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violet · cool

#8909cf

a dark, electric violet · cool · closest name: Dark Violet

Token name suggestion: Slate Amethyst

RGB
137, 9, 207
HSL
279°, 92%, 42%
CMYK
34, 96, 0, 19
Luminance
0.1002

#8909cf is a dark electric violet, 279° on the wheel and 62/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (6.99:1). As text it scores 6.99:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Dark Violet, nearest Tailwind family is violet.

hsl(279 92% 42%)rgb(137 9 207)Base step 700AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #8909cf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#8909cf
Hue
279°
violet
Saturation
92%
electric
Lightness
42%
dark
Brightness
81%
HSV value
Perceived
40%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1002
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
62/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Electric
Best ink
White
6.99:1
Closest name
Dark Violet
ΔE2000 1.8
Chroma
102.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.499
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
violet
500 · ΔE 14.9
Web-safe
#9900CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue279° of 360°
Saturation92%
Lightness42%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #8909cf.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool62% 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
Red53%
Green2%
Blue45%

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

Every format

HEX#8909cf
HEX (8-digit)#8909cfff
RGBrgb(137, 9, 207)
RGBArgba(137, 9, 207, 1)
HSLhsl(279, 92%, 42%)
HSV / HSBhsv(279, 96%, 81%)
HWBhwb(279 4% 19%)
CMYKcmyk(34%, 96%, 0%, 19%)
LABlab(37.9 73.3 -70.9)
LCHlch(37.9 102.0 315.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.499 0.253 306.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(21.67, 10.02, 59.81)
Decimal8980943
Display P3color(display-p3 0.537 0.035 0.812)
Web-safe#9900CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #8909cf;
background-color: #8909cf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #8909cf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#8909cf] bg-[#8909cf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #8909cf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.537, green: 0.035, blue: 0.812)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.537, green: 0.035, blue: 0.812, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#8909CF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF8909CF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF8909CF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(207, 9, 137)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(137, 9, 207)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(137, 9, 207)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 137, 9, 207)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5373f, 0.0353f, 0.8118f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{137,9,207}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #8909cf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #8909cf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#51057A, #E4D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #8909cf 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: #F9F2FD;
  --brand-100: #F3E4FB;
  --brand-200: #E6C3F9;
  --brand-300: #D693FA;
  --brand-400: #C15EF8;
  --brand-500: #AD28F6;
  --brand-600: #9B0AEB;
  --brand-700: #8909cf;
  --brand-800: #68079C;
  --brand-900: #4C0A71;
  --brand-950: #300647;
  --brand: #8909cf;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F8F4FA;
  --brand-border: #DDC0ED;
  --brand-hover: #7307AD;
  --brand-pressed: #5C068B;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1F1424;
    --brand-ink: #E4D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F2FD',
        100: '#F3E4FB',
        200: '#E6C3F9',
        300: '#D693FA',
        400: '#C15EF8',
        500: '#AD28F6',
        600: '#9B0AEB',
        700: '#8909cf',
        800: '#68079C',
        900: '#4C0A71',
        950: '#300647',
        DEFAULT: '#8909cf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F2FD,
  '100': #F3E4FB,
  '200': #E6C3F9,
  '300': #D693FA,
  '400': #C15EF8,
  '500': #AD28F6,
  '600': #9B0AEB,
  '700': #8909cf,
  '800': #68079C,
  '900': #4C0A71,
  '950': #300647,
);
$brand-base: #8909cf;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F2FD", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F3E4FB", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E6C3F9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D693FA", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C15EF8", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#AD28F6", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#9B0AEB", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#8909cf", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#68079C", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4C0A71", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#300647", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #8909cf · 6.99:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 6.99:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 3.00:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #8909cf as text scores 6.99:1 on white and 3.00:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F6E7FE at 5.92:1.

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
#8909cf · 6.99:1
AA on whitealready passes
#8909cf
The quick fox
#8609CA · 7.23:1
AAA on white−1% L
#8609CA
The quick fox
#B02FF6 · 4.58:1
AA on black+15% L
#B02FF6
The quick fox
#C86EF9 · 7.05:1
AAA on black+28% L
#C86EF9

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #8909CF 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
#8909cf on white: 6.99:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#8909cf on black: 3.00:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #8909cf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #8909cf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White6.99:1AaAa
Slate 506.68:1AaAa
Slate 1006.38:1AaAa
Slate 2005.67:1AaAa
Slate 3004.71:1AaAa
Slate 4002.73:1AaAa
Slate 5001.47:1AaAa
Slate 6001.08:1AaAa
Slate 7001.48:1AaAa
Slate 8002.09:1AaAa
Slate 9002.55:1AaAa
Black3.00:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #0056D4
deuteranopia · #005ACC
tritanopia · #7C4D79

