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violet · cool

#c5bfd5

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

Token name suggestion: Linen Plum

RGB
197, 191, 213
HSL
256°, 21%, 79%
CMYK
8, 10, 0, 17
Luminance
0.5394

#c5bfd5 is a light soft violet, 256° on the wheel and 64/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.79:1). As text it scores 1.78:1 on white — use #7C6FA0 instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(256 21% 79%)rgb(197 191 213)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #c5bfd5 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#c5bfd5
Hue
256°
violet
Saturation
21%
soft
Lightness
79%
light
Brightness
84%
HSV value
Perceived
77%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5394
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
64/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
11.79:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 6.8
Chroma
12.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.816
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 26.4
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue256° of 360°
Saturation21%
Lightness79%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #c5bfd5.

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
Red22%
Green69%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#c5bfd5
HEX (8-digit)#c5bfd5ff
RGBrgb(197, 191, 213)
RGBArgba(197, 191, 213, 1)
HSLhsl(256, 21%, 79%)
HSV / HSBhsv(256, 10%, 84%)
HWBhwb(256 75% 16%)
CMYKcmyk(8%, 10%, 0%, 17%)
LABlab(78.4 6.3 -10.2)
LCHlch(78.4 12.0 301.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.816 0.031 298.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(53.66, 53.94, 70.52)
Decimal12959701
Display P3color(display-p3 0.773 0.749 0.835)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #c5bfd5;
background-color: #c5bfd5;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #c5bfd5;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#c5bfd5] bg-[#c5bfd5]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #c5bfd5;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.773, green: 0.749, blue: 0.835)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.773, green: 0.749, blue: 0.835, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#C5BFD5</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFC5BFD5)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFC5BFD5)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(213, 191, 197)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(197, 191, 213)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(197, 191, 213)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 197, 191, 213)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7725f, 0.7490f, 0.8353f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{197,191,213}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #c5bfd5 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #c5bfd5 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#3A324D, #DEDAE7);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #c5bfd5 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: #F7F6F9;
  --brand-100: #EFEDF2;
  --brand-200: #DBD8E4;
  --brand-300: #c5bfd5;
  --brand-400: #A399BC;
  --brand-500: #8477A6;
  --brand-600: #6F6194;
  --brand-700: #5C517B;
  --brand-800: #4A4163;
  --brand-900: #383149;
  --brand-950: #231F2E;
  --brand: #c5bfd5;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F7F6F9;
  --brand-border: #D2CEDF;
  --brand-hover: #B1A9C7;
  --brand-pressed: #9E94B9;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #191622;
    --brand-ink: #DEDAE7;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F6F9',
        100: '#EFEDF2',
        200: '#DBD8E4',
        300: '#c5bfd5',
        400: '#A399BC',
        500: '#8477A6',
        600: '#6F6194',
        700: '#5C517B',
        800: '#4A4163',
        900: '#383149',
        950: '#231F2E',
        DEFAULT: '#c5bfd5',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F6F9,
  '100': #EFEDF2,
  '200': #DBD8E4,
  '300': #c5bfd5,
  '400': #A399BC,
  '500': #8477A6,
  '600': #6F6194,
  '700': #5C517B,
  '800': #4A4163,
  '900': #383149,
  '950': #231F2E,
);
$brand-base: #c5bfd5;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F6F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EFEDF2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DBD8E4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#c5bfd5", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#A399BC", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#8477A6", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#6F6194", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#5C517B", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#4A4163", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#383149", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#231F2E", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #c5bfd5 · 11.79:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.78:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.79:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #c5bfd5 as text scores 1.78:1 on white and 11.79:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #3A324D at 6.76:1.

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
#7C6FA0 · 4.53:1
AA on white−26% L
#7C6FA0
The quick fox
#5D517C · 7.16:1
AAA on white−39% L
#5D517C
The quick fox
#c5bfd5 · 11.79:1
AA on blackalready passes
#c5bfd5
The quick fox
#c5bfd5 · 11.79:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#c5bfd5

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #988EB5 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
#c5bfd5 on white: 1.78:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#c5bfd5 on black: 11.79:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #c5bfd5 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #c5bfd5.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.78:1AaAa
Slate 501.70:1AaAa
Slate 1001.63:1AaAa
Slate 2001.45:1AaAa
Slate 3001.20:1AaAa
Slate 4001.44:1AaAa
Slate 5002.67:1AaAa
Slate 6004.25:1AaAa
Slate 7005.81:1AaAa
Slate 8008.21:1AaAa
Slate 90010.02:1AaAa
Black11.79:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #BBC2D6
deuteranopia · #BCC2D4
tritanopia · #C2C2C6

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. #c5bfd5 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.

