ColorXprez

#BCB5DA

Thistle · light cool purple

About #BCB5DA

#BCB5DA is a muted, light shade in the purple family. On screen it is built from 74% red, 71% green and 85% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 14% cyan, 17% magenta, 0% yellow and 15% black. Its overall feel is cool.

Of the common colour names it is similar to Thistle (ΔE 10.3); Periwinkle comes next. Its complementary colour, directly opposite on the colour wheel, is #D3DAB5 — a light sage tone that gives the strongest contrast in hue.

Designers tend to use light tones like #BCB5DA for large surfaces, cards and soft highlights. Black text reads best on it at 10.76:1 (a WCAG AAA pass).

Colour codes

HEX
RGB
HSL
HSV / HSB
CMYK
CIELAB
Decimal
CSS
Red188
Green181
Blue218

Closest named colours

Thistle
#D8BFD8 · ΔE 10.3
Periwinkle
#CCCCFF · ΔE 11.0
Lilac
#C8A2C8 · ΔE 12.1

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

Text on #BCB5DA

WCAG contrast for white and black text on this colour.

White heading text
Body copy set on thistle #BCB5DA.
1.95:1Fail
Black heading text
Body copy set on thistle #BCB5DA.
10.76:1AAA

Colour-blindness preview

How #BCB5DA appears to people with the three most common types of colour-vision deficiency.

Normal vision
#BCB5DA
Protanopia (no red cones)
#ADBADC
Deuteranopia (no green cones)
#AEB9D9
Tritanopia (no blue cones)
#B6BBC1

Shades, tints & matching colours

Tints and shades

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Split complementary

Tetradic

Similar colours

Frequently asked questions

›What colour is #BCB5DA?

#BCB5DA is a muted, light shade in the purple family. On screen it is built from 74% red, 71% green and 85% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 14% cyan, 17% magenta, 0% yellow and 15% black. Its overall feel is cool.

›What text colour should I use on #BCB5DA?

Use black text. Black on #BCB5DA has a contrast ratio of 10.76:1 (AAA).

›What colours go with #BCB5DA?

Its complementary colour is #D3DAB5, and analogous partners are #B5C1DA and #CFB5DA.