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violet · cool

#a03cc0

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

Token name suggestion: True Iris

RGB
160, 60, 192
HSL
286°, 52%, 49%
CMYK
17, 69, 0, 25
Luminance
0.1451

#a03cc0 is a balanced vivid violet, 286° on the wheel and 58/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (5.38:1). As text it scores 5.38:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Dark Orchid, nearest Tailwind family is purple.

hsl(286 52% 49%)rgb(160 60 192)Base step 600AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #a03cc0 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#a03cc0
Hue
286°
violet
Saturation
52%
vivid
Lightness
49%
balanced
Brightness
75%
HSV value
Perceived
46%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1451
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
58/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
White
5.38:1
Closest name
Dark Orchid
ΔE2000 3.2
Chroma
78.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.552
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
purple
500 · ΔE 10.5
Web-safe
#9933CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue286° of 360°
Saturation52%
Lightness49%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #a03cc0.

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
Red52%
Green22%
Blue26%

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

Every format

HEX#a03cc0
HEX (8-digit)#a03cc0ff
RGBrgb(160, 60, 192)
RGBArgba(160, 60, 192, 1)
HSLhsl(286, 52%, 49%)
HSV / HSBhsv(285, 69%, 75%)
HWBhwb(286 24% 25%)
CMYKcmyk(17%, 69%, 0%, 25%)
LABlab(45.0 60.3 -50.5)
LCHlch(45.0 78.7 320.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.552 0.207 316.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(25.63, 14.51, 51.31)
Decimal10501312
Display P3color(display-p3 0.627 0.235 0.753)
Web-safe#9933CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #a03cc0;
background-color: #a03cc0;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #a03cc0;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#a03cc0] bg-[#a03cc0]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #a03cc0;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.627, green: 0.235, blue: 0.753)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.627, green: 0.235, blue: 0.753, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#A03CC0</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFA03CC0)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFA03CC0)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(192, 60, 160)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(160, 60, 192)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(160, 60, 192)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 160, 60, 192)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6275f, 0.2353f, 0.7529f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{160,60,192}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #a03cc0 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #a03cc0 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#511E61, #E8D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #a03cc0 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: #F9F4FA;
  --brand-100: #F3E9F6;
  --brand-200: #E6CFED;
  --brand-300: #D6AAE4;
  --brand-400: #C27FD7;
  --brand-500: #AD54CA;
  --brand-600: #a03cc0;
  --brand-700: #82319B;
  --brand-800: #68277C;
  --brand-900: #4C205B;
  --brand-950: #301439;
  --brand: #a03cc0;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F9F4FA;
  --brand-border: #E1C1EC;
  --brand-hover: #8933A5;
  --brand-pressed: #732B8A;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #201424;
    --brand-ink: #E8D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F4FA',
        100: '#F3E9F6',
        200: '#E6CFED',
        300: '#D6AAE4',
        400: '#C27FD7',
        500: '#AD54CA',
        600: '#a03cc0',
        700: '#82319B',
        800: '#68277C',
        900: '#4C205B',
        950: '#301439',
        DEFAULT: '#a03cc0',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F4FA,
  '100': #F3E9F6,
  '200': #E6CFED,
  '300': #D6AAE4,
  '400': #C27FD7,
  '500': #AD54CA,
  '600': #a03cc0,
  '700': #82319B,
  '800': #68277C,
  '900': #4C205B,
  '950': #301439,
);
$brand-base: #a03cc0;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F4FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F3E9F6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E6CFED", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D6AAE4", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C27FD7", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#AD54CA", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#a03cc0", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#82319B", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#68277C", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4C205B", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#301439", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #a03cc0 · 5.38:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 5.38:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 3.90:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #a03cc0 as text scores 5.38:1 on white and 3.90:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F6ECF9 at 4.69:1.

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
#a03cc0 · 5.38:1
AA on whitealready passes
#a03cc0
The quick fox
#8632A1 · 7.04:1
AAA on white−8% L
#8632A1
The quick fox
#AA4EC8 · 4.63:1
AA on black+5% L
#AA4EC8
The quick fox
#C17CD6 · 7.12:1
AAA on black+17% L
#C17CD6

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A03CC0 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
#a03cc0 on white: 5.38:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#a03cc0 on black: 3.90:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #a03cc0 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #a03cc0.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White5.38:1AaAa
Slate 505.14:1AaAa
Slate 1004.91:1AaAa
Slate 2004.37:1AaAa
Slate 3003.62:1AaAa
Slate 4002.10:1AaAa
Slate 5001.13:1AaAa
Slate 6001.41:1AaAa
Slate 7001.92:1AaAa
Slate 8002.72:1AaAa
Slate 9003.32:1AaAa
Black3.90:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #0064C4
deuteranopia · #3E6DBD
tritanopia · #9E567A

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. #a03cc0 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.

