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blue · cool

#bbc9e2

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Cobalt

RGB
187, 201, 226
HSL
219°, 40%, 81%
CMYK
17, 11, 0, 11
Luminance
0.5783

#bbc9e2 is a light soft blue, 219° on the wheel and 95/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.57:1). As text it scores 1.67:1 on white — use #5074B4 instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(219 40% 81%)rgb(187 201 226)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bbc9e2 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bbc9e2
Hue
219°
blue
Saturation
40%
soft
Lightness
81%
light
Brightness
89%
HSV value
Perceived
78%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5783
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
95/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
12.57:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 2.7
Chroma
14.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.833
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 21.3
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue219° of 360°
Saturation40%
Lightness81%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bbc9e2.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool95% 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%
Green72%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#bbc9e2
HEX (8-digit)#bbc9e2ff
RGBrgb(187, 201, 226)
RGBArgba(187, 201, 226, 1)
HSLhsl(219, 40%, 81%)
HSV / HSBhsv(218, 17%, 89%)
HWBhwb(219 73% 11%)
CMYKcmyk(17%, 11%, 0%, 11%)
LABlab(80.6 0.3 -14.0)
LCHlch(80.6 14.0 271.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.833 0.038 262.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(55.10, 57.83, 80.20)
Decimal12306914
Display P3color(display-p3 0.733 0.788 0.886)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bbc9e2;
background-color: #bbc9e2;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bbc9e2;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bbc9e2] bg-[#bbc9e2]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bbc9e2;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.733, green: 0.788, blue: 0.886)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.733, green: 0.788, blue: 0.886, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BBC9E2</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBBC9E2)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBBC9E2)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(226, 201, 187)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(187, 201, 226)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(187, 201, 226)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 187, 201, 226)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7333f, 0.7882f, 0.8863f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{187,201,226}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bbc9e2 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bbc9e2 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#263859, #D4DDED);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bbc9e2 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: #F5F7FA;
  --brand-100: #EBEEF4;
  --brand-200: #D2DBEA;
  --brand-300: #bbc9e2;
  --brand-400: #89A1CD;
  --brand-500: #6282BC;
  --brand-600: #496CAC;
  --brand-700: #3D5A8F;
  --brand-800: #314872;
  --brand-900: #273754;
  --brand-950: #182234;
  --brand: #bbc9e2;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F6FA;
  --brand-border: #C6D2E7;
  --brand-hover: #A2B5D7;
  --brand-pressed: #89A1CD;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141A24;
    --brand-ink: #D4DDED;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F7FA',
        100: '#EBEEF4',
        200: '#D2DBEA',
        300: '#bbc9e2',
        400: '#89A1CD',
        500: '#6282BC',
        600: '#496CAC',
        700: '#3D5A8F',
        800: '#314872',
        900: '#273754',
        950: '#182234',
        DEFAULT: '#bbc9e2',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F7FA,
  '100': #EBEEF4,
  '200': #D2DBEA,
  '300': #bbc9e2,
  '400': #89A1CD,
  '500': #6282BC,
  '600': #496CAC,
  '700': #3D5A8F,
  '800': #314872,
  '900': #273754,
  '950': #182234,
);
$brand-base: #bbc9e2;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F7FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EBEEF4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D2DBEA", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#bbc9e2", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#89A1CD", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#6282BC", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#496CAC", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#3D5A8F", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#314872", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#273754", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#182234", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bbc9e2 · 12.57:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.67:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.57:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bbc9e2 as text scores 1.67:1 on white and 12.57:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #263859 at 7.01:1.

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
#5074B4 · 4.67:1
AA on white−30% L
#5074B4
The quick fox
#3B588B · 7.11:1
AAA on white−42% L
#3B588B
The quick fox
#bbc9e2 · 12.57:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bbc9e2
The quick fox
#bbc9e2 · 12.57:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bbc9e2

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #7793C5 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
#bbc9e2 on white: 1.67:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bbc9e2 on black: 12.57:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bbc9e2 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bbc9e2.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.67:1AaAa
Slate 501.60:1AaAa
Slate 1001.53:1AaAa
Slate 2001.36:1AaAa
Slate 3001.13:1AaAa
Slate 4001.53:1AaAa
Slate 5002.85:1AaAa
Slate 6004.53:1AaAa
Slate 7006.20:1AaAa
Slate 8008.75:1AaAa
Slate 90010.68:1AaAa
Black12.57:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C1CAE3
deuteranopia · #BDC7E1
tritanopia · #B2CED1

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. #bbc9e2 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.

