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violet · cool

#ab3acf

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

Token name suggestion: Atlas Thistle

RGB
171, 58, 207
HSL
286°, 61%, 52%
CMYK
17, 72, 0, 19
Luminance
0.1619

#ab3acf is a balanced vivid violet, 286° on the wheel and 58/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (4.96:1). As text it scores 4.96:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Dark Orchid, nearest Tailwind family is purple.

hsl(286 61% 52%)rgb(171 58 207)Base step 500AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ab3acf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ab3acf
Hue
286°
violet
Saturation
61%
vivid
Lightness
52%
balanced
Brightness
81%
HSV value
Perceived
49%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1619
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
58/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
White
4.96:1
Closest name
Dark Orchid
ΔE2000 4.1
Chroma
86.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.574
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
purple
500 · ΔE 8.3
Web-safe
#9933CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue286° of 360°
Saturation61%
Lightness52%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ab3acf.

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
Red53%
Green19%
Blue28%

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

Every format

HEX#ab3acf
HEX (8-digit)#ab3acfff
RGBrgb(171, 58, 207)
RGBArgba(171, 58, 207, 1)
HSLhsl(286, 61%, 52%)
HSV / HSBhsv(286, 72%, 81%)
HWBhwb(286 23% 19%)
CMYKcmyk(17%, 72%, 0%, 19%)
LABlab(47.2 66.3 -55.5)
LCHlch(47.2 86.5 320.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.574 0.227 316.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(29.57, 16.19, 60.59)
Decimal11221711
Display P3color(display-p3 0.671 0.227 0.812)
Web-safe#9933CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ab3acf;
background-color: #ab3acf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ab3acf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ab3acf] bg-[#ab3acf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ab3acf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.671, green: 0.227, blue: 0.812)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.671, green: 0.227, blue: 0.812, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AB3ACF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAB3ACF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAB3ACF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(207, 58, 171)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(171, 58, 207)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(171, 58, 207)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 171, 58, 207)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6706f, 0.2275f, 0.8118f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{171,58,207}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ab3acf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ab3acf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#541967, #E8D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ab3acf 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: #F3E8F7;
  --brand-200: #E7CCF0;
  --brand-300: #D9A5E9;
  --brand-400: #C578DE;
  --brand-500: #ab3acf;
  --brand-600: #A130C5;
  --brand-700: #8628A4;
  --brand-800: #6B2083;
  --brand-900: #4F1B5F;
  --brand-950: #31113C;
  --brand: #ab3acf;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F9F4FA;
  --brand-border: #E2C0ED;
  --brand-hover: #972DB9;
  --brand-pressed: #7F269C;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #201424;
    --brand-ink: #E8D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F4FB',
        100: '#F3E8F7',
        200: '#E7CCF0',
        300: '#D9A5E9',
        400: '#C578DE',
        500: '#ab3acf',
        600: '#A130C5',
        700: '#8628A4',
        800: '#6B2083',
        900: '#4F1B5F',
        950: '#31113C',
        DEFAULT: '#ab3acf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F4FB,
  '100': #F3E8F7,
  '200': #E7CCF0,
  '300': #D9A5E9,
  '400': #C578DE,
  '500': #ab3acf,
  '600': #A130C5,
  '700': #8628A4,
  '800': #6B2083,
  '900': #4F1B5F,
  '950': #31113C,
);
$brand-base: #ab3acf;
$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": "#F3E8F7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E7CCF0", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D9A5E9", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C578DE", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#ab3acf", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#A130C5", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#8628A4", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#6B2083", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4F1B5F", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#31113C", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ab3acf · 4.96:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 4.96:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 4.24:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #ab3acf as text scores 4.96:1 on white and 4.24:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F6EAFA at 4.26:1.

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
#ab3acf · 4.96:1
AA on whitealready passes
#ab3acf
The quick fox
#8929A8 · 7.13:1
AAA on white−11% L
#8929A8
The quick fox
#AF42D1 · 4.52:1
AA on black+2% L
#AF42D1
The quick fox
#C578DE · 7.12:1
AAA on black+15% L
#C578DE

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #AB3ACF 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
#ab3acf on white: 4.96:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ab3acf on black: 4.24:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ab3acf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ab3acf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White4.96:1AaAa
Slate 504.74:1AaAa
Slate 1004.52:1AaAa
Slate 2004.02:1AaAa
Slate 3003.34:1AaAa
Slate 4001.93:1AaAa
Slate 5001.04:1AaAa
Slate 6001.53:1AaAa
Slate 7002.09:1AaAa
Slate 8002.95:1AaAa
Slate 9003.60:1AaAa
Black4.24:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #0069D3
deuteranopia · #3B73CC
tritanopia · #A95981

