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violet · cool

#851cdf

a balanced, electric violet · cool · closest name: Blue Violet

Token name suggestion: Atlas Iris

RGB
133, 28, 223
HSL
272°, 78%, 49%
CMYK
40, 87, 0, 13
Luminance
0.1114

#851cdf is a balanced electric violet, 272° on the wheel and 65/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (6.50:1). As text it scores 6.50:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Blue Violet, nearest Tailwind family is violet.

hsl(272 78% 49%)rgb(133 28 223)Base step 600AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #851cdf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#851cdf
Hue
272°
violet
Saturation
78%
electric
Lightness
49%
balanced
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
42%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1114
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
65/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Electric
Best ink
White
6.50:1
Closest name
Blue Violet
ΔE2000 2.2
Chroma
105.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.515
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
violet
500 · ΔE 12.7
Web-safe
#9933CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue272° of 360°
Saturation78%
Lightness49%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #851cdf.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool65% 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
Red45%
Green7%
Blue48%

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

Every format

HEX#851cdf
HEX (8-digit)#851cdfff
RGBrgb(133, 28, 223)
RGBArgba(133, 28, 223, 1)
HSLhsl(272, 78%, 49%)
HSV / HSBhsv(272, 87%, 87%)
HWBhwb(272 11% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(40%, 87%, 0%, 13%)
LABlab(39.8 72.8 -77.0)
LCHlch(39.8 105.9 313.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.515 0.257 301.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(23.40, 11.14, 70.72)
Decimal8723679
Display P3color(display-p3 0.522 0.110 0.875)
Web-safe#9933CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #851cdf;
background-color: #851cdf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #851cdf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#851cdf] bg-[#851cdf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #851cdf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.522, green: 0.110, blue: 0.875)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.522, green: 0.110, blue: 0.875, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#851CDF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF851CDF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF851CDF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(223, 28, 133)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(133, 28, 223)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(133, 28, 223)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 133, 28, 223)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5216f, 0.1098f, 0.8745f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{133,28,223}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #851cdf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #851cdf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#440E71, #E1D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #851cdf 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: #F8F3FC;
  --brand-100: #F0E6F9;
  --brand-200: #E0C7F5;
  --brand-300: #CA9BF2;
  --brand-400: #B069EC;
  --brand-500: #9538E6;
  --brand-600: #851cdf;
  --brand-700: #6C17B5;
  --brand-800: #561291;
  --brand-900: #411169;
  --brand-950: #280B42;
  --brand: #851cdf;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F8F4FA;
  --brand-border: #D8C0ED;
  --brand-hover: #7218BF;
  --brand-pressed: #5F14A0;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1D1424;
    --brand-ink: #E1D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F3FC',
        100: '#F0E6F9',
        200: '#E0C7F5',
        300: '#CA9BF2',
        400: '#B069EC',
        500: '#9538E6',
        600: '#851cdf',
        700: '#6C17B5',
        800: '#561291',
        900: '#411169',
        950: '#280B42',
        DEFAULT: '#851cdf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F3FC,
  '100': #F0E6F9,
  '200': #E0C7F5,
  '300': #CA9BF2,
  '400': #B069EC,
  '500': #9538E6,
  '600': #851cdf,
  '700': #6C17B5,
  '800': #561291,
  '900': #411169,
  '950': #280B42,
);
$brand-base: #851cdf;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F3FC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F0E6F9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E0C7F5", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#CA9BF2", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#B069EC", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#9538E6", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#851cdf", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#6C17B5", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#561291", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#411169", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#280B42", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #851cdf · 6.50:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 6.50:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 3.23:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #851cdf as text scores 6.50:1 on white and 3.23:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F3E8FC at 5.50:1.

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
#851cdf · 6.50:1
AA on whitealready passes
#851cdf
The quick fox
#7D1AD1 · 7.14:1
AAA on white−3% L
#7D1AD1
The quick fox
#A04BE8 · 4.67:1
AA on black+11% L
#A04BE8
The quick fox
#BA7CEF · 7.22:1
AAA on black+22% L
#BA7CEF

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #851CDF 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
#851cdf on white: 6.50:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#851cdf on black: 3.23:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #851cdf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #851cdf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White6.50:1AaAa
Slate 506.22:1AaAa
Slate 1005.94:1AaAa
Slate 2005.28:1AaAa
Slate 3004.38:1AaAa
Slate 4002.54:1AaAa
Slate 5001.37:1AaAa
Slate 6001.17:1AaAa
Slate 7001.59:1AaAa
Slate 8002.25:1AaAa
Slate 9002.75:1AaAa
Black3.23:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #005DE4
deuteranopia · #005DDC
tritanopia · #705A85

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. #851cdf 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.

