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violet · neutral

#ab8cba

a balanced, soft violet · neutral · closest name: Plum

Token name suggestion: Signal Iris

RGB
171, 140, 186
HSL
280°, 25%, 64%
CMYK
8, 25, 0, 27
Luminance
0.3096

#ab8cba is a balanced soft violet, 280° on the wheel and 58/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.19:1). As text it scores 2.92:1 on white — use #8F66A3 instead. Nearest name is Plum, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(280 25% 64%)rgb(171 140 186)Base step 400AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ab8cba is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ab8cba
Hue
280°
violet
Saturation
25%
soft
Lightness
64%
balanced
Brightness
73%
HSV value
Perceived
61%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3096
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
58/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
7.19:1
Closest name
Plum
ΔE2000 10.4
Chroma
28.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.684
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 18.6
Web-safe
#9999CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue280° of 360°
Saturation25%
Lightness64%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ab8cba.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool58% 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
Red28%
Green61%
Blue11%

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

Every format

HEX#ab8cba
HEX (8-digit)#ab8cbaff
RGBrgb(171, 140, 186)
RGBArgba(171, 140, 186, 1)
HSLhsl(280, 25%, 64%)
HSV / HSBhsv(280, 25%, 73%)
HWBhwb(280 55% 27%)
CMYKcmyk(8%, 25%, 0%, 27%)
LABlab(62.5 20.3 -19.6)
LCHlch(62.5 28.2 315.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.684 0.075 314.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(35.03, 30.96, 50.58)
Decimal11242682
Display P3color(display-p3 0.671 0.549 0.729)
Web-safe#9999CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ab8cba;
background-color: #ab8cba;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ab8cba;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ab8cba] bg-[#ab8cba]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ab8cba;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.671, green: 0.549, blue: 0.729)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.671, green: 0.549, blue: 0.729, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AB8CBA</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAB8CBA)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAB8CBA)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(186, 140, 171)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(171, 140, 186)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(171, 140, 186)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 171, 140, 186)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6706f, 0.5490f, 0.7294f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{171,140,186}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ab8cba 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ab8cba 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#453050, #E3D9E8);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ab8cba 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: #F8F6F9;
  --brand-100: #F1EDF3;
  --brand-200: #E0D7E5;
  --brand-300: #CCB9D5;
  --brand-400: #ab8cba;
  --brand-500: #9973AB;
  --brand-600: #855C99;
  --brand-700: #6F4D80;
  --brand-800: #593D66;
  --brand-900: #422F4B;
  --brand-950: #291D2F;
  --brand: #ab8cba;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F5F9;
  --brand-border: #DACCE0;
  --brand-hover: #9B76AD;
  --brand-pressed: #8A5F9F;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1E1523;
    --brand-ink: #E3D9E8;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F6F9',
        100: '#F1EDF3',
        200: '#E0D7E5',
        300: '#CCB9D5',
        400: '#ab8cba',
        500: '#9973AB',
        600: '#855C99',
        700: '#6F4D80',
        800: '#593D66',
        900: '#422F4B',
        950: '#291D2F',
        DEFAULT: '#ab8cba',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F6F9,
  '100': #F1EDF3,
  '200': #E0D7E5,
  '300': #CCB9D5,
  '400': #ab8cba,
  '500': #9973AB,
  '600': #855C99,
  '700': #6F4D80,
  '800': #593D66,
  '900': #422F4B,
  '950': #291D2F,
);
$brand-base: #ab8cba;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F6F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F1EDF3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E0D7E5", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#CCB9D5", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#ab8cba", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#9973AB", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#855C99", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#6F4D80", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#593D66", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#422F4B", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#291D2F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ab8cba · 7.19:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.92:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.19:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #ab8cba as text scores 2.92:1 on white and 7.19:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #453050 at 4.01:1.

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
#8F66A3 · 4.57:1
AA on white−12% L
#8F66A3
The quick fox
#6C4A7C · 7.22:1
AAA on white−25% L
#6C4A7C
The quick fox
#ab8cba · 7.19:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ab8cba
The quick fox
#ab8cba · 7.19:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#ab8cba

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A989B8 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
#ab8cba on white: 2.92:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ab8cba on black: 7.19:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ab8cba as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ab8cba.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.92:1AaAa
Slate 502.79:1AaAa
Slate 1002.67:1AaAa
Slate 2002.37:1AaAa
Slate 3001.97:1AaAa
Slate 4001.14:1AaAa
Slate 5001.63:1AaAa
Slate 6002.60:1AaAa
Slate 7003.55:1AaAa
Slate 8005.01:1AaAa
Slate 9006.11:1AaAa
Black7.19:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #8695BC
deuteranopia · #8C98B8
tritanopia · #AA919C

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. #ab8cba 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.

