ColorXprez

#BCB5CE

Thistle · light cool purple

About #BCB5CE

#BCB5CE is a muted, light shade in the purple family. On screen it is built from 74% red, 71% green and 81% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 9% cyan, 12% magenta, 0% yellow and 19% black. Its overall feel is cool.

Of the common colour names it is similar to Thistle (ΔE 8.2); Dusty Blue comes next. Its complementary colour, directly opposite on the colour wheel, is #C7CEB5 — a light sage tone that gives the strongest contrast in hue.

Designers tend to use light tones like #BCB5CE for large surfaces, cards and soft highlights. Black text reads best on it at 10.64:1 (a WCAG AAA pass).

Colour codes

HEX
RGB
HSL
HSV / HSB
CMYK
CIELAB
Decimal
CSS
Red188
Green181
Blue206

Closest named colours

Thistle
#D8BFD8 · ΔE 8.2
Dusty Blue
#8CA3B8 · ΔE 14.0
Lilac
#C8A2C8 · ΔE 14.0

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

Text on #BCB5CE

WCAG contrast for white and black text on this colour.

White heading text
Body copy set on thistle #BCB5CE.
1.97:1Fail
Black heading text
Body copy set on thistle #BCB5CE.
10.64:1AAA

Colour-blindness preview

How #BCB5CE appears to people with the three most common types of colour-vision deficiency.

Normal vision
#BCB5CE
Protanopia (no red cones)
#B0B8CF
Deuteranopia (no green cones)
#B1B8CD
Tritanopia (no blue cones)
#B9B8BD

Shades, tints & matching colours

Tints and shades

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Split complementary

Tetradic

Similar colours

Frequently asked questions

›What colour is #BCB5CE?

#BCB5CE is a muted, light shade in the purple family. On screen it is built from 74% red, 71% green and 81% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 9% cyan, 12% magenta, 0% yellow and 19% black. Its overall feel is cool.

›What text colour should I use on #BCB5CE?

Use black text. Black on #BCB5CE has a contrast ratio of 10.64:1 (AAA).

›What colours go with #BCB5CE?

Its complementary colour is #C7CEB5, and analogous partners are #B5BBCE and #C8B5CE.