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violet · cool

#cdafe4

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

Token name suggestion: Morning Plum

RGB
205, 175, 228
HSL
274°, 50%, 79%
CMYK
10, 23, 0, 11
Luminance
0.4924

#cdafe4 is a light vivid violet, 274° on the wheel and 64/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.85:1). As text it scores 1.94:1 on white — use #9657C6 instead. Nearest name is Plum, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(274 50% 79%)rgb(205 175 228)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cdafe4 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cdafe4
Hue
274°
violet
Saturation
50%
vivid
Lightness
79%
light
Brightness
89%
HSV value
Perceived
75%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4924
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
64/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
10.85:1
Closest name
Plum
ΔE2000 6.5
Chroma
30.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.798
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 22.9
Web-safe
#CC99CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue274° of 360°
Saturation50%
Lightness79%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cdafe4.

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
Red26%
Green62%
Blue11%

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

Every format

HEX#cdafe4
HEX (8-digit)#cdafe4ff
RGBrgb(205, 175, 228)
RGBArgba(205, 175, 228, 1)
HSLhsl(274, 50%, 79%)
HSV / HSBhsv(274, 23%, 89%)
HWBhwb(274 69% 11%)
CMYKcmyk(10%, 23%, 0%, 11%)
LABlab(75.6 20.6 -22.6)
LCHlch(75.6 30.5 312.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.798 0.080 310.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(54.51, 49.24, 80.02)
Decimal13479908
Display P3color(display-p3 0.804 0.686 0.894)
Web-safe#CC99CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cdafe4;
background-color: #cdafe4;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cdafe4;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cdafe4] bg-[#cdafe4]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cdafe4;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.804, green: 0.686, blue: 0.894)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.804, green: 0.686, blue: 0.894, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CDAFE4</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCDAFE4)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCDAFE4)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(228, 175, 205)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(205, 175, 228)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(205, 175, 228)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 205, 175, 228)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8039f, 0.6863f, 0.8941f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{205,175,228}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cdafe4 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cdafe4 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#44205F, #E2D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cdafe4 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: #F8F4FA;
  --brand-100: #F0EAF6;
  --brand-200: #E0CFEC;
  --brand-300: #cdafe4;
  --brand-400: #B081D5;
  --brand-500: #9657C6;
  --brand-600: #823EB7;
  --brand-700: #6D3498;
  --brand-800: #57297A;
  --brand-900: #412159;
  --brand-950: #291538;
  --brand: #cdafe4;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F4FA;
  --brand-border: #D9C2EA;
  --brand-hover: #BC94DB;
  --brand-pressed: #AC7AD2;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1D1424;
    --brand-ink: #E2D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F4FA',
        100: '#F0EAF6',
        200: '#E0CFEC',
        300: '#cdafe4',
        400: '#B081D5',
        500: '#9657C6',
        600: '#823EB7',
        700: '#6D3498',
        800: '#57297A',
        900: '#412159',
        950: '#291538',
        DEFAULT: '#cdafe4',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F4FA,
  '100': #F0EAF6,
  '200': #E0CFEC,
  '300': #cdafe4,
  '400': #B081D5,
  '500': #9657C6,
  '600': #823EB7,
  '700': #6D3498,
  '800': #57297A,
  '900': #412159,
  '950': #291538,
);
$brand-base: #cdafe4;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F4FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F0EAF6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E0CFEC", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#cdafe4", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#B081D5", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#9657C6", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#823EB7", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#6D3498", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#57297A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#412159", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#291538", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cdafe4 · 10.85:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.94:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.85:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cdafe4 as text scores 1.94:1 on white and 10.85:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #44205F at 6.71:1.

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
#9657C6 · 4.69:1
AA on white−23% L
#9657C6
The quick fox
#7839A8 · 7.12:1
AAA on white−35% L
#7839A8
The quick fox
#cdafe4 · 10.85:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cdafe4
The quick fox
#cdafe4 · 10.85:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cdafe4

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #B081D5 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
#cdafe4 on white: 1.94:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cdafe4 on black: 10.85:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cdafe4 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cdafe4.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.94:1AaAa
Slate 501.85:1AaAa
Slate 1001.77:1AaAa
Slate 2001.57:1AaAa
Slate 3001.30:1AaAa
Slate 4001.32:1AaAa
Slate 5002.46:1AaAa
Slate 6003.91:1AaAa
Slate 7005.35:1AaAa
Slate 8007.56:1AaAa
Slate 9009.22:1AaAa
Black10.85:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A7B9E6
deuteranopia · #ADBBE2
tritanopia · #CBB6C1

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. #cdafe4 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.

