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violet · cool

#ad9cdc

a light, vivid violet · cool · closest name: Plum

Token name suggestion: Morning Iris

RGB
173, 156, 220
HSL
256°, 48%, 74%
CMYK
21, 29, 0, 14
Luminance
0.3783

#ad9cdc is a light vivid violet, 256° on the wheel and 75/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.57:1). As text it scores 2.45:1 on white — use #7E63C8 instead. Nearest name is Plum, nearest Tailwind family is purple.

hsl(256 48% 74%)rgb(173 156 220)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ad9cdc is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ad9cdc
Hue
256°
violet
Saturation
48%
vivid
Lightness
74%
light
Brightness
86%
HSV value
Perceived
66%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3783
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
75/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
8.57:1
Closest name
Plum
ΔE2000 11.2
Chroma
35.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.731
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
purple
500 · ΔE 19.3
Web-safe
#9999CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue256° of 360°
Saturation48%
Lightness74%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ad9cdc.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool75% 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
Red23%
Green63%
Blue14%

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

Every format

HEX#ad9cdc
HEX (8-digit)#ad9cdcff
RGBrgb(173, 156, 220)
RGBArgba(173, 156, 220, 1)
HSLhsl(256, 48%, 74%)
HSV / HSBhsv(256, 29%, 86%)
HWBhwb(256 61% 14%)
CMYKcmyk(21%, 29%, 0%, 14%)
LABlab(67.9 19.3 -30.2)
LCHlch(67.9 35.9 302.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.731 0.093 296.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(42.04, 37.83, 72.78)
Decimal11377884
Display P3color(display-p3 0.678 0.612 0.863)
Web-safe#9999CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ad9cdc;
background-color: #ad9cdc;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ad9cdc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ad9cdc] bg-[#ad9cdc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ad9cdc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.678, green: 0.612, blue: 0.863)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.678, green: 0.612, blue: 0.863, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AD9CDC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAD9CDC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAD9CDC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(220, 156, 173)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(173, 156, 220)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(173, 156, 220)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 173, 156, 220)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6784f, 0.6118f, 0.8627f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{173,156,220}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ad9cdc 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ad9cdc 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#31215E, #DAD3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ad9cdc 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: #F6F4FA;
  --brand-100: #EDEAF5;
  --brand-200: #D7D0EC;
  --brand-300: #ad9cdc;
  --brand-400: #9883D3;
  --brand-500: #7659C4;
  --brand-600: #5F40B5;
  --brand-700: #4F3597;
  --brand-800: #3F2B79;
  --brand-900: #312258;
  --brand-950: #1E1537;
  --brand: #ad9cdc;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F4FA;
  --brand-border: #CDC3EA;
  --brand-hover: #9781D3;
  --brand-pressed: #8167C9;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #181424;
    --brand-ink: #DAD3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F4FA',
        100: '#EDEAF5',
        200: '#D7D0EC',
        300: '#ad9cdc',
        400: '#9883D3',
        500: '#7659C4',
        600: '#5F40B5',
        700: '#4F3597',
        800: '#3F2B79',
        900: '#312258',
        950: '#1E1537',
        DEFAULT: '#ad9cdc',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F4FA,
  '100': #EDEAF5,
  '200': #D7D0EC,
  '300': #ad9cdc,
  '400': #9883D3,
  '500': #7659C4,
  '600': #5F40B5,
  '700': #4F3597,
  '800': #3F2B79,
  '900': #312258,
  '950': #1E1537,
);
$brand-base: #ad9cdc;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F4FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EDEAF5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D7D0EC", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#ad9cdc", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#9883D3", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7659C4", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#5F40B5", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#4F3597", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#3F2B79", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#312258", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1E1537", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ad9cdc · 8.57:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.45:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.57:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #ad9cdc as text scores 2.45:1 on white and 8.57:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #31215E at 5.67:1.

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
#7E63C8 · 4.66:1
AA on white−15% L
#7E63C8
The quick fox
#6041B8 · 7.13:1
AAA on white−25% L
#6041B8
The quick fox
#ad9cdc · 8.57:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ad9cdc
The quick fox
#ad9cdc · 8.57:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#ad9cdc

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9D89D5 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
#ad9cdc on white: 2.45:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ad9cdc on black: 8.57:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ad9cdc as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ad9cdc.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.45:1AaAa
Slate 502.34:1AaAa
Slate 1002.24:1AaAa
Slate 2001.99:1AaAa
Slate 3001.65:1AaAa
Slate 4001.05:1AaAa
Slate 5001.94:1AaAa
Slate 6003.09:1AaAa
Slate 7004.22:1AaAa
Slate 8005.97:1AaAa
Slate 9007.28:1AaAa
Black8.57:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #8DA6DF
deuteranopia · #8FA5DA
tritanopia · #A4A6B3

