ColorXprez

#BBB7CA

Thistle · light cool purple

About #BBB7CA

#BBB7CA is a muted, light shade in the purple family. On screen it is built from 73% red, 72% green and 79% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 7% cyan, 9% magenta, 0% yellow and 21% black. Its overall feel is cool.

Of the common colour names it is similar to Thistle (ΔE 9.5); Silver comes next. Its complementary colour, directly opposite on the colour wheel, is #C6CAB7 — a light sage tone that gives the strongest contrast in hue.

Designers tend to use light tones like #BBB7CA for large surfaces, cards and soft highlights. Black text reads best on it at 10.74:1 (a WCAG AAA pass).

Colour codes

HEX
RGB
HSL
HSV / HSB
CMYK
CIELAB
Decimal
CSS
Red187
Green183
Blue202

Closest named colours

Thistle
#D8BFD8 · ΔE 9.5
Silver
#C0C0C0 · ΔE 10.7
Dusty Blue
#8CA3B8 · ΔE 13.3

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

Text on #BBB7CA

WCAG contrast for white and black text on this colour.

White heading text
Body copy set on thistle #BBB7CA.
1.96:1Fail
Black heading text
Body copy set on thistle #BBB7CA.
10.74:1AAA

Colour-blindness preview

How #BBB7CA appears to people with the three most common types of colour-vision deficiency.

Normal vision
#BBB7CA
Protanopia (no red cones)
#B3B9CB
Deuteranopia (no green cones)
#B4B9C9
Tritanopia (no blue cones)
#B8BABD

Shades, tints & matching colours

Tints and shades

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Split complementary

Tetradic

Similar colours

Frequently asked questions

›What colour is #BBB7CA?

#BBB7CA is a muted, light shade in the purple family. On screen it is built from 73% red, 72% green and 79% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 7% cyan, 9% magenta, 0% yellow and 21% black. Its overall feel is cool.

›What text colour should I use on #BBB7CA?

Use black text. Black on #BBB7CA has a contrast ratio of 10.74:1 (AAA).

›What colours go with #BBB7CA?

Its complementary colour is #C6CAB7, and analogous partners are #B7BCCA and #C5B7CA.