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violet · cool

#af86dc

a light, vivid violet · cool · closest name: Medium Purple

Token name suggestion: Morning Thistle

RGB
175, 134, 220
HSL
269°, 55%, 69%
CMYK
21, 39, 0, 14
Luminance
0.3133

#af86dc is a light vivid violet, 269° on the wheel and 67/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.27:1). As text it scores 2.89:1 on white — use #925ACF instead. Nearest name is Medium Purple, nearest Tailwind family is purple.

hsl(269 55% 69%)rgb(175 134 220)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #af86dc is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#af86dc
Hue
269°
violet
Saturation
55%
vivid
Lightness
69%
light
Brightness
86%
HSV value
Perceived
62%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3133
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
67/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
7.27:1
Closest name
Medium Purple
ΔE2000 8.4
Chroma
50.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.692
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
purple
500 · ΔE 13.1
Web-safe
#9999CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue269° of 360°
Saturation55%
Lightness69%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #af86dc.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool67% 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
Red29%
Green54%
Blue16%

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

Every format

HEX#af86dc
HEX (8-digit)#af86dcff
RGBrgb(175, 134, 220)
RGBArgba(175, 134, 220, 1)
HSLhsl(269, 55%, 69%)
HSV / HSBhsv(269, 39%, 86%)
HWBhwb(269 53% 14%)
CMYKcmyk(21%, 39%, 0%, 14%)
LABlab(62.8 32.3 -38.1)
LCHlch(62.8 50.0 310.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.692 0.130 305.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(39.12, 31.33, 71.68)
Decimal11503324
Display P3color(display-p3 0.686 0.525 0.863)
Web-safe#9999CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #af86dc;
background-color: #af86dc;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #af86dc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#af86dc] bg-[#af86dc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #af86dc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.686, green: 0.525, blue: 0.863)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.686, green: 0.525, blue: 0.863, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AF86DC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAF86DC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAF86DC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(220, 134, 175)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(175, 134, 220)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(175, 134, 220)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 175, 134, 220)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6863f, 0.5255f, 0.8627f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{175,134,220}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #af86dc 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #af86dc 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#3E1D63, #E0D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #af86dc 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: #F7F4FB;
  --brand-100: #EFE9F6;
  --brand-200: #DDCEEE;
  --brand-300: #C5A8E6;
  --brand-400: #af86dc;
  --brand-500: #8C51CD;
  --brand-600: #7737BE;
  --brand-700: #632E9E;
  --brand-800: #50257F;
  --brand-900: #3C1E5C;
  --brand-950: #25133A;
  --brand: #af86dc;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F7F4FA;
  --brand-border: #D5C0ED;
  --brand-hover: #9D6AD4;
  --brand-pressed: #8A4FCC;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1C1424;
    --brand-ink: #E0D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F4FB',
        100: '#EFE9F6',
        200: '#DDCEEE',
        300: '#C5A8E6',
        400: '#af86dc',
        500: '#8C51CD',
        600: '#7737BE',
        700: '#632E9E',
        800: '#50257F',
        900: '#3C1E5C',
        950: '#25133A',
        DEFAULT: '#af86dc',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F4FB,
  '100': #EFE9F6,
  '200': #DDCEEE,
  '300': #C5A8E6,
  '400': #af86dc,
  '500': #8C51CD,
  '600': #7737BE,
  '700': #632E9E,
  '800': #50257F,
  '900': #3C1E5C,
  '950': #25133A,
);
$brand-base: #af86dc;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F4FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EFE9F6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DDCEEE", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#C5A8E6", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#af86dc", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#8C51CD", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#7737BE", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#632E9E", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#50257F", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#3C1E5C", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#25133A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #af86dc · 7.27:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.89:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.27:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #af86dc as text scores 2.89:1 on white and 7.27:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #3E1D63 at 4.66:1.

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
#925ACF · 4.58:1
AA on white−11% L
#925ACF
The quick fox
#7335B8 · 7.17:1
AAA on white−23% L
#7335B8
The quick fox
#af86dc · 7.27:1
AA on blackalready passes
#af86dc
The quick fox
#af86dc · 7.27:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#af86dc

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #AC82DB 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
#af86dc on white: 2.89:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#af86dc on black: 7.27:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #af86dc as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #af86dc.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.89:1AaAa
Slate 502.76:1AaAa
Slate 1002.64:1AaAa
Slate 2002.34:1AaAa
Slate 3001.95:1AaAa
Slate 4001.13:1AaAa
Slate 5001.65:1AaAa
Slate 6002.62:1AaAa
Slate 7003.58:1AaAa
Slate 8005.06:1AaAa
Slate 9006.18:1AaAa
Black7.27:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #7297DF
deuteranopia · #7B98DA
tritanopia · #A893A7

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. #af86dc 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.

