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violet · cool

#d281ec

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

Token name suggestion: Morning Amethyst

RGB
210, 129, 236
HSL
285°, 74%, 72%
CMYK
11, 45, 0, 8
Luminance
0.3546

#d281ec is a light vivid violet, 285° on the wheel and 58/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.09:1). As text it scores 2.60:1 on white — use #B736E1 instead. Nearest name is Violet, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(285 74% 72%)rgb(210 129 236)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #d281ec is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#d281ec
Hue
285°
violet
Saturation
74%
vivid
Lightness
72%
light
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
67%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3546
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
58/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
8.09:1
Closest name
Violet
ΔE2000 5
Chroma
63.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.728
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 10.4
Web-safe
#CC99FF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue285° of 360°
Saturation74%
Lightness72%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #d281ec.

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
Red39%
Green44%
Blue17%

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

Every format

HEX#d281ec
HEX (8-digit)#d281ecff
RGBrgb(210, 129, 236)
RGBArgba(210, 129, 236, 1)
HSLhsl(285, 74%, 72%)
HSV / HSBhsv(285, 45%, 93%)
HWBhwb(285 51% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(11%, 45%, 0%, 8%)
LABlab(66.1 48.6 -41.6)
LCHlch(66.1 63.9 319.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.728 0.170 317.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(49.57, 35.46, 83.57)
Decimal13795820
Display P3color(display-p3 0.824 0.506 0.925)
Web-safe#CC99FF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #d281ec;
background-color: #d281ec;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #d281ec;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#d281ec] bg-[#d281ec]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #d281ec;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.824, green: 0.506, blue: 0.925)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.824, green: 0.506, blue: 0.925, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#D281EC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFD281EC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFD281EC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(236, 129, 210)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(210, 129, 236)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(210, 129, 236)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 210, 129, 236)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8235f, 0.5059f, 0.9255f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{210,129,236}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #d281ec 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #d281ec 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#58116F, #E7D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #d281ec 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: #FAF3FC;
  --brand-100: #F4E7F9;
  --brand-200: #E9C8F3;
  --brand-300: #DC9DF0;
  --brand-400: #d281ec;
  --brand-500: #B93CE2;
  --brand-600: #A920D5;
  --brand-700: #8D1BB1;
  --brand-800: #71158E;
  --brand-900: #531467;
  --brand-950: #340C40;
  --brand: #d281ec;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9F4FA;
  --brand-border: #E2C0ED;
  --brand-hover: #C762E7;
  --brand-pressed: #BC43E3;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #201424;
    --brand-ink: #E7D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FAF3FC',
        100: '#F4E7F9',
        200: '#E9C8F3',
        300: '#DC9DF0',
        400: '#d281ec',
        500: '#B93CE2',
        600: '#A920D5',
        700: '#8D1BB1',
        800: '#71158E',
        900: '#531467',
        950: '#340C40',
        DEFAULT: '#d281ec',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FAF3FC,
  '100': #F4E7F9,
  '200': #E9C8F3,
  '300': #DC9DF0,
  '400': #d281ec,
  '500': #B93CE2,
  '600': #A920D5,
  '700': #8D1BB1,
  '800': #71158E,
  '900': #531467,
  '950': #340C40,
);
$brand-base: #d281ec;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FAF3FC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F4E7F9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E9C8F3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#DC9DF0", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#d281ec", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#B93CE2", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#A920D5", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#8D1BB1", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#71158E", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#531467", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#340C40", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #d281ec · 8.09:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.60:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.09:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #d281ec as text scores 2.60:1 on white and 8.09:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #58116F 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
#B736E1 · 4.54:1
AA on white−17% L
#B736E1
The quick fox
#8F1BB4 · 7.04:1
AAA on white−31% L
#8F1BB4
The quick fox
#d281ec · 8.09:1
AA on blackalready passes
#d281ec
The quick fox
#d281ec · 8.09:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#d281ec

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #CA6BE9 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
#d281ec on white: 2.60:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#d281ec on black: 8.09:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #d281ec as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #d281ec.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.60:1AaAa
Slate 502.48:1AaAa
Slate 1002.37:1AaAa
Slate 2002.11:1AaAa
Slate 3001.75:1AaAa
Slate 4001.01:1AaAa
Slate 5001.83:1AaAa
Slate 6002.92:1AaAa
Slate 7003.99:1AaAa
Slate 8005.64:1AaAa
Slate 9006.88:1AaAa
Black8.09:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #6E9BF0
deuteranopia · #85A3E9
tritanopia · #D290AB

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. #d281ec 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.

