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blue · cool

#533d96

a dark, soft blue · cool · closest name: Dark Slate Blue

Token name suggestion: Forest Cobalt

RGB
83, 61, 150
HSL
255°, 42%, 41%
CMYK
45, 59, 0, 41
Luminance
0.0738

#533d96 is a dark soft blue, 255° on the wheel and 75/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (8.48:1). As text it scores 8.48:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Dark Slate Blue, nearest Tailwind family is indigo.

hsl(255 42% 41%)rgb(83 61 150)Base step 700AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #533d96 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#533d96
Hue
255°
blue
Saturation
42%
soft
Lightness
41%
dark
Brightness
59%
HSV value
Perceived
32%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.0738
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
75/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
White
8.48:1
Closest name
Dark Slate Blue
ΔE2000 2.8
Chroma
55.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.433
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
indigo
500 · ΔE 18
Web-safe
#663399
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue255° of 360°
Saturation42%
Lightness41%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #533d96.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool75% 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
Red25%
Green45%
Blue30%

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

Every format

HEX#533d96
HEX (8-digit)#533d96ff
RGBrgb(83, 61, 150)
RGBArgba(83, 61, 150, 1)
HSLhsl(255, 42%, 41%)
HSV / HSBhsv(255, 59%, 59%)
HWBhwb(255 24% 41%)
CMYKcmyk(45%, 59%, 0%, 41%)
LABlab(32.6 32.0 -45.8)
LCHlch(32.6 55.9 304.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.433 0.140 290.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(10.74, 7.38, 29.71)
Decimal5455254
Display P3color(display-p3 0.325 0.239 0.588)
Web-safe#663399

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #533d96;
background-color: #533d96;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #533d96;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#533d96] bg-[#533d96]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #533d96;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.325, green: 0.239, blue: 0.588)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.325, green: 0.239, blue: 0.588, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#533D96</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF533D96)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF533D96)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(150, 61, 83)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(83, 61, 150)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(83, 61, 150)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 83, 61, 150)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.3255f, 0.2392f, 0.5882f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{83,61,150}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #533d96 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #533d96 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#32255B, #DAD3ED);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #533d96 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: #F6F5FA;
  --brand-100: #EDEBF5;
  --brand-200: #D8D2EA;
  --brand-300: #BBAFDF;
  --brand-400: #9987CE;
  --brand-500: #775FBE;
  --brand-600: #6047AE;
  --brand-700: #533d96;
  --brand-800: #402F74;
  --brand-900: #312555;
  --brand-950: #1F1735;
  --brand: #533d96;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F6F4FA;
  --brand-border: #CDC5E7;
  --brand-hover: #45337D;
  --brand-pressed: #372863;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #181424;
    --brand-ink: #DAD3ED;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F5FA',
        100: '#EDEBF5',
        200: '#D8D2EA',
        300: '#BBAFDF',
        400: '#9987CE',
        500: '#775FBE',
        600: '#6047AE',
        700: '#533d96',
        800: '#402F74',
        900: '#312555',
        950: '#1F1735',
        DEFAULT: '#533d96',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F5FA,
  '100': #EDEBF5,
  '200': #D8D2EA,
  '300': #BBAFDF,
  '400': #9987CE,
  '500': #775FBE,
  '600': #6047AE,
  '700': #533d96,
  '800': #402F74,
  '900': #312555,
  '950': #1F1735,
);
$brand-base: #533d96;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F5FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EDEBF5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D8D2EA", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#BBAFDF", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#9987CE", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#775FBE", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#6047AE", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#533d96", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#402F74", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#312555", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1F1735", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #533d96 · 8.48:1
Use #ffffffAAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 8.48:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Aa
Black text · 2.48:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #533d96 as text scores 8.48:1 on white and 2.48:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F0EDF8 at 7.34:1.

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
#533d96 · 8.48:1
AA on whitealready passes
#533d96
The quick fox
#533d96 · 8.48:1
AAA on whitealready passes
#533d96
The quick fox
#7E68C2 · 4.65:1
AA on black+17% L
#7E68C2
The quick fox
#9D8CD0 · 7.10:1
AAA on black+27% L
#9D8CD0

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #533D96 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
#533d96 on white: 8.48:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#533d96 on black: 2.48:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #533d96 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #533d96.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White8.48:1AaAa
Slate 508.11:1AaAa
Slate 1007.74:1AaAa
Slate 2006.88:1AaAa
Slate 3005.71:1AaAa
Slate 4003.31:1AaAa
Slate 5001.78:1AaAa
Slate 6001.12:1AaAa
Slate 7001.22:1AaAa
Slate 8001.72:1AaAa
Slate 9002.10:1AaAa
Black2.48:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #004E99
deuteranopia · #084B94
tritanopia · #405163

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. #533d96 is pinned to step 700; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F6F5FA
#EDEBF5
#D8D2EA
#BBAFDF
#9987CE
#775FBE
#6047AE
#533d96
#402F74
#312555
#1F1735
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #F6F5FADarkest = 950 · #1F1735Text 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 0.035 290.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.056 290.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.084 290.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.109 290.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.129 290.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.140 290.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.140 290.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.131 290.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.117 290.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.098 290.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.077 290.8);
}

Colors that work with #533d96

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#F6F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#CDC5E7
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#5E4B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#959537
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#32255B
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F0EDF8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#181424
Dark-mode background
Hover#45337D
One step down in lightness
Pressed#372863
Two steps down
Disabled#978DB6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#5537B0
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 #533d96

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

Works well for
  • Body text and links on white
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Headers, footers and dark-mode surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text on black or near-black surfaces
  • 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.

trustedcalmcompetentcorporate

The default of institutions for a reason: blue is read as stable and safe across nearly every culture that has been surveyed.