#F8F4FA
#F0EAF6
#E0CFEC
#cdafe4
#B081D5
#9657C6
#823EB7
#6D3498
#57297A
#412159
#291538
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F8F4FADarkest = 950 · #291538Text 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 0.020 310.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.032 310.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.048 310.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.063 310.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.074 310.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.080 310.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.080 310.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.075 310.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.067 310.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.056 310.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.044 310.2);
}

Colors that work with #cdafe4

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#D9C2EA
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#784B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#7A9C30
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#44205F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F3ECF9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1D1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#BC94DB
One step down in lightness
Pressed#AC7AD2
Two steps down
Disabled#F5F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D7BAED
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 #cdafe4

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 #44205F
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #B081D5

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
  • 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#C6E4AF
Analogous left#B2AFE4
Analogous right#E4AFE0
Split-complement 1#E0E4AF
Split-complement 2#AFE4B2
Triadic 1#E4CDAF
Triadic 2#AFE4CD
Tetradic#E4B2AF
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°274°

#cdafe4 sits at 274°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red80.4%
Green68.6%
Blue89.4%
R · 0–255
205
0xcd
G · 0–255
175
0xaf
B · 0–255
228
0xe4

CMYK percentages

Cyan10.1%
Magenta23.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)10.6%

Total ink coverage is 44%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cdafe4 text on a black background

contrast 10.85:1

Card sample

#cdafe4 text on a white background

contrast 1.94:1

Card sample

#cdafe4 on grey

1.77:1

#cdafe4 on its own surface

1.78:1

#cdafe4 on its dark surface

9.21:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cdafe4;
Background color
Panel with #cdafe4 background
background-color: #cdafe4;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cdafe4;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(205, 175, 228, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(205, 175, 228, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cdafe4;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cdafe4, #E4AFD8);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cdafe4, #E4AFCA);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cdafe4;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cdafe4;
caret-color: #cdafe4;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cdafe4;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F3ECF9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cdafe4;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cdafe4 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cdafe4 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(205, 175, 228, 0.5)
rgb(205 175 228 / 50%)
#cdafe480
hsl(274 50% 79% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cdafe4 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cdafe41a#FAF7FC
20%#cdafe433#F5EFFA
40%#cdafe466#EBDFF4
60%#cdafe499#E1CFEF
80%#cdafe4cc#D7BFE9

Gradients from #cdafe4

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, #EADDF3, #cdafe4 45%, #44205F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cdafe4, #DC98C7);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cdafe4, #C6E4AF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F8F4FB 0%, #cdafe4 45%, #44205F 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%, #D5D6F1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #ECC6E6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #44205F 0%, transparent 65%), #cdafe4;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cdafe4

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.

#cdafe4 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 10.85:1.

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.

#cdafe4, answered

What color is #cdafe4?

#cdafe4 is a light vivid violet, closest to Plum (ΔE2000 6.5). It sits at 274° on the hue wheel with 50% saturation and 79% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #cdafe4?

rgb(205, 175, 228) — 205 red, 175 green and 228 blue out of 255, or 80.4% / 68.6% / 89.4% by channel.

What is #cdafe4 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(274, 50%, 79%) and hsv(274, 23%, 89%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cdafe4 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4924 and perceived brightness is 75%, so black text on it reaches 10.85:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cdafe4?

Black. It scores 10.85:1 against #cdafe4, versus 1.94:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cdafe4 accessible on a white background?

#cdafe4 on white scores 1.94:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #9657C6 to reach 4.5:1, or #7839A8 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cdafe4?

#C6E4AF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #E0E4AF and #AFE4B2, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cdafe4?

For interface work: #F8F4FA as the surface, #D9C2EA for borders, #784B9B for secondary text, #7A9C30 as an accent and #44205F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #B2AFE4 and #E4AFE0 stays calm, while #C6E4AF is the loudest partner.

What is #cdafe4 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(10%, 23%, 0%, 11%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cdafe4 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 #E0AFE4; nudged cooler, #B9AEE5.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cdafe4?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 22.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cdafe4 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cdafe4 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cdafe4] or text-[#cdafe4], 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 #cdafe4 with 50% opacity?

rgba(205, 175, 228, 0.5), or #cdafe480 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E6D7F2; over black, #675872.

Is #cdafe4 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99CC, ΔE2000 6.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cdafe4 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 #cdafe4?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #EADDF3, #cdafe4 45%, #44205F). For more colour, a short hue run to #DC98C7 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cdafe4 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cdafe4 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.