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violet · cool

#cb8af7

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Thistle

RGB
203, 138, 247
HSL
276°, 87%, 76%
CMYK
18, 44, 0, 3
Luminance
0.3759

#cb8af7 is a light electric violet, 276° on the wheel and 63/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.52:1). As text it scores 2.47:1 on white — use #A93EF2 instead. Nearest name is Violet, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(276 87% 76%)rgb(203 138 247)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cb8af7 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cb8af7
Hue
276°
violet
Saturation
87%
electric
Lightness
76%
light
Brightness
97%
HSV value
Perceived
68%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3759
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
63/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
8.52:1
Closest name
Violet
ΔE2000 7.3
Chroma
63.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.740
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 12.5
Web-safe
#CC99FF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue276° of 360°
Saturation87%
Lightness76%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cb8af7.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool63% 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
Red34%
Green48%
Blue18%

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

Every format

HEX#cb8af7
HEX (8-digit)#cb8af7ff
RGBrgb(203, 138, 247)
RGBArgba(203, 138, 247, 1)
HSLhsl(276, 87%, 76%)
HSV / HSBhsv(276, 44%, 97%)
HWBhwb(276 54% 3%)
CMYKcmyk(18%, 44%, 0%, 3%)
LABlab(67.7 44.1 -45.1)
LCHlch(67.7 63.1 314.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.740 0.165 310.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(50.50, 37.59, 92.57)
Decimal13339383
Display P3color(display-p3 0.796 0.541 0.969)
Web-safe#CC99FF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cb8af7;
background-color: #cb8af7;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cb8af7;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cb8af7] bg-[#cb8af7]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cb8af7;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.796, green: 0.541, blue: 0.969)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.796, green: 0.541, blue: 0.969, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CB8AF7</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCB8AF7)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCB8AF7)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(247, 138, 203)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(203, 138, 247)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(203, 138, 247)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 203, 138, 247)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7961f, 0.5412f, 0.9686f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{203,138,247}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cb8af7 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cb8af7 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#4A0877, #E3D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cb8af7 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: #F8F2FD;
  --brand-100: #F2E5FA;
  --brand-200: #E3C4F7;
  --brand-300: #cb8af7;
  --brand-400: #B961F4;
  --brand-500: #A22DF1;
  --brand-600: #8F10E5;
  --brand-700: #770DBF;
  --brand-800: #5F0A99;
  --brand-900: #470C6E;
  --brand-950: #2C0845;
  --brand: #cb8af7;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F4FA;
  --brand-border: #DBC0ED;
  --brand-hover: #BC69F5;
  --brand-pressed: #AD47F2;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1E1424;
    --brand-ink: #E3D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F2FD',
        100: '#F2E5FA',
        200: '#E3C4F7',
        300: '#cb8af7',
        400: '#B961F4',
        500: '#A22DF1',
        600: '#8F10E5',
        700: '#770DBF',
        800: '#5F0A99',
        900: '#470C6E',
        950: '#2C0845',
        DEFAULT: '#cb8af7',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F2FD,
  '100': #F2E5FA,
  '200': #E3C4F7,
  '300': #cb8af7,
  '400': #B961F4,
  '500': #A22DF1,
  '600': #8F10E5,
  '700': #770DBF,
  '800': #5F0A99,
  '900': #470C6E,
  '950': #2C0845,
);
$brand-base: #cb8af7;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F2FD", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F2E5FA", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E3C4F7", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#cb8af7", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#B961F4", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#A22DF1", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#8F10E5", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#770DBF", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#5F0A99", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#470C6E", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2C0845", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cb8af7 · 8.52:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.47:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.52:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cb8af7 as text scores 2.47:1 on white and 8.52:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #4A0877 at 5.35:1.

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
#A93EF2 · 4.51:1
AA on white−16% L
#A93EF2
The quick fox
#820ED0 · 7.18:1
AAA on white−32% L
#820ED0
The quick fox
#cb8af7 · 8.52:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cb8af7
The quick fox
#cb8af7 · 8.52:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cb8af7

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #C072F5 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
#cb8af7 on white: 2.47:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cb8af7 on black: 8.52:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cb8af7 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cb8af7.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.47:1AaAa
Slate 502.36:1AaAa
Slate 1002.25:1AaAa
Slate 2002.00:1AaAa
Slate 3001.66:1AaAa
Slate 4001.04:1AaAa
Slate 5001.93:1AaAa
Slate 6003.07:1AaAa
Slate 7004.20:1AaAa
Slate 8005.93:1AaAa
Slate 9007.24:1AaAa
Black8.52:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #72A2FB
deuteranopia · #83A6F4
tritanopia · #C69BB5

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. #cb8af7 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.

