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violet · neutral

#8d08ab

a dark, electric violet · neutral · closest name: Dark Magenta

Token name suggestion: Slate Iris

RGB
141, 8, 171
HSL
289°, 91%, 35%
CMYK
18, 95, 0, 33
Luminance
0.0878

#8d08ab is a dark electric violet, 289° on the wheel and 56/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (7.62:1). As text it scores 7.62:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Dark Magenta, nearest Tailwind family is purple.

hsl(289 91% 35%)rgb(141 8 171)Base step 800AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #8d08ab is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#8d08ab
Hue
289°
violet
Saturation
91%
electric
Lightness
35%
dark
Brightness
67%
HSV value
Perceived
38%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.0878
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
56/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Electric
Best ink
White
7.62:1
Closest name
Dark Magenta
ΔE2000 5.4
Chroma
85.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.475
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
purple
500 · ΔE 18.1
Web-safe
#990099
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue289° of 360°
Saturation91%
Lightness35%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #8d08ab.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool56% 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
Red65%
Green2%
Blue34%

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

Every format

HEX#8d08ab
HEX (8-digit)#8d08abff
RGBrgb(141, 8, 171)
RGBArgba(141, 8, 171, 1)
HSLhsl(289, 91%, 35%)
HSV / HSBhsv(289, 95%, 67%)
HWBhwb(289 3% 33%)
CMYKcmyk(18%, 95%, 0%, 33%)
LABlab(35.5 67.1 -53.5)
LCHlch(35.5 85.8 321.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.475 0.226 318.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(18.42, 8.78, 39.24)
Decimal9242795
Display P3color(display-p3 0.553 0.031 0.671)
Web-safe#990099

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #8d08ab;
background-color: #8d08ab;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #8d08ab;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#8d08ab] bg-[#8d08ab]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #8d08ab;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.553, green: 0.031, blue: 0.671)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.553, green: 0.031, blue: 0.671, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#8D08AB</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF8D08AB)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF8D08AB)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(171, 8, 141)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(141, 8, 171)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(141, 8, 171)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 141, 8, 171)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5529f, 0.0314f, 0.6706f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{141,8,171}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #8d08ab 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #8d08ab 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#65067A, #E9D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #8d08ab 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: #FBF2FD;
  --brand-100: #F7E5FB;
  --brand-200: #EFC3F9;
  --brand-300: #E794FA;
  --brand-400: #DB5EF8;
  --brand-500: #D029F5;
  --brand-600: #C10BEA;
  --brand-700: #A109C3;
  --brand-800: #8d08ab;
  --brand-900: #5E0A70;
  --brand-950: #3B0646;
  --brand: #8d08ab;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F9F4FA;
  --brand-border: #E4C0ED;
  --brand-hover: #710689;
  --brand-pressed: #550567;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #211424;
    --brand-ink: #E9D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FBF2FD',
        100: '#F7E5FB',
        200: '#EFC3F9',
        300: '#E794FA',
        400: '#DB5EF8',
        500: '#D029F5',
        600: '#C10BEA',
        700: '#A109C3',
        800: '#8d08ab',
        900: '#5E0A70',
        950: '#3B0646',
        DEFAULT: '#8d08ab',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FBF2FD,
  '100': #F7E5FB,
  '200': #EFC3F9,
  '300': #E794FA,
  '400': #DB5EF8,
  '500': #D029F5,
  '600': #C10BEA,
  '700': #A109C3,
  '800': #8d08ab,
  '900': #5E0A70,
  '950': #3B0646,
);
$brand-base: #8d08ab;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FBF2FD", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F7E5FB", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#EFC3F9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#E794FA", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#DB5EF8", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#D029F5", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#C10BEA", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#A109C3", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#8d08ab", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#5E0A70", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#3B0646", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #8d08ab · 7.62:1
Use #ffffffAAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 7.62:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Aa
Black text · 2.76:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #8d08ab as text scores 7.62:1 on white and 2.76:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #FAE7FE at 6.51:1.

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
#8d08ab · 7.62:1
AA on whitealready passes
#8d08ab
The quick fox
#8d08ab · 7.62:1
AAA on whitealready passes
#8d08ab
The quick fox
#C10BEA · 4.50:1
AA on black+13% L
#C10BEA
The quick fox
#DC5FF8 · 7.04:1
AAA on black+32% L
#DC5FF8

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #8D08AB 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
#8d08ab on white: 7.62:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#8d08ab on black: 2.76:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #8d08ab as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #8d08ab.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White7.62:1AaAa
Slate 507.28:1AaAa
Slate 1006.96:1AaAa
Slate 2006.18:1AaAa
Slate 3005.13:1AaAa
Slate 4002.97:1AaAa
Slate 5001.60:1AaAa
Slate 6001.01:1AaAa
Slate 7001.36:1AaAa
Slate 8001.92:1AaAa
Slate 9002.34:1AaAa
Black2.76:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #004CAF
deuteranopia · #1457A8
tritanopia · #8C3964