The muted chroma softens the association — it reads considered rather than loud, which suits long-form and data-heavy screens. The low lightness adds weight and formality.

Worth knowing

It is also the most crowded hue on the web. Distinctiveness has to come from your other choices.

Reads as
  • FormalityHigh
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight59/100
  • 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#80963D
Analogous left#3D5496
Analogous right#803D96
Split-complement 1#96803D
Split-complement 2#54963D
Triadic 1#96533D
Triadic 2#3D9653
Tetradic#963D54
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°255°

#533d96 sits at 255°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red32.5%
Green23.9%
Blue58.8%
R · 0–255
83
0x53
G · 0–255
61
0x3d
B · 0–255
150
0x96

CMYK percentages

Cyan44.7%
Magenta59.3%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)41.2%

Total ink coverage is 145%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#533d96 text on a black background

contrast 2.48:1

Card sample

#533d96 text on a white background

contrast 8.48:1

Card sample

#533d96 on grey

7.74:1

#533d96 on its own surface

7.77:1

#533d96 on its dark surface

2.13:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #533d96;
Background color
Panel with #533d96 background
background-color: #533d96;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #533d96;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(83, 61, 150, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(83, 61, 150, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #533d96;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #533d96, #8E3D96);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #533d96, #963D88);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #533d96;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #533d96;
caret-color: #533d96;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #533d96;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F0EDF8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #533d96;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#533d96 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #533d96 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(83, 61, 150, 0.5)
rgb(83 61 150 / 50%)
#533d9680
hsl(255 42% 41% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #533d96 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#533d961a#EEECF5
20%#533d9633#DDD8EA
40%#533d9666#BAB1D5
60%#533d9699#988BC0
80%#533d96cc#7564AB

Gradients from #533d96

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, #6F56BA, #533d96 45%, #32255B);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #533d96, #803480);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #533d96, #80963D);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #816CC3 0%, #533d96 45%, #32255B 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #4F72B7 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #9B46AC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #32255B 0%, transparent 65%), #533d96;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #533d96

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.

#533d96 in the real world

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

Industries
TechnologyFinanceHealthcareEnterprise SaaS
Common UI roles
ButtonsLinksFocus statesCharts
Print note

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

On screens

Holds up across typical panel gamma. Still worth checking on an uncalibrated laptop, where mid-tones shift most.

In dark mode

Too dim on dark surfaces at 2.48:1 — lift it to #7E68C2 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.

#533d96, answered

What color is #533d96?

#533d96 is a dark soft blue, closest to Dark Slate Blue (ΔE2000 2.8). It sits at 255° on the hue wheel with 42% saturation and 41% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #533d96?

rgb(83, 61, 150) — 83 red, 61 green and 150 blue out of 255, or 32.5% / 23.9% / 58.8% by channel.

What is #533d96 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(255, 42%, 41%) and hsv(255, 59%, 59%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #533d96 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.0738 and perceived brightness is 32%, so white text on it reaches 8.48:1.

Should I use black or white text on #533d96?

White. It scores 8.48:1 against #533d96, versus 2.48:1 for black — AAA at any size.

Is #533d96 accessible on a white background?

#533d96 on white scores 8.48:1, which clears AAA at every size.

What is the complementary color of #533d96?

#80963D sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #96803D and #54963D, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #533d96?

For interface work: #F6F4FA as the surface, #CDC5E7 for borders, #5E4B9B for secondary text, #959537 as an accent and #32255B for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #3D5496 and #803D96 stays calm, while #80963D is the loudest partner.

What is #533d96 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(45%, 59%, 0%, 41%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #533d96 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 75 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #743D96; nudged cooler, #3B4698.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #533d96?

The indigo family — its 500 step is #6366f1, ΔE2000 18 away. That is a visible difference, so define #533d96 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #533d96 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#533d96] or text-[#533d96], 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 #533d96 with 50% opacity?

rgba(83, 61, 150, 0.5), or #533d9680 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #A99ECB; over black, #2A1F4B.

Is #533d96 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #663399, ΔE2000 4.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #533d96 mean?

As a blue, it reads trusted, calm, competent. The default of institutions for a reason: blue is read as stable and safe across nearly every culture that has been surveyed. At this moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #533d96?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #6F56BA, #533d96 45%, #32255B). For more colour, a short hue run to #803480 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #533d96 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #533d96 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.