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violet · cool

#9b4eb5

a balanced, soft violet · cool · closest name: Dark Orchid

Token name suggestion: Studio Thistle

RGB
155, 78, 181
HSL
285°, 41%, 51%
CMYK
14, 57, 0, 29
Luminance
0.1575

#9b4eb5 is a balanced soft violet, 285° on the wheel and 58/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (5.06:1). As text it scores 5.06:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Dark Orchid, nearest Tailwind family is purple.

hsl(285 41% 51%)rgb(155 78 181)Base step 600AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #9b4eb5 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#9b4eb5
Hue
285°
violet
Saturation
41%
soft
Lightness
51%
balanced
Brightness
71%
HSV value
Perceived
47%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1575
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
58/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Soft
Best ink
White
5.06:1
Closest name
Dark Orchid
ΔE2000 6.6
Chroma
63.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.561
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
purple
500 · ΔE 10.6
Web-safe
#9966CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue285° of 360°
Saturation41%
Lightness51%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #9b4eb5.

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
Red44%
Green35%
Blue21%

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

Every format

HEX#9b4eb5
HEX (8-digit)#9b4eb5ff
RGBrgb(155, 78, 181)
RGBArgba(155, 78, 181, 1)
HSLhsl(285, 41%, 51%)
HSV / HSBhsv(285, 57%, 71%)
HWBhwb(285 31% 29%)
CMYKcmyk(14%, 57%, 0%, 29%)
LABlab(46.6 48.5 -41.5)
LCHlch(46.6 63.8 319.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.561 0.169 316.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(24.58, 15.75, 45.45)
Decimal10178229
Display P3color(display-p3 0.608 0.306 0.710)
Web-safe#9966CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #9b4eb5;
background-color: #9b4eb5;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #9b4eb5;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#9b4eb5] bg-[#9b4eb5]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #9b4eb5;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.608, green: 0.306, blue: 0.710)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.608, green: 0.306, blue: 0.710, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#9B4EB5</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF9B4EB5)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF9B4EB5)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(181, 78, 155)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(155, 78, 181)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(155, 78, 181)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 155, 78, 181)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6078f, 0.3059f, 0.7098f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{155,78,181}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #9b4eb5 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #9b4eb5 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#4D265A, #E7D4ED);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #9b4eb5 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: #F9F5FA;
  --brand-100: #F2EBF5;
  --brand-200: #E4D2EA;
  --brand-300: #D2B0DE;
  --brand-400: #BC88CD;
  --brand-500: #A661BD;
  --brand-600: #9b4eb5;
  --brand-700: #7B3C90;
  --brand-800: #623073;
  --brand-900: #492654;
  --brand-950: #2D1835;
  --brand: #9b4eb5;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F9F4FA;
  --brand-border: #DFC5E7;
  --brand-hover: #86429D;
  --brand-pressed: #713784;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #201424;
    --brand-ink: #E7D4ED;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F5FA',
        100: '#F2EBF5',
        200: '#E4D2EA',
        300: '#D2B0DE',
        400: '#BC88CD',
        500: '#A661BD',
        600: '#9b4eb5',
        700: '#7B3C90',
        800: '#623073',
        900: '#492654',
        950: '#2D1835',
        DEFAULT: '#9b4eb5',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F5FA,
  '100': #F2EBF5,
  '200': #E4D2EA,
  '300': #D2B0DE,
  '400': #BC88CD,
  '500': #A661BD,
  '600': #9b4eb5,
  '700': #7B3C90,
  '800': #623073,
  '900': #492654,
  '950': #2D1835,
);
$brand-base: #9b4eb5;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F5FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F2EBF5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E4D2EA", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D2B0DE", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#BC88CD", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#A661BD", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#9b4eb5", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#7B3C90", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#623073", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#492654", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2D1835", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #9b4eb5 · 5.06:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 5.06:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 4.15:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #9b4eb5 as text scores 5.06:1 on white and 4.15:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F5EDF7 at 4.42:1.

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
#9b4eb5 · 5.06:1
AA on whitealready passes
#9b4eb5
The quick fox
#7D3D93 · 7.09:1
AAA on white−10% L
#7D3D93
The quick fox
#A159B9 · 4.64:1
AA on black+3% L
#A159B9
The quick fox
#BA84CC · 7.26:1
AAA on black+15% L
#BA84CC

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9B4EB5 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
#9b4eb5 on white: 5.06:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#9b4eb5 on black: 4.15:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #9b4eb5 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #9b4eb5.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White5.06:1AaAa
Slate 504.84:1AaAa
Slate 1004.62:1AaAa
Slate 2004.10:1AaAa
Slate 3003.41:1AaAa
Slate 4001.97:1AaAa
Slate 5001.06:1AaAa
Slate 6001.50:1AaAa
Slate 7002.05:1AaAa
Slate 8002.89:1AaAa
Slate 9003.53:1AaAa
Black4.15:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #356AB8
deuteranopia · #5071B2
tritanopia · #9A5F7A

