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magenta / pink · neutral

#856474

a balanced, muted magenta / pink · neutral · closest name: Dim Gray

Token name suggestion: True Fuchsia

RGB
133, 100, 116
HSL
331°, 14%, 46%
CMYK
0, 25, 13, 48
Luminance
0.1536

#856474 is a balanced muted magenta / pink, 331° on the wheel and 43/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (5.16:1). As text it scores 5.16:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Dim Gray, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(331 14% 46%)rgb(133 100 116)Base step 600AA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #856474 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#856474
Hue
331°
magenta / pink
Saturation
14%
muted
Lightness
46%
balanced
Brightness
52%
HSV value
Perceived
44%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1536
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
43/100 cool
Color family
Magenta / pink
Tone
Muted
Best ink
White
5.16:1
Closest name
Dim Gray
ΔE2000 15.7
Chroma
16.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.542
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 13.7
Web-safe
#996666
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue331° of 360°
Saturation14%
Lightness46%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #856474.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool43% 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
Red32%
Green59%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#856474
HEX (8-digit)#856474ff
RGBrgb(133, 100, 116)
RGBArgba(133, 100, 116, 1)
HSLhsl(331, 14%, 46%)
HSV / HSBhsv(331, 25%, 52%)
HWBhwb(331 39% 48%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 25%, 13%, 48%)
LABlab(46.1 16.0 -3.8)
LCHlch(46.1 16.5 346.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.542 0.048 348.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(17.38, 15.36, 18.57)
Decimal8742004
Display P3color(display-p3 0.522 0.392 0.455)
Web-safe#996666

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #856474;
background-color: #856474;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #856474;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#856474] bg-[#856474]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #856474;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.522, green: 0.392, blue: 0.455)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.522, green: 0.392, blue: 0.455, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#856474</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF856474)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF856474)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(116, 100, 133)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(133, 100, 116)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(133, 100, 116)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 133, 100, 116)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5216f, 0.3922f, 0.4549f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{133,100,116}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #856474 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #856474 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#49373F, #E5DCE0);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #856474 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: #F8F7F7;
  --brand-100: #F1EEF0;
  --brand-200: #E2DADE;
  --brand-300: #CFBFC7;
  --brand-400: #B79FAA;
  --brand-500: #9F7F8E;
  --brand-600: #856474;
  --brand-700: #745866;
  --brand-800: #5D4651;
  --brand-900: #45353D;
  --brand-950: #2B2126;
  --brand: #856474;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F8F6F7;
  --brand-border: #DCD0D6;
  --brand-hover: #715562;
  --brand-pressed: #5C4550;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #20181C;
    --brand-ink: #E5DCE0;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F7F7',
        100: '#F1EEF0',
        200: '#E2DADE',
        300: '#CFBFC7',
        400: '#B79FAA',
        500: '#9F7F8E',
        600: '#856474',
        700: '#745866',
        800: '#5D4651',
        900: '#45353D',
        950: '#2B2126',
        DEFAULT: '#856474',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F7F7,
  '100': #F1EEF0,
  '200': #E2DADE,
  '300': #CFBFC7,
  '400': #B79FAA,
  '500': #9F7F8E,
  '600': #856474,
  '700': #745866,
  '800': #5D4651,
  '900': #45353D,
  '950': #2B2126,
);
$brand-base: #856474;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F7F7", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F1EEF0", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E2DADE", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#CFBFC7", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#B79FAA", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#9F7F8E", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#856474", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#745866", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#5D4651", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#45353D", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2B2126", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #856474 · 5.16:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 5.16:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 4.07:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #856474 as text scores 5.16:1 on white and 4.07:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F4F0F2 at 4.57:1.

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
#856474 · 5.16:1
AA on whitealready passes
#856474
The quick fox
#6B505D · 7.17:1
AAA on white−9% L
#6B505D
The quick fox
#8E6B7C · 4.54:1
AA on black+3% L
#8E6B7C
The quick fox
#AB8F9D · 7.15:1
AAA on black+16% L
#AB8F9D

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #856474 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
#856474 on white: 5.16:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#856474 on black: 4.07:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #856474 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #856474.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White5.16:1AaAa
Slate 504.93:1AaAa
Slate 1004.71:1AaAa
Slate 2004.18:1AaAa
Slate 3003.47:1AaAa
Slate 4002.01:1AaAa
Slate 5001.08:1AaAa
Slate 6001.47:1AaAa
Slate 7002.01:1AaAa
Slate 8002.84:1AaAa
Slate 9003.46:1AaAa
Black4.07:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #666A75
deuteranopia · #6E6F73
tritanopia · #8A6369

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. #856474 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.

