Skip to content
violet · neutral

#b3afbb

a light, muted violet · neutral · closest name: Dark Gray

Token name suggestion: Meadow Plum

RGB
179, 175, 187
HSL
260°, 8%, 71%
CMYK
4, 6, 0, 27
Luminance
0.4383

#b3afbb is a light muted violet, 260° on the wheel and 55/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.77:1). As text it scores 2.15:1 on white — use #7A7387 instead. Nearest name is Dark Gray, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(260 8% 71%)rgb(179 175 187)Base step 400AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #b3afbb is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#b3afbb
Hue
260°
violet
Saturation
8%
muted
Lightness
71%
light
Brightness
73%
HSV value
Perceived
70%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4383
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
55/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
9.77:1
Closest name
Dark Gray
ΔE2000 7.1
Chroma
6.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.761
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 21.4
Web-safe
#CC99CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue260° of 360°
Saturation8%
Lightness71%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #b3afbb.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool55% 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
Red22%
Green70%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#b3afbb
HEX (8-digit)#b3afbbff
RGBrgb(179, 175, 187)
RGBArgba(179, 175, 187, 1)
HSLhsl(260, 8%, 71%)
HSV / HSBhsv(260, 6%, 73%)
HWBhwb(260 69% 27%)
CMYKcmyk(4%, 6%, 0%, 27%)
LABlab(72.1 3.7 -5.6)
LCHlch(72.1 6.7 303.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.761 0.018 301.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(42.89, 43.83, 53.20)
Decimal11775931
Display P3color(display-p3 0.702 0.686 0.733)
Web-safe#CC99CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #b3afbb;
background-color: #b3afbb;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #b3afbb;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#b3afbb] bg-[#b3afbb]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #b3afbb;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.702, green: 0.686, blue: 0.733)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.702, green: 0.686, blue: 0.733, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#B3AFBB</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFB3AFBB)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFB3AFBB)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(187, 175, 179)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(179, 175, 187)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(179, 175, 187)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 179, 175, 187)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7020f, 0.6863f, 0.7333f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{179,175,187}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #b3afbb 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #b3afbb 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#3E3B45, #E0DEE3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #b3afbb 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: #F7F7F8;
  --brand-100: #EFEFF1;
  --brand-200: #DDDBE0;
  --brand-300: #C5C2CB;
  --brand-400: #b3afbb;
  --brand-500: #8C8698;
  --brand-600: #777084;
  --brand-700: #635E6E;
  --brand-800: #4F4B58;
  --brand-900: #3C3942;
  --brand-950: #252329;
  --brand: #b3afbb;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F7F7F8;
  --brand-border: #D5D3DA;
  --brand-hover: #A19CAB;
  --brand-pressed: #8E889A;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1B1A1E;
    --brand-ink: #E0DEE3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F7F8',
        100: '#EFEFF1',
        200: '#DDDBE0',
        300: '#C5C2CB',
        400: '#b3afbb',
        500: '#8C8698',
        600: '#777084',
        700: '#635E6E',
        800: '#4F4B58',
        900: '#3C3942',
        950: '#252329',
        DEFAULT: '#b3afbb',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F7F8,
  '100': #EFEFF1,
  '200': #DDDBE0,
  '300': #C5C2CB,
  '400': #b3afbb,
  '500': #8C8698,
  '600': #777084,
  '700': #635E6E,
  '800': #4F4B58,
  '900': #3C3942,
  '950': #252329,
);
$brand-base: #b3afbb;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F7F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EFEFF1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DDDBE0", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#C5C2CB", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#b3afbb", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#8C8698", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#777084", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#635E6E", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#4F4B58", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#3C3942", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#252329", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #b3afbb · 9.77:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.15:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.77:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #b3afbb as text scores 2.15:1 on white and 9.77:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #3E3B45 at 5.10:1.

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
#7A7387 · 4.54:1
AA on white−22% L
#7A7387
The quick fox
#595463 · 7.31:1
AAA on white−35% L
#595463
The quick fox
#b3afbb · 9.77:1
AA on blackalready passes
#b3afbb
The quick fox
#b3afbb · 9.77:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#b3afbb

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9691A1 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
#b3afbb on white: 2.15:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#b3afbb on black: 9.77:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #b3afbb as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #b3afbb.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.15:1AaAa
Slate 502.06:1AaAa
Slate 1001.96:1AaAa
Slate 2001.74:1AaAa
Slate 3001.45:1AaAa
Slate 4001.19:1AaAa
Slate 5002.21:1AaAa
Slate 6003.52:1AaAa
Slate 7004.82:1AaAa
Slate 8006.80:1AaAa
Slate 9008.30:1AaAa
Black9.77:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #ADB1BC
deuteranopia · #AEB1BB
tritanopia · #B2B1B3

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. #b3afbb 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.

