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violet · cool

#af90c8

a light, soft violet · cool · closest name: Plum

Token name suggestion: Morning Iris

RGB
175, 144, 200
HSL
273°, 34%, 68%
CMYK
13, 28, 0, 22
Luminance
0.3323

#af90c8 is a light soft violet, 273° on the wheel and 64/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.65:1). As text it scores 2.75:1 on white — use #8F64B2 instead. Nearest name is Plum, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(273 34% 68%)rgb(175 144 200)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #af90c8 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#af90c8
Hue
273°
violet
Saturation
34%
soft
Lightness
68%
light
Brightness
78%
HSV value
Perceived
63%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3323
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
64/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
7.65:1
Closest name
Plum
ΔE2000 9.3
Chroma
33.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.701
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 17.8
Web-safe
#9999CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue273° of 360°
Saturation34%
Lightness68%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #af90c8.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool64% 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
Red27%
Green60%
Blue13%

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

Every format

HEX#af90c8
HEX (8-digit)#af90c8ff
RGBrgb(175, 144, 200)
RGBArgba(175, 144, 200, 1)
HSLhsl(273, 34%, 68%)
HSV / HSBhsv(273, 28%, 78%)
HWBhwb(273 56% 22%)
CMYKcmyk(13%, 28%, 0%, 22%)
LABlab(64.3 22.3 -24.6)
LCHlch(64.3 33.1 312.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.701 0.087 309.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(38.08, 33.23, 59.04)
Decimal11505864
Display P3color(display-p3 0.686 0.565 0.784)
Web-safe#9999CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #af90c8;
background-color: #af90c8;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #af90c8;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#af90c8] bg-[#af90c8]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #af90c8;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.686, green: 0.565, blue: 0.784)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.686, green: 0.565, blue: 0.784, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AF90C8</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAF90C8)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAF90C8)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(200, 144, 175)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(175, 144, 200)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(175, 144, 200)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 175, 144, 200)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6863f, 0.5647f, 0.7843f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{175,144,200}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #af90c8 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #af90c8 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#422A55, #E1D6EB);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #af90c8 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: #F8F5F9;
  --brand-100: #F0ECF4;
  --brand-200: #DFD4E8;
  --brand-300: #C9B4DA;
  --brand-400: #af90c8;
  --brand-500: #9369B5;
  --brand-600: #7F51A4;
  --brand-700: #6A4488;
  --brand-800: #55366D;
  --brand-900: #3F2A50;
  --brand-950: #281A32;
  --brand: #af90c8;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F5FA;
  --brand-border: #D8C8E4;
  --brand-hover: #9E78BC;
  --brand-pressed: #8D60B0;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1D1424;
    --brand-ink: #E1D6EB;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F5F9',
        100: '#F0ECF4',
        200: '#DFD4E8',
        300: '#C9B4DA',
        400: '#af90c8',
        500: '#9369B5',
        600: '#7F51A4',
        700: '#6A4488',
        800: '#55366D',
        900: '#3F2A50',
        950: '#281A32',
        DEFAULT: '#af90c8',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F5F9,
  '100': #F0ECF4,
  '200': #DFD4E8,
  '300': #C9B4DA,
  '400': #af90c8,
  '500': #9369B5,
  '600': #7F51A4,
  '700': #6A4488,
  '800': #55366D,
  '900': #3F2A50,
  '950': #281A32,
);
$brand-base: #af90c8;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F5F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F0ECF4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DFD4E8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#C9B4DA", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#af90c8", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#9369B5", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#7F51A4", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#6A4488", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#55366D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#3F2A50", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#281A32", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #af90c8 · 7.65:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.75:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.65:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #af90c8 as text scores 2.75:1 on white and 7.65:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #422A55 at 4.51:1.

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
#8F64B2 · 4.53:1
AA on white−13% L
#8F64B2
The quick fox
#6E468D · 7.18:1
AAA on white−26% L
#6E468D
The quick fox
#af90c8 · 7.65:1
AA on blackalready passes
#af90c8
The quick fox
#af90c8 · 7.65:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#af90c8

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A886C3 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
#af90c8 on white: 2.75:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#af90c8 on black: 7.65:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #af90c8 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #af90c8.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.75:1AaAa
Slate 502.63:1AaAa
Slate 1002.51:1AaAa
Slate 2002.23:1AaAa
Slate 3001.85:1AaAa
Slate 4001.07:1AaAa
Slate 5001.73:1AaAa
Slate 6002.76:1AaAa
Slate 7003.77:1AaAa
Slate 8005.33:1AaAa
Slate 9006.50:1AaAa
Black7.65:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #879BCA
deuteranopia · #8D9DC6
tritanopia · #AC97A4

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. #af90c8 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.

