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violet · neutral

#a552b6

a balanced, soft violet · neutral · closest name: Medium Orchid

Token name suggestion: Signal Thistle

RGB
165, 82, 182
HSL
290°, 41%, 52%
CMYK
9, 55, 0, 29
Luminance
0.1741

#a552b6 is a balanced soft violet, 290° on the wheel and 56/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (4.69:1). As text it scores 4.69:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Medium Orchid, nearest Tailwind family is purple.

hsl(290 41% 52%)rgb(165 82 182)Base step 600AA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #a552b6 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#a552b6
Hue
290°
violet
Saturation
41%
soft
Lightness
52%
balanced
Brightness
71%
HSV value
Perceived
49%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1741
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
56/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Soft
Best ink
White
4.69:1
Closest name
Medium Orchid
ΔE2000 5.8
Chroma
62.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.579
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
purple
500 · ΔE 10.3
Web-safe
#9966CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue290° of 360°
Saturation41%
Lightness52%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #a552b6.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool56% cool

Reads neutral. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Luminance by channel
Red46%
Green35%
Blue19%

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

Every format

HEX#a552b6
HEX (8-digit)#a552b6ff
RGBrgb(165, 82, 182)
RGBArgba(165, 82, 182, 1)
HSLhsl(290, 41%, 52%)
HSV / HSBhsv(290, 55%, 71%)
HWBhwb(290 32% 29%)
CMYKcmyk(9%, 55%, 0%, 29%)
LABlab(48.8 49.4 -38.6)
LCHlch(48.8 62.7 322.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.579 0.169 320.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(26.98, 17.41, 46.19)
Decimal10834614
Display P3color(display-p3 0.647 0.322 0.714)
Web-safe#9966CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #a552b6;
background-color: #a552b6;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #a552b6;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#a552b6] bg-[#a552b6]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #a552b6;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.647, green: 0.322, blue: 0.714)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.647, green: 0.322, blue: 0.714, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#A552B6</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFA552B6)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFA552B6)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(182, 82, 165)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(165, 82, 182)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(165, 82, 182)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 165, 82, 182)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6471f, 0.3216f, 0.7137f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{165,82,182}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #a552b6 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #a552b6 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#51265A, #E9D4ED);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #a552b6 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: #F3EBF5;
  --brand-200: #E6D2EA;
  --brand-300: #D6B0DE;
  --brand-400: #C189CD;
  --brand-500: #AD61BC;
  --brand-600: #a552b6;
  --brand-700: #813C90;
  --brand-800: #683073;
  --brand-900: #4C2654;
  --brand-950: #301835;
  --brand: #a552b6;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F9F4FA;
  --brand-border: #E1C6E7;
  --brand-hover: #9144A1;
  --brand-pressed: #7A3988;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #221424;
    --brand-ink: #E9D4ED;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F5FA',
        100: '#F3EBF5',
        200: '#E6D2EA',
        300: '#D6B0DE',
        400: '#C189CD',
        500: '#AD61BC',
        600: '#a552b6',
        700: '#813C90',
        800: '#683073',
        900: '#4C2654',
        950: '#301835',
        DEFAULT: '#a552b6',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F5FA,
  '100': #F3EBF5,
  '200': #E6D2EA,
  '300': #D6B0DE,
  '400': #C189CD,
  '500': #AD61BC,
  '600': #a552b6,
  '700': #813C90,
  '800': #683073,
  '900': #4C2654,
  '950': #301835,
);
$brand-base: #a552b6;
$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": "#F3EBF5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E6D2EA", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D6B0DE", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C189CD", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#AD61BC", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#a552b6", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#813C90", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#683073", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4C2654", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#301835", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #a552b6 · 4.69:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 4.69:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 4.48:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #a552b6 as text scores 4.69:1 on white and 4.48:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F6EDF7 at 4.10:1.

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
#a552b6 · 4.69:1
AA on whitealready passes
#a552b6
The quick fox
#813C8F · 7.06:1
AAA on white−12% L
#813C8F
The quick fox
#A756B8 · 4.67:1
AA on black+1% L
#A756B8
The quick fox
#BD81CA · 7.16:1
AAA on black+13% L
#BD81CA

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A552B6 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
#a552b6 on white: 4.69:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#a552b6 on black: 4.48:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #a552b6 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #a552b6.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White4.69:1AaAa
Slate 504.48:1AaAa
Slate 1004.28:1AaAa
Slate 2003.80:1AaAa
Slate 3003.16:1AaAa
Slate 4001.83:1AaAa
Slate 5001.02:1AaAa
Slate 6001.62:1AaAa
Slate 7002.21:1AaAa
Slate 8003.12:1AaAa
Slate 9003.81:1AaAa
Black4.48:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #3F6EB9
deuteranopia · #5B77B3
tritanopia · #A6607C

