ColorXprez

#BCB5CB

Thistle · light cool purple

About #BCB5CB

#BCB5CB is a muted, light shade in the purple family. On screen it is built from 74% red, 71% green and 80% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 7% cyan, 11% magenta, 0% yellow and 20% 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 #C4CBB5 — a light sage tone that gives the strongest contrast in hue.

Designers tend to use light tones like #BCB5CB for large surfaces, cards and soft highlights. Put black text on top of it — 10.61:1, a WCAG AAA pass.

Colour codes

HEX
RGB
HSL
HSV / HSB
CMYK
CIELAB
Decimal
CSS
Red188
Green181
Blue203

Closest named colours

Thistle
#D8BFD8 · ΔE 8.4
Silver
#C0C0C0 · ΔE 12.5
Dusty Blue
#8CA3B8 · ΔE 13.8

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

Text on #BCB5CB

WCAG contrast for white and black text on this colour.

White heading text
Body copy set on thistle #BCB5CB.
1.98:1Fail
Black heading text
Body copy set on thistle #BCB5CB.
10.61:1AAA

Colour-blindness preview

How #BCB5CB appears to people with the three most common types of colour-vision deficiency.

Normal vision
#BCB5CB
Protanopia (no red cones)
#B1B8CC
Deuteranopia (no green cones)
#B2B8CA
Tritanopia (no blue cones)
#BAB8BC

Shades, tints & matching colours

Tints and shades

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Split complementary

Tetradic

Similar colours

Frequently asked questions

›What colour is #BCB5CB?

#BCB5CB is a muted, light shade in the purple family. On screen it is built from 74% red, 71% green and 80% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 7% cyan, 11% magenta, 0% yellow and 20% black. Its overall feel is cool.

›What text colour should I use on #BCB5CB?

Use black text. Black on #BCB5CB has a contrast ratio of 10.61:1 (AAA).

›What colours go with #BCB5CB?

Its complementary colour is #C4CBB5, and analogous partners are #B5B9CB and #C7B5CB.