ColorXprez

#BBB9EC

Periwinkle · light cool blue

About #BBB9EC

#BBB9EC is a moderately saturated, light shade in the blue family. On screen it is built from 73% red, 73% green and 93% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 21% cyan, 22% magenta, 0% yellow and 7% black. Its overall feel is cool.

Of the common colour names it is very close to Periwinkle (ΔE 6.8); Lilac comes next. Its complementary colour, directly opposite on the colour wheel, is #EAECB9 — a cream tone that gives the strongest contrast in hue.

Designers tend to use light tones like #BBB9EC for large surfaces, cards and soft highlights. Black text reads best on it at 11.26:1 (a WCAG AAA pass).

Colour codes

HEX
RGB
HSL
HSV / HSB
CMYK
CIELAB
Decimal
CSS
Red187
Green185
Blue236

Closest named colours

Periwinkle
#CCCCFF · ΔE 6.8
Lilac
#C8A2C8 · ΔE 15.5
Wisteria
#C9A0DC · ΔE 15.7

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

Text on #BBB9EC

WCAG contrast for white and black text on this colour.

White heading text
Body copy set on periwinkle #BBB9EC.
1.86:1Fail
Black heading text
Body copy set on periwinkle #BBB9EC.
11.26:1AAA

Colour-blindness preview

How #BBB9EC appears to people with the three most common types of colour-vision deficiency.

Normal vision
#BBB9EC
Protanopia (no red cones)
#ACBFEE
Deuteranopia (no green cones)
#ABBCEB
Tritanopia (no blue cones)
#B0C2CA

Shades, tints & matching colours

Tints and shades

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Split complementary

Tetradic

Similar colours

Frequently asked questions

›What colour is #BBB9EC?

#BBB9EC is a moderately saturated, light shade in the blue family. On screen it is built from 73% red, 73% green and 93% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 21% cyan, 22% magenta, 0% yellow and 7% black. Its overall feel is cool.

›What text colour should I use on #BBB9EC?

Use black text. Black on #BBB9EC has a contrast ratio of 11.26:1 (AAA).

›What colours go with #BBB9EC?

Its complementary colour is #EAECB9, and analogous partners are #B9D1EC and #D5B9EC.