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violet · cool

#5b536f

a dark, muted violet · cool · closest name: Dark Slate Blue

Token name suggestion: Slate Plum

RGB
91, 83, 111
HSL
257°, 14%, 38%
CMYK
18, 25, 0, 57
Luminance
0.0956

#5b536f is a dark muted violet, 257° on the wheel and 60/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (7.21:1). As text it scores 7.21:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Dark Slate Blue, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(257 14% 38%)rgb(91 83 111)Base step 700AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #5b536f is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#5b536f
Hue
257°
violet
Saturation
14%
muted
Lightness
38%
dark
Brightness
44%
HSV value
Perceived
35%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.0956
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
60/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Muted
Best ink
White
7.21:1
Closest name
Dark Slate Blue
ΔE2000 13.8
Chroma
17.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.461
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 13.8
Web-safe
#666666
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue257° of 360°
Saturation14%
Lightness38%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #5b536f.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool60% 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
Red23%
Green65%
Blue12%

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

Every format

HEX#5b536f
HEX (8-digit)#5b536fff
RGBrgb(91, 83, 111)
RGBArgba(91, 83, 111, 1)
HSLhsl(257, 14%, 38%)
HSV / HSBhsv(257, 25%, 44%)
HWBhwb(257 33% 56%)
CMYKcmyk(18%, 25%, 0%, 57%)
LABlab(37.0 9.6 -14.8)
LCHlch(37.0 17.7 302.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.461 0.046 297.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(10.28, 9.56, 16.34)
Decimal5985135
Display P3color(display-p3 0.357 0.325 0.435)
Web-safe#666666

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #5b536f;
background-color: #5b536f;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #5b536f;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#5b536f] bg-[#5b536f]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #5b536f;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.357, green: 0.325, blue: 0.435)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.357, green: 0.325, blue: 0.435, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#5B536F</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF5B536F)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF5B536F)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(111, 83, 91)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(91, 83, 111)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(91, 83, 111)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 91, 83, 111)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.3569f, 0.3255f, 0.4353f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{91,83,111}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #5b536f 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #5b536f 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#3C3749, #DFDCE5);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #5b536f 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: #F7F6F8;
  --brand-100: #EFEEF1;
  --brand-200: #DCDAE2;
  --brand-300: #C3BFCF;
  --brand-400: #A69FB7;
  --brand-500: #887F9F;
  --brand-600: #73698C;
  --brand-700: #5b536f;
  --brand-800: #4D465D;
  --brand-900: #3A3545;
  --brand-950: #24212B;
  --brand: #5b536f;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F7F6F8;
  --brand-border: #D4D0DC;
  --brand-hover: #4A445A;
  --brand-pressed: #393446;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1A1820;
    --brand-ink: #DFDCE5;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F6F8',
        100: '#EFEEF1',
        200: '#DCDAE2',
        300: '#C3BFCF',
        400: '#A69FB7',
        500: '#887F9F',
        600: '#73698C',
        700: '#5b536f',
        800: '#4D465D',
        900: '#3A3545',
        950: '#24212B',
        DEFAULT: '#5b536f',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F6F8,
  '100': #EFEEF1,
  '200': #DCDAE2,
  '300': #C3BFCF,
  '400': #A69FB7,
  '500': #887F9F,
  '600': #73698C,
  '700': #5b536f,
  '800': #4D465D,
  '900': #3A3545,
  '950': #24212B,
);
$brand-base: #5b536f;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F6F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EFEEF1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DCDAE2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#C3BFCF", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#A69FB7", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#887F9F", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#73698C", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#5b536f", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#4D465D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#3A3545", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#24212B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #5b536f · 7.21:1
Use #ffffffAAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 7.21:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Aa
Black text · 2.91:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #5b536f as text scores 7.21:1 on white and 2.91:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F1F0F4 at 6.36:1.

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
#5b536f · 7.21:1
AA on whitealready passes
#5b536f
The quick fox
#5b536f · 7.21:1
AAA on whitealready passes
#5b536f
The quick fox
#7A7094 · 4.57:1
AA on black+13% L
#7A7094
The quick fox
#9B93AE · 7.18:1
AAA on black+25% L
#9B93AE

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #5B536F 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
#5b536f on white: 7.21:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#5b536f on black: 2.91:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #5b536f as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #5b536f.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White7.21:1AaAa
Slate 506.89:1AaAa
Slate 1006.58:1AaAa
Slate 2005.85:1AaAa
Slate 3004.86:1AaAa
Slate 4002.81:1AaAa
Slate 5001.52:1AaAa
Slate 6001.05:1AaAa
Slate 7001.44:1AaAa
Slate 8002.03:1AaAa
Slate 9002.48:1AaAa
Black2.91:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #4D5770
deuteranopia · #4E576E
tritanopia · #57575D

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. #5b536f 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.

