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violet · cool

#b565cf

a balanced, vivid violet · cool · closest name: Medium Orchid

Token name suggestion: Atlas Amethyst

RGB
181, 101, 207
HSL
285°, 53%, 60%
CMYK
13, 51, 0, 19
Luminance
0.2364

#b565cf is a balanced vivid violet, 285° on the wheel and 58/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (5.73:1). As text it scores 3.67:1 on white — large text only. Nearest name is Medium Orchid, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(285 53% 60%)rgb(181 101 207)Base step 500AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #b565cf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#b565cf
Hue
285°
violet
Saturation
53%
vivid
Lightness
60%
balanced
Brightness
81%
HSV value
Perceived
56%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.2364
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
58/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
5.73:1
Closest name
Medium Orchid
ΔE2000 3.5
Chroma
64.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.639
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 7.3
Web-safe
#CC66CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue285° of 360°
Saturation53%
Lightness60%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #b565cf.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool58% 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
Red42%
Green39%
Blue19%

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

Every format

HEX#b565cf
HEX (8-digit)#b565cfff
RGBrgb(181, 101, 207)
RGBArgba(181, 101, 207, 1)
HSLhsl(285, 53%, 60%)
HSV / HSBhsv(285, 51%, 81%)
HWBhwb(285 40% 19%)
CMYKcmyk(13%, 51%, 0%, 19%)
LABlab(55.7 49.1 -41.9)
LCHlch(55.7 64.6 319.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.639 0.172 317.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(34.97, 23.64, 61.74)
Decimal11888079
Display P3color(display-p3 0.710 0.396 0.812)
Web-safe#CC66CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #b565cf;
background-color: #b565cf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #b565cf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#b565cf] bg-[#b565cf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #b565cf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.710, green: 0.396, blue: 0.812)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.710, green: 0.396, blue: 0.812, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#B565CF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFB565CF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFB565CF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(207, 101, 181)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(181, 101, 207)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(181, 101, 207)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 181, 101, 207)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7098f, 0.3961f, 0.8118f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{181,101,207}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #b565cf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #b565cf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#511E61, #E7D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #b565cf 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: #F9F4FA;
  --brand-100: #F3E9F6;
  --brand-200: #E6CFED;
  --brand-300: #D6A9E4;
  --brand-400: #C17FD7;
  --brand-500: #b565cf;
  --brand-600: #9B3ABB;
  --brand-700: #81309C;
  --brand-800: #67277C;
  --brand-900: #4C205B;
  --brand-950: #301439;
  --brand: #b565cf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9F4FA;
  --brand-border: #E1C1EC;
  --brand-hover: #A84AC7;
  --brand-pressed: #9638B4;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #201424;
    --brand-ink: #E7D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F4FA',
        100: '#F3E9F6',
        200: '#E6CFED',
        300: '#D6A9E4',
        400: '#C17FD7',
        500: '#b565cf',
        600: '#9B3ABB',
        700: '#81309C',
        800: '#67277C',
        900: '#4C205B',
        950: '#301439',
        DEFAULT: '#b565cf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F4FA,
  '100': #F3E9F6,
  '200': #E6CFED,
  '300': #D6A9E4,
  '400': #C17FD7,
  '500': #b565cf,
  '600': #9B3ABB,
  '700': #81309C,
  '800': #67277C,
  '900': #4C205B,
  '950': #301439,
);
$brand-base: #b565cf;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F4FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F3E9F6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E6CFED", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D6A9E4", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C17FD7", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#b565cf", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#9B3ABB", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#81309C", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#67277C", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4C205B", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#301439", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #b565cf · 5.73:1
Use #000000AA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 3.67:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 5.73:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #b565cf as text scores 3.67:1 on white and 5.73:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #511E61 at 3.35:1.

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
#AA4EC8 · 4.53:1
AA on white−6% L
#AA4EC8
The quick fox
#8632A1 · 7.04:1
AAA on white−19% L
#8632A1
The quick fox
#b565cf · 5.73:1
AA on blackalready passes
#b565cf
The quick fox
#C07CD6 · 7.10:1
AAA on black+6% L
#C07CD6

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #B565CF 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
#b565cf on white: 3.67:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#b565cf on black: 5.73:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #b565cf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #b565cf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White3.67:1AaAa
Slate 503.50:1AaAa
Slate 1003.35:1AaAa
Slate 2002.97:1AaAa
Slate 3002.47:1AaAa
Slate 4001.43:1AaAa
Slate 5001.30:1AaAa
Slate 6002.07:1AaAa
Slate 7002.82:1AaAa
Slate 8003.99:1AaAa
Slate 9004.87:1AaAa
Black5.73:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #5080D3
deuteranopia · #6888CC
tritanopia · #B47591

