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violet · cool

#78618d

a balanced, soft violet · cool · closest name: Slate Blue

Token name suggestion: Studio Amethyst

RGB
120, 97, 141
HSL
271°, 19%, 47%
CMYK
15, 31, 0, 45
Luminance
0.1447

#78618d is a balanced soft violet, 271° on the wheel and 58/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (5.39:1). As text it scores 5.39:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Slate Blue, nearest Tailwind family is gray.

hsl(271 19% 47%)rgb(120 97 141)Base step 600AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #78618d is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#78618d
Hue
271°
violet
Saturation
19%
soft
Lightness
47%
balanced
Brightness
55%
HSV value
Perceived
43%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1447
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
58/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Soft
Best ink
White
5.39:1
Closest name
Slate Blue
ΔE2000 14.6
Chroma
27.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.532
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
gray
500 · ΔE 15.3
Web-safe
#666699
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue271° of 360°
Saturation19%
Lightness47%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #78618d.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool58% 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
Red28%
Green59%
Blue13%

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

Every format

HEX#78618d
HEX (8-digit)#78618dff
RGBrgb(120, 97, 141)
RGBArgba(120, 97, 141, 1)
HSLhsl(271, 19%, 47%)
HSV / HSBhsv(271, 31%, 55%)
HWBhwb(271 38% 45%)
CMYKcmyk(15%, 31%, 0%, 45%)
LABlab(44.9 18.3 -20.8)
LCHlch(44.9 27.7 311.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.532 0.072 307.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(16.83, 14.47, 27.10)
Decimal7889293
Display P3color(display-p3 0.471 0.380 0.553)
Web-safe#666699

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #78618d;
background-color: #78618d;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #78618d;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#78618d] bg-[#78618d]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #78618d;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.471, green: 0.380, blue: 0.553)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.471, green: 0.380, blue: 0.553, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#78618D</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF78618D)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF78618D)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(141, 97, 120)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(120, 97, 141)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(120, 97, 141)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 120, 97, 141)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.4706f, 0.3804f, 0.5529f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{120,97,141}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #78618d 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #78618d 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#40344C, #E1DBE6);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #78618d 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: #F0EDF2;
  --brand-200: #DED8E3;
  --brand-300: #C7BDD1;
  --brand-400: #AC9BBA;
  --brand-500: #907AA4;
  --brand-600: #78618d;
  --brand-700: #675379;
  --brand-800: #524361;
  --brand-900: #3E3348;
  --brand-950: #27202D;
  --brand: #78618d;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F7F6F9;
  --brand-border: #D7CFDE;
  --brand-hover: #665378;
  --brand-pressed: #544463;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1C1721;
    --brand-ink: #E1DBE6;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F6F8',
        100: '#F0EDF2',
        200: '#DED8E3',
        300: '#C7BDD1',
        400: '#AC9BBA',
        500: '#907AA4',
        600: '#78618d',
        700: '#675379',
        800: '#524361',
        900: '#3E3348',
        950: '#27202D',
        DEFAULT: '#78618d',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F6F8,
  '100': #F0EDF2,
  '200': #DED8E3,
  '300': #C7BDD1,
  '400': #AC9BBA,
  '500': #907AA4,
  '600': #78618d,
  '700': #675379,
  '800': #524361,
  '900': #3E3348,
  '950': #27202D,
);
$brand-base: #78618d;
$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": "#F0EDF2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DED8E3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#C7BDD1", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#AC9BBA", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#907AA4", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#78618d", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#675379", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#524361", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#3E3348", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#27202D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #78618d · 5.39:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 5.39:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 3.89:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #78618d as text scores 5.39:1 on white and 3.89:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F2F0F5 at 4.77:1.

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
#78618d · 5.39:1
AA on whitealready passes
#78618d
The quick fox
#645075 · 7.13:1
AAA on white−8% L
#645075
The quick fox
#856D9B · 4.66:1
AA on black+5% L
#856D9B
The quick fox
#A18EB1 · 7.02:1
AAA on black+16% L
#A18EB1

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #78618D 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
#78618d on white: 5.39:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#78618d on black: 3.89:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #78618d as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #78618d.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White5.39:1AaAa
Slate 505.16:1AaAa
Slate 1004.92:1AaAa
Slate 2004.38:1AaAa
Slate 3003.63:1AaAa
Slate 4002.10:1AaAa
Slate 5001.13:1AaAa
Slate 6001.40:1AaAa
Slate 7001.92:1AaAa
Slate 8002.71:1AaAa
Slate 9003.31:1AaAa
Black3.89:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #59698F
deuteranopia · #5E6B8C
tritanopia · #756771

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. #78618d 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.