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. #a552b6 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
#F3EBF5
#E6D2EA
#D6B0DE
#C189CD
#AD61BC
#a552b6
#813C90
#683073
#4C2654
#301835
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F9F5FADarkest = 950 · #301835Text 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 0.042 320.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.067 320.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.101 320.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.132 320.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.155 320.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.169 320.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.169 320.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.159 320.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.142 320.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.118 320.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.093 320.6);
}

Colors that work with #a552b6

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#E1C6E7
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#8D4B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#5F9438
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#51265A
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F6EDF7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#221424
Dark-mode background
Hover#9144A1
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7A3988
Two steps down
Disabled#C6ADCB
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B455C7
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 #a552b6

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
  • Weight48/100
  • TemperatureNeutral
  • 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#63B652
Analogous left#7352B6
Analogous right#B65295
Split-complement 1#95B652
Split-complement 2#52B673
Triadic 1#B6A552
Triadic 2#52B6A5
Tetradic#B67352
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°290°

#a552b6 sits at 290°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red64.7%
Green32.2%
Blue71.4%
R · 0–255
165
0xa5
G · 0–255
82
0x52
B · 0–255
182
0xb6

CMYK percentages

Cyan9.3%
Magenta54.9%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)28.6%

Total ink coverage is 93%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#a552b6 text on a black background

contrast 4.48:1

Card sample

#a552b6 text on a white background

contrast 4.69:1

Card sample

#a552b6 on grey

4.28:1

#a552b6 on its own surface

4.32:1

#a552b6 on its dark surface

3.76:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #a552b6;
Background color
Panel with #a552b6 background
background-color: #a552b6;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #a552b6;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(165, 82, 182, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(165, 82, 182, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #a552b6;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #a552b6, #B65284);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #a552b6, #B6526B);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #a552b6;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #a552b6;
caret-color: #a552b6;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #a552b6;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F6EDF7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #a552b6;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#a552b6 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #a552b6 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, 82, 182, 0.5)
rgb(165 82 182 / 50%)
#a552b680
hsl(290 41% 52% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #a552b6 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#a552b61a#F6EEF8
20%#a552b633#EDDCF0
40%#a552b666#DBBAE2
60%#a552b699#C997D3
80%#a552b6cc#B775C5

Gradients from #a552b6

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, #BB7DC8, #a552b6 45%, #51265A);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #a552b6, #A4456D);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #a552b6, #63B652);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #C793D1 0%, #a552b6 45%, #51265A 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%, #8A76C5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #BF689B 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #51265A 0%, transparent 65%), #a552b6;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #a552b6

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.

#a552b6 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 4.48:1 — lift it to #A756B8 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.

#a552b6, answered

What color is #a552b6?

#a552b6 is a balanced soft violet, closest to Medium Orchid (ΔE2000 5.8). It sits at 290° on the hue wheel with 41% saturation and 52% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #a552b6?

rgb(165, 82, 182) — 165 red, 82 green and 182 blue out of 255, or 64.7% / 32.2% / 71.4% by channel.

What is #a552b6 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(290, 41%, 52%) and hsv(290, 55%, 71%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #a552b6 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1741 and perceived brightness is 49%, so white text on it reaches 4.69:1.

Should I use black or white text on #a552b6?

White. It scores 4.69:1 against #a552b6, versus 4.48:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #a552b6 accessible on a white background?

#a552b6 on white scores 4.69:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #a552b6?

#63B652 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #95B652 and #52B673, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #a552b6?

For interface work: #F9F4FA as the surface, #E1C6E7 for borders, #8D4B9B for secondary text, #5F9438 as an accent and #51265A for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #7352B6 and #B65295 stays calm, while #63B652 is the loudest partner.

What is #a552b6 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(9%, 55%, 0%, 29%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #a552b6 warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 56 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #B652A2; nudged cooler, #8050B9.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #a552b6?

The purple family — its 500 step is #a855f7, ΔE2000 10.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #a552b6 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #a552b6 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#a552b6] or text-[#a552b6], 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 #a552b6 with 50% opacity?

rgba(165, 82, 182, 0.5), or #a552b680 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D2A9DB; over black, #53295B.

Is #a552b6 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9966CC, ΔE2000 7.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #a552b6 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 #a552b6?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #BB7DC8, #a552b6 45%, #51265A). For more colour, a short hue run to #A4456D keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #a552b6 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #a552b6 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.