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violet · neutral

#ad91b4

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

Token name suggestion: True Amethyst

RGB
173, 145, 180
HSL
288°, 19%, 64%
CMYK
4, 19, 0, 29
Luminance
0.3243

#ad91b4 is a balanced soft violet, 288° on the wheel and 54/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.49:1). As text it scores 2.81:1 on white — use #8D6797 instead. Nearest name is Plum, nearest Tailwind family is pink.

hsl(288 19% 64%)rgb(173 145 180)Base step 400AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ad91b4 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ad91b4
Hue
288°
violet
Saturation
19%
soft
Lightness
64%
balanced
Brightness
71%
HSV value
Perceived
62%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3243
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
54/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
7.49:1
Closest name
Plum
ΔE2000 10.8
Chroma
22.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.694
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
pink
500 · ΔE 20.2
Web-safe
#9999CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue288° of 360°
Saturation19%
Lightness64%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ad91b4.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool54% 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
Red27%
Green62%
Blue10%

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

Every format

HEX#ad91b4
HEX (8-digit)#ad91b4ff
RGBrgb(173, 145, 180)
RGBArgba(173, 145, 180, 1)
HSLhsl(288, 19%, 64%)
HSV / HSBhsv(288, 19%, 71%)
HWBhwb(288 57% 29%)
CMYKcmyk(4%, 19%, 0%, 29%)
LABlab(63.7 16.9 -14.3)
LCHlch(63.7 22.1 319.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.694 0.059 319.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(35.60, 32.43, 47.56)
Decimal11375028
Display P3color(display-p3 0.678 0.569 0.706)
Web-safe#9999CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ad91b4;
background-color: #ad91b4;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ad91b4;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ad91b4] bg-[#ad91b4]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ad91b4;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.678, green: 0.569, blue: 0.706)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.678, green: 0.569, blue: 0.706, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AD91B4</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAD91B4)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAD91B4)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(180, 145, 173)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(173, 145, 180)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(173, 145, 180)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 173, 145, 180)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6784f, 0.5686f, 0.7059f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{173,145,180}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ad91b4 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ad91b4 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#47344C, #E4DBE6);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ad91b4 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: #F8F6F8;
  --brand-100: #F1EDF2;
  --brand-200: #E1D8E3;
  --brand-300: #CDBCD2;
  --brand-400: #ad91b4;
  --brand-500: #9C7AA4;
  --brand-600: #886392;
  --brand-700: #725379;
  --brand-800: #5B4261;
  --brand-900: #443348;
  --brand-950: #2A202D;
  --brand: #ad91b4;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F6F9;
  --brand-border: #DBCEDE;
  --brand-hover: #9D7CA5;
  --brand-pressed: #8D6797;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1F1721;
    --brand-ink: #E4DBE6;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F6F8',
        100: '#F1EDF2',
        200: '#E1D8E3',
        300: '#CDBCD2',
        400: '#ad91b4',
        500: '#9C7AA4',
        600: '#886392',
        700: '#725379',
        800: '#5B4261',
        900: '#443348',
        950: '#2A202D',
        DEFAULT: '#ad91b4',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F6F8,
  '100': #F1EDF2,
  '200': #E1D8E3,
  '300': #CDBCD2,
  '400': #ad91b4,
  '500': #9C7AA4,
  '600': #886392,
  '700': #725379,
  '800': #5B4261,
  '900': #443348,
  '950': #2A202D,
);
$brand-base: #ad91b4;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F6F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F1EDF2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E1D8E3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#CDBCD2", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#ad91b4", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#9C7AA4", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#886392", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#725379", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#5B4261", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#443348", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2A202D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ad91b4 · 7.49:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.81:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.49:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #ad91b4 as text scores 2.81:1 on white and 7.49:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #47344C at 4.02:1.

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
#8D6797 · 4.65:1
AA on white−14% L
#8D6797
The quick fox
#6B4E72 · 7.10:1
AAA on white−26% L
#6B4E72
The quick fox
#ad91b4 · 7.49:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ad91b4
The quick fox
#ad91b4 · 7.49:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#ad91b4

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A88BB0 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
#ad91b4 on white: 2.81:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ad91b4 on black: 7.49:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ad91b4 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ad91b4.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.81:1AaAa
Slate 502.68:1AaAa
Slate 1002.56:1AaAa
Slate 2002.28:1AaAa
Slate 3001.89:1AaAa
Slate 4001.09:1AaAa
Slate 5001.70:1AaAa
Slate 6002.70:1AaAa
Slate 7003.69:1AaAa
Slate 8005.21:1AaAa
Slate 9006.36:1AaAa
Black7.49:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #8D98B5
deuteranopia · #939BB3
tritanopia · #AE949D

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. #ad91b4 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.

