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violet · cool

#42226c

a dark, vivid violet · cool · closest name: Indigo

Token name suggestion: Dusk Thistle

RGB
66, 34, 108
HSL
266°, 52%, 28%
CMYK
39, 69, 0, 58
Luminance
0.0339

#42226c is a dark vivid violet, 266° on the wheel and 69/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (12.52:1). As text it scores 12.52:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Indigo, nearest Tailwind family is slate.

hsl(266 52% 28%)rgb(66 34 108)Base step 900AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #42226c is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#42226c
Hue
266°
violet
Saturation
52%
vivid
Lightness
28%
dark
Brightness
42%
HSV value
Perceived
23%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.0339
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
69/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
White
12.52:1
Closest name
Indigo
ΔE2000 6.8
Chroma
49.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.337
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
slate
500 · ΔE 26
Web-safe
#333366
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue266° of 360°
Saturation52%
Lightness28%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #42226c.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool69% cool

Reads cool. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Luminance by channel
Red34%
Green34%
Blue32%

Green carries most of what the eye calls brightness — that is why WCAG weights it 0.7152.

Every format

HEX#42226c
HEX (8-digit)#42226cff
RGBrgb(66, 34, 108)
RGBArgba(66, 34, 108, 1)
HSLhsl(266, 52%, 28%)
HSV / HSBhsv(266, 69%, 42%)
HWBhwb(266 13% 58%)
CMYKcmyk(39%, 69%, 0%, 58%)
LABlab(21.5 31.9 -37.5)
LCHlch(21.5 49.3 310.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.337 0.123 299.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(5.52, 3.38, 14.55)
Decimal4334188
Display P3color(display-p3 0.259 0.133 0.424)
Web-safe#333366

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #42226c;
background-color: #42226c;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #42226c;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#42226c] bg-[#42226c]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #42226c;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.259, green: 0.133, blue: 0.424)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.259, green: 0.133, blue: 0.424, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#42226C</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF42226C)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF42226C)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(108, 34, 66)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(66, 34, 108)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(66, 34, 108)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 66, 34, 108)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.2588f, 0.1333f, 0.4235f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{66,34,108}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #42226c 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #42226c 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#3B1F61, #DFD3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #42226c h s calc(l - 7));

Design tokens

The same ramp in the four formats a team actually needs. Paste one and the whole palette lands with it.

css custom propertiesclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: #F7F4FA;
  --brand-100: #EFE9F6;
  --brand-200: #DCCFED;
  --brand-300: #C3AAE4;
  --brand-400: #A57FD7;
  --brand-500: #8754C9;
  --brand-600: #723BBA;
  --brand-700: #5F319B;
  --brand-800: #4C277C;
  --brand-900: #42226c;
  --brand-950: #241439;
  --brand: #42226c;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F7F4FA;
  --brand-border: #D3C1EB;
  --brand-hover: #311951;
  --brand-pressed: #211136;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1B1424;
    --brand-ink: #DFD3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F4FA',
        100: '#EFE9F6',
        200: '#DCCFED',
        300: '#C3AAE4',
        400: '#A57FD7',
        500: '#8754C9',
        600: '#723BBA',
        700: '#5F319B',
        800: '#4C277C',
        900: '#42226c',
        950: '#241439',
        DEFAULT: '#42226c',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F4FA,
  '100': #EFE9F6,
  '200': #DCCFED,
  '300': #C3AAE4,
  '400': #A57FD7,
  '500': #8754C9,
  '600': #723BBA,
  '700': #5F319B,
  '800': #4C277C,
  '900': #42226c,
  '950': #241439,
);
$brand-base: #42226c;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F4FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EFE9F6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DCCFED", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#C3AAE4", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#A57FD7", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#8754C9", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#723BBA", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#5F319B", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#4C277C", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#42226c", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#241439", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#ffffff", "$type": "color" }
  }
}

Best text color

Only one of black and white can be right. This is the one, with the number that proves it.

Readable at a glance#ffffff on #42226c · 12.52:1
Use #ffffffAAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 12.52:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Aa
Black text · 1.68:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #42226c as text scores 12.52:1 on white and 1.68:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F1ECF9 at 10.80:1.

Make it accessible

A contrast checker tells you that you failed. This tells you what to ship instead — same hue, same saturation, lightness moved only as far as WCAG demands.

The quick fox
#42226c · 12.52:1
AA on whitealready passes
#42226c
The quick fox
#42226c · 12.52:1
AAA on whitealready passes
#42226c
The quick fox
#8E5FCD · 4.67:1
AA on black+31% L
#8E5FCD
The quick fox
#AA86D9 · 7.12:1
AAA on black+41% L
#AA86D9

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #42226C is enough for headings on white. Non-text elements such as icons, chart strokes and focus rings also sit at 3:1 under WCAG 2.2 (1.4.11).

