ColorXprez

#BDB6C8

Thistle · light cool purple

About #BDB6C8

#BDB6C8 is a light, muted purple colour. Digitally that works out to 74% red, 71% green and 78% blue. In CMYK print terms it is 5% cyan, 9% magenta, 0% yellow and 22% black. Most people will perceive it as cool.

Visually it is similar to Thistle (ΔE 8.9), with Silver the next nearest named colour. Across the colour wheel sits #C1C8B6 (light sage), its complementary partner.

Because it is light, it is most useful for large surfaces, cards and soft highlights. Black text reads best on it at 10.69:1 (a WCAG AAA pass).

Colour codes

HEX
RGB
HSL
HSV / HSB
CMYK
CIELAB
Decimal
CSS
Red189
Green182
Blue200

Closest named colours

Thistle
#D8BFD8 · ΔE 8.9
Silver
#C0C0C0 · ΔE 10.4
Light Gray
#D3D3D3 · ΔE 13.8

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

Text on #BDB6C8

WCAG contrast for white and black text on this colour.

White heading text
Body copy set on thistle #BDB6C8.
1.96:1Fail
Black heading text
Body copy set on thistle #BDB6C8.
10.69:1AAA

Colour-blindness preview

How #BDB6C8 appears to people with the three most common types of colour-vision deficiency.

Normal vision
#BDB6C8
Protanopia (no red cones)
#B3B9C9
Deuteranopia (no green cones)
#B4B9C7
Tritanopia (no blue cones)
#BBB8BC

Shades, tints & matching colours

Tints and shades

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Split complementary

Tetradic

Similar colours

Frequently asked questions

›What colour is #BDB6C8?

#BDB6C8 is a light, muted purple colour. Digitally that works out to 74% red, 71% green and 78% blue. In CMYK print terms it is 5% cyan, 9% magenta, 0% yellow and 22% black. Most people will perceive it as cool.

›What text colour should I use on #BDB6C8?

Use black text. Black on #BDB6C8 has a contrast ratio of 10.69:1 (AAA).

›What colours go with #BDB6C8?

Its complementary colour is #C1C8B6, and analogous partners are #B6B8C8 and #C6B6C8.