#F7F7F8
#EFEFF1
#DDDBE0
#C5C2CB
#b3afbb
#8C8698
#777084
#635E6E
#4F4B58
#3C3942
#252329
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F7F7F8Darkest = 950 · #252329Text 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 0.004 301.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.007 301.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.011 301.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.014 301.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.016 301.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.018 301.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.018 301.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.016 301.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.015 301.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.012 301.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.010 301.1);
}

Colors that work with #b3afbb

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#F7F7F8
Tinted page background
Border#D5D3DA
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#70697C
Captions on the surface
Accent#71725A
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#3E3B45
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F2F1F3
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1B1A1E
Dark-mode background
Hover#A19CAB
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8E889A
Two steps down
Disabled#EDECEF
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#BBB4CB
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 #b3afbb

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 #3E3B45
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9691A1

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
  • Weight29/100
  • 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#B7BBAF
Analogous left#AFB1BB
Analogous right#B9AFBB
Split-complement 1#BBB9AF
Split-complement 2#B1BBAF
Triadic 1#BBB3AF
Triadic 2#AFBBB3
Tetradic#BBAFB1
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°260°

#b3afbb sits at 260°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red70.2%
Green68.6%
Blue73.3%
R · 0–255
179
0xb3
G · 0–255
175
0xaf
B · 0–255
187
0xbb

CMYK percentages

Cyan4.3%
Magenta6.4%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)26.7%

Total ink coverage is 37%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#b3afbb text on a black background

contrast 9.77:1

Card sample

#b3afbb text on a white background

contrast 2.15:1

Card sample

#b3afbb on grey

1.96:1

#b3afbb on its own surface

2.01:1

#b3afbb on its dark surface

8.05:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #b3afbb;
Background color
Panel with #b3afbb background
background-color: #b3afbb;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #b3afbb;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(179, 175, 187, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(179, 175, 187, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #b3afbb;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #b3afbb, #BBAFBB);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #b3afbb, #BBAFB8);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #b3afbb;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #b3afbb;
caret-color: #b3afbb;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #b3afbb;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F2F1F3;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #b3afbb;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#b3afbb 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #b3afbb 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, 175, 187, 0.5)
rgb(179 175 187 / 50%)
#b3afbb80
hsl(260 8% 71% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #b3afbb 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#b3afbb1a#F7F7F8
20%#b3afbb33#F0EFF1
40%#b3afbb66#E1DFE4
60%#b3afbb99#D1CFD6
80%#b3afbbcc#C2BFC9

Gradients from #b3afbb

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, #D2D0D7, #b3afbb 45%, #3E3B45);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #b3afbb, #AD9FAC);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #b3afbb, #B7BBAF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E2E1E5 0%, #b3afbb 45%, #3E3B45 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F7F7F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #CBCDD2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C8C0C9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #3E3B45 0%, transparent 65%), #b3afbb;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #b3afbb

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.

#b3afbb 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 9.77:1.

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.

#b3afbb, answered

What color is #b3afbb?

#b3afbb is a light muted violet, closest to Dark Gray (ΔE2000 7.1). It sits at 260° on the hue wheel with 8% saturation and 71% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #b3afbb?

rgb(179, 175, 187) — 179 red, 175 green and 187 blue out of 255, or 70.2% / 68.6% / 73.3% by channel.

What is #b3afbb in HSL and HSV?

hsl(260, 8%, 71%) and hsv(260, 6%, 73%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #b3afbb a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4383 and perceived brightness is 70%, so black text on it reaches 9.77:1.

Should I use black or white text on #b3afbb?

Black. It scores 9.77:1 against #b3afbb, versus 2.15:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #b3afbb accessible on a white background?

#b3afbb on white scores 2.15:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7A7387 to reach 4.5:1, or #595463 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #b3afbb?

#B7BBAF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BBB9AF and #B1BBAF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #b3afbb?

For interface work: #F7F7F8 as the surface, #D5D3DA for borders, #70697C for secondary text, #71725A as an accent and #3E3B45 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AFB1BB and #B9AFBB stays calm, while #B7BBAF is the loudest partner.

What is #b3afbb in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(4%, 6%, 0%, 27%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #b3afbb warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 55 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C4B9B1; nudged cooler, #A5B0BB.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #b3afbb?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 21.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #b3afbb as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #b3afbb in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#b3afbb] or text-[#b3afbb], 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 #b3afbb with 50% opacity?

rgba(179, 175, 187, 0.5), or #b3afbb80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D9D7DD; over black, #5A585E.

Is #b3afbb a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99CC, ΔE2000 16.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #b3afbb 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 #b3afbb?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D2D0D7, #b3afbb 45%, #3E3B45). For more colour, a short hue run to #AD9FAC keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #b3afbb in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #b3afbb at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.