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violet · cool

#ac40db

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

Token name suggestion: Atlas Iris

RGB
172, 64, 219
HSL
282°, 68%, 56%
CMYK
22, 71, 0, 14
Luminance
0.1755

#ac40db is a balanced vivid violet, 282° on the wheel and 60/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (4.66:1). As text it scores 4.66:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Dark Orchid, nearest Tailwind family is purple.

hsl(282 68% 56%)rgb(172 64 219)Base step 500AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ac40db is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ac40db
Hue
282°
violet
Saturation
68%
vivid
Lightness
56%
balanced
Brightness
86%
HSV value
Perceived
51%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1755
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
60/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
White
4.66:1
Closest name
Dark Orchid
ΔE2000 5.4
Chroma
89.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.589
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
purple
500 · ΔE 6.1
Web-safe
#9933CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue282° of 360°
Saturation68%
Lightness56%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ac40db.

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
Red50%
Green21%
Blue29%

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

Every format

HEX#ac40db
HEX (8-digit)#ac40dbff
RGBrgb(172, 64, 219)
RGBArgba(172, 64, 219, 1)
HSLhsl(282, 68%, 56%)
HSV / HSBhsv(282, 71%, 86%)
HWBhwb(282 25% 14%)
CMYKcmyk(22%, 71%, 0%, 14%)
LABlab(49.0 66.5 -59.6)
LCHlch(49.0 89.3 318.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.589 0.232 313.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(31.63, 17.55, 68.73)
Decimal11288795
Display P3color(display-p3 0.675 0.251 0.859)
Web-safe#9933CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ac40db;
background-color: #ac40db;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ac40db;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ac40db] bg-[#ac40db]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ac40db;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.675, green: 0.251, blue: 0.859)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.675, green: 0.251, blue: 0.859, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AC40DB</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAC40DB)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAC40DB)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(219, 64, 172)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(172, 64, 219)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(172, 64, 219)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 172, 64, 219)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6745f, 0.2510f, 0.8588f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{172,64,219}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ac40db 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ac40db 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#51146B, #E6D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ac40db 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: #F9F3FB;
  --brand-100: #F3E8F8;
  --brand-200: #E6CAF2;
  --brand-300: #D6A1ED;
  --brand-400: #C171E4;
  --brand-500: #ac40db;
  --brand-600: #9B27CE;
  --brand-700: #8120AC;
  --brand-800: #681A89;
  --brand-900: #4C1764;
  --brand-950: #300E3E;
  --brand: #ac40db;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F9F4FA;
  --brand-border: #DFC0ED;
  --brand-hover: #9D27D0;
  --brand-pressed: #8622B2;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1F1424;
    --brand-ink: #E6D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F3FB',
        100: '#F3E8F8',
        200: '#E6CAF2',
        300: '#D6A1ED',
        400: '#C171E4',
        500: '#ac40db',
        600: '#9B27CE',
        700: '#8120AC',
        800: '#681A89',
        900: '#4C1764',
        950: '#300E3E',
        DEFAULT: '#ac40db',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F3FB,
  '100': #F3E8F8,
  '200': #E6CAF2,
  '300': #D6A1ED,
  '400': #C171E4,
  '500': #ac40db,
  '600': #9B27CE,
  '700': #8120AC,
  '800': #681A89,
  '900': #4C1764,
  '950': #300E3E,
);
$brand-base: #ac40db;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F3FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F3E8F8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E6CAF2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D6A1ED", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C171E4", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#ac40db", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#9B27CE", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#8120AC", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#681A89", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4C1764", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#300E3E", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ac40db · 4.66:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 4.66:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 4.51:1
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #ac40db as text scores 4.66:1 on white and 4.51:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F6EAFB 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
#ac40db · 4.66:1
AA on whitealready passes
#ac40db
The quick fox
#8922B6 · 7.08:1
AAA on white−13% L
#8922B6
The quick fox
#ac40db · 4.51:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ac40db
The quick fox
#C478E6 · 7.18:1
AAA on black+13% L
#C478E6

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #AC40DB 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
#ac40db on white: 4.66:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ac40db on black: 4.51:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ac40db as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ac40db.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White4.66:1AaAa
Slate 504.45:1AaAa
Slate 1004.25:1AaAa
Slate 2003.78:1AaAa
Slate 3003.14:1AaAa
Slate 4001.82:1AaAa
Slate 5001.02:1AaAa
Slate 6001.63:1AaAa
Slate 7002.22:1AaAa
Slate 8003.14:1AaAa
Slate 9003.83:1AaAa
Black4.51:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #006FDF
deuteranopia · #3477D8
tritanopia · #A7618A

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. #ac40db 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.

