Skip to content
magenta / pink · warm

#ae548c

a balanced, soft magenta / pink · warm · closest name: Medium Violet Red

Token name suggestion: True Fuchsia

RGB
174, 84, 140
HSL
323°, 36%, 51%
CMYK
0, 52, 20, 32
Luminance
0.1723

#ae548c is a balanced soft magenta / pink, 323° on the wheel and 37/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (4.72:1). As text it scores 4.72:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Medium Violet Red, nearest Tailwind family is pink.

hsl(323 36% 51%)rgb(174 84 140)Base step 600AA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ae548c is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ae548c
Hue
323°
magenta / pink
Saturation
36%
soft
Lightness
51%
balanced
Brightness
68%
HSV value
Perceived
49%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1723
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
37/100 cool
Color family
Magenta / pink
Tone
Soft
Best ink
White
4.72:1
Closest name
Medium Violet Red
ΔE2000 8.6
Chroma
45.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.574
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
pink
500 · ΔE 11.5
Web-safe
#996699
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue323° of 360°
Saturation36%
Lightness51%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ae548c.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool37% cool

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

Luminance by channel
Red52%
Green37%
Blue11%

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

Every format

HEX#ae548c
HEX (8-digit)#ae548cff
RGBrgb(174, 84, 140)
RGBArgba(174, 84, 140, 1)
HSLhsl(323, 36%, 51%)
HSV / HSBhsv(323, 52%, 68%)
HWBhwb(323 33% 32%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 52%, 20%, 32%)
LABlab(48.5 43.6 -14.0)
LCHlch(48.5 45.8 342.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.574 0.135 344.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(25.36, 17.23, 26.80)
Decimal11424908
Display P3color(display-p3 0.682 0.329 0.549)
Web-safe#996699

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ae548c;
background-color: #ae548c;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ae548c;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ae548c] bg-[#ae548c]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ae548c;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.682, green: 0.329, blue: 0.549)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.682, green: 0.329, blue: 0.549, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AE548C</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAE548C)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAE548C)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(140, 84, 174)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(174, 84, 140)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(174, 84, 140)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 174, 84, 140)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6824f, 0.3294f, 0.5490f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{174,84,140}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ae548c 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ae548c 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#572945, #EBD5E3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ae548c 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: #F9F5F8;
  --brand-100: #F4EBF1;
  --brand-200: #E8D3E0;
  --brand-300: #DBB3CC;
  --brand-400: #C98DB2;
  --brand-500: #B76799;
  --brand-600: #ae548c;
  --brand-700: #8A426F;
  --brand-800: #6F3459;
  --brand-900: #512942;
  --brand-950: #331A29;
  --brand: #ae548c;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #FAF5F8;
  --brand-border: #E5C8DA;
  --brand-hover: #974779;
  --brand-pressed: #7F3C65;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #24141E;
    --brand-ink: #EBD5E3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F5F8',
        100: '#F4EBF1',
        200: '#E8D3E0',
        300: '#DBB3CC',
        400: '#C98DB2',
        500: '#B76799',
        600: '#ae548c',
        700: '#8A426F',
        800: '#6F3459',
        900: '#512942',
        950: '#331A29',
        DEFAULT: '#ae548c',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F5F8,
  '100': #F4EBF1,
  '200': #E8D3E0,
  '300': #DBB3CC,
  '400': #C98DB2,
  '500': #B76799,
  '600': #ae548c,
  '700': #8A426F,
  '800': #6F3459,
  '900': #512942,
  '950': #331A29,
);
$brand-base: #ae548c;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F5F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F4EBF1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E8D3E0", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#DBB3CC", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C98DB2", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#B76799", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#ae548c", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#8A426F", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#6F3459", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#512942", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#331A29", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ae548c · 4.72:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 4.72:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 4.45:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #ae548c as text scores 4.72:1 on white and 4.45:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F7EEF3 at 4.16:1.

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
#ae548c · 4.72:1
AA on whitealready passes
#ae548c
The quick fox
#863F6B · 7.15:1
AAA on white−12% L
#863F6B
The quick fox
#B0588E · 4.63:1
AA on black+1% L
#B0588E
The quick fox
#C381AA · 7.04:1
AAA on black+13% L
#C381AA

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #AE548C 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
#ae548c on white: 4.72:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ae548c on black: 4.45:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ae548c as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ae548c.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White4.72:1AaAa
Slate 504.51:1AaAa
Slate 1004.31:1AaAa
Slate 2003.83:1AaAa
Slate 3003.18:1AaAa
Slate 4001.84:1AaAa
Slate 5001.01:1AaAa
Slate 6001.60:1AaAa
Slate 7002.19:1AaAa
Slate 8003.10:1AaAa
Slate 9003.78:1AaAa
Black4.45:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #5B6A8E
deuteranopia · #73798A
tritanopia · #B8546A

