ColorXprez

#BBB2C9

Thistle · light cool purple

About #BBB2C9

#BBB2C9 is a muted, light shade in the purple family. On screen it is built from 73% red, 70% green and 79% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 7% cyan, 11% magenta, 0% yellow and 21% black. Its overall feel is cool.

Of the common colour names it is similar to Thistle (ΔE 8.4); Silver comes next. Its complementary colour, directly opposite on the colour wheel, is #C0C9B2 — a light sage tone that gives the strongest contrast in hue.

Designers tend to use light tones like #BBB2C9 for large surfaces, cards and soft highlights. Put black text on top of it — 10.32:1, a WCAG AAA pass.

Colour codes

HEX
RGB
HSL
HSV / HSB
CMYK
CIELAB
Decimal
CSS
Red187
Green178
Blue201

Closest named colours

Thistle
#D8BFD8 · ΔE 8.4
Silver
#C0C0C0 · ΔE 13.5
Lilac
#C8A2C8 · ΔE 13.8

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

Text on #BBB2C9

WCAG contrast for white and black text on this colour.

White heading text
Body copy set on thistle #BBB2C9.
2.03:1Fail
Black heading text
Body copy set on thistle #BBB2C9.
10.32:1AAA

Colour-blindness preview

How #BBB2C9 appears to people with the three most common types of colour-vision deficiency.

Normal vision
#BBB2C9
Protanopia (no red cones)
#AEB5CA
Deuteranopia (no green cones)
#B0B6C8
Tritanopia (no blue cones)
#B9B5B9

Shades, tints & matching colours

Tints and shades

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Split complementary

Tetradic

Similar colours

Frequently asked questions

›What colour is #BBB2C9?

#BBB2C9 is a muted, light shade in the purple family. On screen it is built from 73% red, 70% green and 79% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 7% cyan, 11% magenta, 0% yellow and 21% black. Its overall feel is cool.

›What text colour should I use on #BBB2C9?

Use black text. Black on #BBB2C9 has a contrast ratio of 10.32:1 (AAA).

›What colours go with #BBB2C9?

Its complementary colour is #C0C9B2, and analogous partners are #B2B4C9 and #C7B2C9.