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violet · cool

#997cd2

a light, vivid violet · cool · closest name: Medium Purple

Token name suggestion: Drift Iris

RGB
153, 124, 210
HSL
260°, 49%, 66%
CMYK
27, 41, 0, 18
Luminance
0.2584

#997cd2 is a light vivid violet, 260° on the wheel and 72/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (6.17:1). As text it scores 3.40:1 on white — large text only. Nearest name is Medium Purple, nearest Tailwind family is violet.

hsl(260 49% 66%)rgb(153 124 210)Base step 400AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #997cd2 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#997cd2
Hue
260°
violet
Saturation
49%
vivid
Lightness
66%
light
Brightness
82%
HSV value
Perceived
57%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.2584
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
72/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
6.17:1
Closest name
Medium Purple
ΔE2000 4.4
Chroma
49.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.649
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
violet
500 · ΔE 11
Web-safe
#9966CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue260° of 360°
Saturation49%
Lightness66%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #997cd2.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool72% 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
Red26%
Green56%
Blue18%

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

Every format

HEX#997cd2
HEX (8-digit)#997cd2ff
RGBrgb(153, 124, 210)
RGBArgba(153, 124, 210, 1)
HSLhsl(260, 49%, 66%)
HSV / HSBhsv(260, 41%, 82%)
HWBhwb(260 49% 18%)
CMYKcmyk(27%, 41%, 0%, 18%)
LABlab(57.9 29.3 -40.4)
LCHlch(57.9 49.9 305.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.649 0.128 298.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(31.97, 25.84, 64.26)
Decimal10058962
Display P3color(display-p3 0.600 0.486 0.824)
Web-safe#9966CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #997cd2;
background-color: #997cd2;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #997cd2;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#997cd2] bg-[#997cd2]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #997cd2;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.600, green: 0.486, blue: 0.824)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.600, green: 0.486, blue: 0.824, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#997CD2</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF997CD2)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF997CD2)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(210, 124, 153)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(153, 124, 210)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(153, 124, 210)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 153, 124, 210)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6000f, 0.4863f, 0.8235f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{153,124,210}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #997cd2 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #997cd2 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#36215F, #DCD3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #997cd2 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: #F6F4FA;
  --brand-100: #EEEAF6;
  --brand-200: #D9D0EC;
  --brand-300: #BEABE2;
  --brand-400: #997cd2;
  --brand-500: #7D58C6;
  --brand-600: #673FB6;
  --brand-700: #563498;
  --brand-800: #452A7A;
  --brand-900: #342259;
  --brand-950: #211537;
  --brand: #997cd2;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F4FA;
  --brand-border: #D0C2EA;
  --brand-hover: #8461C9;
  --brand-pressed: #7047C0;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #191424;
    --brand-ink: #DCD3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F4FA',
        100: '#EEEAF6',
        200: '#D9D0EC',
        300: '#BEABE2',
        400: '#997cd2',
        500: '#7D58C6',
        600: '#673FB6',
        700: '#563498',
        800: '#452A7A',
        900: '#342259',
        950: '#211537',
        DEFAULT: '#997cd2',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F4FA,
  '100': #EEEAF6,
  '200': #D9D0EC,
  '300': #BEABE2,
  '400': #997cd2,
  '500': #7D58C6,
  '600': #673FB6,
  '700': #563498,
  '800': #452A7A,
  '900': #342259,
  '950': #211537,
);
$brand-base: #997cd2;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F4FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EEEAF6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D9D0EC", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#BEABE2", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#997cd2", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7D58C6", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#673FB6", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#563498", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#452A7A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#342259", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#211537", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#000000", "$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#000000 on #997cd2 · 6.17:1
Use #000000AA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 3.40:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 6.17:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #997cd2 as text scores 3.40:1 on white and 6.17:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #36215F at 4.01:1.

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
#8461C9 · 4.63:1
AA on white−7% L
#8461C9
The quick fox
#683FB8 · 7.02:1
AAA on white−17% L
#683FB8
The quick fox
#997cd2 · 6.17:1
AA on blackalready passes
#997cd2
The quick fox
#A58BD7 · 7.27:1
AAA on black+4% L
#A58BD7

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #997CD2 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
#997cd2 on white: 3.40:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#997cd2 on black: 6.17:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #997cd2 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #997cd2.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White3.40:1AaAa
Slate 503.25:1AaAa
Slate 1003.11:1AaAa
Slate 2002.76:1AaAa
Slate 3002.29:1AaAa
Slate 4001.33:1AaAa
Slate 5001.40:1AaAa
Slate 6002.23:1AaAa
Slate 7003.04:1AaAa
Slate 8004.30:1AaAa
Slate 9005.24:1AaAa
Black6.17:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #648BD5
deuteranopia · #6A8AD0
tritanopia · #8E8B9D

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. #997cd2 is pinned to step 400; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F6F4FA
#EEEAF6
#D9D0EC
#BEABE2
#997cd2
#7D58C6
#673FB6
#563498
#452A7A
#342259
#211537
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F6F4FADarkest = 950 · #211537Text 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 0.032 298.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.051 298.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.077 298.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.100 298.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.118 298.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.128 298.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.128 298.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.120 298.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.108 298.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.090 298.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.070 298.3);
}

Colors that work with #997cd2

Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.

