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violet · cool

#ac0af6

a balanced, electric violet · cool · closest name: Blue Violet

Token name suggestion: Signal Thistle

RGB
172, 10, 246
HSL
281°, 93%, 50%
CMYK
30, 96, 0, 4
Luminance
0.1564

#ac0af6 is a balanced electric violet, 281° on the wheel and 60/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (5.09:1). As text it scores 5.09:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Blue Violet, nearest Tailwind family is purple.

hsl(281 93% 50%)rgb(172 10 246)Base step 600AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ac0af6 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ac0af6
Hue
281°
violet
Saturation
93%
electric
Lightness
50%
balanced
Brightness
96%
HSV value
Perceived
49%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1564
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
60/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Electric
Best ink
White
5.09:1
Closest name
Blue Violet
ΔE2000 5.5
Chroma
115.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.578
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
purple
500 · ΔE 8.7
Web-safe
#9900FF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue281° of 360°
Saturation93%
Lightness50%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ac0af6.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool60% 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
Red56%
Green1%
Blue43%

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

Every format

HEX#ac0af6
HEX (8-digit)#ac0af6ff
RGBrgb(172, 10, 246)
RGBArgba(172, 10, 246, 1)
HSLhsl(281, 93%, 50%)
HSV / HSBhsv(281, 96%, 96%)
HWBhwb(281 4% 4%)
CMYKcmyk(30%, 96%, 0%, 4%)
LABlab(46.5 84.7 -78.8)
LCHlch(46.5 115.7 317.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.578 0.290 309.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(33.75, 15.64, 88.41)
Decimal11274998
Display P3color(display-p3 0.675 0.039 0.965)
Web-safe#9900FF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ac0af6;
background-color: #ac0af6;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ac0af6;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ac0af6] bg-[#ac0af6]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ac0af6;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.675, green: 0.039, blue: 0.965)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.675, green: 0.039, blue: 0.965, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AC0AF6</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAC0AF6)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAC0AF6)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(246, 10, 172)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(172, 10, 246)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(172, 10, 246)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 172, 10, 246)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6745f, 0.0392f, 0.9647f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{172,10,246}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ac0af6 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ac0af6 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#56057B, #E6D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ac0af6 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: #F9F2FD;
  --brand-100: #F4E4FB;
  --brand-200: #E8C2F9;
  --brand-300: #DA93FB;
  --brand-400: #C85DF9;
  --brand-500: #B627F7;
  --brand-600: #ac0af6;
  --brand-700: #8907C5;
  --brand-800: #6E069D;
  --brand-900: #510972;
  --brand-950: #320647;
  --brand: #ac0af6;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F8F4FA;
  --brand-border: #DFC0ED;
  --brand-hover: #9408D4;
  --brand-pressed: #7C07B2;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1F1424;
    --brand-ink: #E6D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F2FD',
        100: '#F4E4FB',
        200: '#E8C2F9',
        300: '#DA93FB',
        400: '#C85DF9',
        500: '#B627F7',
        600: '#ac0af6',
        700: '#8907C5',
        800: '#6E069D',
        900: '#510972',
        950: '#320647',
        DEFAULT: '#ac0af6',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F2FD,
  '100': #F4E4FB,
  '200': #E8C2F9,
  '300': #DA93FB,
  '400': #C85DF9,
  '500': #B627F7,
  '600': #ac0af6,
  '700': #8907C5,
  '800': #6E069D,
  '900': #510972,
  '950': #320647,
);
$brand-base: #ac0af6;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F2FD", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F4E4FB", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E8C2F9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#DA93FB", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C85DF9", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#B627F7", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#ac0af6", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#8907C5", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#6E069D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#510972", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#320647", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ac0af6 · 5.09:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 5.09:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 4.13:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #ac0af6 as text scores 5.09:1 on white and 4.13:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F7E6FE at 4.29:1.

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
#ac0af6 · 5.09:1
AA on whitealready passes
#ac0af6
The quick fox
#8A07C6 · 7.18:1
AAA on white−10% L
#8A07C6
The quick fox
#B423F7 · 4.52:1
AA on black+5% L
#B423F7
The quick fox
#CD6CFA · 7.12:1
AAA on black+20% L
#CD6CFA

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #AC0AF6 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
#ac0af6 on white: 5.09:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ac0af6 on black: 4.13:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ac0af6 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ac0af6.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White5.09:1AaAa
Slate 504.86:1AaAa
Slate 1004.64:1AaAa
Slate 2004.13:1AaAa
Slate 3003.43:1AaAa
Slate 4001.98:1AaAa
Slate 5001.07:1AaAa
Slate 6001.49:1AaAa
Slate 7002.04:1AaAa
Slate 8002.88:1AaAa
Slate 9003.51:1AaAa
Black4.13:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #0069FB
deuteranopia · #0070F2
tritanopia · #A05C91