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. #ad9cdc is pinned to step 300; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F6F4FA
#EDEAF5
#D7D0EC
#ad9cdc
#9883D3
#7659C4
#5F40B5
#4F3597
#3F2B79
#312258
#1E1537
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F6F4FADarkest = 950 · #1E1537Text 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 0.023 296.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.037 296.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.056 296.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.072 296.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.085 296.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.093 296.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.093 296.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.087 296.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.078 296.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.065 296.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.051 296.2);
}

Colors that work with #ad9cdc

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#F6F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#CDC3EA
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#604B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#9A9B31
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#31215E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EFECF8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#181424
Dark-mode background
Hover#9781D3
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8167C9
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F2F6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B7A5E7
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 #ad9cdc

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • White text placed on it
  • 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 #31215E
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9D89D5

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 lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

Deep violets swallow detail on screens with poor gamma; check it on a cheap laptop panel.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight26/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • ApproachabilityReserved

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#CBDC9C
Analogous left#9CABDC
Analogous right#CD9CDC
Split-complement 1#DCCD9C
Split-complement 2#ABDC9C
Triadic 1#DCAD9C
Triadic 2#9CDCAD
Tetradic#DC9CAB
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°256°

#ad9cdc sits at 256°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red67.8%
Green61.2%
Blue86.3%
R · 0–255
173
0xad
G · 0–255
156
0x9c
B · 0–255
220
0xdc

CMYK percentages

Cyan21.4%
Magenta29.1%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)13.7%

Total ink coverage is 64%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ad9cdc text on a black background

contrast 8.57:1

Card sample

#ad9cdc text on a white background

contrast 2.45:1

Card sample

#ad9cdc on grey

2.24:1

#ad9cdc on its own surface

2.25:1

#ad9cdc on its dark surface

7.36:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ad9cdc;
Background color
Panel with #ad9cdc background
background-color: #ad9cdc;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ad9cdc;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(173, 156, 220, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(173, 156, 220, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ad9cdc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ad9cdc, #D89CDC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ad9cdc, #DC9CD0);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ad9cdc;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ad9cdc;
caret-color: #ad9cdc;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ad9cdc;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EFECF8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ad9cdc;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ad9cdc 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ad9cdc 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, 156, 220, 0.5)
rgb(173 156 220 / 50%)
#ad9cdc80
hsl(256 48% 74% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ad9cdc 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ad9cdc1a#F7F5FC
20%#ad9cdc33#EFEBF8
40%#ad9cdc66#DED7F1
60%#ad9cdc99#CEC4EA
80%#ad9cdccc#BDB0E3

Gradients from #ad9cdc

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, #D2C9EC, #ad9cdc 45%, #31215E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ad9cdc, #D485D3);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ad9cdc, #CBDC9C);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E5E0F4 0%, #ad9cdc 45%, #31215E 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #C2CEE9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #DCB2E4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #31215E 0%, transparent 65%), #ad9cdc;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ad9cdc

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.

#ad9cdc 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.

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 8.57:1.

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.

#ad9cdc, answered

What color is #ad9cdc?

#ad9cdc is a light vivid violet, closest to Plum (ΔE2000 11.2). It sits at 256° on the hue wheel with 48% saturation and 74% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #ad9cdc?

rgb(173, 156, 220) — 173 red, 156 green and 220 blue out of 255, or 67.8% / 61.2% / 86.3% by channel.

What is #ad9cdc in HSL and HSV?

hsl(256, 48%, 74%) and hsv(256, 29%, 86%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ad9cdc a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3783 and perceived brightness is 66%, so black text on it reaches 8.57:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ad9cdc?

Black. It scores 8.57:1 against #ad9cdc, versus 2.45:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #ad9cdc accessible on a white background?

#ad9cdc on white scores 2.45:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7E63C8 to reach 4.5:1, or #6041B8 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ad9cdc?

#CBDC9C sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DCCD9C and #ABDC9C, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ad9cdc?

For interface work: #F6F4FA as the surface, #CDC3EA for borders, #604B9B for secondary text, #9A9B31 as an accent and #31215E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #9CABDC and #CD9CDC stays calm, while #CBDC9C is the loudest partner.

What is #ad9cdc in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(21%, 29%, 0%, 14%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #ad9cdc warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 75 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C49CDC; nudged cooler, #9BA1DD.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ad9cdc?

The purple family — its 500 step is #a855f7, ΔE2000 19.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ad9cdc as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ad9cdc in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ad9cdc] or text-[#ad9cdc], 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 #ad9cdc with 50% opacity?

rgba(173, 156, 220, 0.5), or #ad9cdc80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D6CEEE; over black, #574E6E.

Is #ad9cdc a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999CC, ΔE2000 5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ad9cdc 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 #ad9cdc?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D2C9EC, #ad9cdc 45%, #31215E). For more colour, a short hue run to #D485D3 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ad9cdc in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ad9cdc at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.