Skip to content
violet · neutral

#5f496e

a dark, soft violet · neutral · closest name: Dark Slate Blue

Token name suggestion: Forest Amethyst

RGB
95, 73, 110
HSL
276°, 20%, 36%
CMYK
14, 34, 0, 57
Luminance
0.0832

#5f496e is a dark soft violet, 276° on the wheel and 58/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (7.88:1). As text it scores 7.88:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Dark Slate Blue, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(276 20% 36%)rgb(95 73 110)Base step 800AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #5f496e is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#5f496e
Hue
276°
violet
Saturation
20%
soft
Lightness
36%
dark
Brightness
43%
HSV value
Perceived
33%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.0832
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
58/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Soft
Best ink
White
7.88:1
Closest name
Dark Slate Blue
ΔE2000 11.9
Chroma
24.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.443
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 18.5
Web-safe
#663366
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue276° of 360°
Saturation20%
Lightness36%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #5f496e.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool58% cool

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

Luminance by channel
Red29%
Green57%
Blue14%

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

Every format

HEX#5f496e
HEX (8-digit)#5f496eff
RGBrgb(95, 73, 110)
RGBArgba(95, 73, 110, 1)
HSLhsl(276, 20%, 36%)
HSV / HSBhsv(276, 34%, 43%)
HWBhwb(276 29% 57%)
CMYKcmyk(14%, 34%, 0%, 57%)
LABlab(34.6 17.1 -17.9)
LCHlch(34.6 24.7 313.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.443 0.065 311.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(9.92, 8.32, 15.83)
Decimal6244718
Display P3color(display-p3 0.373 0.286 0.431)
Web-safe#663366

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #5f496e;
background-color: #5f496e;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #5f496e;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#5f496e] bg-[#5f496e]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #5f496e;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.373, green: 0.286, blue: 0.431)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.373, green: 0.286, blue: 0.431, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#5F496E</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF5F496E)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF5F496E)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(110, 73, 95)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(95, 73, 110)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(95, 73, 110)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 95, 73, 110)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.3725f, 0.2863f, 0.4314f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{95,73,110}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #5f496e 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #5f496e 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#42334D, #E2DAE7);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #5f496e 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: #F8F6F9;
  --brand-100: #F0EDF2;
  --brand-200: #DFD8E4;
  --brand-300: #C9BCD2;
  --brand-400: #AE9ABC;
  --brand-500: #9378A5;
  --brand-600: #7F6293;
  --brand-700: #6A517B;
  --brand-800: #5f496e;
  --brand-900: #3F3249;
  --brand-950: #281F2D;
  --brand: #5f496e;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F8F6F9;
  --brand-border: #D8CEDE;
  --brand-hover: #4D3B59;
  --brand-pressed: #3A2D43;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1D1622;
    --brand-ink: #E2DAE7;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F6F9',
        100: '#F0EDF2',
        200: '#DFD8E4',
        300: '#C9BCD2',
        400: '#AE9ABC',
        500: '#9378A5',
        600: '#7F6293',
        700: '#6A517B',
        800: '#5f496e',
        900: '#3F3249',
        950: '#281F2D',
        DEFAULT: '#5f496e',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F6F9,
  '100': #F0EDF2,
  '200': #DFD8E4,
  '300': #C9BCD2,
  '400': #AE9ABC,
  '500': #9378A5,
  '600': #7F6293,
  '700': #6A517B,
  '800': #5f496e,
  '900': #3F3249,
  '950': #281F2D,
);
$brand-base: #5f496e;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F6F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F0EDF2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DFD8E4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#C9BCD2", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#AE9ABC", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#9378A5", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#7F6293", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#6A517B", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#5f496e", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#3F3249", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#281F2D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #5f496e · 7.88:1
Use #ffffffAAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 7.88:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Aa
Black text · 2.66:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #5f496e as text scores 7.88:1 on white and 2.66:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F3F0F5 at 6.98:1.

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
#5f496e · 7.88:1
AA on whitealready passes
#5f496e
The quick fox
#5f496e · 7.88:1
AAA on whitealready passes
#5f496e
The quick fox
#87699B · 4.52:1
AA on black+15% L
#87699B
The quick fox
#A48DB4 · 7.05:1
AAA on black+27% L
#A48DB4

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #5F496E 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
#5f496e on white: 7.88:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#5f496e on black: 2.66:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #5f496e as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #5f496e.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White7.88:1AaAa
Slate 507.53:1AaAa
Slate 1007.19:1AaAa
Slate 2006.39:1AaAa
Slate 3005.31:1AaAa
Slate 4003.07:1AaAa
Slate 5001.66:1AaAa
Slate 6001.04:1AaAa
Slate 7001.31:1AaAa
Slate 8001.86:1AaAa
Slate 9002.27:1AaAa
Black2.66:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #43506F
deuteranopia · #47526D
tritanopia · #5D4E56

