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violet · cool

#c4bbce

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Plum

RGB
196, 187, 206
HSL
268°, 16%, 77%
CMYK
5, 9, 0, 19
Luminance
0.5173

#c4bbce is a light soft violet, 268° on the wheel and 58/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.35:1). As text it scores 1.85:1 on white — use #816E97 instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(268 16% 77%)rgb(196 187 206)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #c4bbce is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#c4bbce
Hue
268°
violet
Saturation
16%
soft
Lightness
77%
light
Brightness
81%
HSV value
Perceived
75%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5173
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
58/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
11.35:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 6.2
Chroma
10.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.805
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 25.5
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue268° of 360°
Saturation16%
Lightness77%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #c4bbce.

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
Red23%
Green69%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#c4bbce
HEX (8-digit)#c4bbceff
RGBrgb(196, 187, 206)
RGBArgba(196, 187, 206, 1)
HSLhsl(268, 16%, 77%)
HSV / HSBhsv(268, 9%, 81%)
HWBhwb(268 73% 19%)
CMYKcmyk(5%, 9%, 0%, 19%)
LABlab(77.1 6.7 -8.4)
LCHlch(77.1 10.7 308.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.805 0.028 307.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(51.67, 51.73, 65.64)
Decimal12893134
Display P3color(display-p3 0.769 0.733 0.808)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #c4bbce;
background-color: #c4bbce;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #c4bbce;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#c4bbce] bg-[#c4bbce]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #c4bbce;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.769, green: 0.733, blue: 0.808)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.769, green: 0.733, blue: 0.808, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#C4BBCE</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFC4BBCE)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFC4BBCE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(206, 187, 196)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(196, 187, 206)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(196, 187, 206)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 196, 187, 206)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7686f, 0.7333f, 0.8078f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{196,187,206}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #c4bbce 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #c4bbce 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#3F354A, #E0DBE5);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #c4bbce 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: #F7F6F8;
  --brand-100: #F0EEF2;
  --brand-200: #DED9E3;
  --brand-300: #c4bbce;
  --brand-400: #AA9DB8;
  --brand-500: #8E7DA1;
  --brand-600: #79678E;
  --brand-700: #655577;
  --brand-800: #51445F;
  --brand-900: #3D3446;
  --brand-950: #26212C;
  --brand: #c4bbce;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F7F6F9;
  --brand-border: #D6D0DD;
  --brand-hover: #B2A6BF;
  --brand-pressed: #A092B0;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1C1821;
    --brand-ink: #E0DBE5;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F6F8',
        100: '#F0EEF2',
        200: '#DED9E3',
        300: '#c4bbce',
        400: '#AA9DB8',
        500: '#8E7DA1',
        600: '#79678E',
        700: '#655577',
        800: '#51445F',
        900: '#3D3446',
        950: '#26212C',
        DEFAULT: '#c4bbce',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F6F8,
  '100': #F0EEF2,
  '200': #DED9E3,
  '300': #c4bbce,
  '400': #AA9DB8,
  '500': #8E7DA1,
  '600': #79678E,
  '700': #655577,
  '800': #51445F,
  '900': #3D3446,
  '950': #26212C,
);
$brand-base: #c4bbce;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F6F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F0EEF2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DED9E3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#c4bbce", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#AA9DB8", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#8E7DA1", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#79678E", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#655577", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#51445F", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#3D3446", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#26212C", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #c4bbce · 11.35:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.85:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.35:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #c4bbce as text scores 1.85:1 on white and 11.35:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #3F354A at 6.24:1.

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
#816E97 · 4.55:1
AA on white−26% L
#816E97
The quick fox
#605171 · 7.21:1
AAA on white−39% L
#605171
The quick fox
#c4bbce · 11.35:1
AA on blackalready passes
#c4bbce
The quick fox
#c4bbce · 11.35:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#c4bbce

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9E8FAE 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
#c4bbce on white: 1.85:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#c4bbce on black: 11.35:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #c4bbce as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #c4bbce.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.85:1AaAa
Slate 501.77:1AaAa
Slate 1001.69:1AaAa
Slate 2001.50:1AaAa
Slate 3001.25:1AaAa
Slate 4001.39:1AaAa
Slate 5002.57:1AaAa
Slate 6004.09:1AaAa
Slate 7005.59:1AaAa
Slate 8007.90:1AaAa
Slate 9009.65:1AaAa
Black11.35:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B8BECF
deuteranopia · #BABFCD
tritanopia · #C3BDC1

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. #c4bbce 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.

