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violet · cool

#aa8bdf

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Plum

RGB
170, 139, 223
HSL
262°, 57%, 71%
CMYK
24, 38, 0, 13
Luminance
0.3234

#aa8bdf is a light vivid violet, 262° on the wheel and 71/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.47:1). As text it scores 2.81:1 on white — use #8A5FD3 instead. Nearest name is Medium Purple, nearest Tailwind family is purple.

hsl(262 57% 71%)rgb(170 139 223)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #aa8bdf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#aa8bdf
Hue
262°
violet
Saturation
57%
vivid
Lightness
71%
light
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
63%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3234
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
71/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
7.47:1
Closest name
Medium Purple
ΔE2000 8.7
Chroma
48.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.698
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
purple
500 · ΔE 14.1
Web-safe
#9999CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue262° of 360°
Saturation57%
Lightness71%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #aa8bdf.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool71% 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
Red26%
Green57%
Blue16%

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

Every format

HEX#aa8bdf
HEX (8-digit)#aa8bdfff
RGBrgb(170, 139, 223)
RGBArgba(170, 139, 223, 1)
HSLhsl(262, 57%, 71%)
HSV / HSBhsv(262, 38%, 87%)
HWBhwb(262 55% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(24%, 38%, 0%, 13%)
LABlab(63.6 28.8 -38.5)
LCHlch(63.6 48.1 306.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.698 0.124 300.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(39.13, 32.34, 73.98)
Decimal11176927
Display P3color(display-p3 0.667 0.545 0.875)
Web-safe#9999CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #aa8bdf;
background-color: #aa8bdf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #aa8bdf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#aa8bdf] bg-[#aa8bdf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #aa8bdf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.667, green: 0.545, blue: 0.875)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.667, green: 0.545, blue: 0.875, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AA8BDF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAA8BDF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAA8BDF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(223, 139, 170)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(170, 139, 223)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(170, 139, 223)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 170, 139, 223)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6667f, 0.5451f, 0.8745f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{170,139,223}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #aa8bdf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #aa8bdf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#361C64, #DDD3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #aa8bdf 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: #EEE9F6;
  --brand-200: #D9CDEE;
  --brand-300: #BFA7E7;
  --brand-400: #aa8bdf;
  --brand-500: #7E4FCF;
  --brand-600: #6835C0;
  --brand-700: #572CA0;
  --brand-800: #452380;
  --brand-900: #351D5D;
  --brand-950: #21123A;
  --brand: #aa8bdf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F7F4FA;
  --brand-border: #D0C0ED;
  --brand-hover: #956FD7;
  --brand-pressed: #8153D0;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1A1424;
    --brand-ink: #DDD3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F4FB',
        100: '#EEE9F6',
        200: '#D9CDEE',
        300: '#BFA7E7',
        400: '#aa8bdf',
        500: '#7E4FCF',
        600: '#6835C0',
        700: '#572CA0',
        800: '#452380',
        900: '#351D5D',
        950: '#21123A',
        DEFAULT: '#aa8bdf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F4FB,
  '100': #EEE9F6,
  '200': #D9CDEE,
  '300': #BFA7E7,
  '400': #aa8bdf,
  '500': #7E4FCF,
  '600': #6835C0,
  '700': #572CA0,
  '800': #452380,
  '900': #351D5D,
  '950': #21123A,
);
$brand-base: #aa8bdf;
$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": "#EEE9F6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D9CDEE", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#BFA7E7", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#aa8bdf", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7E4FCF", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#6835C0", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#572CA0", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#452380", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#351D5D", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#21123A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #aa8bdf · 7.47:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.81:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.47:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #aa8bdf as text scores 2.81:1 on white and 7.47:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #361C64 at 4.96:1.

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
#8A5FD3 · 4.51:1
AA on white−11% L
#8A5FD3
The quick fox
#6A36C4 · 7.15:1
AAA on white−22% L
#6A36C4
The quick fox
#aa8bdf · 7.47:1
AA on blackalready passes
#aa8bdf
The quick fox
#aa8bdf · 7.47:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#aa8bdf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A483DD 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
#aa8bdf on white: 2.81:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#aa8bdf on black: 7.47:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #aa8bdf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #aa8bdf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.81:1AaAa
Slate 502.69:1AaAa
Slate 1002.57:1AaAa
Slate 2002.28:1AaAa
Slate 3001.89:1AaAa
Slate 4001.10:1AaAa
Slate 5001.69:1AaAa
Slate 6002.69:1AaAa
Slate 7003.68:1AaAa
Slate 8005.20:1AaAa
Slate 9006.35:1AaAa
Black7.47:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #769AE2
deuteranopia · #7C9ADD
tritanopia · #A099AB

