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violet · neutral

#7f718b

a balanced, muted violet · neutral · closest name: Gray

Token name suggestion: Atlas Amethyst

RGB
127, 113, 139
HSL
272°, 10%, 49%
CMYK
9, 19, 0, 46
Luminance
0.1819

#7f718b is a balanced muted violet, 272° on the wheel and 55/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (4.64:1). As text it scores 4.53:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Gray, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(272 10% 49%)rgb(127 113 139)Base step 600AA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #7f718b is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#7f718b
Hue
272°
violet
Saturation
10%
muted
Lightness
49%
balanced
Brightness
55%
HSV value
Perceived
47%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1819
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
55/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
4.64:1
Closest name
Gray
ΔE2000 14.3
Chroma
16.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.571
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 9.9
Web-safe
#666699
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue272° of 360°
Saturation10%
Lightness49%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #7f718b.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool55% 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
Red25%
Green65%
Blue10%

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

Every format

HEX#7f718b
HEX (8-digit)#7f718bff
RGBrgb(127, 113, 139)
RGBArgba(127, 113, 139, 1)
HSLhsl(272, 10%, 49%)
HSV / HSBhsv(272, 19%, 55%)
HWBhwb(272 44% 45%)
CMYKcmyk(9%, 19%, 0%, 46%)
LABlab(49.7 10.7 -12.2)
LCHlch(49.7 16.2 311.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.571 0.043 309.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(19.32, 18.19, 26.91)
Decimal8352139
Display P3color(display-p3 0.498 0.443 0.545)
Web-safe#666699

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #7f718b;
background-color: #7f718b;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #7f718b;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#7f718b] bg-[#7f718b]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #7f718b;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.498, green: 0.443, blue: 0.545)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.498, green: 0.443, blue: 0.545, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#7F718B</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF7F718B)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF7F718B)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(139, 113, 127)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(127, 113, 139)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(127, 113, 139)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 127, 113, 139)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.4980f, 0.4431f, 0.5451f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{127,113,139}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #7f718b 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #7f718b 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#403946, #E1DDE4);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #7f718b 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: #F7F7F8;
  --brand-100: #F0EEF1;
  --brand-200: #DEDBE1;
  --brand-300: #C7C1CD;
  --brand-400: #ACA2B4;
  --brand-500: #90839A;
  --brand-600: #7f718b;
  --brand-700: #675B71;
  --brand-800: #52495A;
  --brand-900: #3E3743;
  --brand-950: #27232A;
  --brand: #7f718b;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F7F7F8;
  --brand-border: #D7D2DA;
  --brand-hover: #6D6177;
  --brand-pressed: #5B5164;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1C191F;
    --brand-ink: #E1DDE4;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F7F8',
        100: '#F0EEF1',
        200: '#DEDBE1',
        300: '#C7C1CD',
        400: '#ACA2B4',
        500: '#90839A',
        600: '#7f718b',
        700: '#675B71',
        800: '#52495A',
        900: '#3E3743',
        950: '#27232A',
        DEFAULT: '#7f718b',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F7F8,
  '100': #F0EEF1,
  '200': #DEDBE1,
  '300': #C7C1CD,
  '400': #ACA2B4,
  '500': #90839A,
  '600': #7f718b,
  '700': #675B71,
  '800': #52495A,
  '900': #3E3743,
  '950': #27232A,
);
$brand-base: #7f718b;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F7F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F0EEF1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DEDBE1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#C7C1CD", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#ACA2B4", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#90839A", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#7f718b", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#675B71", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#52495A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#3E3743", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#27232A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#000000", "$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#000000 on #7f718b · 4.64:1
Use #000000AA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 4.53:1
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 4.64:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #7f718b as text scores 4.53:1 on white and 4.64:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #403946 at 2.45:1.

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
#7f718b · 4.53:1
AA on whitealready passes
#7f718b
The quick fox
#5E5366 · 7.23:1
AAA on white−13% L
#5E5366
The quick fox
#7f718b · 4.64:1
AA on blackalready passes
#7f718b
The quick fox
#9D92A7 · 7.10:1
AAA on black+12% L
#9D92A7

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #7F718B 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
#7f718b on white: 4.53:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#7f718b on black: 4.64:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #7f718b as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #7f718b.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White4.53:1AaAa
Slate 504.33:1AaAa
Slate 1004.13:1AaAa
Slate 2003.67:1AaAa
Slate 3003.05:1AaAa
Slate 4001.77:1AaAa
Slate 5001.05:1AaAa
Slate 6001.67:1AaAa
Slate 7002.29:1AaAa
Slate 8003.23:1AaAa
Slate 9003.94:1AaAa
Black4.64:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #6D768C
deuteranopia · #70768A
tritanopia · #7E747A

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. #7f718b 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.

