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violet · cool

#a548c9

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

Token name suggestion: Studio Iris

RGB
165, 72, 201
HSL
283°, 54%, 54%
CMYK
18, 64, 0, 21
Luminance
0.1685

#a548c9 is a balanced vivid violet, 283° on the wheel and 59/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (4.81:1). As text it scores 4.81:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Dark Orchid, nearest Tailwind family is purple.

hsl(283 54% 54%)rgb(165 72 201)Base step 500AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #a548c9 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#a548c9
Hue
283°
violet
Saturation
54%
vivid
Lightness
54%
balanced
Brightness
79%
HSV value
Perceived
49%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1685
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
59/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
White
4.81:1
Closest name
Dark Orchid
ΔE2000 5.2
Chroma
77.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.578
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
purple
500 · ΔE 7.8
Web-safe
#9933CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue283° of 360°
Saturation54%
Lightness54%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #a548c9.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool59% 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
Red47%
Green28%
Blue25%

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

Every format

HEX#a548c9
HEX (8-digit)#a548c9ff
RGBrgb(165, 72, 201)
RGBArgba(165, 72, 201, 1)
HSLhsl(283, 54%, 54%)
HSV / HSBhsv(283, 64%, 79%)
HWBhwb(283 28% 21%)
CMYKcmyk(18%, 64%, 0%, 21%)
LABlab(48.1 58.0 -50.7)
LCHlch(48.1 77.0 318.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.578 0.202 315.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(28.38, 16.85, 57.01)
Decimal10832073
Display P3color(display-p3 0.647 0.282 0.788)
Web-safe#9933CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #a548c9;
background-color: #a548c9;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #a548c9;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#a548c9] bg-[#a548c9]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #a548c9;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.647, green: 0.282, blue: 0.788)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.647, green: 0.282, blue: 0.788, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#A548C9</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFA548C9)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFA548C9)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(201, 72, 165)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(165, 72, 201)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(165, 72, 201)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 165, 72, 201)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6471f, 0.2824f, 0.7882f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{165,72,201}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #a548c9 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #a548c9 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#4F1D62, #E7D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #a548c9 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: #F9F4FB;
  --brand-100: #F3E9F6;
  --brand-200: #E5CEEE;
  --brand-300: #D4A8E5;
  --brand-400: #BF7DD9;
  --brand-500: #a548c9;
  --brand-600: #9838BD;
  --brand-700: #7F2F9D;
  --brand-800: #65257E;
  --brand-900: #4B1F5C;
  --brand-950: #2F1339;
  --brand: #a548c9;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F9F4FA;
  --brand-border: #E0C0EC;
  --brand-hover: #9336B7;
  --brand-pressed: #7D2E9C;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #201424;
    --brand-ink: #E7D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F4FB',
        100: '#F3E9F6',
        200: '#E5CEEE',
        300: '#D4A8E5',
        400: '#BF7DD9',
        500: '#a548c9',
        600: '#9838BD',
        700: '#7F2F9D',
        800: '#65257E',
        900: '#4B1F5C',
        950: '#2F1339',
        DEFAULT: '#a548c9',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F4FB,
  '100': #F3E9F6,
  '200': #E5CEEE,
  '300': #D4A8E5,
  '400': #BF7DD9,
  '500': #a548c9,
  '600': #9838BD,
  '700': #7F2F9D,
  '800': #65257E,
  '900': #4B1F5C,
  '950': #2F1339,
);
$brand-base: #a548c9;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F4FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F3E9F6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E5CEEE", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D4A8E5", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#BF7DD9", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#a548c9", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#9838BD", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#7F2F9D", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#65257E", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4B1F5C", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2F1339", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #a548c9 · 4.81:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 4.81:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 4.37:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #a548c9 as text scores 4.81:1 on white and 4.37:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F5EBF9 at 4.15:1.

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
#a548c9 · 4.81:1
AA on whitealready passes
#a548c9
The quick fox
#8330A3 · 7.20:1
AAA on white−12% L
#8330A3
The quick fox
#A74CCA · 4.53:1
AA on black+1% L
#A74CCA
The quick fox
#BE7BD8 · 7.01:1
AAA on black+13% L
#BE7BD8

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A548C9 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
#a548c9 on white: 4.81:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#a548c9 on black: 4.37:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #a548c9 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #a548c9.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White4.81:1AaAa
Slate 504.59:1AaAa
Slate 1004.39:1AaAa
Slate 2003.90:1AaAa
Slate 3003.24:1AaAa
Slate 4001.87:1AaAa
Slate 5001.01:1AaAa
Slate 6001.58:1AaAa
Slate 7002.15:1AaAa
Slate 8003.04:1AaAa
Slate 9003.72:1AaAa
Black4.37:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #126DCD
deuteranopia · #4675C6
tritanopia · #A26082

