Color #BCA9BC Color / Colour Code #BCA9BC
This page shows the hex color code for color #bca9bc (#BCA9BC). The colour is a purple tone with 12% saturation and 70% lightness. Explore its conversions, colour palettes, gradients, accessibility data, and CSS code below.
Color Conversions
Accessibility Contrast
WCAG contrast ratios for #BCA9BC against common backgrounds.
Complementary Colors
#BCA9BC paired with its color wheel opposite for maximum contrast.
Analogous Colors
Hues at 270, 300, and 330 degrees for harmonious combinations.
Triadic Palette
Three colors at 300, 60, and 180 degrees.
Color Palettes Using #BCA9BC
Five shades at lightness levels 15% through 85% while keeping hue at 300 and saturation at 12%. Use the darkest shade for text and the lightest for backgrounds to build a cohesive single-hue design system.
Adjacent hues from 300 to 345 degrees create a warm, unified palette. This analogous scheme works for marketing materials, seasonal campaigns, and any design that needs visual warmth without clashing colors.
Combines the base color at hue 300 with its complement at 120 and two adjacent cool tones. This split-complementary approach provides strong visual contrast while remaining more balanced than a pure complementary scheme.
Five evenly spaced hues at 40% saturation and 80% lightness. Pastels are gentle on the eyes and work well for dashboards, onboarding screens, category tags, and any interface where multiple distinct colors are needed without visual aggression.
Shades & Tints of #BCA9BC
Lightness variations at hue 300 and 12% saturation.
CSS Gradients with #BCA9BC
Design Use Cases for #BCA9BC
Muted Accent Color
With 12% saturation, #BCA9BC has a subtle, sophisticated quality. This level of desaturation works well for secondary buttons, inactive states, subtle borders, and backgrounds that need a hint of color without being distracting. Muted colors communicate restraint and professionalism.
Light Background Tint
#BCA9BC at 70% lightness creates a gentle tinted background. Use it for section backgrounds, alert banners, or card surfaces that need to stand out from a white page without strong contrast. It adds color personality while keeping the design light and open.
Creativity & Premium Positioning
#BCA9BC falls in the purple spectrum (hue 300). Purple communicates creativity, wisdom, and luxury. It is effective for premium product highlights, creative portfolio accents, meditation app interfaces, and rewards program branding. Purple occupies a unique space between the energy of red and the calm of blue.
Gradient Pairing
Create a gradient from #BCA9BC (hue 300) to its complement at hue 120. For a subtler effect, try pairing with an analogous color at hue 330. Use CSS: background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bca9bc, #a9bca9);
CSS Code for #BCA9BC
Similar Colors
Colors visually similar to #BCA9BC based on RGB, lightness, and hue variations.
Use This Color in Design Tools
Apply #BCA9BC across image editing and color design tools.
About Color #BCA9BC (#BCA9BC)
#BCA9BC is a purple color (colour) with RGB channel values of 188 red, 169 green, and 188 blue. The red channel is dominant with a relatively balanced channel distribution. In HSL terms, the hue sits at 300 degrees with 12% saturation and 70% lightness, placing it in the cool range of the colour spectrum.
The perceived brightness of #BCA9BC is 177/255 using the ITU-R BT.601 luma formula (0.299R + 0.587G + 0.114B). This is a medium-brightness color that can work with either dark or light text depending on font weight and size. For print production, the CMYK equivalent is 0% cyan, 10% magenta, 0% yellow, and 26% key (black).
The WCAG contrast ratio of #BCA9BC against white is 2.20:1 and against black is 9.54:1. This does not meet AA requirements on white. Use it on dark backgrounds where it achieves 9.54:1, or use it exclusively for decorative purposes.
The complementary colour #A9BCA9 creates maximum visual tension when paired with #BCA9BC. For more harmonious color combinations, use the analogous colours #B3A9BC and #BCA9B3, which sit 30 degrees on either side of the hue wheel. To build a complete design system, start with the monochromatic scale above for consistent shade variations, then add one complementary or triadic accent for interactive elements.
How to Explore Color #BCA9BC
- Enter your color value in HEX format.
- The tool converts it to RGB, HSL, CMYK format in real time.
- Copy the converted value to your clipboard.
What is HEX to RGB, HSL, CMYK color conversion
Converting from HEX to RGB, HSL, CMYK translates a color value between two different color models. Different color models are used in web design (HEX, RGB), print (CMYK), and color theory (HSL, HSV).
Related Tools & Colors
Frequently Asked Questions
- What color / colour is #BCA9BC?
- #BCA9BC is Color #BCA9BC, a purple color (colour) with RGB(188, 169, 188), HSL(300, 12%, 70%), and CMYK(0%, 10%, 0%, 26%). Its perceived brightness is 177/255.
- Is #BCA9BC accessible for text?
- Against white, #BCA9BC has a contrast ratio of 2.20:1 (fails AA for normal text). Against black, it has 9.54:1 (passes AA). Use the contrast checker tool for custom background pairings.
- What colours pair well with #BCA9BC?
- The complementary colour is #A9BCA9 (hue 120). For subtle color combinations, use analogous colours #B3A9BC and #BCA9B3. The triadic palette adds #BCBCA9 and #A9BCBC for vibrant variety.
- How do I use #BCA9BC in CSS?
- Use any format: color: #bca9bc; or rgb(188, 169, 188); or hsl(300, 12%, 70%). For CSS custom properties: --color-primary: 300 12% 70%; then use it as hsl(var(--color-primary)).
- Is this color / colour explorer free?
- Yes, completely free with no signup required. All colour calculations run in your browser. You can explore any valid hex color code, not just the pre-generated palette.