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violet · cool

#a78fdf

a light, vivid violet · cool · closest name: Medium Purple

Token name suggestion: Meadow Plum

RGB
167, 143, 223
HSL
258°, 56%, 72%
CMYK
25, 36, 0, 13
Luminance
0.3319

#a78fdf is a light vivid violet, 258° on the wheel and 73/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.64:1). As text it scores 2.75:1 on white — use #825FD1 instead. Nearest name is Medium Purple, nearest Tailwind family is purple.

hsl(258 56% 72%)rgb(167 143 223)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #a78fdf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#a78fdf
Hue
258°
violet
Saturation
56%
vivid
Lightness
72%
light
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
63%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3319
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
73/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
7.64:1
Closest name
Medium Purple
ΔE2000 9.5
Chroma
45.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.702
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
purple
500 · ΔE 15.3
Web-safe
#9999CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue258° of 360°
Saturation56%
Lightness72%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #a78fdf.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool73% 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
Red25%
Green59%
Blue16%

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

Every format

HEX#a78fdf
HEX (8-digit)#a78fdfff
RGBrgb(167, 143, 223)
RGBArgba(167, 143, 223, 1)
HSLhsl(258, 56%, 72%)
HSV / HSBhsv(258, 36%, 87%)
HWBhwb(258 56% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(25%, 36%, 0%, 13%)
LABlab(64.3 25.6 -37.5)
LCHlch(64.3 45.4 304.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.702 0.117 297.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(39.08, 33.19, 74.14)
Decimal10981343
Display P3color(display-p3 0.655 0.561 0.875)
Web-safe#9999CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #a78fdf;
background-color: #a78fdf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #a78fdf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#a78fdf] bg-[#a78fdf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #a78fdf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.655, green: 0.561, blue: 0.875)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.655, green: 0.561, blue: 0.875, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#A78FDF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFA78FDF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFA78FDF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(223, 143, 167)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(167, 143, 223)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(167, 143, 223)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 167, 143, 223)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6549f, 0.5608f, 0.8745f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{167,143,223}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #a78fdf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #a78fdf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#321C63, #DBD3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #a78fdf 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: #F6F4FB;
  --brand-100: #EDE9F6;
  --brand-200: #D7CEEE;
  --brand-300: #BAA8E6;
  --brand-400: #a78fdf;
  --brand-500: #7650CD;
  --brand-600: #5F36BE;
  --brand-700: #4F2D9F;
  --brand-800: #3F247F;
  --brand-900: #311E5D;
  --brand-950: #1E133A;
  --brand: #a78fdf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F4FA;
  --brand-border: #CDC0ED;
  --brand-hover: #9173D7;
  --brand-pressed: #7B58CF;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #191424;
    --brand-ink: #DBD3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F4FB',
        100: '#EDE9F6',
        200: '#D7CEEE',
        300: '#BAA8E6',
        400: '#a78fdf',
        500: '#7650CD',
        600: '#5F36BE',
        700: '#4F2D9F',
        800: '#3F247F',
        900: '#311E5D',
        950: '#1E133A',
        DEFAULT: '#a78fdf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F4FB,
  '100': #EDE9F6,
  '200': #D7CEEE,
  '300': #BAA8E6,
  '400': #a78fdf,
  '500': #7650CD,
  '600': #5F36BE,
  '700': #4F2D9F,
  '800': #3F247F,
  '900': #311E5D,
  '950': #1E133A,
);
$brand-base: #a78fdf;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F4FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EDE9F6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D7CEEE", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#BAA8E6", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#a78fdf", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7650CD", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#5F36BE", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#4F2D9F", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#3F247F", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#311E5D", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1E133A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #a78fdf · 7.64:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.75:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.64:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #a78fdf as text scores 2.75:1 on white and 7.64:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #321C63 at 5.15:1.

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
#825FD1 · 4.66:1
AA on white−12% L
#825FD1
The quick fox
#6338C6 · 7.21:1
AAA on white−22% L
#6338C6
The quick fox
#a78fdf · 7.64:1
AA on blackalready passes
#a78fdf
The quick fox
#a78fdf · 7.64:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#a78fdf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9E83DC 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
#a78fdf on white: 2.75:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#a78fdf on black: 7.64:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #a78fdf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #a78fdf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.75:1AaAa
Slate 502.63:1AaAa
Slate 1002.51:1AaAa
Slate 2002.23:1AaAa
Slate 3001.85:1AaAa
Slate 4001.07:1AaAa
Slate 5001.73:1AaAa
Slate 6002.76:1AaAa
Slate 7003.77:1AaAa
Slate 8005.32:1AaAa
Slate 9006.49:1AaAa
Black7.64:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #7B9CE2
deuteranopia · #7E9BDD
tritanopia · #9C9CAD

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. #a78fdf 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.