#F7F7F8
#F0EEF1
#DEDBE1
#C7C1CD
#ACA2B4
#90839A
#7f718b
#675B71
#52495A
#3E3743
#27232A
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F7F7F8Darkest = 950 · #27232AText 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 0.011 309.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.017 309.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.026 309.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.033 309.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.039 309.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.043 309.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.043 309.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.040 309.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.036 309.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.030 309.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.023 309.3);
}

Colors that work with #7f718b

Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.

Text on it#000000
Black wins here
Surface#F7F7F8
Tinted page background
Border#D7D2DA
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#74677F
Captions on the surface
Accent#86906C
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#403946
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F2F1F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1C191F
Dark-mode background
Hover#6D6177
One step down in lightness
Pressed#5B5164
Two steps down
Disabled#B7AFBE
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#8A70A0
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 #7f718b

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

Works well for
  • Body text and links on white
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Borders, dividers and quiet backgrounds
  • Long-form reading surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
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.

With almost no chroma left, the family association is barely present; treat it as a neutral that happens to lean this way. 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
  • EnergyLow
  • Weight51/100
  • 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#7D8B71
Analogous left#72718B
Analogous right#8B718A
Split-complement 1#8A8B71
Split-complement 2#718B72
Triadic 1#8B7F71
Triadic 2#718B7F
Tetradic#8B7271
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°272°

#7f718b sits at 272°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red49.8%
Green44.3%
Blue54.5%
R · 0–255
127
0x7f
G · 0–255
113
0x71
B · 0–255
139
0x8b

CMYK percentages

Cyan8.6%
Magenta18.7%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)45.5%

Total ink coverage is 73%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#7f718b text on a black background

contrast 4.64:1

Card sample

#7f718b text on a white background

contrast 4.53:1

Card sample

#7f718b on grey

4.13:1

#7f718b on its own surface

4.23:1

#7f718b on its dark surface

3.84:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #7f718b;
Background color
Panel with #7f718b background
background-color: #7f718b;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #7f718b;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(127, 113, 139, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(127, 113, 139, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #7f718b;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #7f718b, #8B7186);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #7f718b, #8B717F);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #7f718b;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #7f718b;
caret-color: #7f718b;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #7f718b;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F2F1F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #7f718b;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#7f718b 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #7f718b 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(127, 113, 139, 0.5)
rgb(127 113 139 / 50%)
#7f718b80
hsl(272 10% 49% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #7f718b 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#7f718b1a#F2F1F3
20%#7f718b33#E5E3E8
40%#7f718b66#CCC6D1
60%#7f718b99#B2AAB9
80%#7f718bcc#998DA2

Gradients from #7f718b

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, #9D92A7, #7f718b 45%, #403946);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #7f718b, #7A6373);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #7f718b, #7D8B71);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #ADA3B4 0%, #7f718b 45%, #403946 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F7F7F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #8D8EA2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #998296 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #403946 0%, transparent 65%), #7f718b;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #7f718b

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.

#7f718b 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

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 4.64:1.

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.

#7f718b, answered

What color is #7f718b?

#7f718b is a balanced muted violet, closest to Gray (ΔE2000 14.3). It sits at 272° on the hue wheel with 10% saturation and 49% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #7f718b?

rgb(127, 113, 139) — 127 red, 113 green and 139 blue out of 255, or 49.8% / 44.3% / 54.5% by channel.

What is #7f718b in HSL and HSV?

hsl(272, 10%, 49%) and hsv(272, 19%, 55%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #7f718b a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.1819 and perceived brightness is 47%, so black text on it reaches 4.64:1.

Should I use black or white text on #7f718b?

Black. It scores 4.64:1 against #7f718b, versus 4.53:1 for white — AA at any size.

Is #7f718b accessible on a white background?

#7f718b on white scores 4.53:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #7f718b?

#7D8B71 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #8A8B71 and #718B72, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #7f718b?

For interface work: #F7F7F8 as the surface, #D7D2DA for borders, #74677F for secondary text, #86906C as an accent and #403946 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #72718B and #8B718A stays calm, while #7D8B71 is the loudest partner.

What is #7f718b in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(9%, 19%, 0%, 46%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #7f718b warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 55 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #88718B; nudged cooler, #746E8D.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #7f718b?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 9.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #7f718b as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #7f718b in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#7f718b] or text-[#7f718b], 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 #7f718b with 50% opacity?

rgba(127, 113, 139, 0.5), or #7f718b80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #BFB8C5; over black, #403946.

Is #7f718b a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #666699, ΔE2000 10.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #7f718b 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 #7f718b?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #9D92A7, #7f718b 45%, #403946). For more colour, a short hue run to #7A6373 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #7f718b in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #7f718b at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.