#F8F2FD
#F2E5FA
#E3C4F7
#cb8af7
#B961F4
#A22DF1
#8F10E5
#770DBF
#5F0A99
#470C6E
#2C0845
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F8F2FDDarkest = 950 · #2C0845Text 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 0.041 310.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.066 310.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.099 310.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.129 310.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.152 310.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.165 310.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.165 310.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.155 310.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.138 310.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.115 310.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.091 310.4);
}

Colors that work with #cb8af7

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#DBC0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#7B4B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#82C408
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#4A0877
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F4E7FD
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1E1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#BC69F5
One step down in lightness
Pressed#AD47F2
Two steps down
Disabled#F5F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D598FE
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 #cb8af7

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 #4A0877
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #C072F5

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.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. 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
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight25/100
  • 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#B6F78A
Analogous left#958AF7
Analogous right#F78AEC
Split-complement 1#ECF78A
Split-complement 2#8AF795
Triadic 1#F7CB8A
Triadic 2#8AF7CB
Tetradic#F7958A
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°276°

#cb8af7 sits at 276°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red79.6%
Green54.1%
Blue96.9%
R · 0–255
203
0xcb
G · 0–255
138
0x8a
B · 0–255
247
0xf7

CMYK percentages

Cyan17.8%
Magenta44.1%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)3.1%

Total ink coverage is 65%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cb8af7 text on a black background

contrast 8.52:1

Card sample

#cb8af7 text on a white background

contrast 2.47:1

Card sample

#cb8af7 on grey

2.25:1

#cb8af7 on its own surface

2.27:1

#cb8af7 on its dark surface

7.21:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cb8af7;
Background color
Panel with #cb8af7 background
background-color: #cb8af7;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cb8af7;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(203, 138, 247, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(203, 138, 247, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cb8af7;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cb8af7, #F78ADA);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cb8af7, #F78ABF);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cb8af7;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cb8af7;
caret-color: #cb8af7;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cb8af7;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F4E7FD;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cb8af7;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cb8af7 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cb8af7 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(203, 138, 247, 0.5)
rgb(203 138 247 / 50%)
#cb8af780
hsl(276 87% 76% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cb8af7 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cb8af71a#FAF3FE
20%#cb8af733#F5E8FD
40%#cb8af766#EAD0FC
60%#cb8af799#E0B9FA
80%#cb8af7cc#D5A1F9

Gradients from #cb8af7

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, #E4C3FB, #cb8af7 45%, #4A0877);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cb8af7, #F56DC6);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cb8af7, #B6F78A);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F1E0FD 0%, #cb8af7 45%, #4A0877 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%, #BBBAFA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #F9A7EA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #4A0877 0%, transparent 65%), #cb8af7;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cb8af7

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.

#cb8af7 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

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

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 8.52:1.

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.

#cb8af7, answered

What color is #cb8af7?

#cb8af7 is a light electric violet, closest to Violet (ΔE2000 7.3). It sits at 276° on the hue wheel with 87% saturation and 76% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #cb8af7?

rgb(203, 138, 247) — 203 red, 138 green and 247 blue out of 255, or 79.6% / 54.1% / 96.9% by channel.

What is #cb8af7 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(276, 87%, 76%) and hsv(276, 44%, 97%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cb8af7 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3759 and perceived brightness is 68%, so black text on it reaches 8.52:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cb8af7?

Black. It scores 8.52:1 against #cb8af7, versus 2.47:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cb8af7 accessible on a white background?

#cb8af7 on white scores 2.47:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #A93EF2 to reach 4.5:1, or #820ED0 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cb8af7?

#B6F78A sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #ECF78A and #8AF795, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cb8af7?

For interface work: #F8F4FA as the surface, #DBC0ED for borders, #7B4B9B for secondary text, #82C408 as an accent and #4A0877 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #958AF7 and #F78AEC stays calm, while #B6F78A is the loudest partner.

What is #cb8af7 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(18%, 44%, 0%, 3%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #cb8af7 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 63 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #F38AF7; nudged cooler, #A289F8.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cb8af7?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 12.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cb8af7 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cb8af7 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cb8af7] or text-[#cb8af7], 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 #cb8af7 with 50% opacity?

rgba(203, 138, 247, 0.5), or #cb8af780 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E5C5FB; over black, #66457C.

Is #cb8af7 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99FF, ΔE2000 3.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cb8af7 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 #cb8af7?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E4C3FB, #cb8af7 45%, #4A0877). For more colour, a short hue run to #F56DC6 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cb8af7 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cb8af7 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.