ColorXprez

#B8BCDA

Thistle · light cool blue

About #B8BCDA

#B8BCDA is a muted, light shade in the blue family. On screen it is built from 72% red, 74% green and 85% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 16% cyan, 14% magenta, 0% yellow and 15% black. Its overall feel is cool.

Of the common colour names it is similar to Thistle (ΔE 11.1); Periwinkle comes next. Its complementary colour, directly opposite on the colour wheel, is #DAD6B8 — a oat tone that gives the strongest contrast in hue.

Designers tend to use light tones like #B8BCDA for large surfaces, cards and soft highlights. Black text reads best on it at 11.24:1 (a WCAG AAA pass).

Colour codes

HEX
RGB
HSL
HSV / HSB
CMYK
CIELAB
Decimal
CSS
Red184
Green188
Blue218

Closest named colours

Thistle
#D8BFD8 · ΔE 11.1
Periwinkle
#CCCCFF · ΔE 12.9
Dusty Blue
#8CA3B8 · ΔE 13.6

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

Text on #B8BCDA

WCAG contrast for white and black text on this colour.

White heading text
Body copy set on thistle #B8BCDA.
1.87:1Fail
Black heading text
Body copy set on thistle #B8BCDA.
11.24:1AAA

Colour-blindness preview

How #B8BCDA appears to people with the three most common types of colour-vision deficiency.

Normal vision
#B8BCDA
Protanopia (no red cones)
#B4BFDB
Deuteranopia (no green cones)
#B3BCD9
Tritanopia (no blue cones)
#B1C1C6

Shades, tints & matching colours

Tints and shades

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Split complementary

Tetradic

Similar colours

Frequently asked questions

›What colour is #B8BCDA?

#B8BCDA is a muted, light shade in the blue family. On screen it is built from 72% red, 74% green and 85% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 16% cyan, 14% magenta, 0% yellow and 15% black. Its overall feel is cool.

›What text colour should I use on #B8BCDA?

Use black text. Black on #B8BCDA has a contrast ratio of 11.24:1 (AAA).

›What colours go with #B8BCDA?

Its complementary colour is #DAD6B8, and analogous partners are #B8CDDA and #C5B8DA.