#F9F4FA
#F3E9F6
#E6CFED
#D6AAE4
#C27FD7
#AD54CA
#a03cc0
#82319B
#68277C
#4C205B
#301439
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F9F4FADarkest = 950 · #301439Text 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 0.052 316.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.083 316.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.124 316.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.162 316.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.191 316.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.207 316.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.207 316.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.195 316.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.174 316.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.145 316.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.114 316.8);
}

Colors that work with #a03cc0

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#E1C1EC
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#884B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#659F2D
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#511E61
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F6ECF9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#201424
Dark-mode background
Hover#8933A5
One step down in lightness
Pressed#732B8A
Two steps down
Disabled#BEA6C6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#AE3ED2
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 #a03cc0

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
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • 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.

This is a confident chroma: strong enough to lead a brand, restrained enough to live in an interface all day. 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-high
  • Weight51/100
  • 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#5CC03C
Analogous left#5E3CC0
Analogous right#C03C9E
Split-complement 1#9EC03C
Split-complement 2#3CC05E
Triadic 1#C0A03C
Triadic 2#3CC0A0
Tetradic#C05E3C
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°286°

#a03cc0 sits at 286°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red62.7%
Green23.5%
Blue75.3%
R · 0–255
160
0xa0
G · 0–255
60
0x3c
B · 0–255
192
0xc0

CMYK percentages

Cyan16.7%
Magenta68.7%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)24.7%

Total ink coverage is 110%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#a03cc0 text on a black background

contrast 3.90:1

Card sample

#a03cc0 text on a white background

contrast 5.38:1

Card sample

#a03cc0 on grey

4.91:1

#a03cc0 on its own surface

4.96:1

#a03cc0 on its dark surface

3.29:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #a03cc0;
Background color
Panel with #a03cc0 background
background-color: #a03cc0;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #a03cc0;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(160, 60, 192, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(160, 60, 192, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #a03cc0;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #a03cc0, #C03C88);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #a03cc0, #C03C67);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #a03cc0;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #a03cc0;
caret-color: #a03cc0;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #a03cc0;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F6ECF9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #a03cc0;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#a03cc0 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #a03cc0 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(160, 60, 192, 0.5)
rgb(160 60 192 / 50%)
#a03cc080
hsl(286 52% 49% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #a03cc0 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#a03cc01a#F6ECF9
20%#a03cc033#ECD8F2
40%#a03cc066#D9B1E6
60%#a03cc099#C68AD9
80%#a03cc0cc#B363CD

Gradients from #a03cc0

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, #B769D0, #a03cc0 45%, #511E61);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #a03cc0, #A9356E);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #a03cc0, #5CC03C);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #C280D7 0%, #a03cc0 45%, #511E61 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%, #7461CE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C952A0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #511E61 0%, transparent 65%), #a03cc0;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #a03cc0

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.

#a03cc0 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 3.90:1 — lift it to #AA4EC8 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.

#a03cc0, answered

What color is #a03cc0?

#a03cc0 is a balanced vivid violet, closest to Dark Orchid (ΔE2000 3.2). It sits at 286° on the hue wheel with 52% saturation and 49% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #a03cc0?

rgb(160, 60, 192) — 160 red, 60 green and 192 blue out of 255, or 62.7% / 23.5% / 75.3% by channel.

What is #a03cc0 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(286, 52%, 49%) and hsv(285, 69%, 75%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #a03cc0 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1451 and perceived brightness is 46%, so white text on it reaches 5.38:1.

Should I use black or white text on #a03cc0?

White. It scores 5.38:1 against #a03cc0, versus 3.90:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #a03cc0 accessible on a white background?

#a03cc0 on white scores 5.38:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #a03cc0?

#5CC03C sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #9EC03C and #3CC05E, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #a03cc0?

For interface work: #F9F4FA as the surface, #E1C1EC for borders, #884B9B for secondary text, #659F2D as an accent and #511E61 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #5E3CC0 and #C03C9E stays calm, while #5CC03C is the loudest partner.

What is #a03cc0 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(17%, 69%, 0%, 25%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #a03cc0 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 #C03CAF; nudged cooler, #6F39C2.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #a03cc0?

The purple family — its 500 step is #a855f7, ΔE2000 10.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #a03cc0 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #a03cc0 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#a03cc0] or text-[#a03cc0], 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 #a03cc0 with 50% opacity?

rgba(160, 60, 192, 0.5), or #a03cc080 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D09EE0; over black, #501E60.

Is #a03cc0 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9933CC, ΔE2000 3.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #a03cc0 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 #a03cc0?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #B769D0, #a03cc0 45%, #511E61). For more colour, a short hue run to #A9356E keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #a03cc0 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #a03cc0 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.