#F8F6F9
#F1EDF3
#E0D7E5
#CCB9D5
#ab8cba
#9973AB
#855C99
#6F4D80
#593D66
#422F4B
#291D2F
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F8F6F9Darkest = 950 · #291D2FText 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 0.019 314.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.030 314.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.045 314.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.058 314.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.069 314.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.075 314.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.075 314.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.070 314.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.063 314.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.052 314.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.041 314.6);
}

Colors that work with #ab8cba

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#F8F5F9
Tinted page background
Border#DACCE0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#7D568F
Captions on the surface
Accent#6A8448
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#453050
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F3EFF5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1E1523
Dark-mode background
Hover#9B76AD
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8A5F9F
Two steps down
Disabled#DED3E3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B790CA
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 #ab8cba

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • 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 #453050
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A989B8

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
  • Weight36/100
  • 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#9BBA8C
Analogous left#948CBA
Analogous right#BA8CB2
Split-complement 1#B2BA8C
Split-complement 2#8CBA94
Triadic 1#BAAB8C
Triadic 2#8CBAAB
Tetradic#BA948C
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°280°

#ab8cba sits at 280°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red67.1%
Green54.9%
Blue72.9%
R · 0–255
171
0xab
G · 0–255
140
0x8c
B · 0–255
186
0xba

CMYK percentages

Cyan8.1%
Magenta24.7%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)27.1%

Total ink coverage is 60%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ab8cba text on a black background

contrast 7.19:1

Card sample

#ab8cba text on a white background

contrast 2.92:1

Card sample

#ab8cba on grey

2.67:1

#ab8cba on its own surface

2.70:1

#ab8cba on its dark surface

6.06:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ab8cba;
Background color
Panel with #ab8cba background
background-color: #ab8cba;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ab8cba;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(171, 140, 186, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(171, 140, 186, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ab8cba;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ab8cba, #BA8CAA);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ab8cba, #BA8C9F);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ab8cba;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ab8cba;
caret-color: #ab8cba;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ab8cba;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F3EFF5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ab8cba;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ab8cba 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ab8cba 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, 140, 186, 0.5)
rgb(171 140 186 / 50%)
#ab8cba80
hsl(280 25% 64% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ab8cba 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ab8cba1a#F7F4F8
20%#ab8cba33#EEE8F1
40%#ab8cba66#DDD1E3
60%#ab8cba99#CDBAD6
80%#ab8cbacc#BCA3C8

Gradients from #ab8cba

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, #C7B2D1, #ab8cba 45%, #453050);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ab8cba, #AE7998);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ab8cba, #9BBA8C);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D5C5DC 0%, #ab8cba 45%, #453050 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F5F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #AFACCD 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C59FBC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #453050 0%, transparent 65%), #ab8cba;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ab8cba

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.

#ab8cba 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

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 7.19:1.

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.

#ab8cba, answered

What color is #ab8cba?

#ab8cba is a balanced soft violet, closest to Plum (ΔE2000 10.4). It sits at 280° on the hue wheel with 25% saturation and 64% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #ab8cba?

rgb(171, 140, 186) — 171 red, 140 green and 186 blue out of 255, or 67.1% / 54.9% / 72.9% by channel.

What is #ab8cba in HSL and HSV?

hsl(280, 25%, 64%) and hsv(280, 25%, 73%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ab8cba a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3096 and perceived brightness is 61%, so black text on it reaches 7.19:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ab8cba?

Black. It scores 7.19:1 against #ab8cba, versus 2.92:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #ab8cba accessible on a white background?

#ab8cba on white scores 2.92:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #8F66A3 to reach 4.5:1, or #6C4A7C for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ab8cba?

#9BBA8C sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #B2BA8C and #8CBA94, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ab8cba?

For interface work: #F8F5F9 as the surface, #DACCE0 for borders, #7D568F for secondary text, #6A8448 as an accent and #453050 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #948CBA and #BA8CB2 stays calm, while #9BBA8C is the loudest partner.

What is #ab8cba in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(8%, 25%, 0%, 27%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #ab8cba warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 58 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #BA8CB8; nudged cooler, #998ABC.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ab8cba?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 18.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ab8cba as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ab8cba in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ab8cba] or text-[#ab8cba], 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 #ab8cba with 50% opacity?

rgba(171, 140, 186, 0.5), or #ab8cba80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D5C6DD; over black, #56465D.

Is #ab8cba a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999CC, ΔE2000 9.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ab8cba 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 #ab8cba?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C7B2D1, #ab8cba 45%, #453050). For more colour, a short hue run to #AE7998 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ab8cba in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ab8cba at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.