#F5F7FA
#EBEEF4
#D2DBEA
#bbc9e2
#89A1CD
#6282BC
#496CAC
#3D5A8F
#314872
#273754
#182234
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F5F7FADarkest = 950 · #182234Text 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 0.010 262.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.015 262.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.023 262.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.030 262.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.035 262.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.038 262.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.038 262.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.036 262.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.032 262.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.027 262.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.021 262.1);
}

Colors that work with #bbc9e2

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#F4F6FA
Tinted page background
Border#C6D2E7
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B679B
Captions on the surface
Accent#935D39
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#263859
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EDF1F7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141A24
Dark-mode background
Hover#A2B5D7
One step down in lightness
Pressed#89A1CD
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F4F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C6D3EC
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 #bbc9e2

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 #263859
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #7793C5

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
  • Weight19/100
  • 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#E2D4BB
Analogous left#BBDDE2
Analogous right#C1BBE2
Split-complement 1#E2C1BB
Split-complement 2#DDE2BB
Triadic 1#E2BBC9
Triadic 2#C9E2BB
Tetradic#E2BBDD
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°219°

#bbc9e2 sits at 219°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red73.3%
Green78.8%
Blue88.6%
R · 0–255
187
0xbb
G · 0–255
201
0xc9
B · 0–255
226
0xe2

CMYK percentages

Cyan17.3%
Magenta11.1%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)11.4%

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

Color previews

#bbc9e2 text on a black background

contrast 12.57:1

Card sample

#bbc9e2 text on a white background

contrast 1.67:1

Card sample

#bbc9e2 on grey

1.53:1

#bbc9e2 on its own surface

1.54:1

#bbc9e2 on its dark surface

10.45:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bbc9e2;
Background color
Panel with #bbc9e2 background
background-color: #bbc9e2;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bbc9e2;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(187, 201, 226, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(187, 201, 226, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bbc9e2;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bbc9e2, #C7BBE2);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bbc9e2, #D1BBE2);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bbc9e2;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bbc9e2;
caret-color: #bbc9e2;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bbc9e2;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EDF1F7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bbc9e2;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bbc9e2 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bbc9e2 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, 201, 226, 0.5)
rgb(187 201 226 / 50%)
#bbc9e280
hsl(219 40% 81% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bbc9e2 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bbc9e21a#F8FAFC
20%#bbc9e233#F1F4F9
40%#bbc9e266#E4E9F3
60%#bbc9e299#D6DFEE
80%#bbc9e2cc#C9D4E8

Gradients from #bbc9e2

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, #E6EBF4, #bbc9e2 45%, #263859);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bbc9e2, #BAA6D9);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bbc9e2, #E2D4BB);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F4F6FA 0%, #bbc9e2 45%, #263859 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F6FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #DFF0F1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D7D1EB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #263859 0%, transparent 65%), #bbc9e2;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bbc9e2

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.

#bbc9e2 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 12.57:1.

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.

#bbc9e2, answered

What color is #bbc9e2?

#bbc9e2 is a light soft blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 2.7). It sits at 219° on the hue wheel with 40% saturation and 81% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #bbc9e2?

rgb(187, 201, 226) — 187 red, 201 green and 226 blue out of 255, or 73.3% / 78.8% / 88.6% by channel.

What is #bbc9e2 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(219, 40%, 81%) and hsv(218, 17%, 89%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bbc9e2 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5783 and perceived brightness is 78%, so black text on it reaches 12.57:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bbc9e2?

Black. It scores 12.57:1 against #bbc9e2, versus 1.67:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bbc9e2 accessible on a white background?

#bbc9e2 on white scores 1.67:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #5074B4 to reach 4.5:1, or #3B588B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bbc9e2?

#E2D4BB sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #E2C1BB and #DDE2BB, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bbc9e2?

For interface work: #F4F6FA as the surface, #C6D2E7 for borders, #4B679B for secondary text, #935D39 as an accent and #263859 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BBDDE2 and #C1BBE2 stays calm, while #E2D4BB is the loudest partner.

What is #bbc9e2 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(17%, 11%, 0%, 11%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bbc9e2 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 95 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #BBBBE2; nudged cooler, #A8BFDC.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bbc9e2?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 21.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bbc9e2 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bbc9e2 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bbc9e2] or text-[#bbc9e2], 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 #bbc9e2 with 50% opacity?

rgba(187, 201, 226, 0.5), or #bbc9e280 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DDE4F1; over black, #5E6571.

Is #bbc9e2 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 10.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bbc9e2 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 #bbc9e2?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E6EBF4, #bbc9e2 45%, #263859). For more colour, a short hue run to #BAA6D9 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bbc9e2 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bbc9e2 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.