#F8F7F7
#F1EEF0
#E2DADE
#CFBFC7
#B79FAA
#9F7F8E
#856474
#745866
#5D4651
#45353D
#2B2126
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F8F7F7Darkest = 950 · #2B2126Text 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 0.012 348.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.019 348.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.029 348.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.038 348.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.044 348.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.048 348.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.048 348.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.045 348.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.040 348.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.034 348.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.027 348.2);
}

Colors that work with #856474

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#F8F6F7
Tinted page background
Border#DCD0D6
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#836272
Captions on the surface
Accent#5F8A6B
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#49373F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F4F0F2
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#20181C
Dark-mode background
Hover#715562
One step down in lightness
Pressed#5C4550
Two steps down
Disabled#B8A1AC
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#9D607E
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 #856474

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

Works well for
  • Body text and links on white
  • 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.

expressiveyouthfulwarmconfident

Pink is the fastest way to signal that a product is not another enterprise dashboard. It carries beauty, fashion and culture brands.

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

Strong gendered associations in some markets — test it with the audience you actually have.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyLow
  • Weight54/100
  • 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#648575
Analogous left#856485
Analogous right#856464
Split-complement 1#648564
Split-complement 2#648585
Triadic 1#748564
Triadic 2#647485
Tetradic#858564
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°331°

#856474 sits at 331°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red52.2%
Green39.2%
Blue45.5%
R · 0–255
133
0x85
G · 0–255
100
0x64
B · 0–255
116
0x74

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta24.8%
Yellow12.8%
Key (black)47.8%

Total ink coverage is 85%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#856474 text on a black background

contrast 4.07:1

Card sample

#856474 text on a white background

contrast 5.16:1

Card sample

#856474 on grey

4.71:1

#856474 on its own surface

4.79:1

#856474 on its dark surface

3.37:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #856474;
Background color
Panel with #856474 background
background-color: #856474;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #856474;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(133, 100, 116, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(133, 100, 116, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #856474;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #856474, #856A64);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #856474, #857264);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #856474;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #856474;
caret-color: #856474;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #856474;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F4F0F2;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #856474;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#856474 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #856474 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, 100, 116, 0.5)
rgb(133 100 116 / 50%)
#85647480
hsl(331 14% 46% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #856474 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#8564741a#F3F0F1
20%#85647433#E7E0E3
40%#85647466#CEC1C7
60%#85647499#B6A2AC
80%#856474cc#9D8390

Gradients from #856474

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, #A28493, #856474 45%, #49373F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #856474, #745E57);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #856474, #648575);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #B095A2 0%, #856474 45%, #49373F 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F6F7, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #9C7E9E 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #957672 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #49373F 0%, transparent 65%), #856474;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #856474

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.

#856474 in the real world

Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.

Industries
BeautyFashionLifestyleYouth brands
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

Too dim on dark surfaces at 4.07:1 — lift it to #8E6B7C 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.

#856474, answered

What color is #856474?

#856474 is a balanced muted magenta / pink, closest to Dim Gray (ΔE2000 15.7). It sits at 331° on the hue wheel with 14% saturation and 46% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #856474?

rgb(133, 100, 116) — 133 red, 100 green and 116 blue out of 255, or 52.2% / 39.2% / 45.5% by channel.

What is #856474 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(331, 14%, 46%) and hsv(331, 25%, 52%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #856474 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1536 and perceived brightness is 44%, so white text on it reaches 5.16:1.

Should I use black or white text on #856474?

White. It scores 5.16:1 against #856474, versus 4.07:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #856474 accessible on a white background?

#856474 on white scores 5.16:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #856474?

#648575 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #648564 and #648585, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #856474?

For interface work: #F8F6F7 as the surface, #DCD0D6 for borders, #836272 for secondary text, #5F8A6B as an accent and #49373F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #856485 and #856464 stays calm, while #648575 is the loudest partner.

What is #856474 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 25%, 13%, 48%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #856474 warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 43 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #856468; nudged cooler, #876282.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #856474?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 13.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #856474 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #856474 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#856474] or text-[#856474], 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 #856474 with 50% opacity?

rgba(133, 100, 116, 0.5), or #85647480 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C2B2BA; over black, #43323A.

Is #856474 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #996666, ΔE2000 8.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #856474 mean?

As a magenta / pink, it reads expressive, youthful, warm. Pink is the fastest way to signal that a product is not another enterprise dashboard. It carries beauty, fashion and culture brands. At this low chroma the association is faint; it behaves more like a neutral.

What gradient works with #856474?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #A28493, #856474 45%, #49373F). For more colour, a short hue run to #745E57 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #856474 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #856474 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.