#F8F3FC
#F0E6F9
#E0C7F5
#CA9BF2
#B069EC
#9538E6
#851cdf
#6C17B5
#561291
#411169
#280B42
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F8F3FCDarkest = 950 · #280B42Text step on white = 500
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 0.064 301.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.103 301.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.154 301.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.200 301.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.236 301.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.257 301.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.257 301.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.242 301.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.216 301.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.180 301.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.141 301.1);
}

Colors that work with #851cdf

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#F8F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#D8C0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#764B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#89B913
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#440E71
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F3E8FC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1D1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#7218BF
One step down in lightness
Pressed#5F14A0
Two steps down
Disabled#B7A5C6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#901FF0
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 #851cdf

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

Works well for
  • Body text and links on white
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • 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.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. 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
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight51/100
  • 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#76DF1C
Analogous left#231CDF
Analogous right#DF1CD7
Split-complement 1#D7DF1C
Split-complement 2#1CDF23
Triadic 1#DF851C
Triadic 2#1CDF85
Tetradic#DF231C
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°272°

#851cdf sits at 272°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red52.2%
Green11.0%
Blue87.5%
R · 0–255
133
0x85
G · 0–255
28
0x1c
B · 0–255
223
0xdf

CMYK percentages

Cyan40.4%
Magenta87.4%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)12.5%

Total ink coverage is 140%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#851cdf text on a black background

contrast 3.23:1

Card sample

#851cdf text on a white background

contrast 6.50:1

Card sample

#851cdf on grey

5.94:1

#851cdf on its own surface

5.98:1

#851cdf on its dark surface

2.74:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #851cdf;
Background color
Panel with #851cdf background
background-color: #851cdf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #851cdf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(133, 28, 223, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(133, 28, 223, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #851cdf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #851cdf, #DF1CB7);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #851cdf, #DF1C86);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #851cdf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #851cdf;
caret-color: #851cdf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #851cdf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F3E8FC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #851cdf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#851cdf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #851cdf 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(133, 28, 223, 0.5)
rgb(133 28 223 / 50%)
#851cdf80
hsl(272 78% 49% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #851cdf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#851cdf1a#F3E8FC
20%#851cdf33#E7D2F9
40%#851cdf66#CEA4F2
60%#851cdf99#B677EC
80%#851cdfcc#9D49E5

Gradients from #851cdf

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, #A24FE9, #851cdf 45%, #440E71);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #851cdf, #C41992);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #851cdf, #76DF1C);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #B06AEC 0%, #851cdf 45%, #440E71 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #464DE8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E634D0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #440E71 0%, transparent 65%), #851cdf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #851cdf

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.

#851cdf 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

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

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 3.23:1 — lift it to #A04BE8 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.

#851cdf, answered

What color is #851cdf?

#851cdf is a balanced electric violet, closest to Blue Violet (ΔE2000 2.2). It sits at 272° on the hue wheel with 78% saturation and 49% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #851cdf?

rgb(133, 28, 223) — 133 red, 28 green and 223 blue out of 255, or 52.2% / 11% / 87.5% by channel.

What is #851cdf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(272, 78%, 49%) and hsv(272, 87%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #851cdf a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1114 and perceived brightness is 42%, so white text on it reaches 6.50:1.

Should I use black or white text on #851cdf?

White. It scores 6.50:1 against #851cdf, versus 3.23:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #851cdf accessible on a white background?

#851cdf on white scores 6.50:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #851cdf?

#76DF1C sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #D7DF1C and #1CDF23, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #851cdf?

For interface work: #F8F4FA as the surface, #D8C0ED for borders, #764B9B for secondary text, #89B913 as an accent and #440E71 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #231CDF and #DF1CD7 stays calm, while #76DF1C is the loudest partner.

What is #851cdf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(40%, 87%, 0%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #851cdf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 65 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CC1CDF; nudged cooler, #3C19E1.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #851cdf?

The violet family — its 500 step is #8b5cf6, ΔE2000 12.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #851cdf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #851cdf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#851cdf] or text-[#851cdf], 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 #851cdf with 50% opacity?

rgba(133, 28, 223, 0.5), or #851cdf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C28EEF; over black, #430E70.

Is #851cdf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9933CC, ΔE2000 5.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #851cdf 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 chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #851cdf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #A24FE9, #851cdf 45%, #440E71). For more colour, a short hue run to #C41992 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #851cdf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #851cdf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.