#F7F6F8
#F0EDF2
#DED8E3
#C7BDD1
#AC9BBA
#907AA4
#78618d
#675379
#524361
#3E3348
#27202D
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F7F6F8Darkest = 950 · #27202DText 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 0.018 307.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.029 307.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.043 307.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.056 307.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.067 307.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.072 307.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.072 307.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.068 307.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.061 307.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.051 307.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.040 307.9);
}

Colors that work with #78618d

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#F7F6F9
Tinted page background
Border#D7CFDE
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#745E88
Captions on the surface
Accent#83925C
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#40344C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F2F0F5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1C1721
Dark-mode background
Hover#665378
One step down in lightness
Pressed#544463
Two steps down
Disabled#B0A0BE
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#835DA5
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 #78618d

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.

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 mid lightness keeps it versatile in both themes.

Worth knowing

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

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight53/100
  • 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#768D61
Analogous left#62618D
Analogous right#8D618C
Split-complement 1#8C8D61
Split-complement 2#618D62
Triadic 1#8D7861
Triadic 2#618D78
Tetradic#8D6261
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°271°

#78618d sits at 271°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red47.1%
Green38.0%
Blue55.3%
R · 0–255
120
0x78
G · 0–255
97
0x61
B · 0–255
141
0x8d

CMYK percentages

Cyan14.9%
Magenta31.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)44.7%

Total ink coverage is 91%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#78618d text on a black background

contrast 3.89:1

Card sample

#78618d text on a white background

contrast 5.39:1

Card sample

#78618d on grey

4.92:1

#78618d on its own surface

5.01:1

#78618d on its dark surface

3.26:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #78618d;
Background color
Panel with #78618d background
background-color: #78618d;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #78618d;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(120, 97, 141, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(120, 97, 141, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #78618d;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #78618d, #8D6185);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #78618d, #8D617A);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #78618d;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #78618d;
caret-color: #78618d;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #78618d;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F2F0F5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #78618d;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#78618d 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #78618d 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(120, 97, 141, 0.5)
rgb(120 97 141 / 50%)
#78618d80
hsl(271 19% 47% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #78618d 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#78618d1a#F2EFF4
20%#78618d33#E4DFE8
40%#78618d66#C9C0D1
60%#78618d99#AEA0BB
80%#78618dcc#9381A4

Gradients from #78618d

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, #9782A9, #78618d 45%, #40344C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #78618d, #7B5570);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #78618d, #768D61);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #A694B6 0%, #78618d 45%, #40344C 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F7F6F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #7C7FA5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #9D7098 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #40344C 0%, transparent 65%), #78618d;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #78618d

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.

#78618d 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 3.89:1 — lift it to #856D9B 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.

#78618d, answered

What color is #78618d?

#78618d is a balanced soft violet, closest to Slate Blue (ΔE2000 14.6). It sits at 271° on the hue wheel with 19% saturation and 47% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #78618d?

rgb(120, 97, 141) — 120 red, 97 green and 141 blue out of 255, or 47.1% / 38% / 55.3% by channel.

What is #78618d in HSL and HSV?

hsl(271, 19%, 47%) and hsv(271, 31%, 55%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #78618d a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1447 and perceived brightness is 43%, so white text on it reaches 5.39:1.

Should I use black or white text on #78618d?

White. It scores 5.39:1 against #78618d, versus 3.89:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #78618d accessible on a white background?

#78618d on white scores 5.39:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #78618d?

#768D61 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #8C8D61 and #618D62, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #78618d?

For interface work: #F7F6F9 as the surface, #D7CFDE for borders, #745E88 for secondary text, #83925C as an accent and #40344C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #62618D and #8D618C stays calm, while #768D61 is the loudest partner.

What is #78618d in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(15%, 31%, 0%, 45%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #78618d warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 58 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #88618D; nudged cooler, #665F8F.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #78618d?

The gray family — its 500 step is #6b7280, ΔE2000 15.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #78618d as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #78618d in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#78618d] or text-[#78618d], 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 #78618d with 50% opacity?

rgba(120, 97, 141, 0.5), or #78618d80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #BCB0C6; over black, #3C3147.

Is #78618d a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #666699, ΔE2000 7.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #78618d 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 #78618d?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #9782A9, #78618d 45%, #40344C). For more colour, a short hue run to #7B5570 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #78618d in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #78618d at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.