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violet · cool

#c98ade

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Thistle

RGB
201, 138, 222
HSL
285°, 56%, 71%
CMYK
10, 38, 0, 13
Luminance
0.3587

#c98ade is a light vivid violet, 285° on the wheel and 58/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.17:1). As text it scores 2.57:1 on white — use #AC4ACC instead. Nearest name is Violet, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(285 56% 71%)rgb(201 138 222)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #c98ade is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#c98ade
Hue
285°
violet
Saturation
56%
vivid
Lightness
71%
light
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
67%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3587
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
58/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
8.17:1
Closest name
Violet
ΔE2000 6.6
Chroma
50.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.726
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 13.2
Web-safe
#CC99CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue285° of 360°
Saturation56%
Lightness71%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #c98ade.

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
Red35%
Green51%
Blue15%

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

Every format

HEX#c98ade
HEX (8-digit)#c98adeff
RGBrgb(201, 138, 222)
RGBArgba(201, 138, 222, 1)
HSLhsl(285, 56%, 71%)
HSV / HSBhsv(285, 38%, 87%)
HWBhwb(285 54% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(10%, 38%, 0%, 13%)
LABlab(66.4 38.3 -33.4)
LCHlch(66.4 50.8 318.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.726 0.136 317.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(46.36, 35.87, 73.57)
Decimal13208286
Display P3color(display-p3 0.788 0.541 0.871)
Web-safe#CC99CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #c98ade;
background-color: #c98ade;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #c98ade;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#c98ade] bg-[#c98ade]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #c98ade;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.788, green: 0.541, blue: 0.871)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.788, green: 0.541, blue: 0.871, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#C98ADE</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFC98ADE)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFC98ADE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(222, 138, 201)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(201, 138, 222)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(201, 138, 222)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 201, 138, 222)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7882f, 0.5412f, 0.8706f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{201,138,222}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #c98ade 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #c98ade 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#521C63, #E7D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #c98ade 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: #F9F4FB;
  --brand-100: #F3E9F6;
  --brand-200: #E6CEEE;
  --brand-300: #D7A7E6;
  --brand-400: #c98ade;
  --brand-500: #AE50CE;
  --brand-600: #9D36BF;
  --brand-700: #832D9F;
  --brand-800: #68247F;
  --brand-900: #4D1E5D;
  --brand-950: #30133A;
  --brand: #c98ade;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9F4FA;
  --brand-border: #E1C0ED;
  --brand-hover: #BC6ED6;
  --brand-pressed: #AF52CE;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #201424;
    --brand-ink: #E7D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F4FB',
        100: '#F3E9F6',
        200: '#E6CEEE',
        300: '#D7A7E6',
        400: '#c98ade',
        500: '#AE50CE',
        600: '#9D36BF',
        700: '#832D9F',
        800: '#68247F',
        900: '#4D1E5D',
        950: '#30133A',
        DEFAULT: '#c98ade',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F4FB,
  '100': #F3E9F6,
  '200': #E6CEEE,
  '300': #D7A7E6,
  '400': #c98ade,
  '500': #AE50CE,
  '600': #9D36BF,
  '700': #832D9F,
  '800': #68247F,
  '900': #4D1E5D,
  '950': #30133A,
);
$brand-base: #c98ade;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F4FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F3E9F6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E6CEEE", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D7A7E6", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#c98ade", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#AE50CE", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#9D36BF", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#832D9F", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#68247F", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4D1E5D", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#30133A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #c98ade · 8.17:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.57:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.17:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #c98ade as text scores 2.57:1 on white and 8.17:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #521C63 at 4.79:1.

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
#AC4ACC · 4.56:1
AA on white−16% L
#AC4ACC
The quick fox
#882FA5 · 7.01:1
AAA on white−29% L
#882FA5
The quick fox
#c98ade · 8.17:1
AA on blackalready passes
#c98ade
The quick fox
#c98ade · 8.17:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#c98ade

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #C076D8 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
#c98ade on white: 2.57:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#c98ade on black: 8.17:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #c98ade as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #c98ade.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.57:1AaAa
Slate 502.46:1AaAa
Slate 1002.35:1AaAa
Slate 2002.08:1AaAa
Slate 3001.73:1AaAa
Slate 4001.00:1AaAa
Slate 5001.85:1AaAa
Slate 6002.95:1AaAa
Slate 7004.03:1AaAa
Slate 8005.69:1AaAa
Slate 9006.95:1AaAa
Black8.17:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #7D9DE1
deuteranopia · #8DA4DB
tritanopia · #C995AA

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. #c98ade 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.

