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magenta / pink · neutral

#af16ac

a dark, electric magenta / pink · neutral · closest name: Dark Orchid

Token name suggestion: Dusk Ruby

RGB
175, 22, 172
HSL
301°, 78%, 39%
CMYK
0, 87, 2, 31
Luminance
0.1267

#af16ac is a dark electric magenta / pink, 301° on the wheel and 49/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (5.94:1). As text it scores 5.94:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Dark Orchid, nearest Tailwind family is purple.

hsl(301 78% 39%)rgb(175 22 172)Base step 700AA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #af16ac is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#af16ac
Hue
301°
magenta / pink
Saturation
78%
electric
Lightness
39%
dark
Brightness
69%
HSV value
Perceived
44%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1267
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
49/100 cool
Color family
Magenta / pink
Tone
Electric
Best ink
White
5.94:1
Closest name
Dark Orchid
ΔE2000 7.4
Chroma
83.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.533
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
purple
500 · ΔE 15.5
Web-safe
#990099
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue301° of 360°
Saturation78%
Lightness39%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #af16ac.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool49% 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
Red72%
Green5%
Blue24%

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

Every format

HEX#af16ac
HEX (8-digit)#af16acff
RGBrgb(175, 22, 172)
RGBArgba(175, 22, 172, 1)
HSLhsl(301, 78%, 39%)
HSV / HSBhsv(301, 87%, 69%)
HWBhwb(301 9% 31%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 87%, 2%, 31%)
LABlab(42.3 71.0 -43.0)
LCHlch(42.3 83.0 328.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.533 0.233 329.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(25.41, 12.67, 40.13)
Decimal11474604
Display P3color(display-p3 0.686 0.086 0.675)
Web-safe#990099

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #af16ac;
background-color: #af16ac;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #af16ac;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#af16ac] bg-[#af16ac]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #af16ac;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.686, green: 0.086, blue: 0.675)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.686, green: 0.086, blue: 0.675, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AF16AC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAF16AC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAF16AC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(172, 22, 175)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(175, 22, 172)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(175, 22, 172)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 175, 22, 172)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6863f, 0.0863f, 0.6745f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{175,22,172}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #af16ac 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #af16ac 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#710E6F, #EED3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #af16ac 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: #FCF3FC;
  --brand-100: #F9E6F9;
  --brand-200: #F5C7F4;
  --brand-300: #F29BF1;
  --brand-400: #EC69EA;
  --brand-500: #E638E2;
  --brand-600: #DA1BD6;
  --brand-700: #af16ac;
  --brand-800: #91128E;
  --brand-900: #691167;
  --brand-950: #420B40;
  --brand: #af16ac;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #FAF4FA;
  --brand-border: #EDC0EC;
  --brand-hover: #8F128D;
  --brand-pressed: #6F0E6E;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241424;
    --brand-ink: #EED3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FCF3FC',
        100: '#F9E6F9',
        200: '#F5C7F4',
        300: '#F29BF1',
        400: '#EC69EA',
        500: '#E638E2',
        600: '#DA1BD6',
        700: '#af16ac',
        800: '#91128E',
        900: '#691167',
        950: '#420B40',
        DEFAULT: '#af16ac',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FCF3FC,
  '100': #F9E6F9,
  '200': #F5C7F4,
  '300': #F29BF1,
  '400': #EC69EA,
  '500': #E638E2,
  '600': #DA1BD6,
  '700': #af16ac,
  '800': #91128E,
  '900': #691167,
  '950': #420B40,
);
$brand-base: #af16ac;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FCF3FC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F9E6F9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F5C7F4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#F29BF1", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#EC69EA", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#E638E2", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#DA1BD6", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#af16ac", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#91128E", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#691167", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#420B40", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #af16ac · 5.94:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 5.94:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 3.53:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #af16ac as text scores 5.94:1 on white and 3.53:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #FCE8FC at 5.12:1.

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
#af16ac · 5.94:1
AA on whitealready passes
#af16ac
The quick fox
#9D149A · 7.00:1
AAA on white−4% L
#9D149A
The quick fox
#CF1ACB · 4.66:1
AA on black+7% L
#CF1ACB
The quick fox
#EA5AE7 · 7.11:1
AAA on black+25% L
#EA5AE7

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #AF16AC 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
#af16ac on white: 5.94:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#af16ac on black: 3.53:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #af16ac as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #af16ac.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White5.94:1AaAa
Slate 505.68:1AaAa
Slate 1005.43:1AaAa
Slate 2004.82:1AaAa
Slate 3004.00:1AaAa
Slate 4002.32:1AaAa
Slate 5001.25:1AaAa
Slate 6001.27:1AaAa
Slate 7001.74:1AaAa
Slate 8002.46:1AaAa
Slate 9003.00:1AaAa
Black3.53:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #0057B0
deuteranopia · #4B6AA9
tritanopia · #B53466

