HarmoniesWays to pair this color with others by where they sit on the color wheel: its opposite, shapes of two to four colors spaced around the wheel, its neighbors on either side, then the same hue lighter, darker, warmer, cooler and quieter. Each strip leads with this color. Tap one to open its kit built that way.
How It Reads#BDC8CA set as type with the kit Chromary builds for it, both ways round, strongest first. Each is graded by APCA, the measure of how strongly text stands off its ground as eyes see it: Any text and Body text read at every size, Headlines and large text from about 24 pixels, Display sizes for names, logos and big headlines. Pairings too faint for text, or that collapse for red- or green-blind readers, are left out. The small numbers are the APCA score (Lc), then the WCAG 2 ratio and its verdict (AAA from 7 to 1, AA from 4.5, AA large from 3), for anyone working to that standard. The two can disagree on mid tones: APCA favors white text on saturated greens and oranges, where WCAG 2 favors black.
Charcoal on #BDC8CA#BDC8CASet in Charcoal on #BDC8CA, a line of text reads cleanly at this size.Body textLc 72 · 10.9:1 WCAG AAA#BDC8CA on Charcoal#BDC8CASet in #BDC8CA on Charcoal, a line of text reads cleanly at this size.Body textLc 71 · 10.9:1 WCAG AAA#BDC8CA on Graphite#BDC8CASet in #BDC8CA on Graphite, a line of text reads cleanly at this size.Body textLc 67 · 8.2:1 WCAG AAAGraphite on #BDC8CA#BDC8CASet in Graphite on #BDC8CA, a line of text reads cleanly at this size.Body textLc 67 · 8.2:1 WCAG AAA#BDC8CA on Gunmetal#BDC8CASet in #BDC8CA on Gunmetal, a line of text reads cleanly at this size.Body textLc 63 · 6.5:1 WCAG AAGunmetal on #BDC8CA#BDC8CASet in Gunmetal on #BDC8CA, a line of text reads cleanly at this size.Body textLc 62 · 6.5:1 WCAG AA
For every eye: Charcoal on #BDC8CAThe strongest pairing above, as people with color blindness see it. About 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women are color blind, most of them red-blind or green-blind, so reds and greens can look alike to them; blue-blind and no-color vision are rare. Each tile simulates the strongest form of one type (after Machado, Oliveira and Fernandes, 2009); most people who have it see a milder version. If Charcoal still stands clearly off #BDC8CA in all four, the pairing reads for everyone.
#BDC8CARed-blind (protanopia)#BDC8CAGreen-blind (deuteranopia)#BDC8CABlue-blind (tritanopia)#BDC8CANo color (achromatopsia)