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violet · cool

#ab8ac2

a light, soft violet · cool · closest name: Plum

Token name suggestion: Drift Thistle

RGB
171, 138, 194
HSL
275°, 32%, 65%
CMYK
12, 29, 0, 24
Luminance
0.3073

#ab8ac2 is a light soft violet, 275° on the wheel and 62/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.15:1). As text it scores 2.94:1 on white — use #8E62AD instead. Nearest name is Plum, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(275 32% 65%)rgb(171 138 194)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ab8ac2 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ab8ac2
Hue
275°
violet
Saturation
32%
soft
Lightness
65%
light
Brightness
76%
HSV value
Perceived
61%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3073
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
62/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
7.15:1
Closest name
Plum
ΔE2000 10.4
Chroma
33.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.684
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 17
Web-safe
#9999CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue275° of 360°
Saturation32%
Lightness65%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ab8ac2.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool62% 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
Red28%
Green59%
Blue13%

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

Every format

HEX#ab8ac2
HEX (8-digit)#ab8ac2ff
RGBrgb(171, 138, 194)
RGBArgba(171, 138, 194, 1)
HSLhsl(275, 32%, 65%)
HSV / HSBhsv(275, 29%, 76%)
HWBhwb(275 54% 24%)
CMYKcmyk(12%, 29%, 0%, 24%)
LABlab(62.3 23.1 -24.4)
LCHlch(62.3 33.6 313.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.684 0.088 310.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(35.62, 30.73, 55.08)
Decimal11242178
Display P3color(display-p3 0.671 0.541 0.761)
Web-safe#9999CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ab8ac2;
background-color: #ab8ac2;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ab8ac2;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ab8ac2] bg-[#ab8ac2]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ab8ac2;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.671, green: 0.541, blue: 0.761)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.671, green: 0.541, blue: 0.761, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AB8AC2</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAB8AC2)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAB8AC2)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(194, 138, 171)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(171, 138, 194)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(171, 138, 194)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 171, 138, 194)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6706f, 0.5412f, 0.7608f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{171,138,194}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ab8ac2 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ab8ac2 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#432C54, #E2D7EA);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ab8ac2 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: #F8F5F9;
  --brand-100: #F0ECF3;
  --brand-200: #E0D5E7;
  --brand-300: #CAB5D9;
  --brand-400: #ab8ac2;
  --brand-500: #956BB2;
  --brand-600: #8154A1;
  --brand-700: #6C4686;
  --brand-800: #56386B;
  --brand-900: #402B4F;
  --brand-950: #281B31;
  --brand: #ab8ac2;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F5FA;
  --brand-border: #D9C9E3;
  --brand-hover: #9A72B6;
  --brand-pressed: #895BAA;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1E1424;
    --brand-ink: #E2D7EA;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F5F9',
        100: '#F0ECF3',
        200: '#E0D5E7',
        300: '#CAB5D9',
        400: '#ab8ac2',
        500: '#956BB2',
        600: '#8154A1',
        700: '#6C4686',
        800: '#56386B',
        900: '#402B4F',
        950: '#281B31',
        DEFAULT: '#ab8ac2',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F5F9,
  '100': #F0ECF3,
  '200': #E0D5E7,
  '300': #CAB5D9,
  '400': #ab8ac2,
  '500': #956BB2,
  '600': #8154A1,
  '700': #6C4686,
  '800': #56386B,
  '900': #402B4F,
  '950': #281B31,
);
$brand-base: #ab8ac2;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F5F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F0ECF3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E0D5E7", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#CAB5D9", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#ab8ac2", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#956BB2", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#8154A1", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#6C4686", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#56386B", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#402B4F", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#281B31", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ab8ac2 · 7.15:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.94:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.15:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #ab8ac2 as text scores 2.94:1 on white and 7.15:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #432C54 at 4.14:1.

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
#8E62AD · 4.67:1
AA on white−12% L
#8E62AD
The quick fox
#6F488A · 7.07:1
AAA on white−24% L
#6F488A
The quick fox
#ab8ac2 · 7.15:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ab8ac2
The quick fox
#ab8ac2 · 7.15:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#ab8ac2

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A987C0 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
#ab8ac2 on white: 2.94:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ab8ac2 on black: 7.15:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ab8ac2 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ab8ac2.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.94:1AaAa
Slate 502.81:1AaAa
Slate 1002.68:1AaAa
Slate 2002.38:1AaAa
Slate 3001.98:1AaAa
Slate 4001.15:1AaAa
Slate 5001.62:1AaAa
Slate 6002.58:1AaAa
Slate 7003.52:1AaAa
Slate 8004.98:1AaAa
Slate 9006.07:1AaAa
Black7.15:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #8195C4
deuteranopia · #8897C0
tritanopia · #A9919E

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. #ab8ac2 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.

