ColorXprez

#BCBDD5

Thistle · light cool blue

About #BCBDD5

#BCBDD5 is a muted, light shade in the blue family. On screen it is built from 74% red, 74% green and 84% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 12% cyan, 11% magenta, 0% yellow and 16% black. Its overall feel is cool.

Of the common colour names it is similar to Thistle (ΔE 9.7); Silver comes next. Its complementary colour, directly opposite on the colour wheel, is #D5D4BC — a oat tone that gives the strongest contrast in hue.

Designers tend to use light tones like #BCBDD5 for large surfaces, cards and soft highlights. Put black text on top of it — 11.38:1, a WCAG AAA pass.

Colour codes

HEX
RGB
HSL
HSV / HSB
CMYK
CIELAB
Decimal
CSS
Red188
Green189
Blue213

Closest named colours

Thistle
#D8BFD8 · ΔE 9.7
Silver
#C0C0C0 · ΔE 12.9
Dusty Blue
#8CA3B8 · ΔE 13.7

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

Text on #BCBDD5

WCAG contrast for white and black text on this colour.

White heading text
Body copy set on thistle #BCBDD5.
1.85:1Fail
Black heading text
Body copy set on thistle #BCBDD5.
11.38:1AAA

Colour-blindness preview

How #BCBDD5 appears to people with the three most common types of colour-vision deficiency.

Normal vision
#BCBDD5
Protanopia (no red cones)
#B7BFD6
Deuteranopia (no green cones)
#B7BED4
Tritanopia (no blue cones)
#B7C1C5

Shades, tints & matching colours

Tints and shades

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Split complementary

Tetradic

Similar colours

Frequently asked questions

›What colour is #BCBDD5?

#BCBDD5 is a muted, light shade in the blue family. On screen it is built from 74% red, 74% green and 84% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 12% cyan, 11% magenta, 0% yellow and 16% black. Its overall feel is cool.

›What text colour should I use on #BCBDD5?

Use black text. Black on #BCBDD5 has a contrast ratio of 11.38:1 (AAA).

›What colours go with #BCBDD5?

Its complementary colour is #D5D4BC, and analogous partners are #BCCAD5 and #C8BCD5.