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violet · neutral

#af9cb4

a light, muted violet · neutral · closest name: Thistle

Token name suggestion: Morning Iris

RGB
175, 156, 180
HSL
288°, 14%, 66%
CMYK
3, 13, 0, 29
Luminance
0.3619

#af9cb4 is a light muted violet, 288° on the wheel and 53/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.24:1). As text it scores 2.55:1 on white — use #876B8E instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(288 14% 66%)rgb(175 156 180)Base step 400AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #af9cb4 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#af9cb4
Hue
288°
violet
Saturation
14%
muted
Lightness
66%
light
Brightness
71%
HSV value
Perceived
65%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3619
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
53/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
8.24:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 10.1
Chroma
15.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.717
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 19.9
Web-safe
#9999CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue288° of 360°
Saturation14%
Lightness66%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #af9cb4.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool53% 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
Red25%
Green66%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#af9cb4
HEX (8-digit)#af9cb4ff
RGBrgb(175, 156, 180)
RGBArgba(175, 156, 180, 1)
HSLhsl(288, 14%, 66%)
HSV / HSBhsv(288, 13%, 71%)
HWBhwb(288 61% 29%)
CMYKcmyk(3%, 13%, 0%, 29%)
LABlab(66.7 11.4 -9.9)
LCHlch(66.7 15.1 319.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.717 0.040 319.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(37.80, 36.19, 48.16)
Decimal11508916
Display P3color(display-p3 0.686 0.612 0.706)
Web-safe#9999CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #af9cb4;
background-color: #af9cb4;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #af9cb4;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#af9cb4] bg-[#af9cb4]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #af9cb4;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.686, green: 0.612, blue: 0.706)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.686, green: 0.612, blue: 0.706, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AF9CB4</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAF9CB4)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAF9CB4)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(180, 156, 175)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(175, 156, 180)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(175, 156, 180)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 175, 156, 180)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6863f, 0.6118f, 0.7059f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{175,156,180}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #af9cb4 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #af9cb4 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#453749, #E3DCE5);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #af9cb4 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: #F8F7F8;
  --brand-100: #F1EEF1;
  --brand-200: #E0DAE2;
  --brand-300: #CBBFCF;
  --brand-400: #af9cb4;
  --brand-500: #987F9E;
  --brand-600: #846A8B;
  --brand-700: #6E5874;
  --brand-800: #58465D;
  --brand-900: #423545;
  --brand-950: #29212B;
  --brand: #af9cb4;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F6F8;
  --brand-border: #D9D1DC;
  --brand-hover: #9F88A5;
  --brand-pressed: #8E7395;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1E1820;
    --brand-ink: #E3DCE5;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F7F8',
        100: '#F1EEF1',
        200: '#E0DAE2',
        300: '#CBBFCF',
        400: '#af9cb4',
        500: '#987F9E',
        600: '#846A8B',
        700: '#6E5874',
        800: '#58465D',
        900: '#423545',
        950: '#29212B',
        DEFAULT: '#af9cb4',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F7F8,
  '100': #F1EEF1,
  '200': #E0DAE2,
  '300': #CBBFCF,
  '400': #af9cb4,
  '500': #987F9E,
  '600': #846A8B,
  '700': #6E5874,
  '800': #58465D,
  '900': #423545,
  '950': #29212B,
);
$brand-base: #af9cb4;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F7F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F1EEF1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E0DAE2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#CBBFCF", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#af9cb4", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#987F9E", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#846A8B", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#6E5874", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#58465D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#423545", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#29212B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #af9cb4 · 8.24:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.55:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.24:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #af9cb4 as text scores 2.55:1 on white and 8.24:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #453749 at 4.35:1.

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
#876B8E · 4.64:1
AA on white−17% L
#876B8E
The quick fox
#66516B · 7.11:1
AAA on white−29% L
#66516B
The quick fox
#af9cb4 · 8.24:1
AA on blackalready passes
#af9cb4
The quick fox
#af9cb4 · 8.24:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#af9cb4

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A38EA9 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
#af9cb4 on white: 2.55:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#af9cb4 on black: 8.24:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #af9cb4 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #af9cb4.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.55:1AaAa
Slate 502.44:1AaAa
Slate 1002.33:1AaAa
Slate 2002.07:1AaAa
Slate 3001.72:1AaAa
Slate 4001.01:1AaAa
Slate 5001.87:1AaAa
Slate 6002.97:1AaAa
Slate 7004.06:1AaAa
Slate 8005.74:1AaAa
Slate 9007.00:1AaAa
Black8.24:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #9AA1B5
deuteranopia · #9EA3B3
tritanopia · #AF9EA4

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. #af9cb4 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.