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

Aa
#42226c on white: 12.52:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#42226c on black: 1.68:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #42226c as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #42226c.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White12.52:1AaAa
Slate 5011.97:1AaAa
Slate 10011.43:1AaAa
Slate 20010.16:1AaAa
Slate 3008.43:1AaAa
Slate 4004.88:1AaAa
Slate 5002.63:1AaAa
Slate 6001.65:1AaAa
Slate 7001.21:1AaAa
Slate 8001.17:1AaAa
Slate 9001.43:1AaAa
Black1.68:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #00336E
deuteranopia · #00336A
tritanopia · #393343

Roughly one man in twelve has some form of colour vision deficiency. If any of the three panels above is hard to tell apart from a neighbouring colour in your palette, add a shape, an icon or a label so the meaning does not rest on hue alone.

Color scale — 50 to 950

A Tailwind-shaped ramp built around this exact hex. #42226c is pinned to step 900; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F7F4FA
#EFE9F6
#DCCFED
#C3AAE4
#A57FD7
#8754C9
#723BBA
#5F319B
#4C277C
#42226c
#241439
Base = 900Lightest = 50 · #F7F4FADarkest = 950 · #241439Text step on white = 500
Perceptual ramp — OKLCH

The same eleven steps expressed in OKLCH, where equal lightness numbers actually look equally spaced. HSL ramps go muddy in the yellows and washed out in the blues; this one does not. Modern browsers render it natively — the hex ramp above is the fallback.

50100200300400500600700800900950
oklch tokensclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: oklch(0.97 0.031 299.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.049 299.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.074 299.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.096 299.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.113 299.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.123 299.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.123 299.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.116 299.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.103 299.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.086 299.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.068 299.6);
}

Colors that work with #42226c

Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.

Text on it#ffffff
White wins here
Surface#F7F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#D3C1EB
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#6D4B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#606F1F
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#3B1F61
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F1ECF9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1B1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#311951
One step down in lightness
Pressed#211136
Two steps down
Disabled#7B639B
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#4A1F83
Offset from the fill so it reads
Light mode
Everything in its place

Surface, border, heading and body all derive from this one hue, so the screen stays coherent without a second palette.

Primary actionSecondaryBadge
Dark mode
Same hue, inverted

Lightness flips, hue holds. The accent stays the anchor in both themes.

Primary actionSecondaryAccent

In real components

The same eight roles, wired into the interface patterns you will actually build with them. Every state below is a computed value, not a mock-up.

Buttons and states
Save changesHoverPressedDisabled
OutlineSubtleLinkFocused
Form field
you@company.com

Focus ring uses the light variant so the field still reads as one shape.

Send me product updates
Notice
Your export is ready

The file stays available for seven days. Download it before it expires.

NewBetaDraft
Data
Storage used68%
Acme LtdActive
NorthwindTrial
GlobexActive

How to use #42226c

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Body text and links on white
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Headers, footers and dark-mode surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text on black or near-black surfaces
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • Black text placed on it
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
Any size
Safe as a fill behind white type
Yes
Safe as a 1px border on white
Yes

Meaning and mood

What a colour in this family tends to signal, and how this particular chroma and lightness change the reading.

creativepremiummodernimaginative

Violet sits between the warmth of red and the calm of blue, so it reads as inventive without reading as risky. Current shorthand for software craft.

This is a confident chroma: strong enough to lead a brand, restrained enough to live in an interface all day. The low lightness adds weight and formality.

Worth knowing

Deep violets swallow detail on screens with poor gamma; check it on a cheap laptop panel.

Reads as
  • FormalityHigh
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight72/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • ApproachabilityReserved

Colour associations are cultural and vary by market. Treat these as a starting point for a conversation with your audience, not a finding about them.

Similar colors

One move away from this hex in each direction. Every swatch is its own page.

Color relationships

The wheel positions with their names attached, so you can grab the one you actually need.

