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violet · cool

#9b8fbc

a balanced, soft violet · cool · closest name: Medium Purple

Token name suggestion: True Plum

RGB
155, 143, 188
HSL
256°, 25%, 65%
CMYK
18, 24, 0, 26
Luminance
0.3024

#9b8fbc is a balanced soft violet, 256° on the wheel and 68/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.05:1). As text it scores 2.98:1 on white — use #7C6CA7 instead. Nearest name is Medium Purple, nearest Tailwind family is slate.

hsl(256 25% 65%)rgb(155 143 188)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #9b8fbc is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#9b8fbc
Hue
256°
violet
Saturation
25%
soft
Lightness
65%
balanced
Brightness
74%
HSV value
Perceived
60%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3024
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
68/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
7.05:1
Closest name
Medium Purple
ΔE2000 13.4
Chroma
25.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.676
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
slate
500 · ΔE 17.6
Web-safe
#9999CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue256° of 360°
Saturation25%
Lightness65%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #9b8fbc.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool68% 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
Red23%
Green65%
Blue12%

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

Every format

HEX#9b8fbc
HEX (8-digit)#9b8fbcff
RGBrgb(155, 143, 188)
RGBArgba(155, 143, 188, 1)
HSLhsl(256, 25%, 65%)
HSV / HSBhsv(256, 24%, 74%)
HWBhwb(256 56% 26%)
CMYKcmyk(18%, 24%, 0%, 26%)
LABlab(61.9 13.7 -21.8)
LCHlch(61.9 25.7 302.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.676 0.067 296.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(32.42, 30.24, 51.70)
Decimal10194876
Display P3color(display-p3 0.608 0.561 0.737)
Web-safe#9999CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #9b8fbc;
background-color: #9b8fbc;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #9b8fbc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#9b8fbc] bg-[#9b8fbc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #9b8fbc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.608, green: 0.561, blue: 0.737)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.608, green: 0.561, blue: 0.737, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#9B8FBC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF9B8FBC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF9B8FBC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(188, 143, 155)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(155, 143, 188)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(155, 143, 188)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 155, 143, 188)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6078f, 0.5608f, 0.7373f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{155,143,188}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #9b8fbc 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #9b8fbc 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#383050, #DDD9E8);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #9b8fbc 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: #F7F6F9;
  --brand-100: #EEEDF3;
  --brand-200: #DAD7E5;
  --brand-300: #C0B9D5;
  --brand-400: #9b8fbc;
  --brand-500: #8273AB;
  --brand-600: #6C5C99;
  --brand-700: #5A4C80;
  --brand-800: #483D66;
  --brand-900: #372F4B;
  --brand-950: #221D2F;
  --brand: #9b8fbc;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F5F9;
  --brand-border: #D1CCE0;
  --brand-hover: #8779AF;
  --brand-pressed: #7362A1;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #191523;
    --brand-ink: #DDD9E8;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F6F9',
        100: '#EEEDF3',
        200: '#DAD7E5',
        300: '#C0B9D5',
        400: '#9b8fbc',
        500: '#8273AB',
        600: '#6C5C99',
        700: '#5A4C80',
        800: '#483D66',
        900: '#372F4B',
        950: '#221D2F',
        DEFAULT: '#9b8fbc',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F6F9,
  '100': #EEEDF3,
  '200': #DAD7E5,
  '300': #C0B9D5,
  '400': #9b8fbc,
  '500': #8273AB,
  '600': #6C5C99,
  '700': #5A4C80,
  '800': #483D66,
  '900': #372F4B,
  '950': #221D2F,
);
$brand-base: #9b8fbc;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F6F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EEEDF3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DAD7E5", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#C0B9D5", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#9b8fbc", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#8273AB", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#6C5C99", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#5A4C80", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#483D66", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#372F4B", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#221D2F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #9b8fbc · 7.05:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.98:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.05:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #9b8fbc as text scores 2.98:1 on white and 7.05:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #383050 at 4.13:1.

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
#7C6CA7 · 4.61:1
AA on white−11% L
#7C6CA7
The quick fox
#5E5086 · 7.08:1
AAA on white−23% L
#5E5086
The quick fox
#9b8fbc · 7.05:1
AA on blackalready passes
#9b8fbc
The quick fox
#9b8fbc · 7.05:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#9b8fbc

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #988CBA 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
#9b8fbc on white: 2.98:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#9b8fbc on black: 7.05:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #9b8fbc as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #9b8fbc.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.98:1AaAa
Slate 502.85:1AaAa
Slate 1002.72:1AaAa
Slate 2002.42:1AaAa
Slate 3002.01:1AaAa
Slate 4001.16:1AaAa
Slate 5001.60:1AaAa
Slate 6002.54:1AaAa
Slate 7003.48:1AaAa
Slate 8004.91:1AaAa
Slate 9005.99:1AaAa
Black7.05:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #8596BE
deuteranopia · #8795BB
tritanopia · #95969E

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. #9b8fbc 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.