#F8F7F8
#F1EEF1
#E0DAE2
#CBBFCF
#af9cb4
#987F9E
#846A8B
#6E5874
#58465D
#423545
#29212B
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F8F7F8Darkest = 950 · #29212BText 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 0.010 319.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.016 319.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.024 319.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.032 319.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.037 319.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.040 319.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.040 319.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.038 319.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.034 319.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.028 319.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.022 319.2);
}

Colors that work with #af9cb4

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#F8F6F8
Tinted page background
Border#D9D1DC
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#7C6383
Captions on the surface
Accent#647854
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#453749
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F3F0F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1E1820
Dark-mode background
Hover#9F88A5
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8E7395
Two steps down
Disabled#E3DCE4
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#BDA0C5
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 #af9cb4

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Borders, dividers and quiet backgrounds
  • Long-form reading 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 #453749
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A38EA9

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.

With almost no chroma left, the family association is barely present; treat it as a neutral that happens to lean this way. 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
  • EnergyLow
  • Weight34/100
  • 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#A1B49C
Analogous left#A39CB4
Analogous right#B49CAD
Split-complement 1#ADB49C
Split-complement 2#9CB4A3
Triadic 1#B4AF9C
Triadic 2#9CB4AF
Tetradic#B4A39C
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°288°

#af9cb4 sits at 288°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red68.6%
Green61.2%
Blue70.6%
R · 0–255
175
0xaf
G · 0–255
156
0x9c
B · 0–255
180
0xb4

CMYK percentages

Cyan2.8%
Magenta13.3%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)29.4%

Total ink coverage is 46%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#af9cb4 text on a black background

contrast 8.24:1

Card sample

#af9cb4 text on a white background

contrast 2.55:1

Card sample

#af9cb4 on grey

2.33:1

#af9cb4 on its own surface

2.37:1

#af9cb4 on its dark surface

6.83:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #af9cb4;
Background color
Panel with #af9cb4 background
background-color: #af9cb4;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #af9cb4;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(175, 156, 180, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(175, 156, 180, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #af9cb4;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #af9cb4, #B49CA9);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #af9cb4, #B49CA3);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #af9cb4;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #af9cb4;
caret-color: #af9cb4;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #af9cb4;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F3F0F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #af9cb4;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#af9cb4 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #af9cb4 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, 156, 180, 0.5)
rgb(175 156 180 / 50%)
#af9cb480
hsl(288 14% 66% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #af9cb4 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#af9cb41a#F7F5F8
20%#af9cb433#EFEBF0
40%#af9cb466#DFD7E1
60%#af9cb499#CFC4D2
80%#af9cb4cc#BFB0C3

Gradients from #af9cb4

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, #CBBFCE, #af9cb4 45%, #453749);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #af9cb4, #A78B98);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #af9cb4, #A1B49C);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D9D0DC 0%, #af9cb4 45%, #453749 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F6F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #BDB9CA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C1ADBA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #453749 0%, transparent 65%), #af9cb4;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #af9cb4

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.

#af9cb4 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
BackgroundsBordersBody textDividers
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 8.24:1.

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.

#af9cb4, answered

What color is #af9cb4?

#af9cb4 is a light muted violet, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 10.1). It sits at 288° on the hue wheel with 14% saturation and 66% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #af9cb4?

rgb(175, 156, 180) — 175 red, 156 green and 180 blue out of 255, or 68.6% / 61.2% / 70.6% by channel.

What is #af9cb4 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(288, 14%, 66%) and hsv(288, 13%, 71%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #af9cb4 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3619 and perceived brightness is 65%, so black text on it reaches 8.24:1.

Should I use black or white text on #af9cb4?

Black. It scores 8.24:1 against #af9cb4, versus 2.55:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #af9cb4 accessible on a white background?

#af9cb4 on white scores 2.55:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #876B8E to reach 4.5:1, or #66516B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #af9cb4?

#A1B49C sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #ADB49C and #9CB4A3, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #af9cb4?

For interface work: #F8F6F8 as the surface, #D9D1DC for borders, #7C6383 for secondary text, #647854 as an accent and #453749 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #A39CB4 and #B49CAD stays calm, while #A1B49C is the loudest partner.

What is #af9cb4 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(3%, 13%, 0%, 29%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #af9cb4 warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 53 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #B49CB0; nudged cooler, #A69AB6.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #af9cb4?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 19.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #af9cb4 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #af9cb4 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#af9cb4] or text-[#af9cb4], 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 #af9cb4 with 50% opacity?

rgba(175, 156, 180, 0.5), or #af9cb480 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D7CEDA; over black, #584E5A.

Is #af9cb4 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999CC, ΔE2000 10.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #af9cb4 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 low chroma the association is faint; it behaves more like a neutral.

What gradient works with #af9cb4?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #CBBFCE, #af9cb4 45%, #453749). For more colour, a short hue run to #A78B98 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #af9cb4 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #af9cb4 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.