ColorXprez

#AFA9BA

Dusty Blue · light cool gray

About #AFA9BA

#AFA9BA is a muted, light shade in the gray family. On screen it is built from 69% red, 66% green and 73% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 6% cyan, 9% magenta, 0% yellow and 27% black. Its overall feel is cool.

Of the common colour names it is similar to Dusty Blue (ΔE 11.2); Silver comes next. Its complementary colour, directly opposite on the colour wheel, is #B4BAA9 — a light sage tone that gives the strongest contrast in hue.

Designers tend to use light tones like #AFA9BA for large surfaces, cards and soft highlights. Black text reads best on it at 9.21:1 (a WCAG AAA pass).

Colour codes

HEX
RGB
HSL
HSV / HSB
CMYK
CIELAB
Decimal
CSS
Red175
Green169
Blue186

Closest named colours

Dusty Blue
#8CA3B8 · ΔE 11.2
Silver
#C0C0C0 · ΔE 12.2
Thistle
#D8BFD8 · ΔE 12.7

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

Text on #AFA9BA

WCAG contrast for white and black text on this colour.

White heading text
Body copy set on dusty blue #AFA9BA.
2.28:1Fail
Black heading text
Body copy set on dusty blue #AFA9BA.
9.21:1AAA

Colour-blindness preview

How #AFA9BA appears to people with the three most common types of colour-vision deficiency.

Normal vision
#AFA9BA
Protanopia (no red cones)
#A6ABBB
Deuteranopia (no green cones)
#A7ACB9
Tritanopia (no blue cones)
#ADABAE

Shades, tints & matching colours

Tints and shades

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Split complementary

Tetradic

Similar colours

Frequently asked questions

›What colour is #AFA9BA?

#AFA9BA is a muted, light shade in the gray family. On screen it is built from 69% red, 66% green and 73% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 6% cyan, 9% magenta, 0% yellow and 27% black. Its overall feel is cool.

›What text colour should I use on #AFA9BA?

Use black text. Black on #AFA9BA has a contrast ratio of 9.21:1 (AAA).

›What colours go with #AFA9BA?

Its complementary colour is #B4BAA9, and analogous partners are #A9ABBA and #B8A9BA.