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. #9b4eb5 is pinned to step 600; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F9F5FA
#F2EBF5
#E4D2EA
#D2B0DE
#BC88CD
#A661BD
#9b4eb5
#7B3C90
#623073
#492654
#2D1835
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F9F5FADarkest = 950 · #2D1835Text 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 0.042 316.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.068 316.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.101 316.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.132 316.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.156 316.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.169 316.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.169 316.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.159 316.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.142 316.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.118 316.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.093 316.8);
}

Colors that work with #9b4eb5

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#DFC5E7
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#874B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#669438
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#4D265A
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F5EDF7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#201424
Dark-mode background
Hover#86429D
One step down in lightness
Pressed#713784
Two steps down
Disabled#C1AAC9
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#A951C7
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 #9b4eb5

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

Works well for
  • Body text and links on white
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • 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.

The muted chroma softens the association — it reads considered rather than loud, which suits long-form and data-heavy screens. 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
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight49/100
  • 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#68B54E
Analogous left#684EB5
Analogous right#B54E9B
Split-complement 1#9BB54E
Split-complement 2#4EB568
Triadic 1#B59B4E
Triadic 2#4EB59B
Tetradic#B5684E
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°285°

#9b4eb5 sits at 285°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red60.8%
Green30.6%
Blue71.0%
R · 0–255
155
0x9b
G · 0–255
78
0x4e
B · 0–255
181
0xb5

CMYK percentages

Cyan14.4%
Magenta56.9%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)29.0%

Total ink coverage is 100%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#9b4eb5 text on a black background

contrast 4.15:1

Card sample

#9b4eb5 text on a white background

contrast 5.06:1

Card sample

#9b4eb5 on grey

4.62:1

#9b4eb5 on its own surface

4.66:1

#9b4eb5 on its dark surface

3.50:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #9b4eb5;
Background color
Panel with #9b4eb5 background
background-color: #9b4eb5;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #9b4eb5;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(155, 78, 181, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(155, 78, 181, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #9b4eb5;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #9b4eb5, #B54E8A);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #9b4eb5, #B54E71);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #9b4eb5;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #9b4eb5;
caret-color: #9b4eb5;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #9b4eb5;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F5EDF7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #9b4eb5;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#9b4eb5 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #9b4eb5 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(155, 78, 181, 0.5)
rgb(155 78 181 / 50%)
#9b4eb580
hsl(285 41% 51% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #9b4eb5 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#9b4eb51a#F5EDF8
20%#9b4eb533#EBDCF0
40%#9b4eb566#D7B8E1
60%#9b4eb599#C395D3
80%#9b4eb5cc#AF71C4

Gradients from #9b4eb5

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, #B379C7, #9b4eb5 45%, #4D265A);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #9b4eb5, #A14372);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #9b4eb5, #68B54E);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #C08FD0 0%, #9b4eb5 45%, #4D265A 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%, #8072C4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #BE64A0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #4D265A 0%, transparent 65%), #9b4eb5;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #9b4eb5

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.

#9b4eb5 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

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

Too dim on dark surfaces at 4.15:1 — lift it to #A159B9 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.

#9b4eb5, answered

What color is #9b4eb5?

#9b4eb5 is a balanced soft violet, closest to Dark Orchid (ΔE2000 6.6). It sits at 285° on the hue wheel with 41% saturation and 51% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #9b4eb5?

rgb(155, 78, 181) — 155 red, 78 green and 181 blue out of 255, or 60.8% / 30.6% / 71% by channel.

What is #9b4eb5 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(285, 41%, 51%) and hsv(285, 57%, 71%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #9b4eb5 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1575 and perceived brightness is 47%, so white text on it reaches 5.06:1.

Should I use black or white text on #9b4eb5?

White. It scores 5.06:1 against #9b4eb5, versus 4.15:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #9b4eb5 accessible on a white background?

#9b4eb5 on white scores 5.06:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #9b4eb5?

#68B54E sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #9BB54E and #4EB568, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #9b4eb5?

For interface work: #F9F4FA as the surface, #DFC5E7 for borders, #874B9B for secondary text, #669438 as an accent and #4D265A for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #684EB5 and #B54E9B stays calm, while #68B54E is the loudest partner.

What is #9b4eb5 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(14%, 57%, 0%, 29%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #9b4eb5 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 #B54EA9; nudged cooler, #754CB7.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #9b4eb5?

The purple family — its 500 step is #a855f7, ΔE2000 10.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #9b4eb5 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #9b4eb5 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#9b4eb5] or text-[#9b4eb5], 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 #9b4eb5 with 50% opacity?

rgba(155, 78, 181, 0.5), or #9b4eb580 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #CDA7DA; over black, #4E275B.

Is #9b4eb5 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9966CC, ΔE2000 7.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #9b4eb5 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 moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #9b4eb5?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #B379C7, #9b4eb5 45%, #4D265A). For more colour, a short hue run to #A14372 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #9b4eb5 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #9b4eb5 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.