ColorXprez

#A8A1BD

Dusty Blue · light cool purple

About #A8A1BD

#A8A1BD is a muted, light shade in the purple family. On screen it is built from 66% red, 63% green and 74% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 11% cyan, 15% magenta, 0% yellow and 26% black. Its overall feel is cool.

Of the common colour names it is similar to Dusty Blue (ΔE 11.5); Lilac comes next. Its complementary colour, directly opposite on the colour wheel, is #B6BDA1 — a light sage tone that gives the strongest contrast in hue.

Designers tend to use light tones like #A8A1BD for large surfaces, cards and soft highlights. Put black text on top of it — 8.50:1, a WCAG AAA pass.

Colour codes

HEX
RGB
HSL
HSV / HSB
CMYK
CIELAB
Decimal
CSS
Red168
Green161
Blue189

Closest named colours

Dusty Blue
#8CA3B8 · ΔE 11.5
Lilac
#C8A2C8 · ΔE 13.0
Thistle
#D8BFD8 · ΔE 14.1

ΔE measures visible difference: under 2 is barely noticeable, over 10 is clearly different.

Text on #A8A1BD

WCAG contrast for white and black text on this colour.

White heading text
Body copy set on dusty blue #A8A1BD.
2.47:1Fail
Black heading text
Body copy set on dusty blue #A8A1BD.
8.50:1AAA

Colour-blindness preview

How #A8A1BD appears to people with the three most common types of colour-vision deficiency.

Normal vision
#A8A1BD
Protanopia (no red cones)
#9CA5BE
Deuteranopia (no green cones)
#9CA4BC
Tritanopia (no blue cones)
#A4A5AA

Shades, tints & matching colours

Tints and shades

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Split complementary

Tetradic

Similar colours

Frequently asked questions

›What colour is #A8A1BD?

#A8A1BD is a muted, light shade in the purple family. On screen it is built from 66% red, 63% green and 74% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 11% cyan, 15% magenta, 0% yellow and 26% black. Its overall feel is cool.

›What text colour should I use on #A8A1BD?

Use black text. Black on #A8A1BD has a contrast ratio of 8.50:1 (AAA).

›What colours go with #A8A1BD?

Its complementary colour is #B6BDA1, and analogous partners are #A1A8BD and #B6A1BD.