#F7F6F8
#EFEEF1
#DCDAE2
#C3BFCF
#A69FB7
#887F9F
#73698C
#5b536f
#4D465D
#3A3545
#24212B
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #F7F6F8Darkest = 950 · #24212BText 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 0.011 297.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.018 297.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.027 297.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.036 297.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.042 297.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.046 297.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.046 297.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.043 297.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.038 297.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.032 297.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.025 297.7);
}

Colors that work with #5b536f

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#F7F6F8
Tinted page background
Border#D4D0DC
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#6C6283
Captions on the surface
Accent#71734F
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#3C3749
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F1F0F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1A1820
Dark-mode background
Hover#4A445A
One step down in lightness
Pressed#393446
Two steps down
Disabled#938AA8
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#605185
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 #5b536f

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

Works well for
  • Body text and links on white
  • Borders, dividers and quiet backgrounds
  • Long-form reading 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.

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.

With almost no chroma left, the family association is barely present; treat it as a neutral that happens to lean this way. 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
  • EnergyLow
  • Weight62/100
  • 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#676F53
Analogous left#53596F
Analogous right#69536F
Split-complement 1#6F6953
Split-complement 2#596F53
Triadic 1#6F5B53
Triadic 2#536F5B
Tetradic#6F5359
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°257°

#5b536f sits at 257°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red35.7%
Green32.5%
Blue43.5%
R · 0–255
91
0x5b
G · 0–255
83
0x53
B · 0–255
111
0x6f

CMYK percentages

Cyan18.0%
Magenta25.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)56.5%

Total ink coverage is 100%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#5b536f text on a black background

contrast 2.91:1

Card sample

#5b536f text on a white background

contrast 7.21:1

Card sample

#5b536f on grey

6.58:1

#5b536f on its own surface

6.69:1

#5b536f on its dark surface

2.44:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #5b536f;
Background color
Panel with #5b536f background
background-color: #5b536f;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #5b536f;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(91, 83, 111, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(91, 83, 111, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #5b536f;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #5b536f, #6E536F);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #5b536f, #6F5369);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #5b536f;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #5b536f;
caret-color: #5b536f;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #5b536f;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F1F0F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #5b536f;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#5b536f 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #5b536f 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(91, 83, 111, 0.5)
rgb(91 83 111 / 50%)
#5b536f80
hsl(257 14% 38% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #5b536f 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#5b536f1a#EFEEF1
20%#5b536f33#DEDDE2
40%#5b536f66#BDBAC5
60%#5b536f99#9D98A9
80%#5b536fcc#7C758C

Gradients from #5b536f

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, #786D92, #5b536f 45%, #3C3749);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #5b536f, #5D465D);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #5b536f, #676F53);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #887F9F 0%, #5b536f 45%, #3C3749 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F7F6F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #69738C 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #7C6080 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #3C3749 0%, transparent 65%), #5b536f;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #5b536f

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.

#5b536f 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
BackgroundsBordersBody textDividers
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 2.91:1 — lift it to #7A7094 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.

#5b536f, answered

What color is #5b536f?

#5b536f is a dark muted violet, closest to Dark Slate Blue (ΔE2000 13.8). It sits at 257° on the hue wheel with 14% saturation and 38% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #5b536f?

rgb(91, 83, 111) — 91 red, 83 green and 111 blue out of 255, or 35.7% / 32.5% / 43.5% by channel.

What is #5b536f in HSL and HSV?

hsl(257, 14%, 38%) and hsv(257, 25%, 44%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #5b536f a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.0956 and perceived brightness is 35%, so white text on it reaches 7.21:1.

Should I use black or white text on #5b536f?

White. It scores 7.21:1 against #5b536f, versus 2.91:1 for black — AAA at any size.

Is #5b536f accessible on a white background?

#5b536f on white scores 7.21:1, which clears AAA at every size.

What is the complementary color of #5b536f?

#676F53 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #6F6953 and #596F53, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #5b536f?

For interface work: #F7F6F8 as the surface, #D4D0DC for borders, #6C6283 for secondary text, #71734F as an accent and #3C3749 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #53596F and #69536F stays calm, while #676F53 is the loudest partner.

What is #5b536f in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(18%, 25%, 0%, 57%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #5b536f warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 60 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #65536F; nudged cooler, #515471.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #5b536f?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 13.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #5b536f as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #5b536f in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#5b536f] or text-[#5b536f], 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 #5b536f with 50% opacity?

rgba(91, 83, 111, 0.5), or #5b536f80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #ADA9B7; over black, #2E2A38.

Is #5b536f a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #666666, ΔE2000 15.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #5b536f 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 low chroma the association is faint; it behaves more like a neutral.

What gradient works with #5b536f?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #786D92, #5b536f 45%, #3C3749). For more colour, a short hue run to #5D465D keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #5b536f in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #5b536f at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.