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. #aa8bdf 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
#EEE9F6
#D9CDEE
#BFA7E7
#aa8bdf
#7E4FCF
#6835C0
#572CA0
#452380
#351D5D
#21123A
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F6F4FBDarkest = 950 · #21123AText 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 0.031 300.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.050 300.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.074 300.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.097 300.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.114 300.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.124 300.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.124 300.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.117 300.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.104 300.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.087 300.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.068 300.2);
}

Colors that work with #aa8bdf

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#F7F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#D0C0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#684B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#95A428
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#361C64
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F0EBF9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1A1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#956FD7
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8153D0
Two steps down
Disabled#ECE9F1
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B495EA
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 #aa8bdf

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 #361C64
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A483DD

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
  • Weight29/100
  • 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#C0DF8B
Analogous left#8B96DF
Analogous right#D48BDF
Split-complement 1#DFD48B
Split-complement 2#96DF8B
Triadic 1#DFAA8B
Triadic 2#8BDFAA
Tetradic#DF8B96
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°262°

#aa8bdf sits at 262°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red66.7%
Green54.5%
Blue87.5%
R · 0–255
170
0xaa
G · 0–255
139
0x8b
B · 0–255
223
0xdf

CMYK percentages

Cyan23.8%
Magenta37.7%
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

#aa8bdf text on a black background

contrast 7.47:1

Card sample

#aa8bdf text on a white background

contrast 2.81:1

Card sample

#aa8bdf on grey

2.57:1

#aa8bdf on its own surface

2.58:1

#aa8bdf on its dark surface

6.39:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #aa8bdf;
Background color
Panel with #aa8bdf background
background-color: #aa8bdf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #aa8bdf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(170, 139, 223, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(170, 139, 223, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #aa8bdf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #aa8bdf, #DF8BDC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #aa8bdf, #DF8BC7);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #aa8bdf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #aa8bdf;
caret-color: #aa8bdf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #aa8bdf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F0EBF9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #aa8bdf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#aa8bdf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #aa8bdf 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(170, 139, 223, 0.5)
rgb(170 139 223 / 50%)
#aa8bdf80
hsl(262 57% 71% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #aa8bdf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#aa8bdf1a#F7F3FC
20%#aa8bdf33#EEE8F9
40%#aa8bdf66#DDD1F2
60%#aa8bdf99#CCB9EC
80%#aa8bdfcc#BBA2E5

Gradients from #aa8bdf

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, #CDBBEC, #aa8bdf 45%, #361C64);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #aa8bdf, #D873CC);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #aa8bdf, #C0DF8B);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #DFD3F3 0%, #aa8bdf 45%, #361C64 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F7F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #B3BFEA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E2A3E6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #361C64 0%, transparent 65%), #aa8bdf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #aa8bdf

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.

#aa8bdf 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 7.47:1.

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.

#aa8bdf, answered

What color is #aa8bdf?

#aa8bdf is a light vivid violet, closest to Medium Purple (ΔE2000 8.7). It sits at 262° on the hue wheel with 57% saturation and 71% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #aa8bdf?

rgb(170, 139, 223) — 170 red, 139 green and 223 blue out of 255, or 66.7% / 54.5% / 87.5% by channel.

What is #aa8bdf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(262, 57%, 71%) and hsv(262, 38%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #aa8bdf a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3234 and perceived brightness is 63%, so black text on it reaches 7.47:1.

Should I use black or white text on #aa8bdf?

Black. It scores 7.47:1 against #aa8bdf, versus 2.81:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #aa8bdf accessible on a white background?

#aa8bdf on white scores 2.81:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #8A5FD3 to reach 4.5:1, or #6A36C4 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #aa8bdf?

#C0DF8B sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DFD48B and #96DF8B, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #aa8bdf?

For interface work: #F7F4FA as the surface, #D0C0ED for borders, #684B9B for secondary text, #95A428 as an accent and #361C64 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #8B96DF and #D48BDF stays calm, while #C0DF8B is the loudest partner.

What is #aa8bdf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(24%, 38%, 0%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #aa8bdf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 71 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C98BDF; nudged cooler, #8A8AE1.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #aa8bdf?

The purple family — its 500 step is #a855f7, ΔE2000 14.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #aa8bdf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #aa8bdf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#aa8bdf] or text-[#aa8bdf], 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 #aa8bdf with 50% opacity?

rgba(170, 139, 223, 0.5), or #aa8bdf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D5C5EF; over black, #554670.

Is #aa8bdf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999CC, ΔE2000 8.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #aa8bdf 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 #aa8bdf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #CDBBEC, #aa8bdf 45%, #361C64). For more colour, a short hue run to #D873CC keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #aa8bdf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #aa8bdf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.