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violet · cool

#af68da

a balanced, vivid violet · cool · closest name: Medium Orchid

Token name suggestion: Signal Iris

RGB
175, 104, 218
HSL
277°, 61%, 63%
CMYK
20, 52, 0, 15
Luminance
0.2408

#af68da is a balanced vivid violet, 277° on the wheel and 63/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (5.82:1). As text it scores 3.61:1 on white — large text only. Nearest name is Medium Orchid, nearest Tailwind family is purple.

hsl(277 61% 63%)rgb(175 104 218)Base step 400AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #af68da is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#af68da
Hue
277°
violet
Saturation
61%
vivid
Lightness
63%
balanced
Brightness
85%
HSV value
Perceived
57%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.2408
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
63/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
5.82:1
Closest name
Medium Orchid
ΔE2000 4.6
Chroma
67.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.642
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
purple
500 · ΔE 6.4
Web-safe
#9966CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue277° of 360°
Saturation61%
Lightness63%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #af68da.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool63% 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
Red38%
Green41%
Blue21%

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

Every format

HEX#af68da
HEX (8-digit)#af68daff
RGBrgb(175, 104, 218)
RGBArgba(175, 104, 218, 1)
HSLhsl(277, 61%, 63%)
HSV / HSBhsv(277, 52%, 85%)
HWBhwb(277 41% 15%)
CMYKcmyk(20%, 52%, 0%, 15%)
LABlab(56.2 48.3 -47.5)
LCHlch(56.2 67.7 315.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.642 0.176 311.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(35.28, 24.08, 69.10)
Decimal11495642
Display P3color(display-p3 0.686 0.408 0.855)
Web-safe#9966CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #af68da;
background-color: #af68da;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #af68da;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#af68da] bg-[#af68da]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #af68da;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.686, green: 0.408, blue: 0.855)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.686, green: 0.408, blue: 0.855, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AF68DA</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAF68DA)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAF68DA)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(218, 104, 175)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(175, 104, 218)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(175, 104, 218)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 175, 104, 218)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6863f, 0.4078f, 0.8549f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{175,104,218}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #af68da 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #af68da 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#491966, #E4D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #af68da 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: #F8F4FB;
  --brand-100: #F1E8F7;
  --brand-200: #E2CCF0;
  --brand-300: #CFA5E9;
  --brand-400: #af68da;
  --brand-500: #A04BD3;
  --brand-600: #8D30C5;
  --brand-700: #7528A4;
  --brand-800: #5E2083;
  --brand-900: #461B5F;
  --brand-950: #2C113C;
  --brand: #af68da;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F4FA;
  --brand-border: #DCC0ED;
  --brand-hover: #A04BD3;
  --brand-pressed: #9031C9;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1E1424;
    --brand-ink: #E4D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F4FB',
        100: '#F1E8F7',
        200: '#E2CCF0',
        300: '#CFA5E9',
        400: '#af68da',
        500: '#A04BD3',
        600: '#8D30C5',
        700: '#7528A4',
        800: '#5E2083',
        900: '#461B5F',
        950: '#2C113C',
        DEFAULT: '#af68da',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F4FB,
  '100': #F1E8F7,
  '200': #E2CCF0,
  '300': #CFA5E9,
  '400': #af68da,
  '500': #A04BD3,
  '600': #8D30C5,
  '700': #7528A4,
  '800': #5E2083,
  '900': #461B5F,
  '950': #2C113C,
);
$brand-base: #af68da;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F4FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F1E8F7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E2CCF0", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#CFA5E9", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#af68da", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#A04BD3", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#8D30C5", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#7528A4", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#5E2083", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#461B5F", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2C113C", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #af68da · 5.82:1
Use #000000AA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 3.61:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 5.82:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #af68da as text scores 3.61:1 on white and 5.82:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #491966 at 3.60:1.

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
#A24FD4 · 4.56:1
AA on white−6% L
#A24FD4
The quick fox
#812CB5 · 7.09:1
AAA on white−19% L
#812CB5
The quick fox
#af68da · 5.82:1
AA on blackalready passes
#af68da
The quick fox
#BA7CDF · 7.04:1
AAA on black+5% L
#BA7CDF

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #AF68DA 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
#af68da on white: 3.61:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#af68da on black: 5.82:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #af68da as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #af68da.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White3.61:1AaAa
Slate 503.45:1AaAa
Slate 1003.30:1AaAa
Slate 2002.93:1AaAa
Slate 3002.43:1AaAa
Slate 4001.41:1AaAa
Slate 5001.32:1AaAa
Slate 6002.10:1AaAa
Slate 7002.87:1AaAa
Slate 8004.05:1AaAa
Slate 9004.94:1AaAa
Black5.82:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #4983DE
deuteranopia · #6088D7
tritanopia · #AA7B97

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. #af68da 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.