#FAF3FC
#F4E7F9
#E9C8F3
#DC9DF0
#d281ec
#B93CE2
#A920D5
#8D1BB1
#71158E
#531467
#340C40
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #FAF3FCDarkest = 950 · #340C40Text 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 0.043 317.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.068 317.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.102 317.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.133 317.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.157 317.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.170 317.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.170 317.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.160 317.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.143 317.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.119 317.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.094 317.6);
}

Colors that work with #d281ec

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#E2C0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#874B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#65B517
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#58116F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F7E9FC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#201424
Dark-mode background
Hover#C762E7
One step down in lightness
Pressed#BC43E3
Two steps down
Disabled#F1EBF2
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#DC8DF5
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 #d281ec

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 #58116F
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #CA6BE9

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
  • Weight28/100
  • 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#9BEC81
Analogous left#9D81EC
Analogous right#EC81D1
Split-complement 1#D1EC81
Split-complement 2#81EC9D
Triadic 1#ECD281
Triadic 2#81ECD2
Tetradic#EC9D81
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°285°

#d281ec sits at 285°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red82.4%
Green50.6%
Blue92.5%
R · 0–255
210
0xd2
G · 0–255
129
0x81
B · 0–255
236
0xec

CMYK percentages

Cyan11.0%
Magenta45.3%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)7.5%

Total ink coverage is 64%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#d281ec text on a black background

contrast 8.09:1

Card sample

#d281ec text on a white background

contrast 2.60:1

Card sample

#d281ec on grey

2.37:1

#d281ec on its own surface

2.39:1

#d281ec on its dark surface

6.82:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #d281ec;
Background color
Panel with #d281ec background
background-color: #d281ec;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #d281ec;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(210, 129, 236, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(210, 129, 236, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #d281ec;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #d281ec, #EC81BF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #d281ec, #EC81A4);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #d281ec;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #d281ec;
caret-color: #d281ec;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #d281ec;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F7E9FC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #d281ec;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#d281ec 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #d281ec 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(210, 129, 236, 0.5)
rgb(210 129 236 / 50%)
#d281ec80
hsl(285 74% 72% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #d281ec 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#d281ec1a#FBF2FD
20%#d281ec33#F6E6FB
40%#d281ec66#EDCDF7
60%#d281ec99#E4B3F4
80%#d281eccc#DB9AF0

Gradients from #d281ec

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, #E5B6F4, #d281ec 45%, #58116F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #d281ec, #E867A6);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #d281ec, #9BEC81);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EFD1F8 0%, #d281ec 45%, #58116F 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%, #B9ADF3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #F09CD3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #58116F 0%, transparent 65%), #d281ec;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #d281ec

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.

#d281ec 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 8.09:1.

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.

#d281ec, answered

What color is #d281ec?

#d281ec is a light vivid violet, closest to Violet (ΔE2000 5). It sits at 285° on the hue wheel with 74% saturation and 72% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #d281ec?

rgb(210, 129, 236) — 210 red, 129 green and 236 blue out of 255, or 82.4% / 50.6% / 92.5% by channel.

What is #d281ec in HSL and HSV?

hsl(285, 74%, 72%) and hsv(285, 45%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #d281ec a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3546 and perceived brightness is 67%, so black text on it reaches 8.09:1.

Should I use black or white text on #d281ec?

Black. It scores 8.09:1 against #d281ec, versus 2.60:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #d281ec accessible on a white background?

#d281ec on white scores 2.60:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #B736E1 to reach 4.5:1, or #8F1BB4 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #d281ec?

#9BEC81 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #D1EC81 and #81EC9D, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #d281ec?

For interface work: #F9F4FA as the surface, #E2C0ED for borders, #874B9B for secondary text, #65B517 as an accent and #58116F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #9D81EC and #EC81D1 stays calm, while #9BEC81 is the loudest partner.

What is #d281ec in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(11%, 45%, 0%, 8%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #d281ec 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 #EC81DF; nudged cooler, #AB80ED.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #d281ec?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 10.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #d281ec as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #d281ec in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#d281ec] or text-[#d281ec], 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 #d281ec with 50% opacity?

rgba(210, 129, 236, 0.5), or #d281ec80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E9C0F6; over black, #694176.

Is #d281ec a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99FF, ΔE2000 6.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #d281ec 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 #d281ec?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E5B6F4, #d281ec 45%, #58116F). For more colour, a short hue run to #E867A6 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #d281ec in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #d281ec at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.