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violet · cool

#871dec

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

Token name suggestion: True Amethyst

RGB
135, 29, 236
HSL
271°, 85%, 52%
CMYK
43, 88, 0, 8
Luminance
0.1209

#871dec is a balanced electric violet, 271° on the wheel and 66/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (6.15:1). As text it scores 6.15:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Blue Violet, nearest Tailwind family is violet.

hsl(271 85% 52%)rgb(135 29 236)Base step 500AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #871dec is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#871dec
Hue
271°
violet
Saturation
85%
electric
Lightness
52%
balanced
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
43%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1209
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
66/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Electric
Best ink
White
6.15:1
Closest name
Blue Violet
ΔE2000 1.8
Chroma
111.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.530
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
violet
500 · ΔE 11.6
Web-safe
#9933FF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue271° of 360°
Saturation85%
Lightness52%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #871dec.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool66% 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
Red43%
Green7%
Blue50%

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

Every format

HEX#871dec
HEX (8-digit)#871decff
RGBrgb(135, 29, 236)
RGBArgba(135, 29, 236, 1)
HSLhsl(271, 85%, 52%)
HSV / HSBhsv(271, 88%, 93%)
HWBhwb(271 11% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(43%, 88%, 0%, 8%)
LABlab(41.4 75.6 -81.8)
LCHlch(41.4 111.4 312.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.530 0.268 299.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(25.57, 12.09, 80.33)
Decimal8855020
Display P3color(display-p3 0.529 0.114 0.925)
Web-safe#9933FF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #871dec;
background-color: #871dec;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #871dec;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#871dec] bg-[#871dec]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #871dec;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.529, green: 0.114, blue: 0.925)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.529, green: 0.114, blue: 0.925, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#871DEC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF871DEC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF871DEC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(236, 29, 135)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(135, 29, 236)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(135, 29, 236)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 135, 29, 236)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5294f, 0.1137f, 0.9255f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{135,29,236}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #871dec 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #871dec 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#410A76, #E1D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #871dec 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: #F7F2FC;
  --brand-100: #F0E6FA;
  --brand-200: #DEC5F7;
  --brand-300: #C897F6;
  --brand-400: #AD64F2;
  --brand-500: #871dec;
  --brand-600: #7D13E2;
  --brand-700: #6810BC;
  --brand-800: #530D97;
  --brand-900: #3E0E6D;
  --brand-950: #270944;
  --brand: #871dec;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F7F4FA;
  --brand-border: #D7C0ED;
  --brand-hover: #7512D4;
  --brand-pressed: #630FB3;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1C1424;
    --brand-ink: #E1D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F2FC',
        100: '#F0E6FA',
        200: '#DEC5F7',
        300: '#C897F6',
        400: '#AD64F2',
        500: '#871dec',
        600: '#7D13E2',
        700: '#6810BC',
        800: '#530D97',
        900: '#3E0E6D',
        950: '#270944',
        DEFAULT: '#871dec',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F2FC,
  '100': #F0E6FA,
  '200': #DEC5F7,
  '300': #C897F6,
  '400': #AD64F2,
  '500': #871dec,
  '600': #7D13E2,
  '700': #6810BC,
  '800': #530D97,
  '900': #3E0E6D,
  '950': #270944,
);
$brand-base: #871dec;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F2FC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F0E6FA", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DEC5F7", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#C897F6", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#AD64F2", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#871dec", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#7D13E2", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#6810BC", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#530D97", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#3E0E6D", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#270944", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #871dec · 6.15:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 6.15:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 3.42:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #871dec as text scores 6.15:1 on white and 3.42:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F3E7FD at 5.17:1.

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
#871dec · 6.15:1
AA on whitealready passes
#871dec
The quick fox
#7A13DD · 7.08:1
AAA on white−5% L
#7A13DD
The quick fox
#9E48F0 · 4.64:1
AA on black+9% L
#9E48F0
The quick fox
#B97BF4 · 7.20:1
AAA on black+20% L
#B97BF4

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #871DEC 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
#871dec on white: 6.15:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#871dec on black: 3.42:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #871dec as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #871dec.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White6.15:1AaAa
Slate 505.87:1AaAa
Slate 1005.61:1AaAa
Slate 2004.99:1AaAa
Slate 3004.14:1AaAa
Slate 4002.40:1AaAa
Slate 5001.29:1AaAa
Slate 6001.23:1AaAa
Slate 7001.68:1AaAa
Slate 8002.38:1AaAa
Slate 9002.90:1AaAa
Black3.42:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #0061F1
deuteranopia · #0060E8
tritanopia · #6D608D

