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violet · neutral

#bbaec2

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Thistle

RGB
187, 174, 194
HSL
279°, 14%, 72%
CMYK
4, 10, 0, 24
Luminance
0.4473

#bbaec2 is a light muted violet, 279° on the wheel and 55/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.95:1). As text it scores 2.11:1 on white — use #856E92 instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(279 14% 72%)rgb(187 174 194)Base step 400AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bbaec2 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bbaec2
Hue
279°
violet
Saturation
14%
muted
Lightness
72%
light
Brightness
76%
HSV value
Perceived
71%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4473
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
55/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
9.95:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 6.7
Chroma
11.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.768
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 22.9
Web-safe
#CC99CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue279° of 360°
Saturation14%
Lightness72%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bbaec2.

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%
Green68%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#bbaec2
HEX (8-digit)#bbaec2ff
RGBrgb(187, 174, 194)
RGBArgba(187, 174, 194, 1)
HSLhsl(279, 14%, 72%)
HSV / HSBhsv(279, 10%, 76%)
HWBhwb(279 68% 24%)
CMYKcmyk(4%, 10%, 0%, 24%)
LABlab(72.7 8.4 -8.5)
LCHlch(72.7 11.9 314.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.768 0.032 314.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(45.37, 44.73, 57.27)
Decimal12299970
Display P3color(display-p3 0.733 0.682 0.761)
Web-safe#CC99CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bbaec2;
background-color: #bbaec2;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bbaec2;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bbaec2] bg-[#bbaec2]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bbaec2;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.733, green: 0.682, blue: 0.761)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.733, green: 0.682, blue: 0.761, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BBAEC2</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBBAEC2)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBBAEC2)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(194, 174, 187)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(187, 174, 194)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(187, 174, 194)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 187, 174, 194)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7333f, 0.6824f, 0.7608f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{187,174,194}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bbaec2 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bbaec2 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#423749, #E2DCE5);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bbaec2 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: #F8F7F8;
  --brand-100: #F0EEF1;
  --brand-200: #DFDAE2;
  --brand-300: #C9BFCF;
  --brand-400: #bbaec2;
  --brand-500: #947F9F;
  --brand-600: #80698C;
  --brand-700: #6A5874;
  --brand-800: #55465D;
  --brand-900: #403545;
  --brand-950: #28212B;
  --brand: #bbaec2;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F6F8;
  --brand-border: #D8D0DC;
  --brand-hover: #AA9AB3;
  --brand-pressed: #9985A3;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1D1820;
    --brand-ink: #E2DCE5;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F7F8',
        100: '#F0EEF1',
        200: '#DFDAE2',
        300: '#C9BFCF',
        400: '#bbaec2',
        500: '#947F9F',
        600: '#80698C',
        700: '#6A5874',
        800: '#55465D',
        900: '#403545',
        950: '#28212B',
        DEFAULT: '#bbaec2',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F7F8,
  '100': #F0EEF1,
  '200': #DFDAE2,
  '300': #C9BFCF,
  '400': #bbaec2,
  '500': #947F9F,
  '600': #80698C,
  '700': #6A5874,
  '800': #55465D,
  '900': #403545,
  '950': #28212B,
);
$brand-base: #bbaec2;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F7F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F0EEF1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DFDAE2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#C9BFCF", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#bbaec2", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#947F9F", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#80698C", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#6A5874", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#55465D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#403545", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#28212B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bbaec2 · 9.95:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.11:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.95:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bbaec2 as text scores 2.11:1 on white and 9.95:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #423749 at 5.31:1.

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
#856E92 · 4.52:1
AA on white−22% L
#856E92
The quick fox
#63516C · 7.18:1
AAA on white−35% L
#63516C
The quick fox
#bbaec2 · 9.95:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bbaec2
The quick fox
#bbaec2 · 9.95:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bbaec2

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A08EAA 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
#bbaec2 on white: 2.11:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bbaec2 on black: 9.95:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bbaec2 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bbaec2.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.11:1AaAa
Slate 502.02:1AaAa
Slate 1001.93:1AaAa
Slate 2001.71:1AaAa
Slate 3001.42:1AaAa
Slate 4001.21:1AaAa
Slate 5002.25:1AaAa
Slate 6003.59:1AaAa
Slate 7004.90:1AaAa
Slate 8006.93:1AaAa
Slate 9008.46:1AaAa
Black9.95:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #ACB2C3
deuteranopia · #AEB3C1
tritanopia · #BBB0B4

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. #bbaec2 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.

