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violet · cool

#af97ee

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Plum

RGB
175, 151, 238
HSL
257°, 72%, 76%
CMYK
27, 37, 0, 7
Luminance
0.3742

#af97ee is a light vivid violet, 257° on the wheel and 74/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.48:1). As text it scores 2.48:1 on white — use #805AE4 instead. Nearest name is Medium Purple, nearest Tailwind family is purple.

hsl(257 72% 76%)rgb(175 151 238)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #af97ee is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#af97ee
Hue
257°
violet
Saturation
72%
vivid
Lightness
76%
light
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
67%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3742
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
74/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
8.48:1
Closest name
Medium Purple
ΔE2000 11.6
Chroma
48.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.731
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
purple
500 · ΔE 16.6
Web-safe
#9999FF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue257° of 360°
Saturation72%
Lightness76%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #af97ee.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool74% 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
Red24%
Green59%
Blue16%

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

Every format

HEX#af97ee
HEX (8-digit)#af97eeff
RGBrgb(175, 151, 238)
RGBArgba(175, 151, 238, 1)
HSLhsl(257, 72%, 76%)
HSV / HSBhsv(257, 37%, 93%)
HWBhwb(257 59% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(27%, 37%, 0%, 7%)
LABlab(67.6 27.0 -40.6)
LCHlch(67.6 48.8 303.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.731 0.126 295.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(44.17, 37.42, 85.77)
Decimal11507694
Display P3color(display-p3 0.686 0.592 0.933)
Web-safe#9999FF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #af97ee;
background-color: #af97ee;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #af97ee;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#af97ee] bg-[#af97ee]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #af97ee;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.686, green: 0.592, blue: 0.933)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.686, green: 0.592, blue: 0.933, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AF97EE</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAF97EE)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAF97EE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(238, 151, 175)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(175, 151, 238)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(175, 151, 238)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 175, 151, 238)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6863f, 0.5922f, 0.9333f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{175,151,238}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #af97ee 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #af97ee 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#2B126E, #DAD3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #af97ee 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: #F5F3FC;
  --brand-100: #ECE7F8;
  --brand-200: #D4C9F3;
  --brand-300: #af97ee;
  --brand-400: #906EE7;
  --brand-500: #6B3EDF;
  --brand-600: #5322D2;
  --brand-700: #451DAF;
  --brand-800: #37178C;
  --brand-900: #2B1566;
  --brand-950: #1B0D40;
  --brand: #af97ee;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F4FA;
  --brand-border: #CCC0ED;
  --brand-hover: #9878E9;
  --brand-pressed: #805AE4;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #181424;
    --brand-ink: #DAD3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F3FC',
        100: '#ECE7F8',
        200: '#D4C9F3',
        300: '#af97ee',
        400: '#906EE7',
        500: '#6B3EDF',
        600: '#5322D2',
        700: '#451DAF',
        800: '#37178C',
        900: '#2B1566',
        950: '#1B0D40',
        DEFAULT: '#af97ee',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F3FC,
  '100': #ECE7F8,
  '200': #D4C9F3,
  '300': #af97ee,
  '400': #906EE7,
  '500': #6B3EDF,
  '600': #5322D2,
  '700': #451DAF,
  '800': #37178C,
  '900': #2B1566,
  '950': #1B0D40,
);
$brand-base: #af97ee;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F3FC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#ECE7F8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D4C9F3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#af97ee", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#906EE7", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#6B3EDF", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#5322D2", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#451DAF", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#37178C", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2B1566", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1B0D40", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #af97ee · 8.48:1
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 · 8.48:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #af97ee as text scores 2.48:1 on white and 8.48:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #2B126E at 6.00:1.

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
#805AE4 · 4.67:1
AA on white−14% L
#805AE4
The quick fox
#5E2EDD · 7.21:1
AAA on white−24% L
#5E2EDD
The quick fox
#af97ee · 8.48:1
AA on blackalready passes
#af97ee
The quick fox
#af97ee · 8.48:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#af97ee

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9E81EA 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
#af97ee on white: 2.48:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#af97ee on black: 8.48:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #af97ee as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #af97ee.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.48:1AaAa
Slate 502.37:1AaAa
Slate 1002.26:1AaAa
Slate 2002.01:1AaAa
Slate 3001.67:1AaAa
Slate 4001.04:1AaAa
Slate 5001.92:1AaAa
Slate 6003.06:1AaAa
Slate 7004.18:1AaAa
Slate 8005.91:1AaAa
Slate 9007.21:1AaAa
Black8.48:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #80A5F1
deuteranopia · #84A3EC
tritanopia · #A2A6B7

