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violet · cool

#b391cd

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

Token name suggestion: Linen Amethyst

RGB
179, 145, 205
HSL
274°, 38%, 69%
CMYK
13, 29, 0, 20
Luminance
0.3424

#b391cd is a light soft violet, 274° on the wheel and 64/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.85:1). As text it scores 2.68:1 on white — use #9160B7 instead. Nearest name is Plum, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(274 38% 69%)rgb(179 145 205)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #b391cd is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#b391cd
Hue
274°
violet
Saturation
38%
soft
Lightness
69%
light
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
64%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3424
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
64/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
7.85:1
Closest name
Plum
ΔE2000 8.6
Chroma
35.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.709
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 17.4
Web-safe
#CC99CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue274° of 360°
Saturation38%
Lightness69%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #b391cd.

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
Red28%
Green59%
Blue13%

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

Every format

HEX#b391cd
HEX (8-digit)#b391cdff
RGBrgb(179, 145, 205)
RGBArgba(179, 145, 205, 1)
HSLhsl(274, 38%, 69%)
HSV / HSBhsv(274, 29%, 80%)
HWBhwb(274 57% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(13%, 29%, 0%, 20%)
LABlab(65.2 24.1 -26.1)
LCHlch(65.2 35.5 312.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.709 0.093 309.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(39.73, 34.24, 62.26)
Decimal11768269
Display P3color(display-p3 0.702 0.569 0.804)
Web-safe#CC99CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #b391cd;
background-color: #b391cd;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #b391cd;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#b391cd] bg-[#b391cd]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #b391cd;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.702, green: 0.569, blue: 0.804)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.702, green: 0.569, blue: 0.804, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#B391CD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFB391CD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFB391CD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(205, 145, 179)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(179, 145, 205)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(179, 145, 205)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 179, 145, 205)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7020f, 0.5686f, 0.8039f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{179,145,205}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #b391cd 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #b391cd 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#432858, #E2D5EC);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #b391cd 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: #F8F5FA;
  --brand-100: #F0EBF4;
  --brand-200: #DFD3E9;
  --brand-300: #CAB2DC;
  --brand-400: #b391cd;
  --brand-500: #9465B9;
  --brand-600: #814DA8;
  --brand-700: #6B408C;
  --brand-800: #563370;
  --brand-900: #402852;
  --brand-950: #281933;
  --brand: #b391cd;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F4FA;
  --brand-border: #D8C7E5;
  --brand-hover: #A278C2;
  --brand-pressed: #9160B7;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1D1424;
    --brand-ink: #E2D5EC;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F5FA',
        100: '#F0EBF4',
        200: '#DFD3E9',
        300: '#CAB2DC',
        400: '#b391cd',
        500: '#9465B9',
        600: '#814DA8',
        700: '#6B408C',
        800: '#563370',
        900: '#402852',
        950: '#281933',
        DEFAULT: '#b391cd',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F5FA,
  '100': #F0EBF4,
  '200': #DFD3E9,
  '300': #CAB2DC,
  '400': #b391cd,
  '500': #9465B9,
  '600': #814DA8,
  '700': #6B408C,
  '800': #563370,
  '900': #402852,
  '950': #281933,
);
$brand-base: #b391cd;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F5FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F0EBF4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DFD3E9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#CAB2DC", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#b391cd", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#9465B9", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#814DA8", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#6B408C", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#563370", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#402852", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#281933", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #b391cd · 7.85:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.68:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.85:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #b391cd as text scores 2.68:1 on white and 7.85:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #432858 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
#9160B7 · 4.60:1
AA on white−14% L
#9160B7
The quick fox
#724495 · 7.06:1
AAA on white−26% L
#724495
The quick fox
#b391cd · 7.85:1
AA on blackalready passes
#b391cd
The quick fox
#b391cd · 7.85:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#b391cd

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #AC86C8 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
#b391cd on white: 2.68:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#b391cd on black: 7.85:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #b391cd as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #b391cd.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.68:1AaAa
Slate 502.56:1AaAa
Slate 1002.44:1AaAa
Slate 2002.17:1AaAa
Slate 3001.80:1AaAa
Slate 4001.04:1AaAa
Slate 5001.78:1AaAa
Slate 6002.83:1AaAa
Slate 7003.87:1AaAa
Slate 8005.47:1AaAa
Slate 9006.67:1AaAa
Black7.85:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #879DCF
deuteranopia · #8E9FCB
tritanopia · #B099A6

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. #b391cd 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.