#F7F6F9
#EEEDF3
#DAD7E5
#C0B9D5
#9b8fbc
#8273AB
#6C5C99
#5A4C80
#483D66
#372F4B
#221D2F
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F7F6F9Darkest = 950 · #221D2FText 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 0.017 296.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.027 296.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.040 296.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.052 296.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.061 296.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.067 296.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.067 296.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.063 296.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.056 296.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.047 296.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.037 296.8);
}

Colors that work with #9b8fbc

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#F6F5F9
Tinted page background
Border#D1CCE0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#655690
Captions on the surface
Accent#838448
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#383050
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F1EFF5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#191523
Dark-mode background
Hover#8779AF
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7362A1
Two steps down
Disabled#DAD6E5
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#A394CC
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 #9b8fbc

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
Not as text
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #383050
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #988CBA

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
  • 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#B0BC8F
Analogous left#8F9ABC
Analogous right#B18FBC
Split-complement 1#BCB18F
Split-complement 2#9ABC8F
Triadic 1#BC9B8F
Triadic 2#8FBC9B
Tetradic#BC8F9A
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°256°

#9b8fbc sits at 256°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red60.8%
Green56.1%
Blue73.7%
R · 0–255
155
0x9b
G · 0–255
143
0x8f
B · 0–255
188
0xbc

CMYK percentages

Cyan17.6%
Magenta23.9%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)26.3%

Total ink coverage is 68%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#9b8fbc text on a black background

contrast 7.05:1

Card sample

#9b8fbc text on a white background

contrast 2.98:1

Card sample

#9b8fbc on grey

2.72:1

#9b8fbc on its own surface

2.74:1

#9b8fbc on its dark surface

6.01:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #9b8fbc;
Background color
Panel with #9b8fbc background
background-color: #9b8fbc;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #9b8fbc;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(155, 143, 188, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(155, 143, 188, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #9b8fbc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #9b8fbc, #B98FBC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #9b8fbc, #BC8FB4);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #9b8fbc;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #9b8fbc;
caret-color: #9b8fbc;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #9b8fbc;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F1EFF5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #9b8fbc;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#9b8fbc 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #9b8fbc 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, 143, 188, 0.5)
rgb(155 143 188 / 50%)
#9b8fbc80
hsl(256 25% 65% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #9b8fbc 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#9b8fbc1a#F5F4F8
20%#9b8fbc33#EBE9F2
40%#9b8fbc66#D7D2E4
60%#9b8fbc99#C3BCD7
80%#9b8fbccc#AFA5C9

Gradients from #9b8fbc

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, #BDB5D3, #9b8fbc 45%, #383050);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #9b8fbc, #B17CB0);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #9b8fbc, #B0BC8F);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #CEC8DE 0%, #9b8fbc 45%, #383050 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F5F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #AFB9CF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C2A2C7 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #383050 0%, transparent 65%), #9b8fbc;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #9b8fbc

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.

#9b8fbc 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

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 7.05:1.

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.

#9b8fbc, answered

What color is #9b8fbc?

#9b8fbc is a balanced soft violet, closest to Medium Purple (ΔE2000 13.4). It sits at 256° on the hue wheel with 25% saturation and 65% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #9b8fbc?

rgb(155, 143, 188) — 155 red, 143 green and 188 blue out of 255, or 60.8% / 56.1% / 73.7% by channel.

What is #9b8fbc in HSL and HSV?

hsl(256, 25%, 65%) and hsv(256, 24%, 74%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #9b8fbc a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3024 and perceived brightness is 60%, so black text on it reaches 7.05:1.

Should I use black or white text on #9b8fbc?

Black. It scores 7.05:1 against #9b8fbc, versus 2.98:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #9b8fbc accessible on a white background?

#9b8fbc on white scores 2.98:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7C6CA7 to reach 4.5:1, or #5E5086 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #9b8fbc?

#B0BC8F sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BCB18F and #9ABC8F, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #9b8fbc?

For interface work: #F6F5F9 as the surface, #D1CCE0 for borders, #655690 for secondary text, #838448 as an accent and #383050 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #8F9ABC and #B18FBC stays calm, while #B0BC8F is the loudest partner.

What is #9b8fbc in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(18%, 24%, 0%, 26%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #9b8fbc warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 68 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #AB8FBC; nudged cooler, #8D92BE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #9b8fbc?

The slate family — its 500 step is #64748b, ΔE2000 17.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #9b8fbc as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #9b8fbc in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#9b8fbc] or text-[#9b8fbc], 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 #9b8fbc with 50% opacity?

rgba(155, 143, 188, 0.5), or #9b8fbc80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #CDC7DE; over black, #4E485E.

Is #9b8fbc a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999CC, ΔE2000 5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #9b8fbc 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 #9b8fbc?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #BDB5D3, #9b8fbc 45%, #383050). For more colour, a short hue run to #B17CB0 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #9b8fbc in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #9b8fbc at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.