#F8F7F8
#F0EEF1
#DFDAE2
#C9BFCF
#bbaec2
#947F9F
#80698C
#6A5874
#55465D
#403545
#28212B
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F8F7F8Darkest = 950 · #28212BText 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 0.008 314.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.013 314.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.019 314.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.025 314.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.029 314.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.032 314.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.032 314.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.030 314.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.026 314.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.022 314.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.017 314.0);
}

Colors that work with #bbaec2

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#F8F6F8
Tinted page background
Border#D8D0DC
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#786383
Captions on the surface
Accent#6A7953
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#423749
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F3F0F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1D1820
Dark-mode background
Hover#AA9AB3
One step down in lightness
Pressed#9985A3
Two steps down
Disabled#F1EEF2
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C7B4D1
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 #bbaec2

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 #423749
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A08EAA

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.

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

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

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyLow
  • 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#B5C2AE
Analogous left#B1AEC2
Analogous right#C2AEBF
Split-complement 1#BFC2AE
Split-complement 2#AEC2B1
Triadic 1#C2BBAE
Triadic 2#AEC2BB
Tetradic#C2B1AE
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°279°

#bbaec2 sits at 279°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red73.3%
Green68.2%
Blue76.1%
R · 0–255
187
0xbb
G · 0–255
174
0xae
B · 0–255
194
0xc2

CMYK percentages

Cyan3.6%
Magenta10.3%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)23.9%

Total ink coverage is 38%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bbaec2 text on a black background

contrast 9.95:1

Card sample

#bbaec2 text on a white background

contrast 2.11:1

Card sample

#bbaec2 on grey

1.93:1

#bbaec2 on its own surface

1.96:1

#bbaec2 on its dark surface

8.26:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bbaec2;
Background color
Panel with #bbaec2 background
background-color: #bbaec2;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bbaec2;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(187, 174, 194, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(187, 174, 194, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bbaec2;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bbaec2, #C2AEBC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bbaec2, #C2AEB7);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bbaec2;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bbaec2;
caret-color: #bbaec2;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bbaec2;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F3F0F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bbaec2;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bbaec2 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bbaec2 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, 174, 194, 0.5)
rgb(187 174 194 / 50%)
#bbaec280
hsl(279 14% 72% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bbaec2 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bbaec21a#F8F7F9
20%#bbaec233#F1EFF3
40%#bbaec266#E4DFE7
60%#bbaec299#D6CEDA
80%#bbaec2cc#C9BECE

Gradients from #bbaec2

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, #D8D1DC, #bbaec2 45%, #423749);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bbaec2, #B59DAB);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bbaec2, #B5C2AE);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E7E2EA 0%, #bbaec2 45%, #423749 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F6F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #CCCBD8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #CFC0CC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #423749 0%, transparent 65%), #bbaec2;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bbaec2

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.

#bbaec2 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
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 9.95:1.

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.

#bbaec2, answered

What color is #bbaec2?

#bbaec2 is a light muted violet, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 6.7). It sits at 279° on the hue wheel with 14% saturation and 72% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #bbaec2?

rgb(187, 174, 194) — 187 red, 174 green and 194 blue out of 255, or 73.3% / 68.2% / 76.1% by channel.

What is #bbaec2 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(279, 14%, 72%) and hsv(279, 10%, 76%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bbaec2 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4473 and perceived brightness is 71%, so black text on it reaches 9.95:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bbaec2?

Black. It scores 9.95:1 against #bbaec2, versus 2.11:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bbaec2 accessible on a white background?

#bbaec2 on white scores 2.11:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #856E92 to reach 4.5:1, or #63516C for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bbaec2?

#B5C2AE sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BFC2AE and #AEC2B1, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bbaec2?

For interface work: #F8F6F8 as the surface, #D8D0DC for borders, #786383 for secondary text, #6A7953 as an accent and #423749 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #B1AEC2 and #C2AEBF stays calm, while #B5C2AE is the loudest partner.

What is #bbaec2 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(4%, 10%, 0%, 24%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bbaec2 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 #C2AEC2; nudged cooler, #B3ADC4.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bbaec2?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 22.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bbaec2 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bbaec2 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bbaec2] or text-[#bbaec2], 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 #bbaec2 with 50% opacity?

rgba(187, 174, 194, 0.5), or #bbaec280 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DDD7E1; over black, #5E5761.

Is #bbaec2 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99CC, ΔE2000 12.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bbaec2 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 low chroma the association is faint; it behaves more like a neutral.

What gradient works with #bbaec2?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D8D1DC, #bbaec2 45%, #423749). For more colour, a short hue run to #B59DAB keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bbaec2 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bbaec2 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.