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violet · cool

#550f6e

a deep, electric violet · cool · closest name: Indigo

Token name suggestion: Cellar Plum

RGB
85, 15, 110
HSL
284°, 76%, 25%
CMYK
23, 86, 0, 57
Luminance
0.0340

#550f6e is a deep electric violet, 284° on the wheel and 59/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (12.50:1). As text it scores 12.50:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Indigo, nearest Tailwind family is violet.

hsl(284 76% 25%)rgb(85 15 110)Base step 900AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #550f6e is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#550f6e
Hue
284°
violet
Saturation
76%
electric
Lightness
25%
deep
Brightness
43%
HSV value
Perceived
24%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.0340
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
59/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Electric
Best ink
White
12.50:1
Closest name
Indigo
ΔE2000 5.1
Chroma
59.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.344
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
violet
500 · ΔE 27.6
Web-safe
#660066
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue284° of 360°
Saturation76%
Lightness25%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #550f6e.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool59% 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
Red57%
Green10%
Blue33%

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

Every format

HEX#550f6e
HEX (8-digit)#550f6eff
RGBrgb(85, 15, 110)
RGBArgba(85, 15, 110, 1)
HSLhsl(284, 76%, 25%)
HSV / HSBhsv(284, 86%, 43%)
HWBhwb(284 6% 57%)
CMYKcmyk(23%, 86%, 0%, 57%)
LABlab(21.6 44.9 -38.6)
LCHlch(21.6 59.2 319.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.344 0.154 314.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(6.73, 3.40, 15.05)
Decimal5574510
Display P3color(display-p3 0.333 0.059 0.431)
Web-safe#660066

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #550f6e;
background-color: #550f6e;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #550f6e;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#550f6e] bg-[#550f6e]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #550f6e;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.333, green: 0.059, blue: 0.431)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.333, green: 0.059, blue: 0.431, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#550F6E</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF550F6E)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF550F6E)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(110, 15, 85)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(85, 15, 110)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(85, 15, 110)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 85, 15, 110)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.3333f, 0.0588f, 0.4314f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{85,15,110}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #550f6e 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #550f6e 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#570F70, #E7D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #550f6e 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: #F9F3FC;
  --brand-100: #F4E7F9;
  --brand-200: #E8C8F4;
  --brand-300: #DB9CF2;
  --brand-400: #C96BEB;
  --brand-500: #B73AE4;
  --brand-600: #A61DD7;
  --brand-700: #8B18B4;
  --brand-800: #6F1490;
  --brand-900: #550f6e;
  --brand-950: #330C41;
  --brand: #550f6e;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F9F4FA;
  --brand-border: #E1C0ED;
  --brand-hover: #3D0B4F;
  --brand-pressed: #24062F;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #201424;
    --brand-ink: #E7D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F3FC',
        100: '#F4E7F9',
        200: '#E8C8F4',
        300: '#DB9CF2',
        400: '#C96BEB',
        500: '#B73AE4',
        600: '#A61DD7',
        700: '#8B18B4',
        800: '#6F1490',
        900: '#550f6e',
        950: '#330C41',
        DEFAULT: '#550f6e',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F3FC,
  '100': #F4E7F9,
  '200': #E8C8F4,
  '300': #DB9CF2,
  '400': #C96BEB,
  '500': #B73AE4,
  '600': #A61DD7,
  '700': #8B18B4,
  '800': #6F1490,
  '900': #550f6e,
  '950': #330C41,
);
$brand-base: #550f6e;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F3FC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F4E7F9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E8C8F4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#DB9CF2", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C96BEB", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#B73AE4", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#A61DD7", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#8B18B4", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#6F1490", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#550f6e", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#330C41", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #550f6e · 12.50:1
Use #ffffffAAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 12.50:1 · 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: #550f6e as text scores 12.50:1 on white and 1.68:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F7E9FC at 10.73:1.

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
#550f6e · 12.50:1
AA on whitealready passes
#550f6e
The quick fox
#550f6e · 12.50:1
AAA on whitealready passes
#550f6e
The quick fox
#B533E3 · 4.55:1
AA on black+30% L
#B533E3
The quick fox
#CC72EC · 7.19:1
AAA on black+44% L
#CC72EC

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #550F6E 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
#550f6e on white: 12.50:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#550f6e on black: 1.68:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #550f6e as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #550f6e.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White12.50:1AaAa
Slate 5011.95:1AaAa
Slate 10011.41:1AaAa
Slate 20010.14:1AaAa
Slate 3008.42:1AaAa
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 · #003070
deuteranopia · #06356C
tritanopia · #532740

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. #550f6e 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.