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. #871dec is pinned to step 500; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F7F2FC
#F0E6FA
#DEC5F7
#C897F6
#AD64F2
#871dec
#7D13E2
#6810BC
#530D97
#3E0E6D
#270944
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F7F2FCDarkest = 950 · #270944Text 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 0.067 299.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.107 299.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.161 299.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.209 299.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.247 299.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.268 299.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.268 299.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.252 299.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.225 299.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.188 299.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.148 299.1);
}

Colors that work with #871dec

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#F7F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#D7C0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#744B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#91C00C
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#410A76
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F3E7FD
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1C1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#7512D4
One step down in lightness
Pressed#630FB3
Two steps down
Disabled#BDAECB
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#9125F9
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 #871dec

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
  • Weight48/100
  • 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#82EC1D
Analogous left#201DEC
Analogous right#EC1DEA
Split-complement 1#EAEC1D
Split-complement 2#1DEC20
Triadic 1#EC871D
Triadic 2#1DEC87
Tetradic#EC201D
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°271°

#871dec sits at 271°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red52.9%
Green11.4%
Blue92.5%
R · 0–255
135
0x87
G · 0–255
29
0x1d
B · 0–255
236
0xec

CMYK percentages

Cyan42.8%
Magenta87.7%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)7.5%

Total ink coverage is 138%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#871dec text on a black background

contrast 3.42:1

Card sample

#871dec text on a white background

contrast 6.15:1

Card sample

#871dec on grey

5.61:1

#871dec on its own surface

5.64:1

#871dec on its dark surface

2.91:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #871dec;
Background color
Panel with #871dec background
background-color: #871dec;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #871dec;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(135, 29, 236, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(135, 29, 236, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #871dec;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #871dec, #EC1DC7);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #871dec, #EC1D93);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #871dec;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #871dec;
caret-color: #871dec;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #871dec;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F3E7FD;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #871dec;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#871dec 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #871dec 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(135, 29, 236, 0.5)
rgb(135 29 236 / 50%)
#871dec80
hsl(271 85% 52% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #871dec 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#871dec1a#F3E8FD
20%#871dec33#E7D2FB
40%#871dec66#CFA5F7
60%#871dec99#B777F4
80%#871deccc#9F4AF0

Gradients from #871dec

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, #A556F1, #871dec 45%, #410A76);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #871dec, #D812A5);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #871dec, #82EC1D);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #B472F3 0%, #871dec 45%, #410A76 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F7F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #4C58F0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #EE39DD 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #410A76 0%, transparent 65%), #871dec;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #871dec

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.

#871dec 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 3.42:1 — lift it to #9E48F0 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.

#871dec, answered

What color is #871dec?

#871dec is a balanced electric violet, closest to Blue Violet (ΔE2000 1.8). It sits at 271° on the hue wheel with 85% saturation and 52% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #871dec?

rgb(135, 29, 236) — 135 red, 29 green and 236 blue out of 255, or 52.9% / 11.4% / 92.5% by channel.

What is #871dec in HSL and HSV?

hsl(271, 85%, 52%) and hsv(271, 88%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #871dec a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1209 and perceived brightness is 43%, so white text on it reaches 6.15:1.

Should I use black or white text on #871dec?

White. It scores 6.15:1 against #871dec, versus 3.42:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #871dec accessible on a white background?

#871dec on white scores 6.15:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #871dec?

#82EC1D sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #EAEC1D and #1DEC20, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #871dec?

For interface work: #F7F4FA as the surface, #D7C0ED for borders, #744B9B for secondary text, #91C00C as an accent and #410A76 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #201DEC and #EC1DEA stays calm, while #82EC1D is the loudest partner.

What is #871dec in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(43%, 88%, 0%, 8%). 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 #871dec warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 66 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #D31DEC; nudged cooler, #391BEE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #871dec?

The violet family — its 500 step is #8b5cf6, ΔE2000 11.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #871dec as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #871dec in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#871dec] or text-[#871dec], 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 #871dec with 50% opacity?

rgba(135, 29, 236, 0.5), or #871dec80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C38EF6; over black, #440F76.

Is #871dec a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9933FF, ΔE2000 5.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #871dec 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 #871dec?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #A556F1, #871dec 45%, #410A76). For more colour, a short hue run to #D812A5 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #871dec in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #871dec at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.