#F7F6F9
#EFEDF2
#DBD8E4
#c5bfd5
#A399BC
#8477A6
#6F6194
#5C517B
#4A4163
#383149
#231F2E
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F7F6F9Darkest = 950 · #231F2EText 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 0.008 298.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.012 298.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.019 298.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.024 298.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.029 298.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.031 298.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.031 298.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.029 298.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.026 298.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.022 298.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.017 298.2);
}

Colors that work with #c5bfd5

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#D2CEDF
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#685B8B
Captions on the surface
Accent#7F7F4D
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#3A324D
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F1F0F5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#191622
Dark-mode background
Hover#B1A9C7
One step down in lightness
Pressed#9E94B9
Two steps down
Disabled#F4F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#CEC7E1
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 #c5bfd5

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 #3A324D
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #988EB5

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
  • Weight21/100
  • 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#CFD5BF
Analogous left#BFC4D5
Analogous right#D0BFD5
Split-complement 1#D5D0BF
Split-complement 2#C4D5BF
Triadic 1#D5C5BF
Triadic 2#BFD5C5
Tetradic#D5BFC4
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°256°

#c5bfd5 sits at 256°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red77.3%
Green74.9%
Blue83.5%
R · 0–255
197
0xc5
G · 0–255
191
0xbf
B · 0–255
213
0xd5

CMYK percentages

Cyan7.5%
Magenta10.3%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)16.5%

Total ink coverage is 34%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#c5bfd5 text on a black background

contrast 11.79:1

Card sample

#c5bfd5 text on a white background

contrast 1.78:1

Card sample

#c5bfd5 on grey

1.63:1

#c5bfd5 on its own surface

1.65:1

#c5bfd5 on its dark surface

10.00:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #c5bfd5;
Background color
Panel with #c5bfd5 background
background-color: #c5bfd5;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #c5bfd5;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(197, 191, 213, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(197, 191, 213, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #c5bfd5;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #c5bfd5, #D4BFD5);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c5bfd5, #D5BFD1);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #c5bfd5;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #c5bfd5;
caret-color: #c5bfd5;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #c5bfd5;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F1F0F5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #c5bfd5;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#c5bfd5 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #c5bfd5 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, 191, 213, 0.5)
rgb(197 191 213 / 50%)
#c5bfd580
hsl(256 21% 79% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #c5bfd5 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#c5bfd51a#F9F9FB
20%#c5bfd533#F3F2F7
40%#c5bfd566#E8E5EE
60%#c5bfd599#DCD9E6
80%#c5bfd5cc#D1CCDD

Gradients from #c5bfd5

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, #E6E4ED, #c5bfd5 45%, #3A324D);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #c5bfd5, #C9ACC8);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c5bfd5, #CFD5BF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F7F6F9 0%, #c5bfd5 45%, #3A324D 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%, #DEE1E9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #DFD1E1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #3A324D 0%, transparent 65%), #c5bfd5;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #c5bfd5

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.

#c5bfd5 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 11.79:1.

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.

#c5bfd5, answered

What color is #c5bfd5?

#c5bfd5 is a light soft violet, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 6.8). It sits at 256° on the hue wheel with 21% saturation and 79% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #c5bfd5?

rgb(197, 191, 213) — 197 red, 191 green and 213 blue out of 255, or 77.3% / 74.9% / 83.5% by channel.

What is #c5bfd5 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(256, 21%, 79%) and hsv(256, 10%, 84%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #c5bfd5 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5394 and perceived brightness is 77%, so black text on it reaches 11.79:1.

Should I use black or white text on #c5bfd5?

Black. It scores 11.79:1 against #c5bfd5, versus 1.78:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #c5bfd5 accessible on a white background?

#c5bfd5 on white scores 1.78:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7C6FA0 to reach 4.5:1, or #5D517C for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #c5bfd5?

#CFD5BF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #D5D0BF and #C4D5BF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #c5bfd5?

For interface work: #F7F6F9 as the surface, #D2CEDF for borders, #685B8B for secondary text, #7F7F4D as an accent and #3A324D for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BFC4D5 and #D0BFD5 stays calm, while #CFD5BF is the loudest partner.

What is #c5bfd5 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(8%, 10%, 0%, 17%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #c5bfd5 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 #CDBFD5; nudged cooler, #BEC0D6.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #c5bfd5?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 26.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #c5bfd5 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #c5bfd5 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#c5bfd5] or text-[#c5bfd5], 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 #c5bfd5 with 50% opacity?

rgba(197, 191, 213, 0.5), or #c5bfd580 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E2DFEA; over black, #63606B.

Is #c5bfd5 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 10.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #c5bfd5 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 #c5bfd5?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E6E4ED, #c5bfd5 45%, #3A324D). For more colour, a short hue run to #C9ACC8 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #c5bfd5 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #c5bfd5 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.