#F9F3FC
#F4E7F9
#E8C8F4
#DB9CF2
#C96BEB
#B73AE4
#A61DD7
#8B18B4
#6F1490
#550f6e
#330C41
Base = 900Lightest = 50 · #F9F3FCDarkest = 950 · #330C41Text step on white = 600
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 0.038 314.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.061 314.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.092 314.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.120 314.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.141 314.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.154 314.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.154 314.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.144 314.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.129 314.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.108 314.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.084 314.7);
}

Colors that work with #550f6e

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#F9F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#E1C0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#864B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#40700C
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#570F70
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F7E9FC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#201424
Dark-mode background
Hover#3D0B4F
One step down in lightness
Pressed#24062F
Two steps down
Disabled#835C91
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#660A87
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 #550f6e

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.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. 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
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight76/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • ApproachabilityBalanced

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#286E0F
Analogous left#250F6E
Analogous right#6E0F57
Split-complement 1#576E0F
Split-complement 2#0F6E25
Triadic 1#6E550F
Triadic 2#0F6E55
Tetradic#6E250F
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°284°

#550f6e sits at 284°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red33.3%
Green5.9%
Blue43.1%
R · 0–255
85
0x55
G · 0–255
15
0x0f
B · 0–255
110
0x6e

CMYK percentages

Cyan22.7%
Magenta86.4%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)56.9%

Total ink coverage is 166%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#550f6e text on a black background

contrast 1.68:1

Card sample

#550f6e text on a white background

contrast 12.50:1

Card sample

#550f6e on grey

11.41:1

#550f6e on its own surface

11.52:1

#550f6e on its dark surface

1.42:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #550f6e;
Background color
Panel with #550f6e background
background-color: #550f6e;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #550f6e;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(85, 15, 110, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(85, 15, 110, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #550f6e;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #550f6e, #6E0F48);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #550f6e, #6E0F30);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #550f6e;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #550f6e;
caret-color: #550f6e;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #550f6e;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F7E9FC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #550f6e;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#550f6e 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #550f6e 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(85, 15, 110, 0.5)
rgb(85 15 110 / 50%)
#550f6e80
hsl(284 76% 25% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #550f6e 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#550f6e1a#EEE7F1
20%#550f6e33#DDCFE2
40%#550f6e66#BB9FC5
60%#550f6e99#996FA8
80%#550f6ecc#773F8B

Gradients from #550f6e

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, #7F16A4, #550f6e 45%, #570F70);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #550f6e, #530B30);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #550f6e, #286E0F);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #931ABF 0%, #550f6e 45%, #570F70 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F9F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #2A159B 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #891363 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #570F70 0%, transparent 65%), #550f6e;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #550f6e

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.

#550f6e 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

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

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 #B533E3 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.

#550f6e, answered

What color is #550f6e?

#550f6e is a deep electric violet, closest to Indigo (ΔE2000 5.1). It sits at 284° on the hue wheel with 76% saturation and 25% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #550f6e?

rgb(85, 15, 110) — 85 red, 15 green and 110 blue out of 255, or 33.3% / 5.9% / 43.1% by channel.

What is #550f6e in HSL and HSV?

hsl(284, 76%, 25%) and hsv(284, 86%, 43%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #550f6e a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.0340 and perceived brightness is 24%, so white text on it reaches 12.50:1.

Should I use black or white text on #550f6e?

White. It scores 12.50:1 against #550f6e, versus 1.68:1 for black — AAA at any size.

Is #550f6e accessible on a white background?

#550f6e on white scores 12.50:1, which clears AAA at every size.

What is the complementary color of #550f6e?

#286E0F sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #576E0F and #0F6E25, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #550f6e?

For interface work: #F9F4FA as the surface, #E1C0ED for borders, #864B9B for secondary text, #40700C as an accent and #570F70 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #250F6E and #6E0F57 stays calm, while #286E0F is the loudest partner.

What is #550f6e in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(23%, 86%, 0%, 57%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #550f6e warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 59 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #6E0F64; nudged cooler, #320E6F.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #550f6e?

The violet family — its 500 step is #8b5cf6, ΔE2000 27.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #550f6e as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #550f6e in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#550f6e] or text-[#550f6e], 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 #550f6e with 50% opacity?

rgba(85, 15, 110, 0.5), or #550f6e80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #AA87B7; over black, #2B0837.

Is #550f6e a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #660066, ΔE2000 4.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #550f6e 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 #550f6e?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #7F16A4, #550f6e 45%, #570F70). For more colour, a short hue run to #530B30 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #550f6e in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #550f6e at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.