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violet · cool

#8917ae

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

Token name suggestion: Forest Plum

RGB
137, 23, 174
HSL
285°, 77%, 39%
CMYK
21, 87, 0, 32
Luminance
0.0899

#8917ae is a dark electric violet, 285° on the wheel and 58/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (7.51:1). As text it scores 7.51:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Dark Violet, nearest Tailwind family is purple.

hsl(285 77% 39%)rgb(137 23 174)Base step 700AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #8917ae is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#8917ae
Hue
285°
violet
Saturation
77%
electric
Lightness
39%
dark
Brightness
68%
HSV value
Perceived
38%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.0899
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
58/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Electric
Best ink
White
7.51:1
Closest name
Dark Violet
ΔE2000 5.2
Chroma
84.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.477
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
purple
500 · ΔE 17.4
Web-safe
#990099
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue285° of 360°
Saturation77%
Lightness39%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #8917ae.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool58% 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
Red59%
Green7%
Blue34%

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

Every format

HEX#8917ae
HEX (8-digit)#8917aeff
RGBrgb(137, 23, 174)
RGBArgba(137, 23, 174, 1)
HSLhsl(285, 77%, 39%)
HSV / HSBhsv(285, 87%, 68%)
HWBhwb(285 9% 32%)
CMYKcmyk(21%, 87%, 0%, 32%)
LABlab(36.0 64.5 -54.6)
LCHlch(36.0 84.5 319.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.477 0.220 315.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(18.26, 8.99, 40.81)
Decimal8984494
Display P3color(display-p3 0.537 0.090 0.682)
Web-safe#990099

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #8917ae;
background-color: #8917ae;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #8917ae;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#8917ae] bg-[#8917ae]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #8917ae;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.537, green: 0.090, blue: 0.682)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.537, green: 0.090, blue: 0.682, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#8917AE</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF8917AE)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF8917AE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(174, 23, 137)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(137, 23, 174)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(137, 23, 174)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 137, 23, 174)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5373f, 0.0902f, 0.6824f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{137,23,174}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #8917ae 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #8917ae 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#590F71, #E7D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #8917ae 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: #FAF3FC;
  --brand-100: #F4E7F9;
  --brand-200: #E9C8F4;
  --brand-300: #DD9CF2;
  --brand-400: #CC6AEB;
  --brand-500: #BB39E5;
  --brand-600: #AA1DD8;
  --brand-700: #8917ae;
  --brand-800: #711390;
  --brand-900: #531268;
  --brand-950: #340B41;
  --brand: #8917ae;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F9F4FA;
  --brand-border: #E2C0ED;
  --brand-hover: #70138E;
  --brand-pressed: #570F6F;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #201424;
    --brand-ink: #E7D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FAF3FC',
        100: '#F4E7F9',
        200: '#E9C8F4',
        300: '#DD9CF2',
        400: '#CC6AEB',
        500: '#BB39E5',
        600: '#AA1DD8',
        700: '#8917ae',
        800: '#711390',
        900: '#531268',
        950: '#340B41',
        DEFAULT: '#8917ae',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FAF3FC,
  '100': #F4E7F9,
  '200': #E9C8F4,
  '300': #DD9CF2,
  '400': #CC6AEB,
  '500': #BB39E5,
  '600': #AA1DD8,
  '700': #8917ae,
  '800': #711390,
  '900': #531268,
  '950': #340B41,
);
$brand-base: #8917ae;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FAF3FC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F4E7F9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E9C8F4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#DD9CF2", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#CC6AEB", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#BB39E5", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#AA1DD8", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#8917ae", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#711390", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#531268", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#340B41", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #8917ae · 7.51:1
Use #ffffffAAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 7.51:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Aa
Black text · 2.80:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #8917ae as text scores 7.51:1 on white and 2.80:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F7E8FC at 6.40:1.

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
#8917ae · 7.51:1
AA on whitealready passes
#8917ae
The quick fox
#8917ae · 7.51:1
AAA on whitealready passes
#8917ae
The quick fox
#B72EE3 · 4.51:1
AA on black+15% L
#B72EE3
The quick fox
#CE72EC · 7.24:1
AAA on black+30% L
#CE72EC

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #8917AE 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
#8917ae on white: 7.51:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#8917ae on black: 2.80:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #8917ae as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #8917ae.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White7.51:1AaAa
Slate 507.17:1AaAa
Slate 1006.85:1AaAa
Slate 2006.09:1AaAa
Slate 3005.06:1AaAa
Slate 4002.93:1AaAa
Slate 5001.58:1AaAa
Slate 6001.01:1AaAa
Slate 7001.38:1AaAa
Slate 8001.95:1AaAa
Slate 9002.38:1AaAa
Black2.80:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #004FB2
deuteranopia · #0957AB
tritanopia · #864067

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. #8917ae 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.

