Skip to content
violet · neutral

#bcb2c4

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

Token name suggestion: Morning Thistle

RGB
188, 178, 196
HSL
273°, 13%, 73%
CMYK
4, 9, 0, 23
Luminance
0.4652

#bcb2c4 is a light muted violet, 273° on the wheel and 56/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.30:1). As text it scores 2.04:1 on white — use #806D8E instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(273 13% 73%)rgb(188 178 196)Base step 300AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bcb2c4 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bcb2c4
Hue
273°
violet
Saturation
13%
muted
Lightness
73%
light
Brightness
77%
HSV value
Perceived
72%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4652
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
56/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
10.30:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 7.1
Chroma
10.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.777
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 23.3
Web-safe
#CC99CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue273° of 360°
Saturation13%
Lightness73%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bcb2c4.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool56% 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
Red23%
Green68%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#bcb2c4
HEX (8-digit)#bcb2c4ff
RGBrgb(188, 178, 196)
RGBArgba(188, 178, 196, 1)
HSLhsl(273, 13%, 73%)
HSV / HSBhsv(273, 9%, 77%)
HWBhwb(273 70% 23%)
CMYKcmyk(4%, 9%, 0%, 23%)
LABlab(73.9 6.9 -7.8)
LCHlch(73.9 10.4 311.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.777 0.028 310.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(46.62, 46.52, 58.74)
Decimal12366532
Display P3color(display-p3 0.737 0.698 0.769)
Web-safe#CC99CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bcb2c4;
background-color: #bcb2c4;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bcb2c4;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bcb2c4] bg-[#bcb2c4]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bcb2c4;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.737, green: 0.698, blue: 0.769)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.737, green: 0.698, blue: 0.769, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BCB2C4</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBCB2C4)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBCB2C4)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(196, 178, 188)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(188, 178, 196)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(188, 178, 196)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 188, 178, 196)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7373f, 0.6980f, 0.7686f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{188,178,196}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bcb2c4 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bcb2c4 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#413748, #E1DCE4);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bcb2c4 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: #F0EEF1;
  --brand-200: #DEDAE2;
  --brand-300: #bcb2c4;
  --brand-400: #ACA0B6;
  --brand-500: #90809E;
  --brand-600: #7C6A8B;
  --brand-700: #675973;
  --brand-800: #53475C;
  --brand-900: #3E3645;
  --brand-950: #27222B;
  --brand: #bcb2c4;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F7F6F8;
  --brand-border: #D7D1DC;
  --brand-hover: #AA9EB4;
  --brand-pressed: #998AA5;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1C1820;
    --brand-ink: #E1DCE4;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F7F8',
        100: '#F0EEF1',
        200: '#DEDAE2',
        300: '#bcb2c4',
        400: '#ACA0B6',
        500: '#90809E',
        600: '#7C6A8B',
        700: '#675973',
        800: '#53475C',
        900: '#3E3645',
        950: '#27222B',
        DEFAULT: '#bcb2c4',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F7F8,
  '100': #F0EEF1,
  '200': #DEDAE2,
  '300': #bcb2c4,
  '400': #ACA0B6,
  '500': #90809E,
  '600': #7C6A8B,
  '700': #675973,
  '800': #53475C,
  '900': #3E3645,
  '950': #27222B,
);
$brand-base: #bcb2c4;
$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": "#F0EEF1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DEDAE2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#bcb2c4", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#ACA0B6", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#90809E", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#7C6A8B", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#675973", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#53475C", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#3E3645", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#27222B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bcb2c4 · 10.30:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.04:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.30:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bcb2c4 as text scores 2.04:1 on white and 10.30:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #413748 at 5.53:1.

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
#806D8E · 4.67:1
AA on white−24% L
#806D8E
The quick fox
#60536C · 7.12:1
AAA on white−36% L
#60536C
The quick fox
#bcb2c4 · 10.30:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bcb2c4
The quick fox
#bcb2c4 · 10.30:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bcb2c4

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9E8FA9 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
#bcb2c4 on white: 2.04:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bcb2c4 on black: 10.30:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bcb2c4 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bcb2c4.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.04:1AaAa
Slate 501.95:1AaAa
Slate 1001.86:1AaAa
Slate 2001.65:1AaAa
Slate 3001.37:1AaAa
Slate 4001.26:1AaAa
Slate 5002.33:1AaAa
Slate 6003.72:1AaAa
Slate 7005.08:1AaAa
Slate 8007.18:1AaAa
Slate 9008.76:1AaAa
Black10.30:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B0B5C5
deuteranopia · #B1B6C3
tritanopia · #BBB4B8

