ColorXprez

#B9ADCD

Thistle · light cool purple

About #B9ADCD

#B9ADCD is a muted, light shade in the purple family. On screen it is built from 73% red, 68% green and 80% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 10% cyan, 16% magenta, 0% yellow and 20% black. Its overall feel is cool.

Of the common colour names it is similar to Thistle (ΔE 9.6); Lilac comes next. Its complementary colour, directly opposite on the colour wheel, is #C1CDAD — a light sage tone that gives the strongest contrast in hue.

Designers tend to use light tones like #B9ADCD for large surfaces, cards and soft highlights. Put black text on top of it — 9.92:1, a WCAG AAA pass.

Colour codes

HEX
RGB
HSL
HSV / HSB
CMYK
CIELAB
Decimal
CSS
Red185
Green173
Blue205

Closest named colours

Thistle
#D8BFD8 · ΔE 9.6
Lilac
#C8A2C8 · ΔE 10.2
Periwinkle
#CCCCFF · ΔE 15.0

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

Text on #B9ADCD

WCAG contrast for white and black text on this colour.

White heading text
Body copy set on thistle #B9ADCD.
2.12:1Fail
Black heading text
Body copy set on thistle #B9ADCD.
9.92:1AAA

Colour-blindness preview

How #B9ADCD appears to people with the three most common types of colour-vision deficiency.

Normal vision
#B9ADCD
Protanopia (no red cones)
#A7B2CE
Deuteranopia (no green cones)
#A9B2CC
Tritanopia (no blue cones)
#B6B1B8

Shades, tints & matching colours

Tints and shades

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Split complementary

Tetradic

Similar colours

Frequently asked questions

›What colour is #B9ADCD?

#B9ADCD is a muted, light shade in the purple family. On screen it is built from 73% red, 68% green and 80% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 10% cyan, 16% magenta, 0% yellow and 20% black. Its overall feel is cool.

›What text colour should I use on #B9ADCD?

Use black text. Black on #B9ADCD has a contrast ratio of 9.92:1 (AAA).

›What colours go with #B9ADCD?

Its complementary colour is #C1CDAD, and analogous partners are #ADB1CD and #C9ADCD.