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violet · cool

#ac5fd6

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

Token name suggestion: Signal Plum

RGB
172, 95, 214
HSL
279°, 59%, 61%
CMYK
20, 56, 0, 16
Luminance
0.2181

#ac5fd6 is a balanced vivid violet, 279° on the wheel and 62/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (5.36:1). As text it scores 3.92:1 on white — large text only. Nearest name is Medium Orchid, nearest Tailwind family is purple.

hsl(279 59% 61%)rgb(172 95 214)Base step 500AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ac5fd6 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ac5fd6
Hue
279°
violet
Saturation
59%
vivid
Lightness
61%
balanced
Brightness
84%
HSV value
Perceived
55%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.2181
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
62/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
5.36:1
Closest name
Medium Orchid
ΔE2000 3.2
Chroma
70.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.624
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
purple
500 · ΔE 5.5
Web-safe
#9966CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue279° of 360°
Saturation59%
Lightness61%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ac5fd6.

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
Red40%
Green38%
Blue22%

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

Every format

HEX#ac5fd6
HEX (8-digit)#ac5fd6ff
RGBrgb(172, 95, 214)
RGBArgba(172, 95, 214, 1)
HSLhsl(279, 59%, 61%)
HSV / HSBhsv(279, 56%, 84%)
HWBhwb(279 37% 16%)
CMYKcmyk(20%, 56%, 0%, 16%)
LABlab(53.8 51.3 -48.9)
LCHlch(53.8 70.9 316.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.624 0.185 312.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(33.24, 21.81, 66.06)
Decimal11296726
Display P3color(display-p3 0.675 0.373 0.839)
Web-safe#9966CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ac5fd6;
background-color: #ac5fd6;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ac5fd6;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ac5fd6] bg-[#ac5fd6]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ac5fd6;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.675, green: 0.373, blue: 0.839)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.675, green: 0.373, blue: 0.839, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AC5FD6</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAC5FD6)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAC5FD6)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(214, 95, 172)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(172, 95, 214)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(172, 95, 214)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 172, 95, 214)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6745f, 0.3725f, 0.8392f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{172,95,214}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ac5fd6 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ac5fd6 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#4B1A65, #E4D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ac5fd6 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: #F8F4FB;
  --brand-100: #F2E9F7;
  --brand-200: #E3CDEF;
  --brand-300: #D1A6E8;
  --brand-400: #B979DD;
  --brand-500: #ac5fd6;
  --brand-600: #9032C3;
  --brand-700: #782AA2;
  --brand-800: #602182;
  --brand-900: #471C5F;
  --brand-950: #2C113B;
  --brand: #ac5fd6;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F4FA;
  --brand-border: #DDC0ED;
  --brand-hover: #9D43CF;
  --brand-pressed: #8B30BD;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1F1424;
    --brand-ink: #E4D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F4FB',
        100: '#F2E9F7',
        200: '#E3CDEF',
        300: '#D1A6E8',
        400: '#B979DD',
        500: '#ac5fd6',
        600: '#9032C3',
        700: '#782AA2',
        800: '#602182',
        900: '#471C5F',
        950: '#2C113B',
        DEFAULT: '#ac5fd6',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F4FB,
  '100': #F2E9F7,
  '200': #E3CDEF,
  '300': #D1A6E8,
  '400': #B979DD,
  '500': #ac5fd6,
  '600': #9032C3,
  '700': #782AA2,
  '800': #602182,
  '900': #471C5F,
  '950': #2C113B,
);
$brand-base: #ac5fd6;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F4FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F2E9F7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E3CDEF", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D1A6E8", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#B979DD", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#ac5fd6", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#9032C3", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#782AA2", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#602182", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#471C5F", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2C113B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ac5fd6 · 5.36:1
Use #000000AA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 3.92:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 5.36:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #ac5fd6 as text scores 3.92:1 on white and 5.36:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #4B1A65 at 3.28:1.

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
#A44FD2 · 4.54:1
AA on white−4% L
#A44FD2
The quick fox
#822DB1 · 7.10:1
AAA on white−17% L
#822DB1
The quick fox
#ac5fd6 · 5.36:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ac5fd6
The quick fox
#BD80DE · 7.31:1
AAA on black+8% L
#BD80DE

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #AC5FD6 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
#ac5fd6 on white: 3.92:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ac5fd6 on black: 5.36:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ac5fd6 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ac5fd6.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White3.92:1AaAa
Slate 503.74:1AaAa
Slate 1003.57:1AaAa
Slate 2003.18:1AaAa
Slate 3002.64:1AaAa
Slate 4001.53:1AaAa
Slate 5001.22:1AaAa
Slate 6001.93:1AaAa
Slate 7002.64:1AaAa
Slate 8003.74:1AaAa
Slate 9004.56:1AaAa
Black5.36:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #3C7DDA
deuteranopia · #5882D3
tritanopia · #A77492

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. #ac5fd6 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.