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. #8909cf is pinned to step 700; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F9F2FD
#F3E4FB
#E6C3F9
#D693FA
#C15EF8
#AD28F6
#9B0AEB
#8909cf
#68079C
#4C0A71
#300647
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #F9F2FDDarkest = 950 · #300647Text 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 0.063 306.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.101 306.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.151 306.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.197 306.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.232 306.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.253 306.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.253 306.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.237 306.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.212 306.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.177 306.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.139 306.8);
}

Colors that work with #8909cf

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#DDC0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#7F4B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#7AC705
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#51057A
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F6E7FE
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1F1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#7307AD
One step down in lightness
Pressed#5C068B
Two steps down
Disabled#AA90B8
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#9900ED
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 #8909cf

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
  • Headers, footers and dark-mode surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • Black text placed on it
  • 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 low lightness adds weight and formality.

Worth knowing

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

Reads as
  • FormalityHigh
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight58/100
  • 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#4FCF09
Analogous left#2609CF
Analogous right#CF09B2
Split-complement 1#B2CF09
Split-complement 2#09CF26
Triadic 1#CF8909
Triadic 2#09CF89
Tetradic#CF2609
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°279°

#8909cf sits at 279°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red53.7%
Green3.5%
Blue81.2%
R · 0–255
137
0x89
G · 0–255
9
0x09
B · 0–255
207
0xcf

CMYK percentages

Cyan33.8%
Magenta95.7%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)18.8%

Total ink coverage is 148%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#8909cf text on a black background

contrast 3.00:1

Card sample

#8909cf text on a white background

contrast 6.99:1

Card sample

#8909cf on grey

6.38:1

#8909cf on its own surface

6.43:1

#8909cf on its dark surface

2.54:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #8909cf;
Background color
Panel with #8909cf background
background-color: #8909cf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #8909cf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(137, 9, 207, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(137, 9, 207, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #8909cf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #8909cf, #CF0991);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #8909cf, #CF0960);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #8909cf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #8909cf;
caret-color: #8909cf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #8909cf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F6E7FE;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #8909cf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#8909cf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #8909cf 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(137, 9, 207, 0.5)
rgb(137 9 207 / 50%)
#8909cf80
hsl(279 92% 42% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #8909cf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#8909cf1a#F3E6FA
20%#8909cf33#E7CEF5
40%#8909cf66#D09DEC
60%#8909cf99#B86BE2
80%#8909cfcc#A13AD9

Gradients from #8909cf

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, #AA20F5, #8909cf 45%, #51057A);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #8909cf, #B2086E);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #8909cf, #4FCF09);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #B53DF7 0%, #8909cf 45%, #51057A 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%, #2416F5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #ED0AB9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #51057A 0%, transparent 65%), #8909cf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #8909cf

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.

#8909cf 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 3.00:1 — lift it to #B02FF6 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.

#8909cf, answered

What color is #8909cf?

#8909cf is a dark electric violet, closest to Dark Violet (ΔE2000 1.8). It sits at 279° on the hue wheel with 92% saturation and 42% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #8909cf?

rgb(137, 9, 207) — 137 red, 9 green and 207 blue out of 255, or 53.7% / 3.5% / 81.2% by channel.

What is #8909cf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(279, 92%, 42%) and hsv(279, 96%, 81%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #8909cf a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1002 and perceived brightness is 40%, so white text on it reaches 6.99:1.

Should I use black or white text on #8909cf?

White. It scores 6.99:1 against #8909cf, versus 3.00:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #8909cf accessible on a white background?

#8909cf on white scores 6.99:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #8909cf?

#4FCF09 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #B2CF09 and #09CF26, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #8909cf?

For interface work: #F8F4FA as the surface, #DDC0ED for borders, #7F4B9B for secondary text, #7AC705 as an accent and #51057A for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #2609CF and #CF09B2 stays calm, while #4FCF09 is the loudest partner.

What is #8909cf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(34%, 96%, 0%, 19%). 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 #8909cf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 62 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CF09CD; nudged cooler, #4007D1.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #8909cf?

The violet family — its 500 step is #8b5cf6, ΔE2000 14.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #8909cf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #8909cf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#8909cf] or text-[#8909cf], 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 #8909cf with 50% opacity?

rgba(137, 9, 207, 0.5), or #8909cf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C484E7; over black, #450568.

Is #8909cf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9900CC, ΔE2000 2.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #8909cf 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 #8909cf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #AA20F5, #8909cf 45%, #51057A). For more colour, a short hue run to #B2086E keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #8909cf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #8909cf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.