Thistle

#bc97ac

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

Thistle is a mid pink, grounded and easy to pair. Pinks like this read soft and contemporary. It works with sage and olive for balance, or with cream for a gentle palette.

Thistle color values

Every conversion for #bc97ac, ready to copy. Hex, rgb, hsl, hsv, cmyk, cie-lab, xyz, decimal, web safe and the nearest Pantone.

Hex#bc97ac

RGB188, 151, 172

HSL326, 22%, 66%

HSV326, 20%, 74%

CMYK0%, 20%, 9%, 26%

Lab66.37, 17.3, -5.7

XYZ39.25, 35.8, 43.87

Decimal12359596

Web safe#cc9999

Pantone522 C

Shades of thistle

#b0849d #a4718e #96617f #83546f #70485f #5e3c4f #4b303f #38242f #251820 #130c10

Tints of thistle

#c2a0b3 #c8aabb #ceb3c2 #d4bcca #dac6d1 #e0cfd9 #e6d8e0 #ece2e7 #f2ebef #f8f4f6

Colors that go with thistle

Complementary#97bca7 Analogous#b997bc Analogous#bc979a Triadic#acbc97 Triadic#97acbc Split complementary#9abc97 Split complementary#97bcba

Thistle in print

It converts to cmyk cleanly and holds its character from screen to paper. The cmyk build is 0, 20, 9, 26.

The same color needs a different cmyk build depending on the paper. Here is #bc97ac on both.

Coated stockgloss or silk, C

0 20 9 26

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

Uncoated stocknatural or matte, U

4 22 12 32

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 #bc97ac straight into your stylesheet.

.background { background-color: #bc97ac; }
.text { color: #bc97ac; }
.border { border: 2px solid #bc97ac; }

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 #bc97ac against black and white text, measured to the WCAG standard.

Use black text on this color for readable body copy. To test #bc97ac 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 #bc97ac 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 #bc97ac 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

Every value on this page for #bc97ac is computed, not guessed. 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. For Pantone we return the nearest reference by perceptual distance, which gets you close but is not a substitute for a physical swatch book.