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blue · cool

#655596

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

Token name suggestion: Signal Cobalt

RGB
101, 85, 150
HSL
255°, 28%, 46%
CMYK
33, 43, 0, 41
Luminance
0.1147

#655596 is a balanced soft blue, 255° on the wheel and 70/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (6.38:1). As text it scores 6.38:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Dark Slate Blue, nearest Tailwind family is slate.

hsl(255 28% 46%)rgb(101 85 150)Base step 600AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #655596 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#655596
Hue
255°
blue
Saturation
28%
soft
Lightness
46%
balanced
Brightness
59%
HSV value
Perceived
39%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1147
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
70/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
White
6.38:1
Closest name
Dark Slate Blue
ΔE2000 8.6
Chroma
40.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.494
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
slate
500 · ΔE 13.6
Web-safe
#666699
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue255° of 360°
Saturation28%
Lightness46%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #655596.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool70% 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
Red24%
Green57%
Blue19%

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

Every format

HEX#655596
HEX (8-digit)#655596ff
RGBrgb(101, 85, 150)
RGBArgba(101, 85, 150, 1)
HSLhsl(255, 28%, 46%)
HSV / HSBhsv(255, 43%, 59%)
HWBhwb(255 33% 41%)
CMYKcmyk(33%, 43%, 0%, 41%)
LABlab(40.4 21.9 -33.4)
LCHlch(40.4 40.0 303.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.494 0.102 293.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(14.12, 11.47, 30.32)
Decimal6641046
Display P3color(display-p3 0.396 0.333 0.588)
Web-safe#666699

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #655596;
background-color: #655596;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #655596;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#655596] bg-[#655596]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #655596;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.396, green: 0.333, blue: 0.588)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.396, green: 0.333, blue: 0.588, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#655596</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF655596)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF655596)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(150, 85, 101)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(101, 85, 150)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(101, 85, 150)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 101, 85, 150)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.3961f, 0.3333f, 0.5882f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{101,85,150}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #655596 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #655596 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#372E51, #DCD8E9);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #655596 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: #F7F6F9;
  --brand-100: #EEECF3;
  --brand-200: #DAD6E6;
  --brand-300: #BFB7D6;
  --brand-400: #9F94C2;
  --brand-500: #7F70AE;
  --brand-600: #655596;
  --brand-700: #584A82;
  --brand-800: #463B68;
  --brand-900: #352E4D;
  --brand-950: #211D30;
  --brand: #655596;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F6F5F9;
  --brand-border: #D0CBE2;
  --brand-hover: #56487F;
  --brand-pressed: #463B69;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #181424;
    --brand-ink: #DCD8E9;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F6F9',
        100: '#EEECF3',
        200: '#DAD6E6',
        300: '#BFB7D6',
        400: '#9F94C2',
        500: '#7F70AE',
        600: '#655596',
        700: '#584A82',
        800: '#463B68',
        900: '#352E4D',
        950: '#211D30',
        DEFAULT: '#655596',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F6F9,
  '100': #EEECF3,
  '200': #DAD6E6,
  '300': #BFB7D6,
  '400': #9F94C2,
  '500': #7F70AE,
  '600': #655596,
  '700': #584A82,
  '800': #463B68,
  '900': #352E4D,
  '950': #211D30,
);
$brand-base: #655596;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F6F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EEECF3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DAD6E6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#BFB7D6", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#9F94C2", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7F70AE", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#655596", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#584A82", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#463B68", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#352E4D", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#211D30", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #655596 · 6.38:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 6.38:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 3.29:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #655596 as text scores 6.38:1 on white and 3.29:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F0EFF6 at 5.58:1.

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
#655596 · 6.38:1
AA on whitealready passes
#655596
The quick fox
#5E4F8C · 7.06:1
AAA on white−3% L
#5E4F8C
The quick fox
#7C6DAC · 4.64:1
AA on black+9% L
#7C6DAC
The quick fox
#9C91C1 · 7.23:1
AAA on black+20% L
#9C91C1

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #655596 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
#655596 on white: 6.38:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#655596 on black: 3.29:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #655596 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #655596.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White6.38:1AaAa
Slate 506.09:1AaAa
Slate 1005.82:1AaAa
Slate 2005.17:1AaAa
Slate 3004.30:1AaAa
Slate 4002.49:1AaAa
Slate 5001.34:1AaAa
Slate 6001.19:1AaAa
Slate 7001.62:1AaAa
Slate 8002.29:1AaAa
Slate 9002.80:1AaAa
Black3.29:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #416098
deuteranopia · #435E94
tritanopia · #5A616E

