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violet · cool

#c398e1

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

Token name suggestion: Linen Iris

RGB
195, 152, 225
HSL
275°, 55%, 74%
CMYK
13, 32, 0, 12
Luminance
0.3949

#c398e1 is a light vivid violet, 275° on the wheel and 64/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.90:1). As text it scores 2.36:1 on white — use #9C55CD instead. Nearest name is Plum, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(275 55% 74%)rgb(195 152 225)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #c398e1 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#c398e1
Hue
275°
violet
Saturation
55%
vivid
Lightness
74%
light
Brightness
88%
HSV value
Perceived
69%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3949
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
64/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
8.90:1
Closest name
Plum
ΔE2000 6.5
Chroma
42.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.745
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 16.9
Web-safe
#CC99CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue275° of 360°
Saturation55%
Lightness74%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #c398e1.

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
Red29%
Green57%
Blue14%

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

Every format

HEX#c398e1
HEX (8-digit)#c398e1ff
RGBrgb(195, 152, 225)
RGBArgba(195, 152, 225, 1)
HSLhsl(275, 55%, 74%)
HSV / HSBhsv(275, 32%, 88%)
HWBhwb(275 60% 12%)
CMYKcmyk(13%, 32%, 0%, 12%)
LABlab(69.1 29.4 -30.9)
LCHlch(69.1 42.7 313.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.745 0.112 310.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(47.32, 39.50, 76.35)
Decimal12818657
Display P3color(display-p3 0.765 0.596 0.882)
Web-safe#CC99CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #c398e1;
background-color: #c398e1;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #c398e1;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#c398e1] bg-[#c398e1]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #c398e1;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.765, green: 0.596, blue: 0.882)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.765, green: 0.596, blue: 0.882, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#C398E1</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFC398E1)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFC398E1)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(225, 152, 195)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(195, 152, 225)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(195, 152, 225)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 195, 152, 225)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7647f, 0.5961f, 0.8824f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{195,152,225}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #c398e1 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #c398e1 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#461D63, #E3D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #c398e1 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: #F8F4FB;
  --brand-100: #F1E9F6;
  --brand-200: #E1CEEE;
  --brand-300: #c398e1;
  --brand-400: #B37DD9;
  --brand-500: #9A51CC;
  --brand-600: #8637BE;
  --brand-700: #702E9E;
  --brand-800: #5A257E;
  --brand-900: #431E5C;
  --brand-950: #2A133A;
  --brand: #c398e1;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F4FA;
  --brand-border: #DAC0ED;
  --brand-hover: #B37CD9;
  --brand-pressed: #A361D1;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1E1424;
    --brand-ink: #E3D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F4FB',
        100: '#F1E9F6',
        200: '#E1CEEE',
        300: '#c398e1',
        400: '#B37DD9',
        500: '#9A51CC',
        600: '#8637BE',
        700: '#702E9E',
        800: '#5A257E',
        900: '#431E5C',
        950: '#2A133A',
        DEFAULT: '#c398e1',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F4FB,
  '100': #F1E9F6,
  '200': #E1CEEE,
  '300': #c398e1,
  '400': #B37DD9,
  '500': #9A51CC,
  '600': #8637BE,
  '700': #702E9E,
  '800': #5A257E,
  '900': #431E5C,
  '950': #2A133A,
);
$brand-base: #c398e1;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F4FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F1E9F6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E1CEEE", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#c398e1", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#B37DD9", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#9A51CC", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#8637BE", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#702E9E", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#5A257E", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#431E5C", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2A133A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #c398e1 · 8.90:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.36:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.90:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #c398e1 as text scores 2.36:1 on white and 8.90:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #461D63 at 5.51:1.

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
#9C55CD · 4.57:1
AA on white−17% L
#9C55CD
The quick fox
#7B32AD · 7.24:1
AAA on white−30% L
#7B32AD
The quick fox
#c398e1 · 8.90:1
AA on blackalready passes
#c398e1
The quick fox
#c398e1 · 8.90:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#c398e1

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #B37CD9 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
#c398e1 on white: 2.36:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#c398e1 on black: 8.90:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #c398e1 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #c398e1.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.36:1AaAa
Slate 502.26:1AaAa
Slate 1002.15:1AaAa
Slate 2001.91:1AaAa
Slate 3001.59:1AaAa
Slate 4001.09:1AaAa
Slate 5002.02:1AaAa
Slate 6003.21:1AaAa
Slate 7004.39:1AaAa
Slate 8006.20:1AaAa
Slate 9007.57:1AaAa
Black8.90:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #8BA7E4
deuteranopia · #95AADF
tritanopia · #C0A2B3