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. #b565cf is pinned to step 500; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F9F4FA
#F3E9F6
#E6CFED
#D6A9E4
#C17FD7
#b565cf
#9B3ABB
#81309C
#67277C
#4C205B
#301439
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F9F4FADarkest = 950 · #301439Text 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 0.043 317.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.069 317.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.103 317.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.134 317.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.158 317.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.172 317.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.172 317.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.161 317.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.144 317.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.120 317.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.094 317.3);
}

Colors that work with #b565cf

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#F9F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#E1C1EC
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#874B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#65A02C
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#511E61
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F6ECF9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#201424
Dark-mode background
Hover#A84AC7
One step down in lightness
Pressed#9638B4
Two steps down
Disabled#D7C8DC
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C16BDD
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 #b565cf

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

Works well for
  • Headings from 24px up on white
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • Small text on white — under 4.5:1
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
24px / 18.66px bold
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #511E61
Safe as a 1px border on white
Yes

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 mid lightness keeps it versatile in both themes.

Worth knowing

Deep violets swallow detail on screens with poor gamma; check it on a cheap laptop panel.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight40/100
  • 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#7FCF65
Analogous left#8065CF
Analogous right#CF65B4
Split-complement 1#B4CF65
Split-complement 2#65CF80
Triadic 1#CFB565
Triadic 2#65CFB5
Tetradic#CF8065
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°285°

#b565cf sits at 285°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red71.0%
Green39.6%
Blue81.2%
R · 0–255
181
0xb5
G · 0–255
101
0x65
B · 0–255
207
0xcf

CMYK percentages

Cyan12.6%
Magenta51.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)18.8%

Total ink coverage is 83%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#b565cf text on a black background

contrast 5.73:1

Card sample

#b565cf text on a white background

contrast 3.67:1

Card sample

#b565cf on grey

3.35:1

#b565cf on its own surface

3.38:1

#b565cf on its dark surface

4.83:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #b565cf;
Background color
Panel with #b565cf background
background-color: #b565cf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #b565cf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(181, 101, 207, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(181, 101, 207, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #b565cf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #b565cf, #CF65A2);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #b565cf, #CF6588);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #b565cf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #b565cf;
caret-color: #b565cf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #b565cf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F6ECF9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #b565cf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#b565cf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #b565cf 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(181, 101, 207, 0.5)
rgb(181 101 207 / 50%)
#b565cf80
hsl(285 53% 60% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #b565cf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#b565cf1a#F8F0FA
20%#b565cf33#F0E0F5
40%#b565cf66#E1C1EC
60%#b565cf99#D3A3E2
80%#b565cfcc#C484D9

Gradients from #b565cf

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, #CB94DE, #b565cf 45%, #511E61);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #b565cf, #C84E8A);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #b565cf, #7FCF65);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D7ABE5 0%, #b565cf 45%, #511E61 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F9F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #998CDB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D67CB8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #511E61 0%, transparent 65%), #b565cf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #b565cf

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.

#b565cf 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
ButtonsLinksFocus statesCharts
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 5.73:1.

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.

#b565cf, answered

What color is #b565cf?

#b565cf is a balanced vivid violet, closest to Medium Orchid (ΔE2000 3.5). It sits at 285° on the hue wheel with 53% saturation and 60% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #b565cf?

rgb(181, 101, 207) — 181 red, 101 green and 207 blue out of 255, or 71% / 39.6% / 81.2% by channel.

What is #b565cf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(285, 53%, 60%) and hsv(285, 51%, 81%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #b565cf a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.2364 and perceived brightness is 56%, so black text on it reaches 5.73:1.

Should I use black or white text on #b565cf?

Black. It scores 5.73:1 against #b565cf, versus 3.67:1 for white — AA at any size.

Is #b565cf accessible on a white background?

#b565cf on white scores 3.67:1, which only clears AA for large text — 18.66px bold or 24px regular and up. Darken it to #AA4EC8 to reach 4.5:1, or #8632A1 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #b565cf?

#7FCF65 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #B4CF65 and #65CF80, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #b565cf?

For interface work: #F9F4FA as the surface, #E1C1EC for borders, #874B9B for secondary text, #65A02C as an accent and #511E61 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #8065CF and #CF65B4 stays calm, while #7FCF65 is the loudest partner.

What is #b565cf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(13%, 51%, 0%, 19%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #b565cf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 58 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CF65C2; nudged cooler, #8E63D1.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #b565cf?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 7.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #b565cf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #b565cf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#b565cf] or text-[#b565cf], 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 #b565cf with 50% opacity?

rgba(181, 101, 207, 0.5), or #b565cf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DAB2E7; over black, #5B3368.

Is #b565cf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC66CC, ΔE2000 4.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #b565cf 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 #b565cf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #CB94DE, #b565cf 45%, #511E61). For more colour, a short hue run to #C84E8A keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #b565cf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #b565cf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.