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. #af16ac is pinned to step 700; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FCF3FC
#F9E6F9
#F5C7F4
#F29BF1
#EC69EA
#E638E2
#DA1BD6
#af16ac
#91128E
#691167
#420B40
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #FCF3FCDarkest = 950 · #420B40Text step on white = 700
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 0.058 329.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.093 329.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.140 329.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.181 329.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.214 329.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.233 329.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.233 329.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.219 329.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.195 329.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.163 329.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.128 329.2);
}

Colors that work with #af16ac

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#FAF4FA
Tinted page background
Border#EDC0EC
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B4B99
Captions on the surface
Accent#39B913
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#710E6F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FCE8FC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241424
Dark-mode background
Hover#8F128D
One step down in lightness
Pressed#6F0E6E
Two steps down
Disabled#B184B0
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#CC0DC8
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 #af16ac

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

Works well for
  • Body text and links on white
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Headers, footers and dark-mode surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • Black text placed on it
  • 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.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. The low lightness adds weight and formality.

Worth knowing

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

Reads as
  • FormalityHigh
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight61/100
  • 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#16AF19
Analogous left#6516AF
Analogous right#AF165F
Split-complement 1#5FAF16
Split-complement 2#16AF65
Triadic 1#ACAF16
Triadic 2#16ACAF
Tetradic#AF6516
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°301°

#af16ac sits at 301°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red68.6%
Green8.6%
Blue67.5%
R · 0–255
175
0xaf
G · 0–255
22
0x16
B · 0–255
172
0xac

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta87.4%
Yellow1.7%
Key (black)31.4%

Total ink coverage is 121%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#af16ac text on a black background

contrast 3.53:1

Card sample

#af16ac text on a white background

contrast 5.94:1

Card sample

#af16ac on grey

5.43:1

#af16ac on its own surface

5.49:1

#af16ac on its dark surface

2.94:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #af16ac;
Background color
Panel with #af16ac background
background-color: #af16ac;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #af16ac;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(175, 22, 172, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(175, 22, 172, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #af16ac;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #af16ac, #AF1646);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #af16ac, #AF1620);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #af16ac;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #af16ac;
caret-color: #af16ac;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #af16ac;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FCE8FC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #af16ac;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#af16ac 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #af16ac 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(175, 22, 172, 0.5)
rgb(175 22 172 / 50%)
#af16ac80
hsl(301 78% 39% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #af16ac 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#af16ac1a#F7E8F7
20%#af16ac33#EFD0EE
40%#af16ac66#DFA2DE
60%#af16ac99#CF73CD
80%#af16accc#BF45BD

Gradients from #af16ac

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, #E31FDF, #af16ac 45%, #710E6F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #af16ac, #941330);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #af16ac, #16AF19);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E63AE3 0%, #af16ac 45%, #710E6F 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #701CDC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #CA195F 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #710E6F 0%, transparent 65%), #af16ac;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #af16ac

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.

#af16ac 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

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

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 3.53:1 — lift it to #CF1ACB 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.

#af16ac, answered

What color is #af16ac?

#af16ac is a dark electric magenta / pink, closest to Dark Orchid (ΔE2000 7.4). It sits at 301° on the hue wheel with 78% saturation and 39% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #af16ac?

rgb(175, 22, 172) — 175 red, 22 green and 172 blue out of 255, or 68.6% / 8.6% / 67.5% by channel.

What is #af16ac in HSL and HSV?

hsl(301, 78%, 39%) and hsv(301, 87%, 69%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #af16ac a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1267 and perceived brightness is 44%, so white text on it reaches 5.94:1.

Should I use black or white text on #af16ac?

White. It scores 5.94:1 against #af16ac, versus 3.53:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #af16ac accessible on a white background?

#af16ac on white scores 5.94:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #af16ac?

#16AF19 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #5FAF16 and #16AF65, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #af16ac?

For interface work: #FAF4FA as the surface, #EDC0EC for borders, #9B4B99 for secondary text, #39B913 as an accent and #710E6F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #6516AF and #AF165F stays calm, while #16AF19 is the loudest partner.

What is #af16ac in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 87%, 2%, 31%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #af16ac warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 49 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #AF1674; nudged cooler, #7A14B1.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #af16ac?

The purple family — its 500 step is #a855f7, ΔE2000 15.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #af16ac as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #af16ac in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#af16ac] or text-[#af16ac], 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 #af16ac with 50% opacity?

rgba(175, 22, 172, 0.5), or #af16ac80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D78BD6; over black, #580B56.

Is #af16ac a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #990099, ΔE2000 5.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #af16ac 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 chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #af16ac?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E31FDF, #af16ac 45%, #710E6F). For more colour, a short hue run to #941330 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #af16ac in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #af16ac at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.