#F8F4FB
#F1E8F7
#E2CCF0
#CFA5E9
#af68da
#A04BD3
#8D30C5
#7528A4
#5E2083
#461B5F
#2C113C
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F8F4FBDarkest = 950 · #2C113CText 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 0.044 311.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.071 311.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.106 311.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.138 311.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.162 311.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.176 311.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.176 311.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.166 311.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.148 311.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.123 311.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.097 311.1);
}

Colors that work with #af68da

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#F8F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#DCC0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#7D4B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#76A824
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#491966
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F4EBFA
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1E1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#A04BD3
One step down in lightness
Pressed#9031C9
Two steps down
Disabled#DBD1E1
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#BA70E6
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 #af68da

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

Works well for
  • Headings from 24px up on white
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • Small text on white — under 4.5:1
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
24px / 18.66px bold
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #491966
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.

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 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-high
  • Weight37/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • 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#93DA68
Analogous left#7668DA
Analogous right#DA68CC
Split-complement 1#CCDA68
Split-complement 2#68DA76
Triadic 1#DAAF68
Triadic 2#68DAAF
Tetradic#DA7668
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°277°

#af68da sits at 277°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red68.6%
Green40.8%
Blue85.5%
R · 0–255
175
0xaf
G · 0–255
104
0x68
B · 0–255
218
0xda

CMYK percentages

Cyan19.7%
Magenta52.3%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)14.5%

Total ink coverage is 87%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#af68da text on a black background

contrast 5.82:1

Card sample

#af68da text on a white background

contrast 3.61:1

Card sample

#af68da on grey

3.30:1

#af68da on its own surface

3.32:1

#af68da on its dark surface

4.93:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #af68da;
Background color
Panel with #af68da background
background-color: #af68da;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #af68da;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(175, 104, 218, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(175, 104, 218, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #af68da;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #af68da, #DA68B9);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #af68da, #DA689C);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #af68da;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #af68da;
caret-color: #af68da;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #af68da;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F4EBFA;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #af68da;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#af68da 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #af68da 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, 104, 218, 0.5)
rgb(175 104 218 / 50%)
#af68da80
hsl(277 61% 63% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #af68da 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#af68da1a#F7F0FB
20%#af68da33#EFE1F8
40%#af68da66#DFC3F0
60%#af68da99#CFA4E9
80%#af68dacc#BF86E1

Gradients from #af68da

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, #C999E6, #af68da 45%, #491966);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #af68da, #D44FA2);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #af68da, #93DA68);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D6B2EC 0%, #af68da 45%, #491966 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #9491E4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E080CC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #491966 0%, transparent 65%), #af68da;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #af68da

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.

#af68da 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 5.82:1.

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.

#af68da, answered

What color is #af68da?

#af68da is a balanced vivid violet, closest to Medium Orchid (ΔE2000 4.6). It sits at 277° on the hue wheel with 61% saturation and 63% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #af68da?

rgb(175, 104, 218) — 175 red, 104 green and 218 blue out of 255, or 68.6% / 40.8% / 85.5% by channel.

What is #af68da in HSL and HSV?

hsl(277, 61%, 63%) and hsv(277, 52%, 85%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #af68da a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.2408 and perceived brightness is 57%, so black text on it reaches 5.82:1.

Should I use black or white text on #af68da?

Black. It scores 5.82:1 against #af68da, versus 3.61:1 for white — AA at any size.

Is #af68da accessible on a white background?

#af68da on white scores 3.61:1, which only clears AA for large text — 18.66px bold or 24px regular and up. Darken it to #A24FD4 to reach 4.5:1, or #812CB5 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #af68da?

#93DA68 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CCDA68 and #68DA76, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #af68da?

For interface work: #F8F4FA as the surface, #DCC0ED for borders, #7D4B9B for secondary text, #76A824 as an accent and #491966 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #7668DA and #DA68CC stays calm, while #93DA68 is the loudest partner.

What is #af68da in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(20%, 52%, 0%, 15%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #af68da warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 63 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #D968DA; nudged cooler, #8466DC.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #af68da?

The purple family — its 500 step is #a855f7, ΔE2000 6.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #af68da as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #af68da in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#af68da] or text-[#af68da], 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 #af68da with 50% opacity?

rgba(175, 104, 218, 0.5), or #af68da80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D7B4ED; over black, #58346D.

Is #af68da a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9966CC, ΔE2000 4.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #af68da 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 #af68da?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C999E6, #af68da 45%, #491966). For more colour, a short hue run to #D44FA2 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #af68da in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #af68da at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.