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. #8d08ab is pinned to step 800; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FBF2FD
#F7E5FB
#EFC3F9
#E794FA
#DB5EF8
#D029F5
#C10BEA
#A109C3
#8d08ab
#5E0A70
#3B0646
Base = 800Lightest = 50 · #FBF2FDDarkest = 950 · #3B0646Text 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 0.056 318.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.090 318.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.136 318.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.176 318.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.208 318.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.226 318.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.226 318.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.212 318.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.190 318.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.158 318.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.124 318.1);
}

Colors that work with #8d08ab

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#E4C0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#8C4B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#59C705
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#65067A
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FAE7FE
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#211424
Dark-mode background
Hover#710689
One step down in lightness
Pressed#550567
Two steps down
Disabled#A17AAA
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#A300C7
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 #8d08ab

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
  • Weight65/100
  • 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#26AB08
Analogous left#3C08AB
Analogous right#AB0877
Split-complement 1#77AB08
Split-complement 2#08AB3C
Triadic 1#AB8D08
Triadic 2#08AB8D
Tetradic#AB3C08
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°289°

#8d08ab sits at 289°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red55.3%
Green3.1%
Blue67.1%
R · 0–255
141
0x8d
G · 0–255
8
0x08
B · 0–255
171
0xab

CMYK percentages

Cyan17.5%
Magenta95.3%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)32.9%

Total ink coverage is 146%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#8d08ab text on a black background

contrast 2.76:1

Card sample

#8d08ab text on a white background

contrast 7.62:1

Card sample

#8d08ab on grey

6.96:1

#8d08ab on its own surface

7.02:1

#8d08ab on its dark surface

2.32:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #8d08ab;
Background color
Panel with #8d08ab background
background-color: #8d08ab;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #8d08ab;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(141, 8, 171, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(141, 8, 171, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #8d08ab;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #8d08ab, #AB085C);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #8d08ab, #AB0833);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #8d08ab;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #8d08ab;
caret-color: #8d08ab;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #8d08ab;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FAE7FE;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #8d08ab;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#8d08ab 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #8d08ab 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(141, 8, 171, 0.5)
rgb(141 8 171 / 50%)
#8d08ab80
hsl(289 91% 35% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #8d08ab 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#8d08ab1a#F4E6F7
20%#8d08ab33#E8CEEE
40%#8d08ab66#D19CDD
60%#8d08ab99#BB6BCD
80%#8d08abcc#A439BC

Gradients from #8d08ab

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, #BD0BE6, #8d08ab 45%, #65067A);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #8d08ab, #8E0741);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #8d08ab, #26AB08);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #CC1AF4 0%, #8d08ab 45%, #65067A 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%, #3B0ADC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C8097C 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #65067A 0%, transparent 65%), #8d08ab;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #8d08ab

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.

#8d08ab 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 2.76:1 — lift it to #C10BEA 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.

#8d08ab, answered

What color is #8d08ab?

#8d08ab is a dark electric violet, closest to Dark Magenta (ΔE2000 5.4). It sits at 289° on the hue wheel with 91% saturation and 35% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #8d08ab?

rgb(141, 8, 171) — 141 red, 8 green and 171 blue out of 255, or 55.3% / 3.1% / 67.1% by channel.

What is #8d08ab in HSL and HSV?

hsl(289, 91%, 35%) and hsv(289, 95%, 67%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #8d08ab a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.0878 and perceived brightness is 38%, so white text on it reaches 7.62:1.

Should I use black or white text on #8d08ab?

White. It scores 7.62:1 against #8d08ab, versus 2.76:1 for black — AAA at any size.

Is #8d08ab accessible on a white background?

#8d08ab on white scores 7.62:1, which clears AAA at every size.

What is the complementary color of #8d08ab?

#26AB08 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #77AB08 and #08AB3C, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #8d08ab?

For interface work: #F9F4FA as the surface, #E4C0ED for borders, #8C4B9B for secondary text, #59C705 as an accent and #65067A for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #3C08AB and #AB0877 stays calm, while #26AB08 is the loudest partner.

What is #8d08ab in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(18%, 95%, 0%, 33%). 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 #8d08ab warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 56 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #AB088D; nudged cooler, #5106AD.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #8d08ab?

The purple family — its 500 step is #a855f7, ΔE2000 18.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #8d08ab as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #8d08ab in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#8d08ab] or text-[#8d08ab], 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 #8d08ab with 50% opacity?

rgba(141, 8, 171, 0.5), or #8d08ab80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C684D5; over black, #470456.

Is #8d08ab a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #990099, ΔE2000 4.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #8d08ab 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 #8d08ab?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #BD0BE6, #8d08ab 45%, #65067A). For more colour, a short hue run to #8E0741 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #8d08ab in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #8d08ab at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.