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violet · neutral

#bbabc3

a light, soft violet · neutral · closest name: Thistle

Token name suggestion: Meadow Plum

RGB
187, 171, 195
HSL
280°, 17%, 72%
CMYK
4, 12, 0, 24
Luminance
0.4363

#bbabc3 is a light soft violet, 280° on the wheel and 55/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.73:1). As text it scores 2.16:1 on white — use #866A94 instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(280 17% 72%)rgb(187 171 195)Base step 400AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bbabc3 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bbabc3
Hue
280°
violet
Saturation
17%
soft
Lightness
72%
light
Brightness
76%
HSV value
Perceived
70%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4363
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
55/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
9.73:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 6.5
Chroma
14.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.762
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 23
Web-safe
#CC99CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue280° of 360°
Saturation17%
Lightness72%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bbabc3.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool55% cool

Reads neutral. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Luminance by channel
Red24%
Green67%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#bbabc3
HEX (8-digit)#bbabc3ff
RGBrgb(187, 171, 195)
RGBArgba(187, 171, 195, 1)
HSLhsl(280, 17%, 72%)
HSV / HSBhsv(280, 12%, 76%)
HWBhwb(280 67% 24%)
CMYKcmyk(4%, 12%, 0%, 24%)
LABlab(72.0 10.2 -10.1)
LCHlch(72.0 14.4 315.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.762 0.038 314.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(44.91, 43.63, 57.68)
Decimal12299203
Display P3color(display-p3 0.733 0.671 0.765)
Web-safe#CC99CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bbabc3;
background-color: #bbabc3;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bbabc3;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bbabc3] bg-[#bbabc3]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bbabc3;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.733, green: 0.671, blue: 0.765)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.733, green: 0.671, blue: 0.765, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BBABC3</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBBABC3)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBBABC3)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(195, 171, 187)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(187, 171, 195)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(187, 171, 195)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 187, 171, 195)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7333f, 0.6706f, 0.7647f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{187,171,195}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bbabc3 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bbabc3 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#43354A, #E2DBE6);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bbabc3 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: #F8F6F8;
  --brand-100: #F0EEF2;
  --brand-200: #DFD9E3;
  --brand-300: #CABED0;
  --brand-400: #bbabc3;
  --brand-500: #957CA2;
  --brand-600: #81668F;
  --brand-700: #6C5577;
  --brand-800: #56445F;
  --brand-900: #403447;
  --brand-950: #28202C;
  --brand: #bbabc3;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F6F9;
  --brand-border: #D8CFDD;
  --brand-hover: #AA96B4;
  --brand-pressed: #9981A5;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1E1721;
    --brand-ink: #E2DBE6;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F6F8',
        100: '#F0EEF2',
        200: '#DFD9E3',
        300: '#CABED0',
        400: '#bbabc3',
        500: '#957CA2',
        600: '#81668F',
        700: '#6C5577',
        800: '#56445F',
        900: '#403447',
        950: '#28202C',
        DEFAULT: '#bbabc3',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F6F8,
  '100': #F0EEF2,
  '200': #DFD9E3,
  '300': #CABED0,
  '400': #bbabc3,
  '500': #957CA2,
  '600': #81668F,
  '700': #6C5577,
  '800': #56445F,
  '900': #403447,
  '950': #28202C,
);
$brand-base: #bbabc3;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F6F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F0EEF2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DFD9E3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#CABED0", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#bbabc3", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#957CA2", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#81668F", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#6C5577", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#56445F", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#403447", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#28202C", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bbabc3 · 9.73:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.16:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.73:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bbabc3 as text scores 2.16:1 on white and 9.73:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #43354A at 5.27:1.

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
#866A94 · 4.66:1
AA on white−22% L
#866A94
The quick fox
#665070 · 7.13:1
AAA on white−34% L
#665070
The quick fox
#bbabc3 · 9.73:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bbabc3
The quick fox
#bbabc3 · 9.73:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bbabc3

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A38DAE 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
#bbabc3 on white: 2.16:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bbabc3 on black: 9.73:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bbabc3 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bbabc3.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.16:1AaAa
Slate 502.06:1AaAa
Slate 1001.97:1AaAa
Slate 2001.75:1AaAa
Slate 3001.45:1AaAa
Slate 4001.19:1AaAa
Slate 5002.20:1AaAa
Slate 6003.51:1AaAa
Slate 7004.80:1AaAa
Slate 8006.78:1AaAa
Slate 9008.27:1AaAa
Black9.73:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A8AFC4
deuteranopia · #ABB1C2
tritanopia · #BBAEB3

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. #bbabc3 is pinned to step 400; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F8F6F8
#F0EEF2
#DFD9E3
#CABED0
#bbabc3
#957CA2
#81668F
#6C5577
#56445F
#403447
#28202C
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F8F6F8Darkest = 950 · #28202CText 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 0.010 314.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.015 314.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.023 314.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.030 314.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.035 314.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.038 314.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.038 314.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.036 314.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.032 314.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.027 314.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.021 314.6);
}