#F8F5F9
#F0ECF3
#E0D5E7
#CAB5D9
#ab8ac2
#956BB2
#8154A1
#6C4686
#56386B
#402B4F
#281B31
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F8F5F9Darkest = 950 · #281B31Text 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 0.022 310.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.035 310.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.053 310.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.069 310.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.081 310.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.088 310.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.088 310.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.083 310.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.074 310.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.062 310.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.049 310.9);
}

Colors that work with #ab8ac2

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#F8F5FA
Tinted page background
Border#D9C9E3
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#794F97
Captions on the surface
Accent#728B41
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#432C54
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F3EEF6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1E1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#9A72B6
One step down in lightness
Pressed#895BAA
Two steps down
Disabled#DFD7E5
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B690D1
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 #ab8ac2

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • 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 #432C54
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A987C0

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 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
  • Weight35/100
  • 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#A1C28A
Analogous left#8F8AC2
Analogous right#C28ABD
Split-complement 1#BDC28A
Split-complement 2#8AC28F
Triadic 1#C2AB8A
Triadic 2#8AC2AB
Tetradic#C28F8A
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°275°

#ab8ac2 sits at 275°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red67.1%
Green54.1%
Blue76.1%
R · 0–255
171
0xab
G · 0–255
138
0x8a
B · 0–255
194
0xc2

CMYK percentages

Cyan11.9%
Magenta28.9%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)23.9%

Total ink coverage is 65%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ab8ac2 text on a black background

contrast 7.15:1

Card sample

#ab8ac2 text on a white background

contrast 2.94:1

Card sample

#ab8ac2 on grey

2.68:1

#ab8ac2 on its own surface

2.72:1

#ab8ac2 on its dark surface

6.05:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ab8ac2;
Background color
Panel with #ab8ac2 background
background-color: #ab8ac2;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ab8ac2;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(171, 138, 194, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(171, 138, 194, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ab8ac2;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ab8ac2, #C28AB4);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ab8ac2, #C28AA6);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ab8ac2;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ab8ac2;
caret-color: #ab8ac2;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ab8ac2;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F3EEF6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ab8ac2;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ab8ac2 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ab8ac2 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, 138, 194, 0.5)
rgb(171 138 194 / 50%)
#ab8ac280
hsl(275 32% 65% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ab8ac2 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ab8ac21a#F7F3F9
20%#ab8ac233#EEE8F3
40%#ab8ac266#DDD0E7
60%#ab8ac299#CDB9DA
80%#ab8ac2cc#BCA1CE

Gradients from #ab8ac2

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, #C8B2D7, #ab8ac2 45%, #432C54);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ab8ac2, #B876A1);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ab8ac2, #A1C28A);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D6C6E1 0%, #ab8ac2 45%, #432C54 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F5FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #ACACD4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #CD9EC4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #432C54 0%, transparent 65%), #ab8ac2;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ab8ac2

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.

#ab8ac2 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 7.15:1.

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.

#ab8ac2, answered

What color is #ab8ac2?

#ab8ac2 is a light soft violet, closest to Plum (ΔE2000 10.4). It sits at 275° on the hue wheel with 32% saturation and 65% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #ab8ac2?

rgb(171, 138, 194) — 171 red, 138 green and 194 blue out of 255, or 67.1% / 54.1% / 76.1% by channel.

What is #ab8ac2 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(275, 32%, 65%) and hsv(275, 29%, 76%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ab8ac2 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3073 and perceived brightness is 61%, so black text on it reaches 7.15:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ab8ac2?

Black. It scores 7.15:1 against #ab8ac2, versus 2.94:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #ab8ac2 accessible on a white background?

#ab8ac2 on white scores 2.94:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #8E62AD to reach 4.5:1, or #6F488A for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ab8ac2?

#A1C28A sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BDC28A and #8AC28F, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ab8ac2?

For interface work: #F8F5FA as the surface, #D9C9E3 for borders, #794F97 for secondary text, #728B41 as an accent and #432C54 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #8F8AC2 and #C28ABD stays calm, while #A1C28A is the loudest partner.

What is #ab8ac2 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(12%, 29%, 0%, 24%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #ab8ac2 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 62 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C08AC2; nudged cooler, #9688C4.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ab8ac2?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 17 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ab8ac2 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ab8ac2 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ab8ac2] or text-[#ab8ac2], 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 #ab8ac2 with 50% opacity?

rgba(171, 138, 194, 0.5), or #ab8ac280 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D5C5E1; over black, #564561.

Is #ab8ac2 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999CC, ΔE2000 9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ab8ac2 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 #ab8ac2?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C8B2D7, #ab8ac2 45%, #432C54). For more colour, a short hue run to #B876A1 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ab8ac2 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ab8ac2 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.