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. #bcb2c4 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
#F0EEF1
#DEDAE2
#bcb2c4
#ACA0B6
#90809E
#7C6A8B
#675973
#53475C
#3E3645
#27222B
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F7F7F8Darkest = 950 · #27222BText 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 0.007 310.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.011 310.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.017 310.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.021 310.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.025 310.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.028 310.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.028 310.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.026 310.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.023 310.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.019 310.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.015 310.3);
}

Colors that work with #bcb2c4

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#F7F6F8
Tinted page background
Border#D7D1DC
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#746482
Captions on the surface
Accent#6C7854
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#413748
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F2F1F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1C1820
Dark-mode background
Hover#AA9EB4
One step down in lightness
Pressed#998AA5
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F1F5
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C7B8D3
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 #bcb2c4

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 #413748
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9E8FA9

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
  • Weight27/100
  • 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#BAC4B2
Analogous left#B3B2C4
Analogous right#C4B2C3
Split-complement 1#C3C4B2
Split-complement 2#B2C4B3
Triadic 1#C4BCB2
Triadic 2#B2C4BC
Tetradic#C4B3B2
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°273°

#bcb2c4 sits at 273°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red73.7%
Green69.8%
Blue76.9%
R · 0–255
188
0xbc
G · 0–255
178
0xb2
B · 0–255
196
0xc4

CMYK percentages

Cyan4.1%
Magenta9.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)23.1%

Total ink coverage is 36%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bcb2c4 text on a black background

contrast 10.30:1

Card sample

#bcb2c4 text on a white background

contrast 2.04:1

Card sample

#bcb2c4 on grey

1.86:1

#bcb2c4 on its own surface

1.89:1

#bcb2c4 on its dark surface

8.58:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bcb2c4;
Background color
Panel with #bcb2c4 background
background-color: #bcb2c4;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bcb2c4;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(188, 178, 196, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(188, 178, 196, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bcb2c4;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bcb2c4, #C4B2C0);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bcb2c4, #C4B2BB);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bcb2c4;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bcb2c4;
caret-color: #bcb2c4;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bcb2c4;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F2F1F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bcb2c4;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bcb2c4 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bcb2c4 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(188, 178, 196, 0.5)
rgb(188 178 196 / 50%)
#bcb2c480
hsl(273 13% 73% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bcb2c4 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bcb2c41a#F8F7F9
20%#bcb2c433#F2F0F3
40%#bcb2c466#E4E0E7
60%#bcb2c499#D7D1DC
80%#bcb2c4cc#C9C1D0

Gradients from #bcb2c4

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, #DAD5DE, #bcb2c4 45%, #413748);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bcb2c4, #B7A1B0);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bcb2c4, #BAC4B2);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E9E6EC 0%, #bcb2c4 45%, #413748 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F7F6F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #CFCFDA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D1C3CF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #413748 0%, transparent 65%), #bcb2c4;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bcb2c4

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.

#bcb2c4 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 10.30:1.

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.

#bcb2c4, answered

What color is #bcb2c4?

#bcb2c4 is a light muted violet, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 7.1). It sits at 273° on the hue wheel with 13% saturation and 73% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #bcb2c4?

rgb(188, 178, 196) — 188 red, 178 green and 196 blue out of 255, or 73.7% / 69.8% / 76.9% by channel.

What is #bcb2c4 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(273, 13%, 73%) and hsv(273, 9%, 77%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bcb2c4 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4652 and perceived brightness is 72%, so black text on it reaches 10.30:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bcb2c4?

Black. It scores 10.30:1 against #bcb2c4, versus 2.04:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bcb2c4 accessible on a white background?

#bcb2c4 on white scores 2.04:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #806D8E to reach 4.5:1, or #60536C for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bcb2c4?

#BAC4B2 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #C3C4B2 and #B2C4B3, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bcb2c4?

For interface work: #F7F6F8 as the surface, #D7D1DC for borders, #746482 for secondary text, #6C7854 as an accent and #413748 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #B3B2C4 and #C4B2C3 stays calm, while #BAC4B2 is the loudest partner.

What is #bcb2c4 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(4%, 9%, 0%, 23%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bcb2c4 warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 56 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C2B2C4; nudged cooler, #B4B1C5.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bcb2c4?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 23.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bcb2c4 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bcb2c4 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bcb2c4] or text-[#bcb2c4], 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 #bcb2c4 with 50% opacity?

rgba(188, 178, 196, 0.5), or #bcb2c480 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DED9E2; over black, #5E5962.

Is #bcb2c4 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99CC, ΔE2000 13.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bcb2c4 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 #bcb2c4?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #DAD5DE, #bcb2c4 45%, #413748). For more colour, a short hue run to #B7A1B0 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bcb2c4 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bcb2c4 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.