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violet · cool

#c980eb

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Iris

RGB
201, 128, 235
HSL
281°, 73%, 71%
CMYK
15, 46, 0, 8
Luminance
0.3385

#c980eb is a light vivid violet, 281° on the wheel and 61/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.77:1). As text it scores 2.70:1 on white — use #AD3EE1 instead. Nearest name is Orchid, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(281 73% 71%)rgb(201 128 235)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #c980eb is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#c980eb
Hue
281°
violet
Saturation
73%
vivid
Lightness
71%
light
Brightness
92%
HSV value
Perceived
66%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3385
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
61/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
7.77:1
Closest name
Orchid
ΔE2000 6.3
Chroma
63.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.716
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 10.3
Web-safe
#CC99FF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue281° of 360°
Saturation73%
Lightness71%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #c980eb.

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
Red37%
Green46%
Blue18%

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

Every format

HEX#c980eb
HEX (8-digit)#c980ebff
RGBrgb(201, 128, 235)
RGBArgba(201, 128, 235, 1)
HSLhsl(281, 73%, 71%)
HSV / HSBhsv(281, 46%, 92%)
HWBhwb(281 50% 8%)
CMYKcmyk(15%, 46%, 0%, 8%)
LABlab(64.8 46.3 -43.0)
LCHlch(64.8 63.3 317.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.716 0.167 314.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(46.80, 33.86, 82.65)
Decimal13205739
Display P3color(display-p3 0.788 0.502 0.922)
Web-safe#CC99FF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #c980eb;
background-color: #c980eb;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #c980eb;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#c980eb] bg-[#c980eb]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #c980eb;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.788, green: 0.502, blue: 0.922)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.788, green: 0.502, blue: 0.922, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#C980EB</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFC980EB)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFC980EB)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(235, 128, 201)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(201, 128, 235)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(201, 128, 235)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 201, 128, 235)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7882f, 0.5020f, 0.9216f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{201,128,235}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #c980eb 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #c980eb 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#51116E, #E5D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #c980eb 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: #F9F3FC;
  --brand-100: #F3E7F8;
  --brand-200: #E6C9F3;
  --brand-300: #D69EF0;
  --brand-400: #c980eb;
  --brand-500: #AC3DE0;
  --brand-600: #9B21D4;
  --brand-700: #811CB0;
  --brand-800: #67168D;
  --brand-900: #4C1466;
  --brand-950: #300D40;
  --brand: #c980eb;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F4FA;
  --brand-border: #DEC0ED;
  --brand-hover: #BC61E6;
  --brand-pressed: #AF42E1;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1F1424;
    --brand-ink: #E5D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F3FC',
        100: '#F3E7F8',
        200: '#E6C9F3',
        300: '#D69EF0',
        400: '#c980eb',
        500: '#AC3DE0',
        600: '#9B21D4',
        700: '#811CB0',
        800: '#67168D',
        900: '#4C1466',
        950: '#300D40',
        DEFAULT: '#c980eb',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F3FC,
  '100': #F3E7F8,
  '200': #E6C9F3,
  '300': #D69EF0,
  '400': #c980eb,
  '500': #AC3DE0,
  '600': #9B21D4,
  '700': #811CB0,
  '800': #67168D,
  '900': #4C1466,
  '950': #300D40,
);
$brand-base: #c980eb;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F3FC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F3E7F8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E6C9F3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D69EF0", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#c980eb", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#AC3DE0", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#9B21D4", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#811CB0", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#67168D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4C1466", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#300D40", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #c980eb · 7.77:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.70:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.77:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #c980eb as text scores 2.70:1 on white and 7.77:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #51116E at 4.69:1.

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
#AD3EE1 · 4.61:1
AA on white−15% L
#AD3EE1
The quick fox
#881DBA · 7.16:1
AAA on white−29% L
#881DBA
The quick fox
#c980eb · 7.77:1
AA on blackalready passes
#c980eb
The quick fox
#c980eb · 7.77:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#c980eb

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #C373E9 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
#c980eb on white: 2.70:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#c980eb on black: 7.77:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #c980eb as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #c980eb.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.70:1AaAa
Slate 502.58:1AaAa
Slate 1002.47:1AaAa
Slate 2002.19:1AaAa
Slate 3001.82:1AaAa
Slate 4001.05:1AaAa
Slate 5001.76:1AaAa
Slate 6002.80:1AaAa
Slate 7003.83:1AaAa
Slate 8005.41:1AaAa
Slate 9006.61:1AaAa
Black7.77:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #6B99EF
deuteranopia · #7F9FE8
tritanopia · #C790AA

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. #c980eb 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.

