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violet · cool

#c5aceb

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Iris

RGB
197, 172, 235
HSL
264°, 61%, 80%
CMYK
16, 27, 0, 8
Luminance
0.4737

#c5aceb is a light vivid violet, 264° on the wheel and 70/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.47:1). As text it scores 2.00:1 on white — use #8C5AD7 instead. Nearest name is Plum, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(264 61% 80%)rgb(197 172 235)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #c5aceb is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#c5aceb
Hue
264°
violet
Saturation
61%
vivid
Lightness
80%
light
Brightness
92%
HSV value
Perceived
74%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4737
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
70/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
10.47:1
Closest name
Plum
ΔE2000 8.3
Chroma
35.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.788
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 22.1
Web-safe
#CC99FF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue264° of 360°
Saturation61%
Lightness80%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #c5aceb.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool70% 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
Red25%
Green62%
Blue13%

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

Every format

HEX#c5aceb
HEX (8-digit)#c5acebff
RGBrgb(197, 172, 235)
RGBArgba(197, 172, 235, 1)
HSLhsl(264, 61%, 80%)
HSV / HSBhsv(264, 27%, 92%)
HWBhwb(264 67% 8%)
CMYKcmyk(16%, 27%, 0%, 8%)
LABlab(74.4 21.2 -28.2)
LCHlch(74.4 35.3 306.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.788 0.092 302.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(52.77, 47.37, 84.95)
Decimal12954859
Display P3color(display-p3 0.773 0.675 0.922)
Web-safe#CC99FF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #c5aceb;
background-color: #c5aceb;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #c5aceb;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#c5aceb] bg-[#c5aceb]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #c5aceb;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.773, green: 0.675, blue: 0.922)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.773, green: 0.675, blue: 0.922, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#C5ACEB</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFC5ACEB)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFC5ACEB)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(235, 172, 197)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(197, 172, 235)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(197, 172, 235)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 197, 172, 235)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7725f, 0.6745f, 0.9216f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{197,172,235}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #c5aceb 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #c5aceb 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#381967, #DED3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #c5aceb 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: #F7F4FB;
  --brand-100: #EEE8F7;
  --brand-200: #DACCF0;
  --brand-300: #c5aceb;
  --brand-400: #A077DE;
  --brand-500: #814AD3;
  --brand-600: #6B2FC5;
  --brand-700: #5928A4;
  --brand-800: #472084;
  --brand-900: #361B60;
  --brand-950: #22113C;
  --brand: #c5aceb;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F7F4FA;
  --brand-border: #D2C0ED;
  --brand-hover: #B18FE4;
  --brand-pressed: #9D72DD;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1A1424;
    --brand-ink: #DED3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F4FB',
        100: '#EEE8F7',
        200: '#DACCF0',
        300: '#c5aceb',
        400: '#A077DE',
        500: '#814AD3',
        600: '#6B2FC5',
        700: '#5928A4',
        800: '#472084',
        900: '#361B60',
        950: '#22113C',
        DEFAULT: '#c5aceb',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F4FB,
  '100': #EEE8F7,
  '200': #DACCF0,
  '300': #c5aceb,
  '400': #A077DE,
  '500': #814AD3,
  '600': #6B2FC5,
  '700': #5928A4,
  '800': #472084,
  '900': #361B60,
  '950': #22113C,
);
$brand-base: #c5aceb;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F4FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EEE8F7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DACCF0", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#c5aceb", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#A077DE", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#814AD3", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#6B2FC5", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#5928A4", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#472084", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#361B60", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#22113C", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #c5aceb · 10.47:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.00:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.47:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #c5aceb as text scores 2.00:1 on white and 10.47:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #381967 at 6.97:1.

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
#8C5AD7 · 4.61:1
AA on white−20% L
#8C5AD7
The quick fox
#6F31CD · 7.01:1
AAA on white−30% L
#6F31CD
The quick fox
#c5aceb · 10.47:1
AA on blackalready passes
#c5aceb
The quick fox
#c5aceb · 10.47:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#c5aceb

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A883E1 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
#c5aceb on white: 2.00:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#c5aceb on black: 10.47:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #c5aceb as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #c5aceb.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.00:1AaAa
Slate 501.92:1AaAa
Slate 1001.83:1AaAa
Slate 2001.63:1AaAa
Slate 3001.35:1AaAa
Slate 4001.28:1AaAa
Slate 5002.37:1AaAa
Slate 6003.78:1AaAa
Slate 7005.16:1AaAa
Slate 8007.30:1AaAa
Slate 9008.90:1AaAa
Black10.47:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #9FB7EE
deuteranopia · #A4B7E9
tritanopia · #BFB5C2

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. #c5aceb 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.