#F9F4FB
#F3E9F6
#E6CEEE
#D7A7E6
#c98ade
#AE50CE
#9D36BF
#832D9F
#68247F
#4D1E5D
#30133A
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F9F4FBDarkest = 950 · #30133AText 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 0.034 317.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.054 317.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.081 317.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.106 317.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.125 317.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.136 317.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.136 317.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.127 317.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.114 317.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.095 317.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.075 317.4);
}

Colors that work with #c98ade

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#F9F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#E1C0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#874B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#66A329
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#521C63
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F6EBF9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#201424
Dark-mode background
Hover#BC6ED6
One step down in lightness
Pressed#AF52CE
Two steps down
Disabled#EEE8F0
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D493E9
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 #c98ade

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 #521C63
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #C076D8

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#9FDE8A
Analogous left#9F8ADE
Analogous right#DE8AC9
Split-complement 1#C9DE8A
Split-complement 2#8ADE9F
Triadic 1#DEC98A
Triadic 2#8ADEC9
Tetradic#DE9F8A
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°285°

#c98ade sits at 285°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red78.8%
Green54.1%
Blue87.1%
R · 0–255
201
0xc9
G · 0–255
138
0x8a
B · 0–255
222
0xde

CMYK percentages

Cyan9.5%
Magenta37.8%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)12.9%

Total ink coverage is 60%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#c98ade text on a black background

contrast 8.17:1

Card sample

#c98ade text on a white background

contrast 2.57:1

Card sample

#c98ade on grey

2.35:1

#c98ade on its own surface

2.37:1

#c98ade on its dark surface

6.89:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #c98ade;
Background color
Panel with #c98ade background
background-color: #c98ade;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #c98ade;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(201, 138, 222, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(201, 138, 222, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #c98ade;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #c98ade, #DE8ABB);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c98ade, #DE8AA6);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #c98ade;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #c98ade;
caret-color: #c98ade;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #c98ade;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F6EBF9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #c98ade;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#c98ade 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #c98ade 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, 138, 222, 0.5)
rgb(201 138 222 / 50%)
#c98ade80
hsl(285 56% 71% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #c98ade 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#c98ade1a#FAF3FC
20%#c98ade33#F4E8F8
40%#c98ade66#E9D0F2
60%#c98ade99#DFB9EB
80%#c98adecc#D4A1E5

Gradients from #c98ade

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, #DFBAEB, #c98ade 45%, #521C63);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #c98ade, #D772A5);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c98ade, #9FDE8A);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EAD2F2 0%, #c98ade 45%, #521C63 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F9F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #BBB2E9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E5A2CE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #521C63 0%, transparent 65%), #c98ade;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #c98ade

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.

#c98ade 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 8.17:1.

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.

#c98ade, answered

What color is #c98ade?

#c98ade is a light vivid violet, closest to Violet (ΔE2000 6.6). It sits at 285° on the hue wheel with 56% saturation and 71% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #c98ade?

rgb(201, 138, 222) — 201 red, 138 green and 222 blue out of 255, or 78.8% / 54.1% / 87.1% by channel.

What is #c98ade in HSL and HSV?

hsl(285, 56%, 71%) and hsv(285, 38%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #c98ade a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3587 and perceived brightness is 67%, so black text on it reaches 8.17:1.

Should I use black or white text on #c98ade?

Black. It scores 8.17:1 against #c98ade, versus 2.57:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #c98ade accessible on a white background?

#c98ade on white scores 2.57:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #AC4ACC to reach 4.5:1, or #882FA5 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #c98ade?

#9FDE8A sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #C9DE8A and #8ADE9F, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #c98ade?

For interface work: #F9F4FA as the surface, #E1C0ED for borders, #874B9B for secondary text, #66A329 as an accent and #521C63 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #9F8ADE and #DE8AC9 stays calm, while #9FDE8A is the loudest partner.

What is #c98ade in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(10%, 38%, 0%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #c98ade 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 #DE8AD4; nudged cooler, #AA89E0.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #c98ade?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 13.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #c98ade as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #c98ade in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#c98ade] or text-[#c98ade], 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 #c98ade with 50% opacity?

rgba(201, 138, 222, 0.5), or #c98ade80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E4C5EF; over black, #65456F.

Is #c98ade a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99CC, ΔE2000 7.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #c98ade 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 #c98ade?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #DFBAEB, #c98ade 45%, #521C63). For more colour, a short hue run to #D772A5 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #c98ade in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #c98ade at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.