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#ac85ce

a light, soft violet · cool · closest name: Medium Purple

RGB
172, 133, 206
HSL
272°, 43%, 67%
CMYK
17, 35, 0, 19
Luminance
0.3000

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ac85ce is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ac85ce
Hue
272°
violet
Saturation
43%
soft
Lightness
67%
light
Brightness
81%
HSV value
Perceived
61%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3000
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
65/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
7.00:1
Closest name
Medium Purple
ΔE2000 9.2
Where it sits
Hue272° of 360°
Saturation43%
Lightness67%
Temperature
Warm ← → Cool65% cool

Reads cool. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Every format

HEX#ac85ce
RGBrgb(172, 133, 206)
HSLhsl(272, 43%, 67%)
CMYKcmyk(17%, 35%, 0%, 19%)
LABlab(61.7 28.8 -32.1)
LCHlch(61.7 43.1 311.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.681 0.113 308.1)
Decimal11306446
Display P3color(display-p3 0.675 0.522 0.808)

Copy-ready code

/* CSS */
color: #ac85ce;
background-color: #ac85ce;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ac85ce] bg-[#ac85ce]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ac85ce;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.675, green: 0.522, blue: 0.808)
/* Android */
Color.parseColor("#ac85ce")
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAC85CE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(206, 133, 172)

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 #ac85ce · 7.00:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
White text · 3.00:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.00:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #ac85ce as text scores 3.00:1 on white and 7.00:1 on black.

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

Aa
#ac85ce on white: 3.00:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ac85ce on black: 7.00:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
true color
protanopia · #7793D1
deuteranopia · #7F95CC
tritanopia · #A890A0

Color scale — 50 to 950

A Tailwind-shaped ramp built around this exact hex. #ac85ce 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.

#F8F5FA
#F0EBF5
#DFD1EA
#C9AFDF
#ac85ce
#925FBF
#7E46AF
#693A92
#542F74
#3F2555
#271735
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F8F5FADarkest = 950 · #271735
:root {
  --brand-50: #F8F5FA;
  --brand-100: #F0EBF5;
  --brand-200: #DFD1EA;
  --brand-300: #C9AFDF;
  --brand-400: #ac85ce;
  --brand-500: #925FBF;
  --brand-600: #7E46AF;
  --brand-700: #693A92;
  --brand-800: #542F74;
  --brand-900: #3F2555;
  --brand-950: #271735;
  --brand: #ac85ce;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
}

Colors that work with #ac85ce

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#D7C5E8
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#764B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#7B9537
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#42255B
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F3EDF8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1D1424
Dark-mode background
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

How to use #ac85ce

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
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Small text on white — under 4.5:1
  • White text placed on it
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate

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#A7CE85
Analogous left#8885CE
Analogous right#CE85CB
Split-complement 1#CBCE85
Split-complement 2#85CE88
Triadic 1#CEAC85
Triadic 2#85CEAC
Tetradic#CE8885

RGB percentages

Red67.5%
Green52.2%
Blue80.8%

CMYK percentages

Cyan16.5%
Magenta35.4%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)19.2%

Color previews

#ac85ce text on a black background

contrast 7.00:1

Card sample

#ac85ce text on a white background

contrast 3.00:1

Card sample

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ac85ce;
Background color
Panel with #ac85ce background
background-color: #ac85ce;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ac85ce;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(172, 133, 206, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(172, 133, 206, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ac85ce;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ac85ce, #CE85BF);

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ac85ce

Shades — darker

Tints — lighter

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.

#ac85ce 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.

#ac85ce, answered

What color is #ac85ce?

#ac85ce is a light soft violet, closest to Medium Purple (ΔE2000 9.2). It sits at 272° on the hue wheel with 43% saturation and 67% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #ac85ce?

rgb(172, 133, 206) — 172 red, 133 green and 206 blue out of 255, or 67.5% / 52.2% / 80.8% by channel.

Is #ac85ce a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3000 and perceived brightness is 61%, so black text on it reaches 7.00:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ac85ce?

Black. It scores 7.00:1 against #ac85ce, versus 3.00:1 for white — AAA at any size.

What is the complementary color of #ac85ce?

#A7CE85 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CBCE85 and #85CE88, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ac85ce?

For interface work: #F8F4FA as the surface, #D7C5E8 for borders, #764B9B for secondary text, #7B9537 as an accent and #42255B for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #8885CE and #CE85CB stays calm, while #A7CE85 is the loudest partner.

What is #ac85ce in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(17%, 35%, 0%, 19%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #ac85ce warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 65 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C785CE; nudged cooler, #9083D0.

Work with #ac85ce in the Color Lab