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. #c398e1 is pinned to step 300; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F8F4FB
#F1E9F6
#E1CEEE
#c398e1
#B37DD9
#9A51CC
#8637BE
#702E9E
#5A257E
#431E5C
#2A133A
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F8F4FBDarkest = 950 · #2A133AText step on white = 500
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 0.028 310.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.045 310.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.067 310.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.088 310.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.103 310.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.112 310.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.112 310.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.105 310.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.094 310.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.079 310.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.062 310.7);
}

Colors that work with #c398e1

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#DAC0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#7A4B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#79A329
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#461D63
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F3EBF9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1E1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#B37CD9
One step down in lightness
Pressed#A361D1
Two steps down
Disabled#F5F2F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#CDA2EB
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 #c398e1

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • 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 #461D63
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #B37CD9

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 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-high
  • Weight26/100
  • 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#B6E198
Analogous left#9E98E1
Analogous right#E198DB
Split-complement 1#DBE198
Split-complement 2#98E19E
Triadic 1#E1C398
Triadic 2#98E1C3
Tetradic#E19E98
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°275°

#c398e1 sits at 275°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red76.5%
Green59.6%
Blue88.2%
R · 0–255
195
0xc3
G · 0–255
152
0x98
B · 0–255
225
0xe1

CMYK percentages

Cyan13.3%
Magenta32.4%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)11.8%

Total ink coverage is 58%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#c398e1 text on a black background

contrast 8.90:1

Card sample

#c398e1 text on a white background

contrast 2.36:1

Card sample

#c398e1 on grey

2.15:1

#c398e1 on its own surface

2.17:1

#c398e1 on its dark surface

7.54:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #c398e1;
Background color
Panel with #c398e1 background
background-color: #c398e1;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #c398e1;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(195, 152, 225, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(195, 152, 225, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #c398e1;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #c398e1, #E198CE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c398e1, #E198BC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #c398e1;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #c398e1;
caret-color: #c398e1;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #c398e1;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F3EBF9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #c398e1;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#c398e1 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #c398e1 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(195, 152, 225, 0.5)
rgb(195 152 225 / 50%)
#c398e180
hsl(275 55% 74% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #c398e1 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#c398e11a#F9F5FC
20%#c398e133#F3EAF9
40%#c398e166#E7D6F3
60%#c398e199#DBC1ED
80%#c398e1cc#CFADE7

Gradients from #c398e1

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, #DFC7EF, #c398e1 45%, #461D63);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #c398e1, #DA80BC);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c398e1, #B6E198);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #ECDFF6 0%, #c398e1 45%, #461D63 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%, #C0BFEC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E8B0DE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #461D63 0%, transparent 65%), #c398e1;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #c398e1

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.

#c398e1 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 8.90:1.

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.

#c398e1, answered

What color is #c398e1?

#c398e1 is a light vivid violet, closest to Plum (ΔE2000 6.5). It sits at 275° on the hue wheel with 55% saturation and 74% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #c398e1?

rgb(195, 152, 225) — 195 red, 152 green and 225 blue out of 255, or 76.5% / 59.6% / 88.2% by channel.

What is #c398e1 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(275, 55%, 74%) and hsv(275, 32%, 88%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #c398e1 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3949 and perceived brightness is 69%, so black text on it reaches 8.90:1.

Should I use black or white text on #c398e1?

Black. It scores 8.90:1 against #c398e1, versus 2.36:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #c398e1 accessible on a white background?

#c398e1 on white scores 2.36:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #9C55CD to reach 4.5:1, or #7B32AD for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #c398e1?

#B6E198 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DBE198 and #98E19E, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #c398e1?

For interface work: #F8F4FA as the surface, #DAC0ED for borders, #7A4B9B for secondary text, #79A329 as an accent and #461D63 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #9E98E1 and #E198DB stays calm, while #B6E198 is the loudest partner.

What is #c398e1 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(13%, 32%, 0%, 12%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #c398e1 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 #DE98E1; nudged cooler, #A797E2.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #c398e1?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 16.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #c398e1 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #c398e1 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#c398e1] or text-[#c398e1], 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 #c398e1 with 50% opacity?

rgba(195, 152, 225, 0.5), or #c398e180 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E1CCF0; over black, #624C71.

Is #c398e1 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 #c398e1 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 #c398e1?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #DFC7EF, #c398e1 45%, #461D63). For more colour, a short hue run to #DA80BC keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #c398e1 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #c398e1 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.