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violet · cool

#ba8bd2

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Plum

RGB
186, 139, 210
HSL
280°, 44%, 68%
CMYK
11, 34, 0, 18
Luminance
0.3356

#ba8bd2 is a light soft violet, 280° on the wheel and 61/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.71:1). As text it scores 2.72:1 on white — use #9B57BE instead. Nearest name is Plum, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(280 44% 68%)rgb(186 139 210)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ba8bd2 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ba8bd2
Hue
280°
violet
Saturation
44%
soft
Lightness
68%
light
Brightness
82%
HSV value
Perceived
64%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3356
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
61/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
7.71:1
Closest name
Plum
ΔE2000 8.2
Chroma
42.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.707
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 14.8
Web-safe
#CC99CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue280° of 360°
Saturation44%
Lightness68%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ba8bd2.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool61% 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
Red31%
Green55%
Blue14%

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

Every format

HEX#ba8bd2
HEX (8-digit)#ba8bd2ff
RGBrgb(186, 139, 210)
RGBArgba(186, 139, 210, 1)
HSLhsl(280, 44%, 68%)
HSV / HSBhsv(280, 34%, 82%)
HWBhwb(280 55% 18%)
CMYKcmyk(11%, 34%, 0%, 18%)
LABlab(64.6 30.7 -29.6)
LCHlch(64.6 42.7 316.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.707 0.113 313.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(41.11, 33.56, 65.27)
Decimal12225490
Display P3color(display-p3 0.729 0.545 0.824)
Web-safe#CC99CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ba8bd2;
background-color: #ba8bd2;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ba8bd2;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ba8bd2] bg-[#ba8bd2]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ba8bd2;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.729, green: 0.545, blue: 0.824)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.729, green: 0.545, blue: 0.824, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BA8BD2</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBA8BD2)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBA8BD2)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(210, 139, 186)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(186, 139, 210)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(186, 139, 210)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 186, 139, 210)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7294f, 0.5451f, 0.8235f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{186,139,210}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ba8bd2 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ba8bd2 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#49245C, #E5D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ba8bd2 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: #F1EAF5;
  --brand-200: #E2D1EB;
  --brand-300: #CFAEE0;
  --brand-400: #ba8bd2;
  --brand-500: #9F5DC0;
  --brand-600: #8C44B0;
  --brand-700: #753993;
  --brand-800: #5D2E76;
  --brand-900: #452456;
  --brand-950: #2B1736;
  --brand: #ba8bd2;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F4FA;
  --brand-border: #DCC4E8;
  --brand-hover: #AB71C8;
  --brand-pressed: #9B57BE;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1F1424;
    --brand-ink: #E5D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F5FA',
        100: '#F1EAF5',
        200: '#E2D1EB',
        300: '#CFAEE0',
        400: '#ba8bd2',
        500: '#9F5DC0',
        600: '#8C44B0',
        700: '#753993',
        800: '#5D2E76',
        900: '#452456',
        950: '#2B1736',
        DEFAULT: '#ba8bd2',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F5FA,
  '100': #F1EAF5,
  '200': #E2D1EB,
  '300': #CFAEE0,
  '400': #ba8bd2,
  '500': #9F5DC0,
  '600': #8C44B0,
  '700': #753993,
  '800': #5D2E76,
  '900': #452456,
  '950': #2B1736,
);
$brand-base: #ba8bd2;
$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": "#F1EAF5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E2D1EB", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#CFAEE0", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#ba8bd2", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#9F5DC0", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#8C44B0", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#753993", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#5D2E76", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#452456", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2B1736", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ba8bd2 · 7.71:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.72:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.71:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #ba8bd2 as text scores 2.72:1 on white and 7.71:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #49245C at 4.56:1.

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
#9B57BE · 4.67:1
AA on white−14% L
#9B57BE
The quick fox
#7C3C9C · 7.04:1
AAA on white−26% L
#7C3C9C
The quick fox
#ba8bd2 · 7.71:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ba8bd2
The quick fox
#ba8bd2 · 7.71:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#ba8bd2

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #B380CE 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
#ba8bd2 on white: 2.72:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ba8bd2 on black: 7.71:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ba8bd2 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ba8bd2.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.72:1AaAa
Slate 502.60:1AaAa
Slate 1002.49:1AaAa
Slate 2002.21:1AaAa
Slate 3001.83:1AaAa
Slate 4001.06:1AaAa
Slate 5001.75:1AaAa
Slate 6002.78:1AaAa
Slate 7003.80:1AaAa
Slate 8005.37:1AaAa
Slate 9006.56:1AaAa
Black7.71:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #809AD5
deuteranopia · #8A9ED0
tritanopia · #B894A5