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. #655596 is pinned to step 600; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F7F6F9
#EEECF3
#DAD6E6
#BFB7D6
#9F94C2
#7F70AE
#655596
#584A82
#463B68
#352E4D
#211D30
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F7F6F9Darkest = 950 · #211D30Text 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 0.026 293.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.041 293.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.061 293.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.080 293.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.094 293.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.102 293.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.102 293.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.096 293.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.086 293.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.072 293.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.056 293.6);
}

Colors that work with #655596

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#F6F5F9
Tinted page background
Border#D0CBE2
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#635393
Captions on the surface
Accent#878745
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#372E51
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F0EFF6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#181424
Dark-mode background
Hover#56487F
One step down in lightness
Pressed#463B69
Two steps down
Disabled#A59CC0
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#6750B0
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 #655596

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

Works well for
  • Body text and links on white
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • 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 mid lightness keeps it versatile in both themes.

Worth knowing

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

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight54/100
  • 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#869655
Analogous left#556596
Analogous right#865596
Split-complement 1#968655
Split-complement 2#659655
Triadic 1#966555
Triadic 2#559665
Tetradic#965565
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°255°

#655596 sits at 255°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red39.6%
Green33.3%
Blue58.8%
R · 0–255
101
0x65
G · 0–255
85
0x55
B · 0–255
150
0x96

CMYK percentages

Cyan32.7%
Magenta43.3%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)41.2%

Total ink coverage is 117%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#655596 text on a black background

contrast 3.29:1

Card sample

#655596 text on a white background

contrast 6.38:1

Card sample

#655596 on grey

5.82:1

#655596 on its own surface

5.88:1

#655596 on its dark surface

2.83:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #655596;
Background color
Panel with #655596 background
background-color: #655596;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #655596;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(101, 85, 150, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(101, 85, 150, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #655596;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #655596, #905596);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #655596, #96558B);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #655596;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #655596;
caret-color: #655596;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #655596;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F0EFF6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #655596;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#655596 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #655596 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(101, 85, 150, 0.5)
rgb(101 85 150 / 50%)
#65559680
hsl(255 28% 46% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #655596 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#6555961a#F0EEF5
20%#65559633#E0DDEA
40%#65559666#C1BBD5
60%#65559699#A399C0
80%#655596cc#8477AB

Gradients from #655596

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, #8577B2, #655596 45%, #372E51);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #655596, #824A83);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #655596, #869655);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #978ABD 0%, #655596 45%, #372E51 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F5F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #7085AE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #9B63A7 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #372E51 0%, transparent 65%), #655596;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #655596

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.

#655596 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 3.29:1 — lift it to #7C6DAC 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.

#655596, answered

What color is #655596?

#655596 is a balanced soft blue, closest to Dark Slate Blue (ΔE2000 8.6). It sits at 255° on the hue wheel with 28% saturation and 46% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #655596?

rgb(101, 85, 150) — 101 red, 85 green and 150 blue out of 255, or 39.6% / 33.3% / 58.8% by channel.

What is #655596 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(255, 28%, 46%) and hsv(255, 43%, 59%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #655596 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1147 and perceived brightness is 39%, so white text on it reaches 6.38:1.

Should I use black or white text on #655596?

White. It scores 6.38:1 against #655596, versus 3.29:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #655596 accessible on a white background?

#655596 on white scores 6.38:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #655596?

#869655 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #968655 and #659655, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #655596?

For interface work: #F6F5F9 as the surface, #D0CBE2 for borders, #635393 for secondary text, #878745 as an accent and #372E51 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #556596 and #865596 stays calm, while #869655 is the loudest partner.

What is #655596 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(33%, 43%, 0%, 41%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #655596 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 70 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #7D5596; nudged cooler, #535B98.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #655596?

The slate family — its 500 step is #64748b, ΔE2000 13.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #655596 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #655596 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#655596] or text-[#655596], 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 #655596 with 50% opacity?

rgba(101, 85, 150, 0.5), or #65559680 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #B2AACB; over black, #332B4B.

Is #655596 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #666699, ΔE2000 6.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #655596 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 #655596?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #8577B2, #655596 45%, #372E51). For more colour, a short hue run to #824A83 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #655596 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #655596 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.