ColorXprez

#BDB5CE

Thistle · light cool purple

About #BDB5CE

With the hex code #BDB5CE, this is a light purple with a muted character. Its RGB recipe is 74% red, 71% green and 81% blue, while a printer would mix 8% cyan, 12% magenta, 0% yellow and 19% black. It reads as a cool colour.

If you had to name it, it is very close to Thistle — a ΔE of 7.9 — followed by Lilac. For maximum hue contrast, pair it with its complement #C6CEB5, a light sage shade.

In design, a light colour like this works best for large surfaces, cards and soft highlights. Black text reads best on it at 10.66:1 (a WCAG AAA pass).

Colour codes

HEX
RGB
HSL
HSV / HSB
CMYK
CIELAB
Decimal
CSS
Red189
Green181
Blue206

Closest named colours

Thistle
#D8BFD8 · ΔE 7.9
Lilac
#C8A2C8 · ΔE 13.8
Silver
#C0C0C0 · ΔE 14.1

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

Text on #BDB5CE

WCAG contrast for white and black text on this colour.

White heading text
Body copy set on thistle #BDB5CE.
1.97:1Fail
Black heading text
Body copy set on thistle #BDB5CE.
10.66:1AAA

Colour-blindness preview

How #BDB5CE appears to people with the three most common types of colour-vision deficiency.

Normal vision
#BDB5CE
Protanopia (no red cones)
#B1B9CF
Deuteranopia (no green cones)
#B2B9CD
Tritanopia (no blue cones)
#BAB8BD

Shades, tints & matching colours

Tints and shades

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Split complementary

Tetradic

Similar colours

Frequently asked questions

›What colour is #BDB5CE?

With the hex code #BDB5CE, this is a light purple with a muted character. Its RGB recipe is 74% red, 71% green and 81% blue, while a printer would mix 8% cyan, 12% magenta, 0% yellow and 19% black. It reads as a cool colour.

›What text colour should I use on #BDB5CE?

Use black text. Black on #BDB5CE has a contrast ratio of 10.66:1 (AAA).

›What colours go with #BDB5CE?

Its complementary colour is #C6CEB5, and analogous partners are #B5BACE and #CAB5CE.