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violet · cool

#bc9bcd

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

Token name suggestion: Linen Plum

RGB
188, 155, 205
HSL
280°, 33%, 71%
CMYK
8, 24, 0, 20
Luminance
0.3854

#bc9bcd is a light soft violet, 280° on the wheel and 61/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.71:1). As text it scores 2.41:1 on white — use #9561B0 instead. Nearest name is Plum, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(280 33% 71%)rgb(188 155 205)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bc9bcd is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bc9bcd
Hue
280°
violet
Saturation
33%
soft
Lightness
71%
light
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
67%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3854
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
61/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
8.71:1
Closest name
Plum
ΔE2000 6.6
Chroma
30.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.736
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 19.8
Web-safe
#CC99CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue280° of 360°
Saturation33%
Lightness71%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bc9bcd.

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
Red28%
Green61%
Blue11%

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

Every format

HEX#bc9bcd
HEX (8-digit)#bc9bcdff
RGBrgb(188, 155, 205)
RGBArgba(188, 155, 205, 1)
HSLhsl(280, 33%, 71%)
HSV / HSBhsv(280, 24%, 80%)
HWBhwb(280 61% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(8%, 24%, 0%, 20%)
LABlab(68.4 21.4 -21.0)
LCHlch(68.4 30.0 315.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.736 0.079 314.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(43.48, 38.54, 62.89)
Decimal12360653
Display P3color(display-p3 0.737 0.608 0.804)
Web-safe#CC99CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bc9bcd;
background-color: #bc9bcd;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bc9bcd;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bc9bcd] bg-[#bc9bcd]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bc9bcd;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.737, green: 0.608, blue: 0.804)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.737, green: 0.608, blue: 0.804, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BC9BCD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBC9BCD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBC9BCD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(205, 155, 188)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(188, 155, 205)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(188, 155, 205)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 188, 155, 205)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7373f, 0.6078f, 0.8039f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{188,155,205}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bc9bcd 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bc9bcd 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#472B55, #E4D6EB);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bc9bcd 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: #F8F5F9;
  --brand-100: #F1ECF4;
  --brand-200: #E1D4E8;
  --brand-300: #CDB4DA;
  --brand-400: #bc9bcd;
  --brand-500: #9B69B4;
  --brand-600: #8752A3;
  --brand-700: #714488;
  --brand-800: #5A366D;
  --brand-900: #432A50;
  --brand-950: #2A1B32;
  --brand: #bc9bcd;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F5FA;
  --brand-border: #DBC9E4;
  --brand-hover: #AC83C1;
  --brand-pressed: #9C6BB5;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1F1424;
    --brand-ink: #E4D6EB;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F5F9',
        100: '#F1ECF4',
        200: '#E1D4E8',
        300: '#CDB4DA',
        400: '#bc9bcd',
        500: '#9B69B4',
        600: '#8752A3',
        700: '#714488',
        800: '#5A366D',
        900: '#432A50',
        950: '#2A1B32',
        DEFAULT: '#bc9bcd',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F5F9,
  '100': #F1ECF4,
  '200': #E1D4E8,
  '300': #CDB4DA,
  '400': #bc9bcd,
  '500': #9B69B4,
  '600': #8752A3,
  '700': #714488,
  '800': #5A366D,
  '900': #432A50,
  '950': #2A1B32,
);
$brand-base: #bc9bcd;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F5F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F1ECF4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E1D4E8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#CDB4DA", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#bc9bcd", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#9B69B4", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#8752A3", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#714488", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#5A366D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#432A50", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2A1B32", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bc9bcd · 8.71:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.41:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.71:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bc9bcd as text scores 2.41:1 on white and 8.71:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #472B55 at 4.99:1.

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
#9561B0 · 4.55:1
AA on white−17% L
#9561B0
The quick fox
#73458A · 7.13:1
AAA on white−30% L
#73458A
The quick fox
#bc9bcd · 8.71:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bc9bcd
The quick fox
#bc9bcd · 8.71:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bc9bcd

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #AC83C1 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
#bc9bcd on white: 2.41:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bc9bcd on black: 8.71:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bc9bcd as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bc9bcd.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.41:1AaAa
Slate 502.30:1AaAa
Slate 1002.20:1AaAa
Slate 2001.96:1AaAa
Slate 3001.62:1AaAa
Slate 4001.06:1AaAa
Slate 5001.97:1AaAa
Slate 6003.14:1AaAa
Slate 7004.29:1AaAa
Slate 8006.07:1AaAa
Slate 9007.40:1AaAa
Black8.71:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #94A5CF
deuteranopia · #9BA8CB
tritanopia · #BBA1AC

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. #bc9bcd 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.

