What color is #A9A4BC?

#A9A4BC is #A9A4BC (169, 164, 188 in RGB; hsl(252, 15%, 69%)). It sits in the indigo family. Contrast is 2.41:1 on white and 8.72:1 on black.

Is #A9A4BC accessible for text?

No for body text on white — 2.41:1 is below WCAG AA. Use it as a fill or pick a darker stop from the shade scale.

How do I use #A9A4BC in CSS?

Use #A9A4BC, color: #a9a4bc;, or a custom property like --color-a9a4bc: #a9a4bc;. Nearest Tailwind-style token approximation: zinc-400. Confirm contrast pairs against WCAG before production.

Color brief · Indigo

#A9A4BC (#A9A4BC) — practical notes

#A9A4BC (#a9a4bc) sits in the indigo family at about 252° hue, 15% saturation, and 69% lightness. Contrast is 2.41:1 on white and 8.72:1 on black, so near-black labels read more clearly on the swatch itself. Nearest Tailwind token: zinc-400 (approximation unless the hex is an official scale stop).

supporting UI accents
text or icons on charcoal / dark mode

Do not use #a9a4bc as small body text on white — 2.41:1 misses WCAG AA (4.5:1). Pair it with a darker shade from the scale below, or check pairs in the contrast checker.

Check contrast Open in color picker Build a palette

Specs & accessibility references: W3C WCAG 2.1 contrast minimum · MDN CSS color values · CSS Color Module Level 4 · WebAIM contrast guide.

COLOR EXPLORER

THE ORIGINAL SWATCH#A9A4BC

100% opacity · sRGB

YOUR NEXT GREAT ACCENT

#A9A4BC

Explore the codes, find a readable pairing, and see how this color feels in a real design.

indigo family Calculated from HEX

HEX#A9A4BC

RGBrgb(169, 164, 188)

HSLhsl(252, 15%, 69%)

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Selected text: #A9A4BC

Preview textText size 24px

CONTRAST RATIO2.41:1

AA · normal text: Fail
AA · large text: Fail
AAA · normal text: Fail

Normal text: AA 4.5:1, AAA 7:1. Large text: AA 3:1 (24px regular or about 19px bold).

Against white2.41:1

Against black8.72:1

Results use the exact pair, at full opacity. WCAG contrast guidance ↗

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Color codes

HEX

#a9a4bc

RGB

rgb(169, 164, 188)

HSL

hsl(252, 15%, 69%)

OKLCH

oklch(0.7306 0.0347 295.09)

CMYK

cmyk(10%, 13%, 0%, 26%)

CSS variable

--color-a9a4bc: #a9a4bc;

CMYK is an approximate reference; print output depends on the color profile. HSV and CMYK are not CSS color functions.

OKLCH

css

:root {
  --colora9a4bc-1: #a9a4bc;
}

Design systems

Nearest official tokens

An arbitrary HEX is not an official Tailwind, Material, or Bootstrap color. Distance is CIEDE2000.

Nearest Tailwind color

zinc-400

Very different · ΔE 7.05 · #A1A1AA

Nearest CSS named color

Thistle

Very different · ΔE 10.98 · #D8BFD8

Nearest Material color

indigo-200

Very different · ΔE 9.2 · #9FA8DA

Nearest Bootstrap color

secondary

Very different · ΔE 20.78 · #6C757D

Using this color

Where #a9a4bc works

Sensible jobs for this swatch

supporting UI accents
text or icons on charcoal / dark mode

Do not use #a9a4bc as small body text on white — 2.41:1 misses WCAG AA (4.5:1). Pair it with a darker shade from the scale below, or check pairs in the contrast checker.

Family context: Intuition, depth, and sincerity. Common in enterprise software and thoughtful products. Common uses still include buttons, charts, and accents in the Indigo range — always verify the pair for this exact hex in the contrast checker.

Similar & related colors

Nearby colors from the library by perceptual distance

Tailwind zinc 400#A1A1AA Tailwind gray 400#9CA3AF Web Safe #9999CC#9999CC Material You Neutral#938F99 Material Indigo 200#9FA8DA Tailwind slate 400#94A3B8 Spectrum #959BD0#959BD0 Chakra gray 400#A0AEC0 Material Deep Purple 100#D1C4E9 Spectrum #93A8CD#93A8CD Spectrum #929DD3#929DD3 Material Deep Purple 200#B39DDB