#F9F3FB
#F3E8F8
#E6CAF2
#D6A1ED
#C171E4
#ac40db
#9B27CE
#8120AC
#681A89
#4C1764
#300E3E
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F9F3FBDarkest = 950 · #300E3EText 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 0.058 313.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.093 313.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.139 313.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.181 313.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.213 313.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.232 313.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.232 313.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.218 313.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.195 313.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.162 313.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.127 313.5);
}

Colors that work with #ac40db

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#DFC0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#834B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#6EB01C
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#51146B
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F6EAFB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1F1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#9D27D0
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8622B2
Two steps down
Disabled#CBB9D2
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B847E9
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 #ac40db

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

Works well for
  • Body text and links on white
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • 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
  • Weight45/100
  • 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#6FDB40
Analogous left#5F40DB
Analogous right#DB40BD
Split-complement 1#BDDB40
Split-complement 2#40DB5F
Triadic 1#DBAC40
Triadic 2#40DBAC
Tetradic#DB5F40
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°282°

#ac40db sits at 282°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red67.5%
Green25.1%
Blue85.9%
R · 0–255
172
0xac
G · 0–255
64
0x40
B · 0–255
219
0xdb

CMYK percentages

Cyan21.5%
Magenta70.8%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)14.1%

Total ink coverage is 106%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ac40db text on a black background

contrast 4.51:1

Card sample

#ac40db text on a white background

contrast 4.66:1

Card sample

#ac40db on grey

4.25:1

#ac40db on its own surface

4.29:1

#ac40db on its dark surface

3.81:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ac40db;
Background color
Panel with #ac40db background
background-color: #ac40db;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ac40db;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(172, 64, 219, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(172, 64, 219, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ac40db;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ac40db, #DB40A3);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ac40db, #DB407C);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ac40db;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ac40db;
caret-color: #ac40db;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ac40db;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F6EAFB;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ac40db;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ac40db 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ac40db 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, 64, 219, 0.5)
rgb(172 64 219 / 50%)
#ac40db80
hsl(282 68% 56% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ac40db 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ac40db1a#F7ECFB
20%#ac40db33#EED9F8
40%#ac40db66#DEB3F1
60%#ac40db99#CD8CE9
80%#ac40dbcc#BD66E2

Gradients from #ac40db

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, #C274E5, #ac40db 45%, #51146B);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ac40db, #D42887);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ac40db, #6FDB40);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #CE8DEA 0%, #ac40db 45%, #51146B 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%, #796BE3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E05ABA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #51146B 0%, transparent 65%), #ac40db;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ac40db

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.

#ac40db 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 4.51:1.

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.

#ac40db, answered

What color is #ac40db?

#ac40db is a balanced vivid violet, closest to Dark Orchid (ΔE2000 5.4). It sits at 282° on the hue wheel with 68% saturation and 56% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #ac40db?

rgb(172, 64, 219) — 172 red, 64 green and 219 blue out of 255, or 67.5% / 25.1% / 85.9% by channel.

What is #ac40db in HSL and HSV?

hsl(282, 68%, 56%) and hsv(282, 71%, 86%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ac40db a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1755 and perceived brightness is 51%, so white text on it reaches 4.66:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ac40db?

White. It scores 4.66:1 against #ac40db, versus 4.51:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #ac40db accessible on a white background?

#ac40db on white scores 4.66:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #ac40db?

#6FDB40 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BDDB40 and #40DB5F, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ac40db?

For interface work: #F9F4FA as the surface, #DFC0ED for borders, #834B9B for secondary text, #6EB01C as an accent and #51146B for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #5F40DB and #DB40BD stays calm, while #6FDB40 is the loudest partner.

What is #ac40db in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(22%, 71%, 0%, 14%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #ac40db 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 #DB40D1; nudged cooler, #723EDD.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ac40db?

The purple family — its 500 step is #a855f7, ΔE2000 6.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ac40db as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ac40db in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ac40db] or text-[#ac40db], 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 #ac40db with 50% opacity?

rgba(172, 64, 219, 0.5), or #ac40db80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D6A0ED; over black, #56206E.

Is #ac40db a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9933CC, ΔE2000 5.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ac40db 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 #ac40db?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C274E5, #ac40db 45%, #51146B). For more colour, a short hue run to #D42887 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ac40db in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ac40db at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.