#F7F4FB
#EEE8F7
#DACCF0
#c5aceb
#A077DE
#814AD3
#6B2FC5
#5928A4
#472084
#361B60
#22113C
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F7F4FBDarkest = 950 · #22113CText 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 0.023 302.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.037 302.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.055 302.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.072 302.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.084 302.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.092 302.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.092 302.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.086 302.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.077 302.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.064 302.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.050 302.5);
}

Colors that work with #c5aceb

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#F7F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#D2C0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#6A4B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#94A824
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#381967
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F1EAFA
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1A1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#B18FE4
One step down in lightness
Pressed#9D72DD
Two steps down
Disabled#F4F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D0B8F3
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 #c5aceb

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 #381967
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A883E1

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
  • Weight20/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • ApproachabilityReserved

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#D2EBAC
Analogous left#ACB2EB
Analogous right#E4ACEB
Split-complement 1#EBE4AC
Split-complement 2#B2EBAC
Triadic 1#EBC5AC
Triadic 2#ACEBC5
Tetradic#EBACB2
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°264°

#c5aceb sits at 264°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red77.3%
Green67.5%
Blue92.2%
R · 0–255
197
0xc5
G · 0–255
172
0xac
B · 0–255
235
0xeb

CMYK percentages

Cyan16.2%
Magenta26.8%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)7.8%

Total ink coverage is 51%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#c5aceb text on a black background

contrast 10.47:1

Card sample

#c5aceb text on a white background

contrast 2.00:1

Card sample

#c5aceb on grey

1.83:1

#c5aceb on its own surface

1.84:1

#c5aceb on its dark surface

8.96:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #c5aceb;
Background color
Panel with #c5aceb background
background-color: #c5aceb;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #c5aceb;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(197, 172, 235, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(197, 172, 235, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #c5aceb;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #c5aceb, #EBACE7);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c5aceb, #EBACD7);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #c5aceb;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #c5aceb;
caret-color: #c5aceb;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #c5aceb;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F1EAFA;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #c5aceb;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#c5aceb 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #c5aceb 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(197, 172, 235, 0.5)
rgb(197 172 235 / 50%)
#c5aceb80
hsl(264 61% 80% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #c5aceb 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#c5aceb1a#F9F7FD
20%#c5aceb33#F3EEFB
40%#c5aceb66#E8DEF7
60%#c5aceb99#DCCDF3
80%#c5acebcc#D1BDEF

Gradients from #c5aceb

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, #E7DDF7, #c5aceb 45%, #381967);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #c5aceb, #E593D9);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c5aceb, #D2EBAC);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F6F3FC 0%, #c5aceb 45%, #381967 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F7F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #D5DBF5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #F0C5F1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #381967 0%, transparent 65%), #c5aceb;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #c5aceb

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.

#c5aceb 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 10.47:1.

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.

#c5aceb, answered

What color is #c5aceb?

#c5aceb is a light vivid violet, closest to Plum (ΔE2000 8.3). It sits at 264° on the hue wheel with 61% saturation and 80% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #c5aceb?

rgb(197, 172, 235) — 197 red, 172 green and 235 blue out of 255, or 77.3% / 67.5% / 92.2% by channel.

What is #c5aceb in HSL and HSV?

hsl(264, 61%, 80%) and hsv(264, 27%, 92%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #c5aceb a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4737 and perceived brightness is 74%, so black text on it reaches 10.47:1.

Should I use black or white text on #c5aceb?

Black. It scores 10.47:1 against #c5aceb, versus 2.00:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #c5aceb accessible on a white background?

#c5aceb on white scores 2.00:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #8C5AD7 to reach 4.5:1, or #6F31CD for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #c5aceb?

#D2EBAC sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #EBE4AC and #B2EBAC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #c5aceb?

For interface work: #F7F4FA as the surface, #D2C0ED for borders, #6A4B9B for secondary text, #94A824 as an accent and #381967 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #ACB2EB and #E4ACEB stays calm, while #D2EBAC is the loudest partner.

What is #c5aceb in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(16%, 27%, 0%, 8%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #c5aceb warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 70 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #DCACEB; nudged cooler, #ADABEC.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #c5aceb?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 22.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #c5aceb as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #c5aceb in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#c5aceb] or text-[#c5aceb], 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 #c5aceb with 50% opacity?

rgba(197, 172, 235, 0.5), or #c5aceb80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E2D6F5; over black, #635676.

Is #c5aceb a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99FF, ΔE2000 7.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #c5aceb 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 #c5aceb?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E7DDF7, #c5aceb 45%, #381967). For more colour, a short hue run to #E593D9 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #c5aceb in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #c5aceb at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.