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. #ac0af6 is pinned to step 600; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F9F2FD
#F4E4FB
#E8C2F9
#DA93FB
#C85DF9
#B627F7
#ac0af6
#8907C5
#6E069D
#510972
#320647
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F9F2FDDarkest = 950 · #320647Text 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 0.073 309.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.116 309.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.174 309.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.226 309.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.267 309.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.290 309.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.290 309.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.273 309.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.244 309.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.203 309.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.160 309.3);
}

Colors that work with #ac0af6

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#F8F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#DFC0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#824B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#73C903
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#56057B
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F7E6FE
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1F1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#9408D4
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7C07B2
Two steps down
Disabled#BEA9C8
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B615FF
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 #ac0af6

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.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. 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
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight50/100
  • 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#54F60A
Analogous left#360AF6
Analogous right#F60ACA
Split-complement 1#CAF60A
Split-complement 2#0AF636
Triadic 1#F6AC0A
Triadic 2#0AF6AC
Tetradic#F6360A
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°281°

#ac0af6 sits at 281°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red67.5%
Green3.9%
Blue96.5%
R · 0–255
172
0xac
G · 0–255
10
0x0a
B · 0–255
246
0xf6

CMYK percentages

Cyan30.1%
Magenta95.9%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)3.5%

Total ink coverage is 130%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ac0af6 text on a black background

contrast 4.13:1

Card sample

#ac0af6 text on a white background

contrast 5.09:1

Card sample

#ac0af6 on grey

4.64:1

#ac0af6 on its own surface

4.68:1

#ac0af6 on its dark surface

3.49:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ac0af6;
Background color
Panel with #ac0af6 background
background-color: #ac0af6;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ac0af6;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(172, 10, 246, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(172, 10, 246, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ac0af6;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ac0af6, #F60AA3);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ac0af6, #F60A68);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ac0af6;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ac0af6;
caret-color: #ac0af6;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ac0af6;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F7E6FE;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ac0af6;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ac0af6 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ac0af6 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(172, 10, 246, 0.5)
rgb(172 10 246 / 50%)
#ac0af680
hsl(281 93% 50% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ac0af6 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ac0af61a#F7E7FE
20%#ac0af633#EECEFD
40%#ac0af666#DE9DFB
60%#ac0af699#CD6CFA
80%#ac0af6cc#BD3BF8

Gradients from #ac0af6

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, #C045F8, #ac0af6 45%, #56057B);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ac0af6, #D9087E);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ac0af6, #54F60A);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #CA63F9 0%, #ac0af6 45%, #56057B 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #4F3BF8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #F728BF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #56057B 0%, transparent 65%), #ac0af6;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ac0af6

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.

#ac0af6 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

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

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 4.13:1 — lift it to #B423F7 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.

#ac0af6, answered

What color is #ac0af6?

#ac0af6 is a balanced electric violet, closest to Blue Violet (ΔE2000 5.5). It sits at 281° on the hue wheel with 93% saturation and 50% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #ac0af6?

rgb(172, 10, 246) — 172 red, 10 green and 246 blue out of 255, or 67.5% / 3.9% / 96.5% by channel.

What is #ac0af6 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(281, 93%, 50%) and hsv(281, 96%, 96%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ac0af6 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1564 and perceived brightness is 49%, so white text on it reaches 5.09:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ac0af6?

White. It scores 5.09:1 against #ac0af6, versus 4.13:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #ac0af6 accessible on a white background?

#ac0af6 on white scores 5.09:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #ac0af6?

#54F60A sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CAF60A and #0AF636, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ac0af6?

For interface work: #F8F4FA as the surface, #DFC0ED for borders, #824B9B for secondary text, #73C903 as an accent and #56057B for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #360AF6 and #F60ACA stays calm, while #54F60A is the loudest partner.

What is #ac0af6 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(30%, 96%, 0%, 4%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #ac0af6 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 60 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #F60AE9; nudged cooler, #5507F9.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ac0af6?

The purple family — its 500 step is #a855f7, ΔE2000 8.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ac0af6 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ac0af6 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ac0af6] or text-[#ac0af6], 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 #ac0af6 with 50% opacity?

rgba(172, 10, 246, 0.5), or #ac0af680 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D685FB; over black, #56057B.

Is #ac0af6 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9900FF, ΔE2000 3.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ac0af6 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 #ac0af6?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C045F8, #ac0af6 45%, #56057B). For more colour, a short hue run to #D9087E keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ac0af6 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ac0af6 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.