#F6F4FB
#EDE9F6
#D7CEEE
#BAA8E6
#a78fdf
#7650CD
#5F36BE
#4F2D9F
#3F247F
#311E5D
#1E133A
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F6F4FBDarkest = 950 · #1E133AText 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 0.029 297.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.047 297.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.070 297.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.091 297.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.108 297.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.117 297.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.117 297.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.110 297.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.098 297.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.082 297.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.064 297.1);
}

Colors that work with #a78fdf

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#F6F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#CDC0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#634B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#9DA329
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#321C63
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EFEBF9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#191424
Dark-mode background
Hover#9173D7
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7B58CF
Two steps down
Disabled#EEECF3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B199EA
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 #a78fdf

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • White text placed on it
  • 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 #321C63
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9E83DC

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 lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

Deep violets swallow detail on screens with poor gamma; check it on a cheap laptop panel.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight28/100
  • 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#C7DF8F
Analogous left#8F9FDF
Analogous right#CF8FDF
Split-complement 1#DFCF8F
Split-complement 2#9FDF8F
Triadic 1#DFA78F
Triadic 2#8FDFA7
Tetradic#DF8F9F
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°258°

#a78fdf sits at 258°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red65.5%
Green56.1%
Blue87.5%
R · 0–255
167
0xa7
G · 0–255
143
0x8f
B · 0–255
223
0xdf

CMYK percentages

Cyan25.1%
Magenta35.9%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)12.5%

Total ink coverage is 74%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#a78fdf text on a black background

contrast 7.64:1

Card sample

#a78fdf text on a white background

contrast 2.75:1

Card sample

#a78fdf on grey

2.51:1

#a78fdf on its own surface

2.52:1

#a78fdf on its dark surface

6.55:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #a78fdf;
Background color
Panel with #a78fdf background
background-color: #a78fdf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #a78fdf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(167, 143, 223, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(167, 143, 223, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #a78fdf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #a78fdf, #DC8FDF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #a78fdf, #DF8FCE);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #a78fdf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #a78fdf;
caret-color: #a78fdf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #a78fdf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EFEBF9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #a78fdf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#a78fdf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #a78fdf 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(167, 143, 223, 0.5)
rgb(167 143 223 / 50%)
#a78fdf80
hsl(258 56% 72% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #a78fdf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#a78fdf1a#F6F4FC
20%#a78fdf33#EDE9F9
40%#a78fdf66#DCD2F2
60%#a78fdf99#CABCEC
80%#a78fdfcc#B9A5E5

Gradients from #a78fdf

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, #CDBFED, #a78fdf 45%, #321C63);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #a78fdf, #D877D3);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #a78fdf, #C7DF8F);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #DFD7F3 0%, #a78fdf 45%, #321C63 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #B7C5EA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #DFA7E6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #321C63 0%, transparent 65%), #a78fdf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #a78fdf

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.

#a78fdf 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
SurfacesBadgesHighlightsEmpty states
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 7.64:1.

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.

#a78fdf, answered

What color is #a78fdf?

#a78fdf is a light vivid violet, closest to Medium Purple (ΔE2000 9.5). It sits at 258° on the hue wheel with 56% saturation and 72% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #a78fdf?

rgb(167, 143, 223) — 167 red, 143 green and 223 blue out of 255, or 65.5% / 56.1% / 87.5% by channel.

What is #a78fdf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(258, 56%, 72%) and hsv(258, 36%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #a78fdf a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3319 and perceived brightness is 63%, so black text on it reaches 7.64:1.

Should I use black or white text on #a78fdf?

Black. It scores 7.64:1 against #a78fdf, versus 2.75:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #a78fdf accessible on a white background?

#a78fdf on white scores 2.75:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #825FD1 to reach 4.5:1, or #6338C6 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #a78fdf?

#C7DF8F sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DFCF8F and #9FDF8F, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #a78fdf?

For interface work: #F6F4FA as the surface, #CDC0ED for borders, #634B9B for secondary text, #9DA329 as an accent and #321C63 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #8F9FDF and #CF8FDF stays calm, while #C7DF8F is the loudest partner.

What is #a78fdf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(25%, 36%, 0%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #a78fdf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 73 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C48FDF; nudged cooler, #8E93E1.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #a78fdf?

The purple family — its 500 step is #a855f7, ΔE2000 15.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #a78fdf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #a78fdf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#a78fdf] or text-[#a78fdf], 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 #a78fdf with 50% opacity?

rgba(167, 143, 223, 0.5), or #a78fdf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D3C7EF; over black, #544870.

Is #a78fdf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999CC, ΔE2000 6.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #a78fdf 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 #a78fdf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #CDBFED, #a78fdf 45%, #321C63). For more colour, a short hue run to #D877D3 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #a78fdf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #a78fdf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.