Colors that work with #bbabc3

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#F8F6F9
Tinted page background
Border#D8CFDD
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#796086
Captions on the surface
Accent#6A7B51
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#43354A
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F3F0F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1E1721
Dark-mode background
Hover#AA96B4
One step down in lightness
Pressed#9981A5
Two steps down
Disabled#F0EDF2
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C7B1D2
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 #bbabc3

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 #43354A
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A38DAE

Meaning and mood

What a colour in this family tends to signal, and how this particular chroma and lightness change the reading.

creativepremiummodernimaginative

Violet sits between the warmth of red and the calm of blue, so it reads as inventive without reading as risky. Current shorthand for software craft.

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

Deep violets swallow detail on screens with poor gamma; check it on a cheap laptop panel.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight28/100
  • TemperatureNeutral
  • 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#B3C3AB
Analogous left#AFABC3
Analogous right#C3ABBF
Split-complement 1#BFC3AB
Split-complement 2#ABC3AF
Triadic 1#C3BBAB
Triadic 2#ABC3BB
Tetradic#C3AFAB
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°280°

#bbabc3 sits at 280°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red73.3%
Green67.1%
Blue76.5%
R · 0–255
187
0xbb
G · 0–255
171
0xab
B · 0–255
195
0xc3

CMYK percentages

Cyan4.1%
Magenta12.3%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)23.5%

Total ink coverage is 40%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bbabc3 text on a black background

contrast 9.73:1

Card sample

#bbabc3 text on a white background

contrast 2.16:1

Card sample

#bbabc3 on grey

1.97:1

#bbabc3 on its own surface

2.01:1

#bbabc3 on its dark surface

8.11:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bbabc3;
Background color
Panel with #bbabc3 background
background-color: #bbabc3;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bbabc3;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(187, 171, 195, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(187, 171, 195, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bbabc3;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bbabc3, #C3ABBB);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bbabc3, #C3ABB5);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bbabc3;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bbabc3;
caret-color: #bbabc3;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bbabc3;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F3F0F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bbabc3;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bbabc3 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bbabc3 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, 171, 195, 0.5)
rgb(187 171 195 / 50%)
#bbabc380
hsl(280 17% 72% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bbabc3 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bbabc31a#F8F7F9
20%#bbabc333#F1EEF3
40%#bbabc366#E4DDE7
60%#bbabc399#D6CDDB
80%#bbabc3cc#C9BCCF

Gradients from #bbabc3

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, #D8CFDD, #bbabc3 45%, #43354A);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bbabc3, #B699AA);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bbabc3, #B3C3AB);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E6E1E9 0%, #bbabc3 45%, #43354A 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F6F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #CAC9D8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D0BDCB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #43354A 0%, transparent 65%), #bbabc3;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bbabc3

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.

#bbabc3 in the real world

Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.

Industries
Creative toolsFintechBeautyLuxury
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 9.73:1.

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.

#bbabc3, answered

What color is #bbabc3?

#bbabc3 is a light soft violet, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 6.5). It sits at 280° on the hue wheel with 17% saturation and 72% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #bbabc3?

rgb(187, 171, 195) — 187 red, 171 green and 195 blue out of 255, or 73.3% / 67.1% / 76.5% by channel.

What is #bbabc3 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(280, 17%, 72%) and hsv(280, 12%, 76%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bbabc3 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4363 and perceived brightness is 70%, so black text on it reaches 9.73:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bbabc3?

Black. It scores 9.73:1 against #bbabc3, versus 2.16:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bbabc3 accessible on a white background?

#bbabc3 on white scores 2.16:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #866A94 to reach 4.5:1, or #665070 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bbabc3?

#B3C3AB sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BFC3AB and #ABC3AF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bbabc3?

For interface work: #F8F6F9 as the surface, #D8CFDD for borders, #796086 for secondary text, #6A7B51 as an accent and #43354A for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AFABC3 and #C3ABBF stays calm, while #B3C3AB is the loudest partner.

What is #bbabc3 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(4%, 12%, 0%, 24%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bbabc3 warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 55 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C3ABC2; nudged cooler, #B2AAC5.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bbabc3?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 23 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bbabc3 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bbabc3 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bbabc3] or text-[#bbabc3], 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 #bbabc3 with 50% opacity?

rgba(187, 171, 195, 0.5), or #bbabc380 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DDD5E1; over black, #5E5662.

Is #bbabc3 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99CC, ΔE2000 10.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bbabc3 mean?

As a violet, it reads creative, premium, modern. Violet sits between the warmth of red and the calm of blue, so it reads as inventive without reading as risky. Current shorthand for software craft. At this moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #bbabc3?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D8CFDD, #bbabc3 45%, #43354A). For more colour, a short hue run to #B699AA keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bbabc3 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bbabc3 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.