#F8F5F9
#F1ECF4
#E1D4E8
#CDB4DA
#bc9bcd
#9B69B4
#8752A3
#714488
#5A366D
#432A50
#2A1B32
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F8F5F9Darkest = 950 · #2A1B32Text 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 0.020 314.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.032 314.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.048 314.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.062 314.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.073 314.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.079 314.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.079 314.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.075 314.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.067 314.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.056 314.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.044 314.0);
}

Colors that work with #bc9bcd

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#F8F5FA
Tinted page background
Border#DBC9E4
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#7F4D99
Captions on the surface
Accent#6D8C40
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#472B55
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F4EEF6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1F1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#AC83C1
One step down in lightness
Pressed#9C6BB5
Two steps down
Disabled#EDE8F0
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C7A2DA
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 #bc9bcd

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 #472B55
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #AC83C1

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
  • Weight29/100
  • 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#ACCD9B
Analogous left#A39BCD
Analogous right#CD9BC5
Split-complement 1#C5CD9B
Split-complement 2#9BCDA3
Triadic 1#CDBC9B
Triadic 2#9BCDBC
Tetradic#CDA39B
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°280°

#bc9bcd sits at 280°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red73.7%
Green60.8%
Blue80.4%
R · 0–255
188
0xbc
G · 0–255
155
0x9b
B · 0–255
205
0xcd

CMYK percentages

Cyan8.3%
Magenta24.4%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)19.6%

Total ink coverage is 52%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bc9bcd text on a black background

contrast 8.71:1

Card sample

#bc9bcd text on a white background

contrast 2.41:1

Card sample

#bc9bcd on grey

2.20:1

#bc9bcd on its own surface

2.23:1

#bc9bcd on its dark surface

7.36:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bc9bcd;
Background color
Panel with #bc9bcd background
background-color: #bc9bcd;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bc9bcd;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(188, 155, 205, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(188, 155, 205, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bc9bcd;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bc9bcd, #CD9BBD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bc9bcd, #CD9BB0);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bc9bcd;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bc9bcd;
caret-color: #bc9bcd;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bc9bcd;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F4EEF6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bc9bcd;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bc9bcd 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bc9bcd 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(188, 155, 205, 0.5)
rgb(188 155 205 / 50%)
#bc9bcd80
hsl(280 33% 71% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bc9bcd 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bc9bcd1a#F8F5FA
20%#bc9bcd33#F2EBF5
40%#bc9bcd66#E4D7EB
60%#bc9bcd99#D7C3E1
80%#bc9bcdcc#C9AFD7

Gradients from #bc9bcd

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, #D7C4E1, #bc9bcd 45%, #472B55);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bc9bcd, #C387AA);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bc9bcd, #ACCD9B);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E5D8EC 0%, #bc9bcd 45%, #472B55 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F5FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #C0BDDE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D7AFCE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #472B55 0%, transparent 65%), #bc9bcd;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bc9bcd

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.

#bc9bcd 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 8.71:1.

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.

#bc9bcd, answered

What color is #bc9bcd?

#bc9bcd is a light soft violet, closest to Plum (ΔE2000 6.6). It sits at 280° on the hue wheel with 33% saturation and 71% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #bc9bcd?

rgb(188, 155, 205) — 188 red, 155 green and 205 blue out of 255, or 73.7% / 60.8% / 80.4% by channel.

What is #bc9bcd in HSL and HSV?

hsl(280, 33%, 71%) and hsv(280, 24%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bc9bcd a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3854 and perceived brightness is 67%, so black text on it reaches 8.71:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bc9bcd?

Black. It scores 8.71:1 against #bc9bcd, versus 2.41:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bc9bcd accessible on a white background?

#bc9bcd on white scores 2.41:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #9561B0 to reach 4.5:1, or #73458A for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bc9bcd?

#ACCD9B sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #C5CD9B and #9BCDA3, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bc9bcd?

For interface work: #F8F5FA as the surface, #DBC9E4 for borders, #7F4D99 for secondary text, #6D8C40 as an accent and #472B55 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #A39BCD and #CD9BC5 stays calm, while #ACCD9B is the loudest partner.

What is #bc9bcd in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(8%, 24%, 0%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bc9bcd 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 #CD9BCC; nudged cooler, #A99ACE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bc9bcd?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 19.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bc9bcd as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bc9bcd in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bc9bcd] or text-[#bc9bcd], 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 #bc9bcd with 50% opacity?

rgba(188, 155, 205, 0.5), or #bc9bcd80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DECDE6; over black, #5E4E67.

Is #bc9bcd a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99CC, ΔE2000 4.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bc9bcd 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 #bc9bcd?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D7C4E1, #bc9bcd 45%, #472B55). For more colour, a short hue run to #C387AA keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bc9bcd in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bc9bcd at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.