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violet · neutral

#ae9fba

a light, soft violet · neutral · closest name: Thistle

Token name suggestion: Drift Plum

RGB
174, 159, 186
HSL
273°, 16%, 68%
CMYK
7, 15, 0, 27
Luminance
0.3734

#ae9fba is a light soft violet, 273° on the wheel and 57/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.47:1). As text it scores 2.48:1 on white — use #836C96 instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(273 16% 68%)rgb(174 159 186)Base step 400AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ae9fba is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ae9fba
Hue
273°
violet
Saturation
16%
soft
Lightness
68%
light
Brightness
73%
HSV value
Perceived
65%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3734
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
57/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
8.47:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 9.8
Chroma
15.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.724
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 20.3
Web-safe
#9999CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue273° of 360°
Saturation16%
Lightness68%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ae9fba.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool57% 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
Red24%
Green66%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#ae9fba
HEX (8-digit)#ae9fbaff
RGBrgb(174, 159, 186)
RGBArgba(174, 159, 186, 1)
HSLhsl(273, 16%, 68%)
HSV / HSBhsv(273, 15%, 73%)
HWBhwb(273 62% 27%)
CMYKcmyk(7%, 15%, 0%, 27%)
LABlab(67.5 10.6 -11.9)
LCHlch(67.5 15.9 311.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.724 0.042 310.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(38.72, 37.34, 51.61)
Decimal11444154
Display P3color(display-p3 0.682 0.624 0.729)
Web-safe#9999CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ae9fba;
background-color: #ae9fba;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ae9fba;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ae9fba] bg-[#ae9fba]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ae9fba;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.682, green: 0.624, blue: 0.729)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.682, green: 0.624, blue: 0.729, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AE9FBA</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAE9FBA)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAE9FBA)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(186, 159, 174)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(174, 159, 186)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(174, 159, 186)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 174, 159, 186)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6824f, 0.6235f, 0.7294f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{174,159,186}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ae9fba 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ae9fba 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#41354A, #E1DBE5);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ae9fba 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: #F7F6F8;
  --brand-100: #F0EEF2;
  --brand-200: #DED9E3;
  --brand-300: #C8BED0;
  --brand-400: #ae9fba;
  --brand-500: #917CA1;
  --brand-600: #7D668E;
  --brand-700: #685577;
  --brand-800: #53445F;
  --brand-900: #3E3446;
  --brand-950: #27202C;
  --brand: #ae9fba;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F7F6F9;
  --brand-border: #D7D0DD;
  --brand-hover: #9C8AAB;
  --brand-pressed: #8B759C;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1D1721;
    --brand-ink: #E1DBE5;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F6F8',
        100: '#F0EEF2',
        200: '#DED9E3',
        300: '#C8BED0',
        400: '#ae9fba',
        500: '#917CA1',
        600: '#7D668E',
        700: '#685577',
        800: '#53445F',
        900: '#3E3446',
        950: '#27202C',
        DEFAULT: '#ae9fba',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F6F8,
  '100': #F0EEF2,
  '200': #DED9E3,
  '300': #C8BED0,
  '400': #ae9fba,
  '500': #917CA1,
  '600': #7D668E,
  '700': #685577,
  '800': #53445F,
  '900': #3E3446,
  '950': #27202C,
);
$brand-base: #ae9fba;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F6F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F0EEF2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DED9E3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#C8BED0", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#ae9fba", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#917CA1", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#7D668E", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#685577", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#53445F", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#3E3446", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#27202C", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ae9fba · 8.47:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.48:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.47:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #ae9fba as text scores 2.48:1 on white and 8.47:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #41354A at 4.62:1.

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
#836C96 · 4.61:1
AA on white−17% L
#836C96
The quick fox
#645273 · 7.01:1
AAA on white−29% L
#645273
The quick fox
#ae9fba · 8.47:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ae9fba
The quick fox
#ae9fba · 8.47:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#ae9fba

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9F8DAD 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
#ae9fba on white: 2.48:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ae9fba on black: 8.47:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ae9fba as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ae9fba.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.48:1AaAa
Slate 502.37:1AaAa
Slate 1002.26:1AaAa
Slate 2002.01:1AaAa
Slate 3001.67:1AaAa
Slate 4001.03:1AaAa
Slate 5001.92:1AaAa
Slate 6003.06:1AaAa
Slate 7004.18:1AaAa
Slate 8005.90:1AaAa
Slate 9007.20:1AaAa
Black8.47:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #9BA4BB
deuteranopia · #9EA5B9
tritanopia · #ADA2A8

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. #ae9fba 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.

