Thistle

#ab99bb

Hex, rgb, cmyk and Pantone values for thistle, with shades, tints, matching colors and free print quality patterns.

This is Thistle, a muted purple at 272 degrees. A mid purple this rich reads creative and a little premium. Pair it with warm yellows for contrast, or with charcoal for a moody scheme.

Thistle color values

Every conversion for #ab99bb, ready to copy. Hex, rgb, hsl, hsv, cmyk, cie-lab, xyz, decimal, web safe and the nearest Pantone.

Hex#ab99bb

RGB171, 153, 187

HSL272, 20%, 67%

HSV272, 18%, 73%

CMYK9%, 18%, 0%, 27%

Lab65.77, 13.13, -15.16

XYZ37.16, 35.03, 51.82

Decimal11246011

Web safe#9999cc

Pantone666 C

Shades of thistle

#9c86af #8c74a2 #7d6394 #6d5682 #5e4a6f #4e3e5d #3e314a #2f2537 #1f1925 #0f0c12

Tints of thistle

#b3a2c1 #baabc7 #c2b4cd #c9bed3 #d1c7d9 #d8d0e0 #e0d9e6 #e7e2ec #efebf2 #f6f4f8

Colors that go with thistle

Complementary#a9bb99 Analogous#9a99bb Analogous#bb99ba Triadic#bbab99 Triadic#99bbab Split complementary#babb99 Split complementary#99bb9a

Thistle in print

It converts to cmyk cleanly and holds its character from screen to paper. The cmyk build is 9, 18, 0, 27.

The same color needs a different cmyk build depending on the paper. Here is #ab99bb on both.

Coated stockgloss or silk, C

9 18 0 27

Ink sits on the surface, so colors stay bright and close to screen.

Uncoated stocknatural or matte, U

12 21 4 33

The stock absorbs ink and gains dot, so it needs a heavier build and reads a touch softer.

This color converts to cmyk comfortably and should hold on press.

See how it converts in the rgb to cmyk converter, or read rgb vs cmyk for print and what the k in cmyk means.

Thistle in css

Copy #ab99bb straight into your stylesheet.

.background { background-color: #ab99bb; }
.text { color: #ab99bb; }
.border { border: 2px solid #ab99bb; }

How thistle looks on light and dark

Sample text on black

Sample text on white

Text on this color

Thistle and accessibility

Contrast ratios for #ab99bb against black and white text, measured to the WCAG standard.

Use black text on this color for readable body copy. To test #ab99bb against any other color, not just black and white, run the pair through our contrast checker for a live WCAG reading.

Thistle on a business card, sticker and pattern

A quick look at how #ab99bb sits on real print products. Start any of these in the maker.

Business card

Sticker

Repeat pattern

Building a full palette around thistle? Pull matching colors from any photo with the color palette generator, or check a design for print with the rgb to cmyk converter.

Turn thistle into a seamless pattern

Four patterns built from #ab99bb and its shades, free at print quality. Click any one to keep editing in the pattern maker.

Arches Signature stripes Gem Shingles

Make posters, wallpaper and packaging art from thistle, free and print ready.

Open in pattern maker

How we calculate these values

Here is how the numbers for #ab99bb are worked out. Rgb, hsl, hsv, lab and xyz are derived through the usual sRGB conversion formulas. Two cmyk builds are shown because coated and uncoated papers behave differently, uncoated soaks up ink and needs more of it to hit the same target. The Pantone value is the closest reference by perceptual color distance and should be treated as a starting point, not a guaranteed match.