#F8F5FA
#F0EBF4
#DFD3E9
#CAB2DC
#b391cd
#9465B9
#814DA8
#6B408C
#563370
#402852
#281933
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F8F5FADarkest = 950 · #281933Text 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 0.023 309.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.037 309.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.056 309.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.073 309.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.086 309.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.093 309.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.093 309.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.088 309.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.078 309.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.065 309.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.051 309.9);
}

Colors that work with #b391cd

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#D8C7E5
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#784B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#75903C
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#432858
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F3EDF7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1D1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#A278C2
One step down in lightness
Pressed#9160B7
Two steps down
Disabled#E8E2EC
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#BE98DA
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 #b391cd

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 #432858
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #AC86C8

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
  • Weight31/100
  • 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#ABCD91
Analogous left#9591CD
Analogous right#CD91C9
Split-complement 1#C9CD91
Split-complement 2#91CD95
Triadic 1#CDB391
Triadic 2#91CDB3
Tetradic#CD9591
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°274°

#b391cd sits at 274°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red70.2%
Green56.9%
Blue80.4%
R · 0–255
179
0xb3
G · 0–255
145
0x91
B · 0–255
205
0xcd

CMYK percentages

Cyan12.7%
Magenta29.3%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)19.6%

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

Color previews

#b391cd text on a black background

contrast 7.85:1

Card sample

#b391cd text on a white background

contrast 2.68:1

Card sample

#b391cd on grey

2.44:1

#b391cd on its own surface

2.46:1

#b391cd on its dark surface

6.66:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #b391cd;
Background color
Panel with #b391cd background
background-color: #b391cd;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #b391cd;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(179, 145, 205, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(179, 145, 205, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #b391cd;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #b391cd, #CD91BF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #b391cd, #CD91B0);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #b391cd;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #b391cd;
caret-color: #b391cd;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #b391cd;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F3EDF7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #b391cd;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#b391cd 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #b391cd 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(179, 145, 205, 0.5)
rgb(179 145 205 / 50%)
#b391cd80
hsl(274 38% 69% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #b391cd 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#b391cd1a#F7F4FA
20%#b391cd33#F0E9F5
40%#b391cd66#E1D3EB
60%#b391cd99#D1BDE1
80%#b391cdcc#C2A7D7

Gradients from #b391cd

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, #D0BBE0, #b391cd 45%, #432858);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #b391cd, #C37CAD);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #b391cd, #ABCD91);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #DFD0EA 0%, #b391cd 45%, #432858 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%, #B4B5DD 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D7A6CF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #432858 0%, transparent 65%), #b391cd;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #b391cd

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.

#b391cd 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 7.85:1.

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.

#b391cd, answered

What color is #b391cd?

#b391cd is a light soft violet, closest to Plum (ΔE2000 8.6). It sits at 274° on the hue wheel with 38% saturation and 69% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #b391cd?

rgb(179, 145, 205) — 179 red, 145 green and 205 blue out of 255, or 70.2% / 56.9% / 80.4% by channel.

What is #b391cd in HSL and HSV?

hsl(274, 38%, 69%) and hsv(274, 29%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #b391cd a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3424 and perceived brightness is 64%, so black text on it reaches 7.85:1.

Should I use black or white text on #b391cd?

Black. It scores 7.85:1 against #b391cd, versus 2.68:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #b391cd accessible on a white background?

#b391cd on white scores 2.68:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #9160B7 to reach 4.5:1, or #724495 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #b391cd?

#ABCD91 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #C9CD91 and #91CD95, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #b391cd?

For interface work: #F8F4FA as the surface, #D8C7E5 for borders, #784B9B for secondary text, #75903C as an accent and #432858 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #9591CD and #CD91C9 stays calm, while #ABCD91 is the loudest partner.

What is #b391cd in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(13%, 29%, 0%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #b391cd 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 #C991CD; nudged cooler, #9C8FCF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #b391cd?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 17.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #b391cd as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #b391cd in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#b391cd] or text-[#b391cd], 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 #b391cd with 50% opacity?

rgba(179, 145, 205, 0.5), or #b391cd80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D9C8E6; over black, #5A4967.

Is #b391cd a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99CC, ΔE2000 6.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #b391cd 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 #b391cd?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D0BBE0, #b391cd 45%, #432858). For more colour, a short hue run to #C37CAD keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #b391cd in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #b391cd at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.