#F8F4FB
#F2E9F7
#E3CDEF
#D1A6E8
#B979DD
#ac5fd6
#9032C3
#782AA2
#602182
#471C5F
#2C113B
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F8F4FBDarkest = 950 · #2C113BText 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 0.046 312.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.074 312.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.111 312.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.144 312.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.170 312.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.185 312.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.185 312.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.174 312.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.155 312.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.129 312.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.102 312.1);
}

Colors that work with #ac5fd6

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#F8F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#DDC0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#7F4B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#74A626
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#4B1A65
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F4EBFA
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1F1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#9D43CF
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8B30BD
Two steps down
Disabled#D5C9DC
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B766E3
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 #ac5fd6

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

Works well for
  • Headings from 24px up 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
  • Small text on white — under 4.5:1
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
24px / 18.66px bold
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #4B1A65
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
  • Weight39/100
  • 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#89D65F
Analogous left#705FD6
Analogous right#D65FC5
Split-complement 1#C5D65F
Split-complement 2#5FD670
Triadic 1#D6AC5F
Triadic 2#5FD6AC
Tetradic#D6705F
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°279°

#ac5fd6 sits at 279°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red67.5%
Green37.3%
Blue83.9%
R · 0–255
172
0xac
G · 0–255
95
0x5f
B · 0–255
214
0xd6

CMYK percentages

Cyan19.6%
Magenta55.6%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)16.1%

Total ink coverage is 91%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ac5fd6 text on a black background

contrast 5.36:1

Card sample

#ac5fd6 text on a white background

contrast 3.92:1

Card sample

#ac5fd6 on grey

3.57:1

#ac5fd6 on its own surface

3.60:1

#ac5fd6 on its dark surface

4.53:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ac5fd6;
Background color
Panel with #ac5fd6 background
background-color: #ac5fd6;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ac5fd6;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(172, 95, 214, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(172, 95, 214, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ac5fd6;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ac5fd6, #D65FB1);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ac5fd6, #D65F93);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ac5fd6;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ac5fd6;
caret-color: #ac5fd6;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ac5fd6;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F4EBFA;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ac5fd6;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ac5fd6 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ac5fd6 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, 95, 214, 0.5)
rgb(172 95 214 / 50%)
#ac5fd680
hsl(279 59% 61% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ac5fd6 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ac5fd61a#F7EFFB
20%#ac5fd633#EEDFF7
40%#ac5fd666#DEBFEF
60%#ac5fd699#CD9FE6
80%#ac5fd6cc#BD7FDE

Gradients from #ac5fd6

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, #C590E2, #ac5fd6 45%, #4B1A65);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ac5fd6, #D04799);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ac5fd6, #89D65F);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D2A8E9 0%, #ac5fd6 45%, #4B1A65 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%, #8D88E0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #DC77C5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #4B1A65 0%, transparent 65%), #ac5fd6;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ac5fd6

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.

#ac5fd6 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 5.36:1.

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.

#ac5fd6, answered

What color is #ac5fd6?

#ac5fd6 is a balanced vivid violet, closest to Medium Orchid (ΔE2000 3.2). It sits at 279° on the hue wheel with 59% saturation and 61% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #ac5fd6?

rgb(172, 95, 214) — 172 red, 95 green and 214 blue out of 255, or 67.5% / 37.3% / 83.9% by channel.

What is #ac5fd6 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(279, 59%, 61%) and hsv(279, 56%, 84%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ac5fd6 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.2181 and perceived brightness is 55%, so black text on it reaches 5.36:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ac5fd6?

Black. It scores 5.36:1 against #ac5fd6, versus 3.92:1 for white — AA at any size.

Is #ac5fd6 accessible on a white background?

#ac5fd6 on white scores 3.92:1, which only clears AA for large text — 18.66px bold or 24px regular and up. Darken it to #A44FD2 to reach 4.5:1, or #822DB1 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ac5fd6?

#89D65F sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #C5D65F and #5FD670, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ac5fd6?

For interface work: #F8F4FA as the surface, #DDC0ED for borders, #7F4B9B for secondary text, #74A626 as an accent and #4B1A65 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #705FD6 and #D65FC5 stays calm, while #89D65F is the loudest partner.

What is #ac5fd6 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(20%, 56%, 0%, 16%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #ac5fd6 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 #D65FD4; nudged cooler, #7F5DD8.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ac5fd6?

The purple family — its 500 step is #a855f7, ΔE2000 5.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ac5fd6 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ac5fd6 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ac5fd6] or text-[#ac5fd6], 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 #ac5fd6 with 50% opacity?

rgba(172, 95, 214, 0.5), or #ac5fd680 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D6AFEB; over black, #56306B.

Is #ac5fd6 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9966CC, ΔE2000 4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ac5fd6 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 #ac5fd6?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C590E2, #ac5fd6 45%, #4B1A65). For more colour, a short hue run to #D04799 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ac5fd6 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ac5fd6 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.