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. #a548c9 is pinned to step 500; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F9F4FB
#F3E9F6
#E5CEEE
#D4A8E5
#BF7DD9
#a548c9
#9838BD
#7F2F9D
#65257E
#4B1F5C
#2F1339
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F9F4FBDarkest = 950 · #2F1339Text 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 0.051 315.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.081 315.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.121 315.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.158 315.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.186 315.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.202 315.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.202 315.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.190 315.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.170 315.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.142 315.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.111 315.2);
}

Colors that work with #a548c9

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#E0C0EC
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#854B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#69A22A
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#4F1D62
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F5EBF9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#201424
Dark-mode background
Hover#9336B7
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7D2E9C
Two steps down
Disabled#C7B3CE
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B24DD8
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 #a548c9

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
  • Weight47/100
  • 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#6CC948
Analogous left#6548C9
Analogous right#C948AC
Split-complement 1#ACC948
Split-complement 2#48C965
Triadic 1#C9A548
Triadic 2#48C9A5
Tetradic#C96548
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°283°

#a548c9 sits at 283°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red64.7%
Green28.2%
Blue78.8%
R · 0–255
165
0xa5
G · 0–255
72
0x48
B · 0–255
201
0xc9

CMYK percentages

Cyan17.9%
Magenta64.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)21.2%

Total ink coverage is 103%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#a548c9 text on a black background

contrast 4.37:1

Card sample

#a548c9 text on a white background

contrast 4.81:1

Card sample

#a548c9 on grey

4.39:1

#a548c9 on its own surface

4.43:1

#a548c9 on its dark surface

3.68:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #a548c9;
Background color
Panel with #a548c9 background
background-color: #a548c9;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #a548c9;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(165, 72, 201, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(165, 72, 201, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #a548c9;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #a548c9, #C94897);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #a548c9, #C94877);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #a548c9;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #a548c9;
caret-color: #a548c9;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #a548c9;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F5EBF9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #a548c9;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#a548c9 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #a548c9 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(165, 72, 201, 0.5)
rgb(165 72 201 / 50%)
#a548c980
hsl(283 54% 54% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #a548c9 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#a548c91a#F6EDFA
20%#a548c933#EDDAF4
40%#a548c966#DBB6E9
60%#a548c999#C991DF
80%#a548c9cc#B76DD4

Gradients from #a548c9

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, #BC77D7, #a548c9 45%, #4F1D62);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #a548c9, #BB377D);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #a548c9, #6CC948);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #C88FDE 0%, #a548c9 45%, #4F1D62 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%, #7D6FD5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D060AE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #4F1D62 0%, transparent 65%), #a548c9;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #a548c9

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.

#a548c9 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 4.37:1 — lift it to #A74CCA 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.

#a548c9, answered

What color is #a548c9?

#a548c9 is a balanced vivid violet, closest to Dark Orchid (ΔE2000 5.2). It sits at 283° on the hue wheel with 54% saturation and 54% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #a548c9?

rgb(165, 72, 201) — 165 red, 72 green and 201 blue out of 255, or 64.7% / 28.2% / 78.8% by channel.

What is #a548c9 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(283, 54%, 54%) and hsv(283, 64%, 79%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #a548c9 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1685 and perceived brightness is 49%, so white text on it reaches 4.81:1.

Should I use black or white text on #a548c9?

White. It scores 4.81:1 against #a548c9, versus 4.37:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #a548c9 accessible on a white background?

#a548c9 on white scores 4.81:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #a548c9?

#6CC948 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #ACC948 and #48C965, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #a548c9?

For interface work: #F9F4FA as the surface, #E0C0EC for borders, #854B9B for secondary text, #69A22A as an accent and #4F1D62 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #6548C9 and #C948AC stays calm, while #6CC948 is the loudest partner.

What is #a548c9 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(18%, 64%, 0%, 21%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #a548c9 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 59 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C948BE; nudged cooler, #7546CB.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #a548c9?

The purple family — its 500 step is #a855f7, ΔE2000 7.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #a548c9 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #a548c9 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#a548c9] or text-[#a548c9], 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 #a548c9 with 50% opacity?

rgba(165, 72, 201, 0.5), or #a548c980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D2A4E4; over black, #532465.

Is #a548c9 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9933CC, ΔE2000 5.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #a548c9 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 #a548c9?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #BC77D7, #a548c9 45%, #4F1D62). For more colour, a short hue run to #BB377D keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #a548c9 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #a548c9 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.