%
Magenta8.3%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)19.6%

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

Color previews

#babccd text on a black background

contrast 11.16:1

Card sample

#babccd text on a white background

contrast 1.88:1

Card sample

#babccd on grey

1.72:1

#babccd on its own surface

1.74:1

#babccd on its dark surface

9.30:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(186, 188, 205, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(186, 188, 205, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #babccd;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #babccd, #C5BACD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

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

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #babccd;
caret-color: #babccd;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #babccd;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F0F1F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #babccd;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#babccd 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #babccd 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(186, 188, 205, 0.5)
rgb(186 188 205 / 50%)
#babccd80
hsl(234 16% 77% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #babccd 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#babccd1a#F8F8FA
20%#babccd33#F1F2F5
40%#babccd66#E3E4EB
60%#babccd99#D6D7E1
80%#babccdcc#C8C9D7

Gradients from #babccd

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, #DEDFE7, #babccd 45%, #36384A);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #babccd, #B8A8C0);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #babccd, #CDCBBA);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EFF0F4 0%, #babccd 45%, #36384A 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F6F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #D8DFE3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D3CCDA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #36384A 0%, transparent 65%), #babccd;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #babccd

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.

#babccd 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 11.16:1.

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.

#babccd, answered

What color is #babccd?

#babccd is a light soft blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 7.2). It sits at 234° on the hue wheel with 16% saturation and 77% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #babccd?

rgb(186, 188, 205) — 186 red, 188 green and 205 blue out of 255, or 72.9% / 73.7% / 80.4% by channel.

What is #babccd in HSL and HSV?

hsl(234, 16%, 77%) and hsv(234, 9%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #babccd a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5081 and perceived brightness is 74%, so black text on it reaches 11.16:1.

Should I use black or white text on #babccd?

Black. It scores 11.16:1 against #babccd, versus 1.88:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #babccd accessible on a white background?

#babccd on white scores 1.88:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #707498 to reach 4.5:1, or #535672 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #babccd?

#CDCBBA sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CDC2BA and #C6CDBA, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #babccd?

For interface work: #F6F6F9 as the surface, #D0D1DD for borders, #606485 for secondary text, #7A6C52 as an accent and #36384A for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BAC6CD and #C2BACD stays calm, while #CDCBBA is the loudest partner.

What is #babccd in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(9%, 8%, 0%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #babccd warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 67 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #BFBACD; nudged cooler, #B9C2CE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #babccd?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 24.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #babccd as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #babccd in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(186, 188, 205, 0.5), or #babccd80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DDDEE6; over black, #5D5E67.

Is #babccd a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 8.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #babccd 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 #babccd?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #DEDFE7, #babccd 45%, #36384A). For more colour, a short hue run to #B8A8C0 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #babccd in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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