#F7F6F8
#F0EEF2
#DED9E3
#C8BED0
#ae9fba
#917CA1
#7D668E
#685577
#53445F
#3E3446
#27202C
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F7F6F8Darkest = 950 · #27202CText 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 0.010 310.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.017 310.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.025 310.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.033 310.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.039 310.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.042 310.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.042 310.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.039 310.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.035 310.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.029 310.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.023 310.1);
}

Colors that work with #ae9fba

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#F7F6F9
Tinted page background
Border#D7D0DD
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#756086
Captions on the surface
Accent#6E7A52
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#41354A
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F2F0F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1D1721
Dark-mode background
Hover#9C8AAB
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8B759C
Two steps down
Disabled#E5E0E9
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B9A3CA
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 #ae9fba

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • 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 #41354A
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9F8DAD

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 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
  • Weight32/100
  • 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#ABBA9F
Analogous left#A09FBA
Analogous right#BA9FB8
Split-complement 1#B8BA9F
Split-complement 2#9FBAA0
Triadic 1#BAAE9F
Triadic 2#9FBAAE
Tetradic#BAA09F
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°273°

#ae9fba sits at 273°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red68.2%
Green62.4%
Blue72.9%
R · 0–255
174
0xae
G · 0–255
159
0x9f
B · 0–255
186
0xba

CMYK percentages

Cyan6.5%
Magenta14.5%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)27.1%

Total ink coverage is 48%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ae9fba text on a black background

contrast 8.47:1

Card sample

#ae9fba text on a white background

contrast 2.48:1

Card sample

#ae9fba on grey

2.26:1

#ae9fba on its own surface

2.30:1

#ae9fba on its dark surface

7.08:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ae9fba;
Background color
Panel with #ae9fba background
background-color: #ae9fba;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ae9fba;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(174, 159, 186, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(174, 159, 186, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ae9fba;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ae9fba, #BA9FB4);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ae9fba, #BA9FAD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ae9fba;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ae9fba;
caret-color: #ae9fba;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ae9fba;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F2F0F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ae9fba;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ae9fba 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ae9fba 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, 159, 186, 0.5)
rgb(174 159 186 / 50%)
#ae9fba80
hsl(273 16% 68% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ae9fba 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ae9fba1a#F7F5F8
20%#ae9fba33#EFECF1
40%#ae9fba66#DFD9E3
60%#ae9fba99#CEC5D6
80%#ae9fbacc#BEB2C8

Gradients from #ae9fba

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, #CCC2D4, #ae9fba 45%, #41354A);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ae9fba, #AD8DA3);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ae9fba, #ABBA9F);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #DBD4E0 0%, #ae9fba 45%, #41354A 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F7F6F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #BDBDCF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C7B1C4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #41354A 0%, transparent 65%), #ae9fba;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ae9fba

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.

#ae9fba 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 8.47:1.

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.

#ae9fba, answered

What color is #ae9fba?

#ae9fba is a light soft violet, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 9.8). It sits at 273° on the hue wheel with 16% saturation and 68% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #ae9fba?

rgb(174, 159, 186) — 174 red, 159 green and 186 blue out of 255, or 68.2% / 62.4% / 72.9% by channel.

What is #ae9fba in HSL and HSV?

hsl(273, 16%, 68%) and hsv(273, 15%, 73%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ae9fba a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3734 and perceived brightness is 65%, so black text on it reaches 8.47:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ae9fba?

Black. It scores 8.47:1 against #ae9fba, versus 2.48:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #ae9fba accessible on a white background?

#ae9fba on white scores 2.48:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #836C96 to reach 4.5:1, or #645273 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ae9fba?

#ABBA9F sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #B8BA9F and #9FBAA0, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ae9fba?

For interface work: #F7F6F9 as the surface, #D7D0DD for borders, #756086 for secondary text, #6E7A52 as an accent and #41354A for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #A09FBA and #BA9FB8 stays calm, while #ABBA9F is the loudest partner.

What is #ae9fba in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(7%, 15%, 0%, 27%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #ae9fba warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 57 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #B89FBA; nudged cooler, #A39DBC.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ae9fba?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 20.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ae9fba as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ae9fba in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ae9fba] or text-[#ae9fba], 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 #ae9fba with 50% opacity?

rgba(174, 159, 186, 0.5), or #ae9fba80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D7CFDD; over black, #57505D.

Is #ae9fba a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999CC, ΔE2000 9.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ae9fba 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 #ae9fba?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #CCC2D4, #ae9fba 45%, #41354A). For more colour, a short hue run to #AD8DA3 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ae9fba in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ae9fba at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.