ColorXprez

#BBB0CB

Thistle · light cool purple

About #BBB0CB

#BBB0CB is a muted, light shade in the purple family. On screen it is built from 73% red, 69% green and 80% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 8% cyan, 13% magenta, 0% yellow and 20% black. Its overall feel is cool.

Of the common colour names it is similar to Thistle (ΔE 8.4); Lilac comes next. Its complementary colour, directly opposite on the colour wheel, is #C0CBB0 — a light sage tone that gives the strongest contrast in hue.

Designers tend to use light tones like #BBB0CB for large surfaces, cards and soft highlights. Put black text on top of it — 10.19:1, a WCAG AAA pass.

Colour codes

HEX
RGB
HSL
HSV / HSB
CMYK
CIELAB
Decimal
CSS
Red187
Green176
Blue203

Closest named colours

Thistle
#D8BFD8 · ΔE 8.4
Lilac
#C8A2C8 · ΔE 11.9
Dusty Blue
#8CA3B8 · ΔE 14.5

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

Text on #BBB0CB

WCAG contrast for white and black text on this colour.

White heading text
Body copy set on thistle #BBB0CB.
2.06:1Fail
Black heading text
Body copy set on thistle #BBB0CB.
10.19:1AAA

Colour-blindness preview

How #BBB0CB appears to people with the three most common types of colour-vision deficiency.

Normal vision
#BBB0CB
Protanopia (no red cones)
#ACB4CC
Deuteranopia (no green cones)
#ADB5CA
Tritanopia (no blue cones)
#B9B3B9

Shades, tints & matching colours

Tints and shades

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Split complementary

Tetradic

Similar colours

Frequently asked questions

›What colour is #BBB0CB?

#BBB0CB is a muted, light shade in the purple family. On screen it is built from 73% red, 69% green and 80% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 8% cyan, 13% magenta, 0% yellow and 20% black. Its overall feel is cool.

›What text colour should I use on #BBB0CB?

Use black text. Black on #BBB0CB has a contrast ratio of 10.19:1 (AAA).

›What colours go with #BBB0CB?

Its complementary colour is #C0CBB0, and analogous partners are #B0B3CB and #C9B0CB.