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. #ab3acf 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
#F3E8F7
#E7CCF0
#D9A5E9
#C578DE
#ab3acf
#A130C5
#8628A4
#6B2083
#4F1B5F
#31113C
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F9F4FBDarkest = 950 · #31113CText 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 0.057 316.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.091 316.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.136 316.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.177 316.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.209 316.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.227 316.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.227 316.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.214 316.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.191 316.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.159 316.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.125 316.6);
}

Colors that work with #ab3acf

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#E2C0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#884B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#65A824
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#541967
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F6EAFA
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#201424
Dark-mode background
Hover#972DB9
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7F269C
Two steps down
Disabled#C4AECB
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B83FDE
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 #ab3acf

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
  • Weight48/100
  • 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#5ECF3A
Analogous left#613ACF
Analogous right#CF3AA9
Split-complement 1#A9CF3A
Split-complement 2#3ACF61
Triadic 1#CFAB3A
Triadic 2#3ACFAB
Tetradic#CF613A
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°286°

#ab3acf sits at 286°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red67.1%
Green22.7%
Blue81.2%
R · 0–255
171
0xab
G · 0–255
58
0x3a
B · 0–255
207
0xcf

CMYK percentages

Cyan17.4%
Magenta72.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)18.8%

Total ink coverage is 108%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ab3acf text on a black background

contrast 4.24:1

Card sample

#ab3acf text on a white background

contrast 4.96:1

Card sample

#ab3acf on grey

4.52:1

#ab3acf on its own surface

4.57:1

#ab3acf on its dark surface

3.57:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ab3acf;
Background color
Panel with #ab3acf background
background-color: #ab3acf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ab3acf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(171, 58, 207, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(171, 58, 207, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ab3acf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ab3acf, #CF3A90);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ab3acf, #CF3A6B);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ab3acf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ab3acf;
caret-color: #ab3acf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ab3acf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F6EAFA;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ab3acf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ab3acf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ab3acf 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(171, 58, 207, 0.5)
rgb(171 58 207 / 50%)
#ab3acf80
hsl(286 61% 52% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ab3acf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ab3acf1a#F7EBFA
20%#ab3acf33#EED8F5
40%#ab3acf66#DDB0EC
60%#ab3acf99#CD89E2
80%#ab3acfcc#BC61D9

Gradients from #ab3acf

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, #C06BDB, #ab3acf 45%, #541967);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ab3acf, #BD2E74);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ab3acf, #5ECF3A);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #CB84E1 0%, #ab3acf 45%, #541967 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%, #7863D9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D553A9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #541967 0%, transparent 65%), #ab3acf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ab3acf

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.

#ab3acf 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 4.24:1 — lift it to #AF42D1 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.

#ab3acf, answered

What color is #ab3acf?

#ab3acf is a balanced vivid violet, closest to Dark Orchid (ΔE2000 4.1). It sits at 286° on the hue wheel with 61% saturation and 52% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #ab3acf?

rgb(171, 58, 207) — 171 red, 58 green and 207 blue out of 255, or 67.1% / 22.7% / 81.2% by channel.

What is #ab3acf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(286, 61%, 52%) and hsv(286, 72%, 81%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ab3acf a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1619 and perceived brightness is 49%, so white text on it reaches 4.96:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ab3acf?

White. It scores 4.96:1 against #ab3acf, versus 4.24:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #ab3acf accessible on a white background?

#ab3acf on white scores 4.96:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #ab3acf?

#5ECF3A sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #A9CF3A and #3ACF61, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ab3acf?

For interface work: #F9F4FA as the surface, #E2C0ED for borders, #884B9B for secondary text, #65A824 as an accent and #541967 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #613ACF and #CF3AA9 stays calm, while #5ECF3A is the loudest partner.

What is #ab3acf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(17%, 72%, 0%, 19%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #ab3acf 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 #CF3ABC; nudged cooler, #7438D1.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ab3acf?

The purple family — its 500 step is #a855f7, ΔE2000 8.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ab3acf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ab3acf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ab3acf] or text-[#ab3acf], 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 #ab3acf with 50% opacity?

rgba(171, 58, 207, 0.5), or #ab3acf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D59DE7; over black, #561D68.

Is #ab3acf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9933CC, ΔE2000 4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ab3acf 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 #ab3acf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C06BDB, #ab3acf 45%, #541967). For more colour, a short hue run to #BD2E74 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ab3acf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ab3acf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.