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. #ba8bd2 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
#F1EAF5
#E2D1EB
#CFAEE0
#ba8bd2
#9F5DC0
#8C44B0
#753993
#5D2E76
#452456
#2B1736
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F8F5FADarkest = 950 · #2B1736Text 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 0.028 313.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.045 313.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.068 313.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.088 313.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.104 313.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.113 313.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.113 313.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.106 313.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.095 313.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.079 313.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.062 313.8);
}

Colors that work with #ba8bd2

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#DCC4E8
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#804B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#6E9735
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#49245C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F4EDF8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1F1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#AB71C8
One step down in lightness
Pressed#9B57BE
Two steps down
Disabled#E8E1EC
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C593DF
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 #ba8bd2

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 #49245C
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #B380CE

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
  • Weight32/100
  • 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#A3D28B
Analogous left#968BD2
Analogous right#D28BC6
Split-complement 1#C6D28B
Split-complement 2#8BD296
Triadic 1#D2BA8B
Triadic 2#8BD2BA
Tetradic#D2968B
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°280°

#ba8bd2 sits at 280°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red72.9%
Green54.5%
Blue82.4%
R · 0–255
186
0xba
G · 0–255
139
0x8b
B · 0–255
210
0xd2

CMYK percentages

Cyan11.4%
Magenta33.8%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)17.6%

Total ink coverage is 63%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ba8bd2 text on a black background

contrast 7.71:1

Card sample

#ba8bd2 text on a white background

contrast 2.72:1

Card sample

#ba8bd2 on grey

2.49:1

#ba8bd2 on its own surface

2.50:1

#ba8bd2 on its dark surface

6.51:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ba8bd2;
Background color
Panel with #ba8bd2 background
background-color: #ba8bd2;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ba8bd2;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(186, 139, 210, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(186, 139, 210, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ba8bd2;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ba8bd2, #D28BBB);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ba8bd2, #D28BA9);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ba8bd2;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ba8bd2;
caret-color: #ba8bd2;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ba8bd2;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F4EDF8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ba8bd2;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ba8bd2 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ba8bd2 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(186, 139, 210, 0.5)
rgb(186 139 210 / 50%)
#ba8bd280
hsl(280 44% 68% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ba8bd2 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ba8bd21a#F8F3FB
20%#ba8bd233#F1E8F6
40%#ba8bd266#E3D1ED
60%#ba8bd299#D6B9E4
80%#ba8bd2cc#C8A2DB

Gradients from #ba8bd2

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, #D4B7E3, #ba8bd2 45%, #49245C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ba8bd2, #C975A7);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ba8bd2, #A3D28B);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E1CDEC 0%, #ba8bd2 45%, #49245C 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%, #B3B0E0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #DBA1CC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #49245C 0%, transparent 65%), #ba8bd2;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ba8bd2

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.

#ba8bd2 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 7.71:1.

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.

#ba8bd2, answered

What color is #ba8bd2?

#ba8bd2 is a light soft violet, closest to Plum (ΔE2000 8.2). It sits at 280° on the hue wheel with 44% saturation and 68% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #ba8bd2?

rgb(186, 139, 210) — 186 red, 139 green and 210 blue out of 255, or 72.9% / 54.5% / 82.4% by channel.

What is #ba8bd2 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(280, 44%, 68%) and hsv(280, 34%, 82%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ba8bd2 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3356 and perceived brightness is 64%, so black text on it reaches 7.71:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ba8bd2?

Black. It scores 7.71:1 against #ba8bd2, versus 2.72:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #ba8bd2 accessible on a white background?

#ba8bd2 on white scores 2.72:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #9B57BE to reach 4.5:1, or #7C3C9C for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ba8bd2?

#A3D28B sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #C6D28B and #8BD296, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ba8bd2?

For interface work: #F8F4FA as the surface, #DCC4E8 for borders, #804B9B for secondary text, #6E9735 as an accent and #49245C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #968BD2 and #D28BC6 stays calm, while #A3D28B is the loudest partner.

What is #ba8bd2 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(11%, 34%, 0%, 18%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #ba8bd2 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 61 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #D28BD0; nudged cooler, #9F89D4.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ba8bd2?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 14.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ba8bd2 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ba8bd2 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ba8bd2] or text-[#ba8bd2], 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 #ba8bd2 with 50% opacity?

rgba(186, 139, 210, 0.5), or #ba8bd280 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DDC5E9; over black, #5D4669.

Is #ba8bd2 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99CC, ΔE2000 6.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ba8bd2 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 #ba8bd2?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D4B7E3, #ba8bd2 45%, #49245C). For more colour, a short hue run to #C975A7 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ba8bd2 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ba8bd2 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.