#F7F4FB
#EFE9F6
#DDCEEE
#C5A8E6
#af86dc
#8C51CD
#7737BE
#632E9E
#50257F
#3C1E5C
#25133A
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F7F4FBDarkest = 950 · #25133AText 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 0.032 305.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.052 305.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.078 305.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.101 305.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.119 305.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.130 305.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.130 305.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.122 305.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.109 305.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.091 305.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.071 305.2);
}

Colors that work with #af86dc

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#F7F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#D5C0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#714B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#87A22A
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#3E1D63
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F2EBF9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1C1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#9D6AD4
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8A4FCC
Two steps down
Disabled#E9E4EE
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B98FE7
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 #af86dc

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 #3E1D63
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #AC82DB

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
  • Weight31/100
  • 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#B3DC86
Analogous left#8688DC
Analogous right#DA86DC
Split-complement 1#DCDA86
Split-complement 2#88DC86
Triadic 1#DCAF86
Triadic 2#86DCAF
Tetradic#DC8688
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°269°

#af86dc sits at 269°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red68.6%
Green52.5%
Blue86.3%
R · 0–255
175
0xaf
G · 0–255
134
0x86
B · 0–255
220
0xdc

CMYK percentages

Cyan20.5%
Magenta39.1%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)13.7%

Total ink coverage is 73%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#af86dc text on a black background

contrast 7.27:1

Card sample

#af86dc text on a white background

contrast 2.89:1

Card sample

#af86dc on grey

2.64:1

#af86dc on its own surface

2.65:1

#af86dc on its dark surface

6.18:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #af86dc;
Background color
Panel with #af86dc background
background-color: #af86dc;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #af86dc;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(175, 134, 220, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(175, 134, 220, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #af86dc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #af86dc, #DC86D0);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #af86dc, #DC86BA);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #af86dc;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #af86dc;
caret-color: #af86dc;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #af86dc;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F2EBF9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #af86dc;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#af86dc 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #af86dc 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, 134, 220, 0.5)
rgb(175 134 220 / 50%)
#af86dc80
hsl(269 55% 69% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #af86dc 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#af86dc1a#F7F3FC
20%#af86dc33#EFE7F8
40%#af86dc66#DFCFF1
60%#af86dc99#CFB6EA
80%#af86dccc#BF9EE3

Gradients from #af86dc

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, #CEB5EA, #af86dc 45%, #3E1D63);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #af86dc, #D56EBE);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #af86dc, #B3DC86);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #DECDF1 0%, #af86dc 45%, #3E1D63 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F7F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #AEB4E7 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E39EDF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #3E1D63 0%, transparent 65%), #af86dc;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #af86dc

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.

#af86dc 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 7.27:1.

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.

#af86dc, answered

What color is #af86dc?

#af86dc is a light vivid violet, closest to Medium Purple (ΔE2000 8.4). It sits at 269° on the hue wheel with 55% saturation and 69% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #af86dc?

rgb(175, 134, 220) — 175 red, 134 green and 220 blue out of 255, or 68.6% / 52.5% / 86.3% by channel.

What is #af86dc in HSL and HSV?

hsl(269, 55%, 69%) and hsv(269, 39%, 86%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #af86dc a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3133 and perceived brightness is 62%, so black text on it reaches 7.27:1.

Should I use black or white text on #af86dc?

Black. It scores 7.27:1 against #af86dc, versus 2.89:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #af86dc accessible on a white background?

#af86dc on white scores 2.89:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #925ACF to reach 4.5:1, or #7335B8 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #af86dc?

#B3DC86 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DCDA86 and #88DC86, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #af86dc?

For interface work: #F7F4FA as the surface, #D5C0ED for borders, #714B9B for secondary text, #87A22A as an accent and #3E1D63 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #8688DC and #DA86DC stays calm, while #B3DC86 is the loudest partner.

What is #af86dc in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(21%, 39%, 0%, 14%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #af86dc warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 67 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CE86DC; nudged cooler, #8E84DE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #af86dc?

The purple family — its 500 step is #a855f7, ΔE2000 13.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #af86dc as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #af86dc in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#af86dc] or text-[#af86dc], 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 #af86dc with 50% opacity?

rgba(175, 134, 220, 0.5), or #af86dc80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D7C3EE; over black, #58436E.

Is #af86dc a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999CC, ΔE2000 9.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #af86dc 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 #af86dc?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #CEB5EA, #af86dc 45%, #3E1D63). For more colour, a short hue run to #D56EBE keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #af86dc in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #af86dc at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.