ColorXprez

#BBA9BB

Thistle · light warm gray

About #BBA9BB

With the hex code #BBA9BB, this is a light gray with a muted character. Its RGB recipe is 73% red, 66% green and 73% blue, while a printer would mix 0% cyan, 10% magenta, 0% yellow and 27% black. It reads as a warm colour.

If you had to name it, it is similar to Thistle — a ΔE of 9.8 — followed by Lilac. For maximum hue contrast, pair it with its complement #A9BBA9, a light sage shade.

In design, a light colour like this works best for large surfaces, cards and soft highlights. Put black text on top of it — 9.51:1, a WCAG AAA pass.

Colour codes

HEX
RGB
HSL
HSV / HSB
CMYK
CIELAB
Decimal
CSS
Red187
Green169
Blue187

Closest named colours

Thistle
#D8BFD8 · ΔE 9.8
Lilac
#C8A2C8 · ΔE 13.0
Silver
#C0C0C0 · ΔE 13.6

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

Text on #BBA9BB

WCAG contrast for white and black text on this colour.

White heading text
Body copy set on thistle #BBA9BB.
2.21:1Fail
Black heading text
Body copy set on thistle #BBA9BB.
9.51:1AAA

Colour-blindness preview

How #BBA9BB appears to people with the three most common types of colour-vision deficiency.

Normal vision
#BBA9BB
Protanopia (no red cones)
#A8ADBC
Deuteranopia (no green cones)
#ACAFBA
Tritanopia (no blue cones)
#BCAAAF

Shades, tints & matching colours

Tints and shades

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Split complementary

Tetradic

Similar colours

Frequently asked questions

›What colour is #BBA9BB?

With the hex code #BBA9BB, this is a light gray with a muted character. Its RGB recipe is 73% red, 66% green and 73% blue, while a printer would mix 0% cyan, 10% magenta, 0% yellow and 27% black. It reads as a warm colour.

›What text colour should I use on #BBA9BB?

Use black text. Black on #BBA9BB has a contrast ratio of 9.51:1 (AAA).

›What colours go with #BBA9BB?

Its complementary colour is #A9BBA9, and analogous partners are #B2A9BB and #BBA9B2.