Text on it#000000
Black wins here
Surface#F6F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#D0C2EA
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#664B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#929C30
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#36215F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F0ECF8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#191424
Dark-mode background
Hover#8461C9
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7047C0
Two steps down
Disabled#DDD8E6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#A283DF
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 #997cd2

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

Works well for
  • Headings from 24px up on white
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Small text on white — under 4.5:1
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • White text placed on it
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
24px / 18.66px bold
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #36215F
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.

This is a confident chroma: strong enough to lead a brand, restrained enough to live in an interface all day. The lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

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

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight35/100
  • 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#B5D27C
Analogous left#7C8AD2
Analogous right#C47CD2
Split-complement 1#D2C47C
Split-complement 2#8AD27C
Triadic 1#D2997C
Triadic 2#7CD299
Tetradic#D27C8A
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°260°

#997cd2 sits at 260°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red60.0%
Green48.6%
Blue82.4%
R · 0–255
153
0x99
G · 0–255
124
0x7c
B · 0–255
210
0xd2

CMYK percentages

Cyan27.1%
Magenta41.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)17.6%

Total ink coverage is 86%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#997cd2 text on a black background

contrast 6.17:1

Card sample

#997cd2 text on a white background

contrast 3.40:1

Card sample

#997cd2 on grey

3.11:1

#997cd2 on its own surface

3.12:1

#997cd2 on its dark surface

5.29:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #997cd2;
Background color
Panel with #997cd2 background
background-color: #997cd2;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #997cd2;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(153, 124, 210, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(153, 124, 210, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #997cd2;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #997cd2, #D27CD2);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #997cd2, #D27CBC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #997cd2;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #997cd2;
caret-color: #997cd2;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #997cd2;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F0ECF8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #997cd2;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#997cd2 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #997cd2 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(153, 124, 210, 0.5)
rgb(153 124 210 / 50%)
#997cd280
hsl(260 49% 66% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #997cd2 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#997cd21a#F5F2FB
20%#997cd233#EBE5F6
40%#997cd266#D6CBED
60%#997cd299#C2B0E4
80%#997cd2cc#AD96DB

Gradients from #997cd2

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, #BCAAE2, #997cd2 45%, #36215F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #997cd2, #CA65C1);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #997cd2, #B5D27C);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #CEC0E9 0%, #997cd2 45%, #36215F 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #A2B1DF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D493DA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #36215F 0%, transparent 65%), #997cd2;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #997cd2

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.

#997cd2 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
SurfacesBadgesHighlightsEmpty states
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

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 6.17:1.

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.

#997cd2, answered

What color is #997cd2?

#997cd2 is a light vivid violet, closest to Medium Purple (ΔE2000 4.4). It sits at 260° on the hue wheel with 49% saturation and 66% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #997cd2?

rgb(153, 124, 210) — 153 red, 124 green and 210 blue out of 255, or 60% / 48.6% / 82.4% by channel.

What is #997cd2 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(260, 49%, 66%) and hsv(260, 41%, 82%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #997cd2 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.2584 and perceived brightness is 57%, so black text on it reaches 6.17:1.

Should I use black or white text on #997cd2?

Black. It scores 6.17:1 against #997cd2, versus 3.40:1 for white — AA at any size.

Is #997cd2 accessible on a white background?

#997cd2 on white scores 3.40:1, which only clears AA for large text — 18.66px bold or 24px regular and up. Darken it to #8461C9 to reach 4.5:1, or #683FB8 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #997cd2?

#B5D27C sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #D2C47C and #8AD27C, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #997cd2?

For interface work: #F6F4FA as the surface, #D0C2EA for borders, #664B9B for secondary text, #929C30 as an accent and #36215F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #7C8AD2 and #C47CD2 stays calm, while #B5D27C is the loudest partner.

What is #997cd2 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(27%, 41%, 0%, 18%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #997cd2 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 72 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #B97CD2; nudged cooler, #7A7DD4.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #997cd2?

The violet family — its 500 step is #8b5cf6, ΔE2000 11 away. That is a visible difference, so define #997cd2 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #997cd2 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#997cd2] or text-[#997cd2], 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 #997cd2 with 50% opacity?

rgba(153, 124, 210, 0.5), or #997cd280 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #CCBEE9; over black, #4D3E69.

Is #997cd2 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9966CC, ΔE2000 6.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #997cd2 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 #997cd2?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #BCAAE2, #997cd2 45%, #36215F). For more colour, a short hue run to #CA65C1 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #997cd2 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #997cd2 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.