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. #af97ee is pinned to step 300; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F5F3FC
#ECE7F8
#D4C9F3
#af97ee
#906EE7
#6B3EDF
#5322D2
#451DAF
#37178C
#2B1566
#1B0D40
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F5F3FCDarkest = 950 · #1B0D40Text 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 0.031 295.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.050 295.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.075 295.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.098 295.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.115 295.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.126 295.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.126 295.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.118 295.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.105 295.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.088 295.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.069 295.8);
}

Colors that work with #af97ee

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#F6F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#CCC0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#614B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#AFB319
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#2B126E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EEE9FB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#181424
Dark-mode background
Hover#9878E9
One step down in lightness
Pressed#805AE4
Two steps down
Disabled#F4F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#BAA4F6
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 #af97ee

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 #2B126E
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9E81EA

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
  • Weight24/100
  • 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#D6EE97
Analogous left#97ABEE
Analogous right#DB97EE
Split-complement 1#EEDB97
Split-complement 2#ABEE97
Triadic 1#EEAF97
Triadic 2#97EEAF
Tetradic#EE97AB
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°257°

#af97ee sits at 257°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red68.6%
Green59.2%
Blue93.3%
R · 0–255
175
0xaf
G · 0–255
151
0x97
B · 0–255
238
0xee

CMYK percentages

Cyan26.5%
Magenta36.6%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)6.7%

Total ink coverage is 70%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#af97ee text on a black background

contrast 8.48:1

Card sample

#af97ee text on a white background

contrast 2.48:1

Card sample

#af97ee on grey

2.26:1

#af97ee on its own surface

2.27:1

#af97ee on its dark surface

7.29:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #af97ee;
Background color
Panel with #af97ee background
background-color: #af97ee;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #af97ee;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(175, 151, 238, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(175, 151, 238, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #af97ee;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #af97ee, #E997EE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #af97ee, #EE97DD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #af97ee;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #af97ee;
caret-color: #af97ee;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #af97ee;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EEE9FB;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #af97ee;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#af97ee 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #af97ee 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, 151, 238, 0.5)
rgb(175 151 238 / 50%)
#af97ee80
hsl(257 72% 76% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #af97ee 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#af97ee1a#F7F5FD
20%#af97ee33#EFEAFC
40%#af97ee66#DFD5F8
60%#af97ee99#CFC1F5
80%#af97eecc#BFACF1

Gradients from #af97ee

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, #D8CCF7, #af97ee 45%, #2B126E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #af97ee, #EA7DE7);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #af97ee, #D6EE97);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #ECE6FB 0%, #af97ee 45%, #2B126E 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #C3D2F5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E9B1F2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #2B126E 0%, transparent 65%), #af97ee;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #af97ee

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.

#af97ee 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 8.48:1.

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.

#af97ee, answered

What color is #af97ee?

#af97ee is a light vivid violet, closest to Medium Purple (ΔE2000 11.6). It sits at 257° on the hue wheel with 72% saturation and 76% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #af97ee?

rgb(175, 151, 238) — 175 red, 151 green and 238 blue out of 255, or 68.6% / 59.2% / 93.3% by channel.

What is #af97ee in HSL and HSV?

hsl(257, 72%, 76%) and hsv(257, 37%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #af97ee a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3742 and perceived brightness is 67%, so black text on it reaches 8.48:1.

Should I use black or white text on #af97ee?

Black. It scores 8.48:1 against #af97ee, versus 2.48:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #af97ee accessible on a white background?

#af97ee on white scores 2.48:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #805AE4 to reach 4.5:1, or #5E2EDD for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #af97ee?

#D6EE97 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #EEDB97 and #ABEE97, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #af97ee?

For interface work: #F6F4FA as the surface, #CCC0ED for borders, #614B9B for secondary text, #AFB319 as an accent and #2B126E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #97ABEE and #DB97EE stays calm, while #D6EE97 is the loudest partner.

What is #af97ee in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(27%, 37%, 0%, 7%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #af97ee warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 74 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CF97EE; nudged cooler, #969EEF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #af97ee?

The purple family — its 500 step is #a855f7, ΔE2000 16.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #af97ee as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #af97ee in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#af97ee] or text-[#af97ee], 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 #af97ee with 50% opacity?

rgba(175, 151, 238, 0.5), or #af97ee80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D7CBF7; over black, #584C77.

Is #af97ee a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999FF, ΔE2000 6.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #af97ee 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 #af97ee?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D8CCF7, #af97ee 45%, #2B126E). For more colour, a short hue run to #EA7DE7 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #af97ee in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #af97ee at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.