Complementary#4C6C22
Analogous left#22276C
Analogous right#67226C
Split-complement 1#6C6722
Split-complement 2#276C22
Triadic 1#6C4222
Triadic 2#226C42
Tetradic#6C2227
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°266°

#42226c sits at 266°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red25.9%
Green13.3%
Blue42.4%
R · 0–255
66
0x42
G · 0–255
34
0x22
B · 0–255
108
0x6c

CMYK percentages

Cyan38.9%
Magenta68.5%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)57.6%

Total ink coverage is 165%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#42226c text on a black background

contrast 1.68:1

Card sample

#42226c text on a white background

contrast 12.52:1

Card sample

#42226c on grey

11.43:1

#42226c on its own surface

11.49:1

#42226c on its dark surface

1.43:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #42226c;
Background color
Panel with #42226c background
background-color: #42226c;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #42226c;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(66, 34, 108, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(66, 34, 108, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #42226c;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #42226c, #6C2265);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #42226c, #6C2252);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #42226c;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #42226c;
caret-color: #42226c;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #42226c;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F1ECF9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #42226c;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#42226c 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #42226c over white; the bottom row is the same alpha over a checkerboard, so you can see what survives on a photo or a video.

Bottom row of hexes is the flattened result over white — use those when a design tool refuses transparency, or when you need a solid fallback.

alpha in every syntaxclick to select
rgba(66, 34, 108, 0.5)
rgb(66 34 108 / 50%)
#42226c80
hsl(266 52% 28% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #42226c 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#42226c1a#ECE9F0
20%#42226c33#D9D3E2
40%#42226c66#B3A7C4
60%#42226c99#8E7AA7
80%#42226ccc#684E89

Gradients from #42226c

Six recipes, each built from this hex and shown with the exact CSS that produced it.

Elevation
Same hue, three lightnesses — safe anywhere
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #5E319A, #42226c 45%, #3B1F61);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #42226c, #551B4A);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #42226c, #4C6C22);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #6C38B2 0%, #42226c 45%, #3B1F61 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F7F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #2E3D93 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #832982 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #3B1F61 0%, transparent 65%), #42226c;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #42226c

Shades — darker

Tints — lighter

Tones — desaturated

Color harmonies

Nearest named colors

Ranked with CIEDE2000 across all 139 CSS keywords. Under ΔE 2 the eye stops telling them apart; over ΔE 10 they are plainly different colors.

#42226c in the real world

Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.

Industries
Creative toolsFintechBeautyLuxury
Common UI roles
ButtonsLinksFocus statesCharts
Print note

Converts to four-color process without much drama. Proof it anyway.

On screens

Very dark values collapse into each other on cheap panels — leave more lightness between your darkest steps than the numbers suggest.

In dark mode

Too dim on dark surfaces at 1.68:1 — lift it to #8E5FCD for body text, or reserve it for fills.

Explore nearby colors

Small, deliberate steps away from this hex — useful when you are hunting for the version of a colour that finally feels right.

#42226c, answered

What color is #42226c?

#42226c is a dark vivid violet, closest to Indigo (ΔE2000 6.8). It sits at 266° on the hue wheel with 52% saturation and 28% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #42226c?

rgb(66, 34, 108) — 66 red, 34 green and 108 blue out of 255, or 25.9% / 13.3% / 42.4% by channel.

What is #42226c in HSL and HSV?

hsl(266, 52%, 28%) and hsv(266, 69%, 42%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #42226c a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.0339 and perceived brightness is 23%, so white text on it reaches 12.52:1.

Should I use black or white text on #42226c?

White. It scores 12.52:1 against #42226c, versus 1.68:1 for black — AAA at any size.

Is #42226c accessible on a white background?

#42226c on white scores 12.52:1, which clears AAA at every size.

What is the complementary color of #42226c?

#4C6C22 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #6C6722 and #276C22, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #42226c?

For interface work: #F7F4FA as the surface, #D3C1EB for borders, #6D4B9B for secondary text, #606F1F as an accent and #3B1F61 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #22276C and #67226C stays calm, while #4C6C22 is the loudest partner.

What is #42226c in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(39%, 69%, 0%, 58%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #42226c warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 69 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #5D226C; nudged cooler, #26216D.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #42226c?

The slate family — its 500 step is #64748b, ΔE2000 26 away. That is a visible difference, so define #42226c as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #42226c in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#42226c] or text-[#42226c], or register the whole ramp under theme.extend.colors.brand so you get bg-brand-500 and friends. The generated 50–950 scale on this page is ready to paste into your config.

What is #42226c with 50% opacity?

rgba(66, 34, 108, 0.5), or #42226c80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #A191B6; over black, #211136.

Is #42226c a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #333366, ΔE2000 8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #42226c mean?

As a violet, it reads creative, premium, modern. Violet sits between the warmth of red and the calm of blue, so it reads as inventive without reading as risky. Current shorthand for software craft. At this chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #42226c?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #5E319A, #42226c 45%, #3B1F61). For more colour, a short hue run to #551B4A keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #42226c in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #42226c at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.