#F9F3FC
#F3E7F8
#E6C9F3
#D69EF0
#c980eb
#AC3DE0
#9B21D4
#811CB0
#67168D
#4C1466
#300D40
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F9F3FCDarkest = 950 · #300D40Text 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 0.042 314.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.067 314.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.100 314.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.130 314.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.153 314.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.167 314.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.167 314.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.157 314.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.140 314.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.117 314.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.092 314.3);
}

Colors that work with #c980eb

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#DEC0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#814B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#70B418
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#51116E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F6E9FC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1F1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#BC61E6
One step down in lightness
Pressed#AF42E1
Two steps down
Disabled#EFEAF1
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D38BF4
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 #c980eb

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 #51116E
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #C373E9

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
  • 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#A2EB80
Analogous left#9480EB
Analogous right#EB80D8
Split-complement 1#D8EB80
Split-complement 2#80EB94
Triadic 1#EBC980
Triadic 2#80EBC9
Tetradic#EB9480
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°281°

#c980eb sits at 281°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red78.8%
Green50.2%
Blue92.2%
R · 0–255
201
0xc9
G · 0–255
128
0x80
B · 0–255
235
0xeb

CMYK percentages

Cyan14.5%
Magenta45.5%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)7.8%

Total ink coverage is 68%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#c980eb text on a black background

contrast 7.77:1

Card sample

#c980eb text on a white background

contrast 2.70:1

Card sample

#c980eb on grey

2.47:1

#c980eb on its own surface

2.49:1

#c980eb on its dark surface

6.56:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #c980eb;
Background color
Panel with #c980eb background
background-color: #c980eb;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #c980eb;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(201, 128, 235, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(201, 128, 235, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #c980eb;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #c980eb, #EB80C6);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c980eb, #EB80AB);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #c980eb;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #c980eb;
caret-color: #c980eb;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #c980eb;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F6E9FC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #c980eb;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#c980eb 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #c980eb 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(201, 128, 235, 0.5)
rgb(201 128 235 / 50%)
#c980eb80
hsl(281 73% 71% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #c980eb 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#c980eb1a#FAF2FD
20%#c980eb33#F4E6FB
40%#c980eb66#E9CCF7
60%#c980eb99#DFB3F3
80%#c980ebcc#D499EF

Gradients from #c980eb

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, #DFB5F3, #c980eb 45%, #51116E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #c980eb, #E766AF);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c980eb, #A2EB80);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EBCFF8 0%, #c980eb 45%, #51116E 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%, #B3ACF2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #EF9BD9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #51116E 0%, transparent 65%), #c980eb;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #c980eb

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.

#c980eb 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 7.77:1.

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.

#c980eb, answered

What color is #c980eb?

#c980eb is a light vivid violet, closest to Orchid (ΔE2000 6.3). It sits at 281° on the hue wheel with 73% saturation and 71% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #c980eb?

rgb(201, 128, 235) — 201 red, 128 green and 235 blue out of 255, or 78.8% / 50.2% / 92.2% by channel.

What is #c980eb in HSL and HSV?

hsl(281, 73%, 71%) and hsv(281, 46%, 92%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #c980eb a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3385 and perceived brightness is 66%, so black text on it reaches 7.77:1.

Should I use black or white text on #c980eb?

Black. It scores 7.77:1 against #c980eb, versus 2.70:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #c980eb accessible on a white background?

#c980eb on white scores 2.70:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #AD3EE1 to reach 4.5:1, or #881DBA for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #c980eb?

#A2EB80 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #D8EB80 and #80EB94, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #c980eb?

For interface work: #F8F4FA as the surface, #DEC0ED for borders, #814B9B for secondary text, #70B418 as an accent and #51116E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #9480EB and #EB80D8 stays calm, while #A2EB80 is the loudest partner.

What is #c980eb in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(15%, 46%, 0%, 8%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #c980eb 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 #EB80E6; nudged cooler, #A17FEC.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #c980eb?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 10.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #c980eb as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #c980eb in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#c980eb] or text-[#c980eb], 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 #c980eb with 50% opacity?

rgba(201, 128, 235, 0.5), or #c980eb80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E4C0F5; over black, #654076.

Is #c980eb a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99FF, ΔE2000 6.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #c980eb 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 #c980eb?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #DFB5F3, #c980eb 45%, #51116E). For more colour, a short hue run to #E766AF keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #c980eb in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #c980eb at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.