#FAF3FC
#F4E7F9
#E9C8F4
#DD9CF2
#CC6AEB
#BB39E5
#AA1DD8
#8917ae
#711390
#531268
#340B41
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #FAF3FCDarkest = 950 · #340B41Text 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 0.055 315.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.088 315.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.132 315.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.171 315.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.202 315.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.220 315.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.220 315.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.206 315.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.184 315.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.154 315.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.121 315.3);
}

Colors that work with #8917ae

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#F9F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#E2C0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#874B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#65B814
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#590F71
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F7E8FC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#201424
Dark-mode background
Hover#70138E
One step down in lightness
Pressed#570F6F
Two steps down
Disabled#A684B1
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#9D0FCB
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 #8917ae

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
  • Text on black or near-black surfaces
  • 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
  • Weight61/100
  • 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#3CAE17
Analogous left#3D17AE
Analogous right#AE1787
Split-complement 1#87AE17
Split-complement 2#17AE3D
Triadic 1#AE8917
Triadic 2#17AE89
Tetradic#AE3D17
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°285°

#8917ae sits at 285°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red53.7%
Green9.0%
Blue68.2%
R · 0–255
137
0x89
G · 0–255
23
0x17
B · 0–255
174
0xae

CMYK percentages

Cyan21.3%
Magenta86.8%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)31.8%

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

Color previews

#8917ae text on a black background

contrast 2.80:1

Card sample

#8917ae text on a white background

contrast 7.51:1

Card sample

#8917ae on grey

6.85:1

#8917ae on its own surface

6.92:1

#8917ae on its dark surface

2.36:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #8917ae;
Background color
Panel with #8917ae background
background-color: #8917ae;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #8917ae;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(137, 23, 174, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(137, 23, 174, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #8917ae;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #8917ae, #AE176E);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #8917ae, #AE1749);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #8917ae;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #8917ae;
caret-color: #8917ae;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #8917ae;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F7E8FC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #8917ae;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#8917ae 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #8917ae 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, 23, 174, 0.5)
rgb(137 23 174 / 50%)
#8917ae80
hsl(285 77% 39% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #8917ae 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#8917ae1a#F3E8F7
20%#8917ae33#E7D1EF
40%#8917ae66#D0A2DF
60%#8917ae99#B874CE
80%#8917aecc#A145BE

Gradients from #8917ae

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, #B221E2, #8917ae 45%, #590F71);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #8917ae, #931352);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #8917ae, #3CAE17);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #BC3CE5 0%, #8917ae 45%, #590F71 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F9F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #3E1DDB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C91B8E 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #590F71 0%, transparent 65%), #8917ae;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #8917ae

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.

#8917ae 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 2.80:1 — lift it to #B72EE3 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.

#8917ae, answered

What color is #8917ae?

#8917ae is a dark electric violet, closest to Dark Violet (ΔE2000 5.2). It sits at 285° on the hue wheel with 77% saturation and 39% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #8917ae?

rgb(137, 23, 174) — 137 red, 23 green and 174 blue out of 255, or 53.7% / 9% / 68.2% by channel.

What is #8917ae in HSL and HSV?

hsl(285, 77%, 39%) and hsv(285, 87%, 68%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #8917ae a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.0899 and perceived brightness is 38%, so white text on it reaches 7.51:1.

Should I use black or white text on #8917ae?

White. It scores 7.51:1 against #8917ae, versus 2.80:1 for black — AAA at any size.

Is #8917ae accessible on a white background?

#8917ae on white scores 7.51:1, which clears AAA at every size.

What is the complementary color of #8917ae?

#3CAE17 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #87AE17 and #17AE3D, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #8917ae?

For interface work: #F9F4FA as the surface, #E2C0ED for borders, #874B9B for secondary text, #65B814 as an accent and #590F71 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #3D17AE and #AE1787 stays calm, while #3CAE17 is the loudest partner.

What is #8917ae in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(21%, 87%, 0%, 32%). 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 #8917ae warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 58 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #AE179B; nudged cooler, #5115B0.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #8917ae?

The purple family — its 500 step is #a855f7, ΔE2000 17.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #8917ae as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #8917ae in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#8917ae] or text-[#8917ae], 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 #8917ae with 50% opacity?

rgba(137, 23, 174, 0.5), or #8917ae80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C48BD7; over black, #450C57.

Is #8917ae a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #990099, ΔE2000 5.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #8917ae 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 #8917ae?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #B221E2, #8917ae 45%, #590F71). For more colour, a short hue run to #931352 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #8917ae in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #8917ae at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.