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. #5f496e is pinned to step 800; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F8F6F9
#F0EDF2
#DFD8E4
#C9BCD2
#AE9ABC
#9378A5
#7F6293
#6A517B
#5f496e
#3F3249
#281F2D
Base = 800Lightest = 50 · #F8F6F9Darkest = 950 · #281F2DText 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 0.016 311.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.026 311.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.039 311.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.051 311.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.060 311.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.065 311.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.065 311.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.061 311.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.055 311.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.045 311.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.036 311.0);
}

Colors that work with #5f496e

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#F8F6F9
Tinted page background
Border#D8CEDE
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#775C8A
Captions on the surface
Accent#627245
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#42334D
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F3F0F5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1D1622
Dark-mode background
Hover#4D3B59
One step down in lightness
Pressed#3A2D43
Two steps down
Disabled#987EA9
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#6C4784
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 #5f496e

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.

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.

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

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

Reads as
  • FormalityHigh
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight64/100
  • TemperatureNeutral
  • 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#586E49
Analogous left#4D496E
Analogous right#6E496B
Split-complement 1#6B6E49
Split-complement 2#496E4D
Triadic 1#6E5F49
Triadic 2#496E5F
Tetradic#6E4D49
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°276°

#5f496e sits at 276°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red37.3%
Green28.6%
Blue43.1%
R · 0–255
95
0x5f
G · 0–255
73
0x49
B · 0–255
110
0x6e

CMYK percentages

Cyan13.6%
Magenta33.6%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)56.9%

Total ink coverage is 104%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#5f496e text on a black background

contrast 2.66:1

Card sample

#5f496e text on a white background

contrast 7.88:1

Card sample

#5f496e on grey

7.19:1

#5f496e on its own surface

7.33:1

#5f496e on its dark surface

2.24:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #5f496e;
Background color
Panel with #5f496e background
background-color: #5f496e;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #5f496e;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(95, 73, 110, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(95, 73, 110, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #5f496e;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #5f496e, #6E4964);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #5f496e, #6E495B);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #5f496e;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #5f496e;
caret-color: #5f496e;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #5f496e;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F3F0F5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #5f496e;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#5f496e 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #5f496e 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(95, 73, 110, 0.5)
rgb(95 73 110 / 50%)
#5f496e80
hsl(276 20% 36% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #5f496e 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#5f496e1a#EFEDF1
20%#5f496e33#DFDBE2
40%#5f496e66#BFB6C5
60%#5f496e99#9F92A8
80%#5f496ecc#7F6D8B

Gradients from #5f496e

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, #7F6193, #5f496e 45%, #42334D);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #5f496e, #5C3D51);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #5f496e, #586E49);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #8E72A1 0%, #5f496e 45%, #42334D 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F6F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #5E5D8D 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #805579 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #42334D 0%, transparent 65%), #5f496e;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #5f496e

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.

#5f496e 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

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 2.66:1 — lift it to #87699B 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.

#5f496e, answered

What color is #5f496e?

#5f496e is a dark soft violet, closest to Dark Slate Blue (ΔE2000 11.9). It sits at 276° on the hue wheel with 20% saturation and 36% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #5f496e?

rgb(95, 73, 110) — 95 red, 73 green and 110 blue out of 255, or 37.3% / 28.6% / 43.1% by channel.

What is #5f496e in HSL and HSV?

hsl(276, 20%, 36%) and hsv(276, 34%, 43%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #5f496e a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.0832 and perceived brightness is 33%, so white text on it reaches 7.88:1.

Should I use black or white text on #5f496e?

White. It scores 7.88:1 against #5f496e, versus 2.66:1 for black — AAA at any size.

Is #5f496e accessible on a white background?

#5f496e on white scores 7.88:1, which clears AAA at every size.

What is the complementary color of #5f496e?

#586E49 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #6B6E49 and #496E4D, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #5f496e?

For interface work: #F8F6F9 as the surface, #D8CEDE for borders, #775C8A for secondary text, #627245 as an accent and #42334D for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #4D496E and #6E496B stays calm, while #586E49 is the loudest partner.

What is #5f496e in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(14%, 34%, 0%, 57%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #5f496e warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 58 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #6D496E; nudged cooler, #514770.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #5f496e?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 18.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #5f496e as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #5f496e in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#5f496e] or text-[#5f496e], 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 #5f496e with 50% opacity?

rgba(95, 73, 110, 0.5), or #5f496e80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #AFA4B7; over black, #302537.

Is #5f496e a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #663366, ΔE2000 8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #5f496e 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 moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #5f496e?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #7F6193, #5f496e 45%, #42334D). For more colour, a short hue run to #5C3D51 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #5f496e in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #5f496e at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.