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. #ae548c is pinned to step 600; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F9F5F8
#F4EBF1
#E8D3E0
#DBB3CC
#C98DB2
#B76799
#ae548c
#8A426F
#6F3459
#512942
#331A29
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F9F5F8Darkest = 950 · #331A29Text 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 0.034 344.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.054 344.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.081 344.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.105 344.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.124 344.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.135 344.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.135 344.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.127 344.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.114 344.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.095 344.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.074 344.0);
}

Colors that work with #ae548c

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#FAF5F8
Tinted page background
Border#E5C8DA
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B4B7D
Captions on the surface
Accent#3E8E48
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#572945
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F7EEF3
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#24141E
Dark-mode background
Hover#974779
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7F3C65
Two steps down
Disabled#C9AABD
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C05698
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 #ae548c

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

Works well for
  • Body text and links on white
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • 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.

expressiveyouthfulwarmconfident

Pink is the fastest way to signal that a product is not another enterprise dashboard. It carries beauty, fashion and culture brands.

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

Strong gendered associations in some markets — test it with the audience you actually have.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight49/100
  • TemperatureWarm
  • ApproachabilityHigh

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#54AE76
Analogous left#A354AE
Analogous right#AE545F
Split-complement 1#5FAE54
Split-complement 2#54AEA3
Triadic 1#8CAE54
Triadic 2#548CAE
Tetradic#AEA354
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°323°

#ae548c sits at 323°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red68.2%
Green32.9%
Blue54.9%
R · 0–255
174
0xae
G · 0–255
84
0x54
B · 0–255
140
0x8c

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta51.7%
Yellow19.5%
Key (black)31.8%

Total ink coverage is 103%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ae548c text on a black background

contrast 4.45:1

Card sample

#ae548c text on a white background

contrast 4.72:1

Card sample

#ae548c on grey

4.31:1

#ae548c on its own surface

4.38:1

#ae548c on its dark surface

3.72:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ae548c;
Background color
Panel with #ae548c background
background-color: #ae548c;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ae548c;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(174, 84, 140, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(174, 84, 140, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ae548c;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ae548c, #AE5854);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ae548c, #AE6F54);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ae548c;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ae548c;
caret-color: #ae548c;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ae548c;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F7EEF3;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ae548c;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ae548c 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ae548c 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(174, 84, 140, 0.5)
rgb(174 84 140 / 50%)
#ae548c80
hsl(323 36% 51% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ae548c 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ae548c1a#F7EEF4
20%#ae548c33#EFDDE8
40%#ae548c66#DFBBD1
60%#ae548c99#CE98BA
80%#ae548ccc#BE76A3

Gradients from #ae548c

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, #C27EA8, #ae548c 45%, #572945);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ae548c, #9A5449);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ae548c, #54AE76);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #CC92B6 0%, #ae548c 45%, #572945 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF5F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #B077BE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #B8696C 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #572945 0%, transparent 65%), #ae548c;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ae548c

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.

#ae548c in the real world

Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.

Industries
BeautyFashionLifestyleYouth brands
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

Too dim on dark surfaces at 4.45:1 — lift it to #B0588E for body text, or reserve it for fills.

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.

#ae548c, answered

What color is #ae548c?

#ae548c is a balanced soft magenta / pink, closest to Medium Violet Red (ΔE2000 8.6). It sits at 323° on the hue wheel with 36% saturation and 51% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #ae548c?

rgb(174, 84, 140) — 174 red, 84 green and 140 blue out of 255, or 68.2% / 32.9% / 54.9% by channel.

What is #ae548c in HSL and HSV?

hsl(323, 36%, 51%) and hsv(323, 52%, 68%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ae548c a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1723 and perceived brightness is 49%, so white text on it reaches 4.72:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ae548c?

White. It scores 4.72:1 against #ae548c, versus 4.45:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #ae548c accessible on a white background?

#ae548c on white scores 4.72:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #ae548c?

#54AE76 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #5FAE54 and #54AEA3, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ae548c?

For interface work: #FAF5F8 as the surface, #E5C8DA for borders, #9B4B7D for secondary text, #3E8E48 as an accent and #572945 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #A354AE and #AE545F stays calm, while #54AE76 is the loudest partner.

What is #ae548c in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 52%, 20%, 32%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #ae548c warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 37 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #AE546B; nudged cooler, #B152AF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ae548c?

The pink family — its 500 step is #ec4899, ΔE2000 11.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ae548c as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ae548c in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ae548c] or text-[#ae548c], 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 #ae548c with 50% opacity?

rgba(174, 84, 140, 0.5), or #ae548c80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D7AAC6; over black, #572A46.

Is #ae548c a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #996699, ΔE2000 7.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ae548c mean?

As a magenta / pink, it reads expressive, youthful, warm. Pink is the fastest way to signal that a product is not another enterprise dashboard. It carries beauty, fashion and culture brands. At this moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #ae548c?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C27EA8, #ae548c 45%, #572945). For more colour, a short hue run to #9A5449 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ae548c in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ae548c at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.