#F8F6F8
#F1EDF2
#E1D8E3
#CDBCD2
#ad91b4
#9C7AA4
#886392
#725379
#5B4261
#443348
#2A202D
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F8F6F8Darkest = 950 · #2A202DText 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 0.015 319.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.024 319.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.036 319.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.046 319.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.055 319.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.059 319.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.059 319.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.056 319.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.050 319.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.042 319.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.033 319.5);
}

Colors that work with #ad91b4

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#F8F6F9
Tinted page background
Border#DBCEDE
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#805D88
Captions on the surface
Accent#637E4E
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#47344C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F4F0F5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1F1721
Dark-mode background
Hover#9D7CA5
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8D6797
Two steps down
Disabled#DFD4E1
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#BB95C4
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 #ad91b4

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 #47344C
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A88BB0

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#98B491
Analogous left#9B91B4
Analogous right#B491A9
Split-complement 1#A9B491
Split-complement 2#91B49B
Triadic 1#B4AD91
Triadic 2#91B4AD
Tetradic#B49B91
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°288°

#ad91b4 sits at 288°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red67.8%
Green56.9%
Blue70.6%
R · 0–255
173
0xad
G · 0–255
145
0x91
B · 0–255
180
0xb4

CMYK percentages

Cyan3.9%
Magenta19.4%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)29.4%

Total ink coverage is 53%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ad91b4 text on a black background

contrast 7.49:1

Card sample

#ad91b4 text on a white background

contrast 2.81:1

Card sample

#ad91b4 on grey

2.56:1

#ad91b4 on its own surface

2.61:1

#ad91b4 on its dark surface

6.22:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ad91b4;
Background color
Panel with #ad91b4 background
background-color: #ad91b4;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ad91b4;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(173, 145, 180, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(173, 145, 180, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ad91b4;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ad91b4, #B491A4);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ad91b4, #B4919B);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ad91b4;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ad91b4;
caret-color: #ad91b4;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ad91b4;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F4F0F5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ad91b4;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ad91b4 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ad91b4 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(173, 145, 180, 0.5)
rgb(173 145 180 / 50%)
#ad91b480
hsl(288 19% 64% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ad91b4 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ad91b41a#F7F4F8
20%#ad91b433#EFE9F0
40%#ad91b466#DED3E1
60%#ad91b499#CEBDD2
80%#ad91b4cc#BDA7C3

Gradients from #ad91b4

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, #C8B5CD, #ad91b4 45%, #47344C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ad91b4, #A87F91);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ad91b4, #98B491);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D6C8D9 0%, #ad91b4 45%, #47344C 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F6F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #B5AFC9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C0A3B5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #47344C 0%, transparent 65%), #ad91b4;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ad91b4

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.

#ad91b4 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 7.49:1.

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.

#ad91b4, answered

What color is #ad91b4?

#ad91b4 is a balanced soft violet, closest to Plum (ΔE2000 10.8). It sits at 288° on the hue wheel with 19% saturation and 64% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #ad91b4?

rgb(173, 145, 180) — 173 red, 145 green and 180 blue out of 255, or 67.8% / 56.9% / 70.6% by channel.

What is #ad91b4 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(288, 19%, 64%) and hsv(288, 19%, 71%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ad91b4 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3243 and perceived brightness is 62%, so black text on it reaches 7.49:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ad91b4?

Black. It scores 7.49:1 against #ad91b4, versus 2.81:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #ad91b4 accessible on a white background?

#ad91b4 on white scores 2.81:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #8D6797 to reach 4.5:1, or #6B4E72 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ad91b4?

#98B491 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #A9B491 and #91B49B, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ad91b4?

For interface work: #F8F6F9 as the surface, #DBCEDE for borders, #805D88 for secondary text, #637E4E as an accent and #47344C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #9B91B4 and #B491A9 stays calm, while #98B491 is the loudest partner.

What is #ad91b4 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(4%, 19%, 0%, 29%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #ad91b4 warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 54 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #B491AE; nudged cooler, #A08FB6.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ad91b4?

The pink family — its 500 step is #ec4899, ΔE2000 20.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ad91b4 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ad91b4 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ad91b4] or text-[#ad91b4], 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 #ad91b4 with 50% opacity?

rgba(173, 145, 180, 0.5), or #ad91b480 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D6C8DA; over black, #57495A.

Is #ad91b4 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999CC, ΔE2000 10.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ad91b4 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 #ad91b4?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C8B5CD, #ad91b4 45%, #47344C). For more colour, a short hue run to #A87F91 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ad91b4 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ad91b4 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.