#F8F5F9
#F0ECF4
#DFD4E8
#C9B4DA
#af90c8
#9369B5
#7F51A4
#6A4488
#55366D
#3F2A50
#281A32
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F8F5F9Darkest = 950 · #281A32Text 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 0.022 309.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.035 309.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.052 309.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.068 309.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.080 309.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.087 309.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.087 309.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.082 309.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.073 309.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.061 309.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.048 309.4);
}

Colors that work with #af90c8

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#F8F5FA
Tinted page background
Border#D8C8E4
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#774C99
Captions on the surface
Accent#758C40
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#422A55
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F3EEF7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1D1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#9E78BC
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8D60B0
Two steps down
Disabled#E5DEEA
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#BA97D6
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 #af90c8

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 #422A55
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A886C3

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
  • Weight33/100
  • 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#A9C890
Analogous left#9390C8
Analogous right#C890C5
Split-complement 1#C5C890
Split-complement 2#90C893
Triadic 1#C8AF90
Triadic 2#90C8AF
Tetradic#C89390
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°273°

#af90c8 sits at 273°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red68.6%
Green56.5%
Blue78.4%
R · 0–255
175
0xaf
G · 0–255
144
0x90
B · 0–255
200
0xc8

CMYK percentages

Cyan12.5%
Magenta28.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)21.6%

Total ink coverage is 62%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#af90c8 text on a black background

contrast 7.65:1

Card sample

#af90c8 text on a white background

contrast 2.75:1

Card sample

#af90c8 on grey

2.51:1

#af90c8 on its own surface

2.54:1

#af90c8 on its dark surface

6.49:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #af90c8;
Background color
Panel with #af90c8 background
background-color: #af90c8;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #af90c8;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(175, 144, 200, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(175, 144, 200, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #af90c8;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #af90c8, #C890BC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #af90c8, #C890AE);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #af90c8;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #af90c8;
caret-color: #af90c8;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #af90c8;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F3EEF7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #af90c8;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#af90c8 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #af90c8 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, 144, 200, 0.5)
rgb(175 144 200 / 50%)
#af90c880
hsl(273 34% 68% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #af90c8 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#af90c81a#F7F4FA
20%#af90c833#EFE9F4
40%#af90c866#DFD3E9
60%#af90c899#CFBCDE
80%#af90c8cc#BFA6D3

Gradients from #af90c8

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, #CDB9DC, #af90c8 45%, #422A55);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #af90c8, #BE7CAA);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #af90c8, #A9C890);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #DBCEE6 0%, #af90c8 45%, #422A55 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F5FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #B2B3D9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D2A5CC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #422A55 0%, transparent 65%), #af90c8;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #af90c8

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.

#af90c8 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 7.65:1.

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.

#af90c8, answered

What color is #af90c8?

#af90c8 is a light soft violet, closest to Plum (ΔE2000 9.3). It sits at 273° on the hue wheel with 34% saturation and 68% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #af90c8?

rgb(175, 144, 200) — 175 red, 144 green and 200 blue out of 255, or 68.6% / 56.5% / 78.4% by channel.

What is #af90c8 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(273, 34%, 68%) and hsv(273, 28%, 78%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #af90c8 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3323 and perceived brightness is 63%, so black text on it reaches 7.65:1.

Should I use black or white text on #af90c8?

Black. It scores 7.65:1 against #af90c8, versus 2.75:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #af90c8 accessible on a white background?

#af90c8 on white scores 2.75:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #8F64B2 to reach 4.5:1, or #6E468D for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #af90c8?

#A9C890 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #C5C890 and #90C893, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #af90c8?

For interface work: #F8F5FA as the surface, #D8C8E4 for borders, #774C99 for secondary text, #758C40 as an accent and #422A55 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #9390C8 and #C890C5 stays calm, while #A9C890 is the loudest partner.

What is #af90c8 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(13%, 28%, 0%, 22%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #af90c8 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 64 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C490C8; nudged cooler, #9A8FCA.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #af90c8?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 17.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #af90c8 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #af90c8 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#af90c8] or text-[#af90c8], 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 #af90c8 with 50% opacity?

rgba(175, 144, 200, 0.5), or #af90c880 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D7C8E4; over black, #584864.

Is #af90c8 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999CC, ΔE2000 8.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #af90c8 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 #af90c8?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #CDB9DC, #af90c8 45%, #422A55). For more colour, a short hue run to #BE7CAA keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #af90c8 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #af90c8 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.