#F7F6F8
#F0EEF2
#DED9E3
#c4bbce
#AA9DB8
#8E7DA1
#79678E
#655577
#51445F
#3D3446
#26212C
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F7F6F8Darkest = 950 · #26212CText 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 0.007 307.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.011 307.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.017 307.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.022 307.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.026 307.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.028 307.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.028 307.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.026 307.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.024 307.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.020 307.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.015 307.0);
}

Colors that work with #c4bbce

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#F7F6F9
Tinted page background
Border#D6D0DD
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#726085
Captions on the surface
Accent#717A52
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#3F354A
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F2F0F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1C1821
Dark-mode background
Hover#B2A6BF
One step down in lightness
Pressed#A092B0
Two steps down
Disabled#F5F3F6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#CEC2DB
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 #c4bbce

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 #3F354A
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9E8FAE

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
  • Weight23/100
  • 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#C5CEBB
Analogous left#BBBCCE
Analogous right#CEBBCE
Split-complement 1#CECEBB
Split-complement 2#BCCEBB
Triadic 1#CEC4BB
Triadic 2#BBCEC4
Tetradic#CEBBBC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°268°

#c4bbce sits at 268°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red76.9%
Green73.3%
Blue80.8%
R · 0–255
196
0xc4
G · 0–255
187
0xbb
B · 0–255
206
0xce

CMYK percentages

Cyan4.9%
Magenta9.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)19.2%

Total ink coverage is 33%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#c4bbce text on a black background

contrast 11.35:1

Card sample

#c4bbce text on a white background

contrast 1.85:1

Card sample

#c4bbce on grey

1.69:1

#c4bbce on its own surface

1.72:1

#c4bbce on its dark surface

9.44:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #c4bbce;
Background color
Panel with #c4bbce background
background-color: #c4bbce;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #c4bbce;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(196, 187, 206, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(196, 187, 206, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #c4bbce;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #c4bbce, #CEBBCB);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c4bbce, #CEBBC7);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #c4bbce;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #c4bbce;
caret-color: #c4bbce;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #c4bbce;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F2F0F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #c4bbce;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#c4bbce 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #c4bbce 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(196, 187, 206, 0.5)
rgb(196 187 206 / 50%)
#c4bbce80
hsl(268 16% 77% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #c4bbce 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#c4bbce1a#F9F8FA
20%#c4bbce33#F3F1F5
40%#c4bbce66#E7E4EB
60%#c4bbce99#DCD6E2
80%#c4bbcecc#D0C9D8

Gradients from #c4bbce

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, #E3DFE8, #c4bbce 45%, #3F354A);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #c4bbce, #C1A9BC);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c4bbce, #C5CEBB);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F2F0F5 0%, #c4bbce 45%, #3F354A 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F7F6F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #D9DAE3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #DBCDDA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #3F354A 0%, transparent 65%), #c4bbce;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #c4bbce

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.

#c4bbce 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 11.35:1.

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.

#c4bbce, answered

What color is #c4bbce?

#c4bbce is a light soft violet, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 6.2). It sits at 268° on the hue wheel with 16% saturation and 77% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #c4bbce?

rgb(196, 187, 206) — 196 red, 187 green and 206 blue out of 255, or 76.9% / 73.3% / 80.8% by channel.

What is #c4bbce in HSL and HSV?

hsl(268, 16%, 77%) and hsv(268, 9%, 81%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #c4bbce a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5173 and perceived brightness is 75%, so black text on it reaches 11.35:1.

Should I use black or white text on #c4bbce?

Black. It scores 11.35:1 against #c4bbce, versus 1.85:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #c4bbce accessible on a white background?

#c4bbce on white scores 1.85:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #816E97 to reach 4.5:1, or #605171 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #c4bbce?

#C5CEBB sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CECEBB and #BCCEBB, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #c4bbce?

For interface work: #F7F6F9 as the surface, #D6D0DD for borders, #726085 for secondary text, #717A52 as an accent and #3F354A for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BBBCCE and #CEBBCE stays calm, while #C5CEBB is the loudest partner.

What is #c4bbce in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(5%, 9%, 0%, 19%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #c4bbce 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 #CBBBCE; nudged cooler, #BCBACF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #c4bbce?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 25.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #c4bbce as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #c4bbce in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#c4bbce] or text-[#c4bbce], 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 #c4bbce with 50% opacity?

rgba(196, 187, 206, 0.5), or #c4bbce80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E2DDE7; over black, #625E67.

Is #c4bbce a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 10.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #c4bbce 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 #c4bbce?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E3DFE8, #c4bbce 45%, #3F354A). For more colour, a short hue run to #C1A9BC keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #c4bbce in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #c4bbce at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.