#A5BFBC is a muted, temperate cyan. On the Color Lab it reads clean and engineered, restrained and easy to live with. It holds up as a large surface and is too pale to lead as a primary accent.
Not just a swatch — here's how #A5BFBC works with other colors. Named schemes with #A5BFBC in its natural role, and a note on why the supporting colors balance it.
Ash Gray keeps this Nordic scheme quiet — cool greys and a soft white around it, a muted-blue support and a charcoal anchor.
Ash Gray sets a calm, sun-bleached base here, wrapped in bone and paper off-whites and a soft greige, with a single ink accent for wabi-sabi restraint.
Ash Gray opens this coastal palette with sea-glass and warm sand alongside it, grounded by driftwood grey and a deep-navy anchor.
Ash Gray is the single accent in this high-contrast editorial system — set on near-white paper against near-black ink, with a warm grey and a desaturated tint of Ash Gray carrying the quiet middle.
Ash Gray is the vivid signal in this product UI — on a near-black surface with cool white, a slate grey and a lighter tint of Ash Gray.
How #A5BFBC actually behaves in design work — read from its OKLCH lightness, chroma and hue, not just its raw numbers. Ten signals to help you decide where this color earns its place.
Not a swatch to memorise — a color to build with. Here is #A5BFBC at work across the surfaces designers actually ship.
:root {
--color-base: #A5BFBC;
--color-base-rgb: 165 191 188;
--color-base-oklch: oklch(78.4% 0.029 188.1);
--color-50: #F6F9F8;
--color-100: #E7EEED;
--color-200: #CFDDDB;
--color-300: #ADC3C0;
--color-400: #8BA7A4;
--color-500: #6B8986;
--color-600: #566B69;
--color-700: #414E4D;
--color-800: #2C3534;
--color-900: #1C2120;
--color-on-base: #141310;
}
// tailwind.config.js
colors: {
ash-gray: {
50: '#F6F9F8',
100: '#E7EEED',
200: '#CFDDDB',
300: '#ADC3C0',
400: '#8BA7A4',
500: '#6B8986',
600: '#566B69',
700: '#414E4D',
800: '#2C3534',
900: '#1C2120',
},
}
$base: #A5BFBC; $base-ink: #141310; $base-50: #F6F9F8; $base-100: #E7EEED; $base-200: #CFDDDB; $base-300: #ADC3C0; $base-400: #8BA7A4; $base-500: #6B8986; $base-600: #566B69; $base-700: #414E4D; $base-800: #2C3534; $base-900: #1C2120; $base-hover: #7CA29D; $base-subtle: #E5EBEA;
{
"color": {
"base": {
"value": "#A5BFBC",
"type": "color"
},
"onBase": {
"value": "#141310",
"type": "color"
},
"scale": {
"50": {
"value": "#F6F9F8",
"type": "color"
},
"100": {
"value": "#E7EEED",
"type": "color"
},
"200": {
"value": "#CFDDDB",
"type": "color"
},
"300": {
"value": "#ADC3C0",
"type": "color"
},
"400": {
"value": "#8BA7A4",
"type": "color"
},
"500": {
"value": "#6B8986",
"type": "color"
},
"600": {
"value": "#566B69",
"type": "color"
},
"700": {
"value": "#414E4D",
"type": "color"
},
"800": {
"value": "#2C3534",
"type": "color"
},
"900": {
"value": "#1C2120",
"type": "color"
}
}
}
}