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violet · neutral

#d3bcda

a light, soft violet · neutral · closest name: Thistle

Token name suggestion: Drift Iris

RGB
211, 188, 218
HSL
286°, 29%, 80%
CMYK
3, 14, 0, 15
Luminance
0.5488

#d3bcda is a light soft violet, 286° on the wheel and 56/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.98:1). As text it scores 1.75:1 on white — use #9760A7 instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is pink.

hsl(286 29% 80%)rgb(211 188 218)Base step 300AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #d3bcda is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#d3bcda
Hue
286°
violet
Saturation
29%
soft
Lightness
80%
light
Brightness
85%
HSV value
Perceived
78%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5488
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
56/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
11.98:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 2
Chroma
18.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.824
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
pink
500 · ΔE 27
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue286° of 360°
Saturation29%
Lightness80%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #d3bcda.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool56% cool

Reads neutral. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Luminance by channel
Red25%
Green66%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#d3bcda
HEX (8-digit)#d3bcdaff
RGBrgb(211, 188, 218)
RGBArgba(211, 188, 218, 1)
HSLhsl(286, 29%, 80%)
HSV / HSBhsv(286, 14%, 85%)
HWBhwb(286 74% 15%)
CMYKcmyk(3%, 14%, 0%, 15%)
LABlab(79.0 13.5 -12.0)
LCHlch(79.0 18.1 318.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.824 0.048 318.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(57.50, 54.88, 73.88)
Decimal13876442
Display P3color(display-p3 0.827 0.737 0.855)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #d3bcda;
background-color: #d3bcda;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #d3bcda;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#d3bcda] bg-[#d3bcda]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #d3bcda;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.827, green: 0.737, blue: 0.855)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.827, green: 0.737, blue: 0.855, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#D3BCDA</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFD3BCDA)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFD3BCDA)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(218, 188, 211)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(211, 188, 218)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(211, 188, 218)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 211, 188, 218)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8275f, 0.7373f, 0.8549f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{211,188,218}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #d3bcda 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #d3bcda 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#4A2D52, #E5D8E9);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #d3bcda 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: #F8F6F9;
  --brand-100: #F2ECF3;
  --brand-200: #E2D5E6;
  --brand-300: #d3bcda;
  --brand-400: #B893C3;
  --brand-500: #A06EAF;
  --brand-600: #8D579E;
  --brand-700: #764983;
  --brand-800: #5E3A69;
  --brand-900: #462D4D;
  --brand-950: #2C1C30;
  --brand: #d3bcda;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9F5FA;
  --brand-border: #DCCAE2;
  --brand-hover: #C4A5CD;
  --brand-pressed: #B58EC1;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #201424;
    --brand-ink: #E5D8E9;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F6F9',
        100: '#F2ECF3',
        200: '#E2D5E6',
        300: '#d3bcda',
        400: '#B893C3',
        500: '#A06EAF',
        600: '#8D579E',
        700: '#764983',
        800: '#5E3A69',
        900: '#462D4D',
        950: '#2C1C30',
        DEFAULT: '#d3bcda',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F6F9,
  '100': #F2ECF3,
  '200': #E2D5E6,
  '300': #d3bcda,
  '400': #B893C3,
  '500': #A06EAF,
  '600': #8D579E,
  '700': #764983,
  '800': #5E3A69,
  '900': #462D4D,
  '950': #2C1C30,
);
$brand-base: #d3bcda;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F6F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F2ECF3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E2D5E6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#d3bcda", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#B893C3", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#A06EAF", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#8D579E", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#764983", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#5E3A69", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#462D4D", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2C1C30", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #d3bcda · 11.98:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.75:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.98:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #d3bcda as text scores 1.75:1 on white and 11.98:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #4A2D52 at 6.70:1.

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
#9760A7 · 4.62:1
AA on white−28% L
#9760A7
The quick fox
#744882 · 7.02:1
AAA on white−40% L
#744882
The quick fox
#d3bcda · 11.98:1
AA on blackalready passes
#d3bcda
The quick fox
#d3bcda · 11.98:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#d3bcda

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #AE84BB 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
#d3bcda on white: 1.75:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#d3bcda on black: 11.98:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #d3bcda as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #d3bcda.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.75:1AaAa
Slate 501.68:1AaAa
Slate 1001.60:1AaAa
Slate 2001.42:1AaAa
Slate 3001.18:1AaAa
Slate 4001.46:1AaAa
Slate 5002.71:1AaAa
Slate 6004.32:1AaAa
Slate 7005.90:1AaAa
Slate 8008.34:1AaAa
Slate 90010.18:1AaAa
Black11.98:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B9C2DB
deuteranopia · #BEC4D9
tritanopia · #D3BFC6

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. #d3bcda 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.

#F8F6F9
#F2ECF3
#E2D5E6
#d3bcda
#B893C3
#A06EAF
#8D579E
#764983
#5E3A69
#462D4D
#2C1C30
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F8F6F9Darkest = 950 · #2C1C30Text 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 0.012 318.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.019 318.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.029 318.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.038 318.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.044 318.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.048 318.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.048 318.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.045 318.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.041 318.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.034 318.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.027 318.3);
}

Colors that work with #d3bcda

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#F9F5FA
Tinted page background
Border#DCCAE2
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#845294
Captions on the surface
Accent#648745
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#4A2D52
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F4EFF6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#201424
Dark-mode background
Hover#C4A5CD
One step down in lightness
Pressed#B58EC1
Two steps down
Disabled#F6F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#DEC5E5
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 #d3bcda

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • 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 #4A2D52
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #AE84BB

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.

The muted chroma softens the association — it reads considered rather than loud, which suits long-form and data-heavy screens. 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
  • Weight20/100
  • TemperatureNeutral
  • 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#C3DABC
Analogous left#C4BCDA
Analogous right#DABCD2
Split-complement 1#D2DABC
Split-complement 2#BCDAC4
Triadic 1#DAD3BC
Triadic 2#BCDAD3
Tetradic#DAC4BC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°286°

#d3bcda sits at 286°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red82.7%
Green73.7%
Blue85.5%
R · 0–255
211
0xd3
G · 0–255
188
0xbc
B · 0–255
218
0xda

CMYK percentages

Cyan3.2%
Magenta13.8%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)14.5%

Total ink coverage is 32%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#d3bcda text on a black background

contrast 11.98:1

Card sample

#d3bcda text on a white background

contrast 1.75:1

Card sample

#d3bcda on grey

1.60:1

#d3bcda on its own surface

1.63:1

#d3bcda on its dark surface

10.09:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #d3bcda;
Background color
Panel with #d3bcda background
background-color: #d3bcda;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #d3bcda;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(211, 188, 218, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(211, 188, 218, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #d3bcda;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #d3bcda, #DABCCD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #d3bcda, #DABCC5);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #d3bcda;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #d3bcda;
caret-color: #d3bcda;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #d3bcda;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F4EFF6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #d3bcda;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#d3bcda 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #d3bcda 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(211, 188, 218, 0.5)
rgb(211 188 218 / 50%)
#d3bcda80
hsl(286 29% 80% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #d3bcda 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#d3bcda1a#FBF8FB
20%#d3bcda33#F6F2F8
40%#d3bcda66#EDE4F0
60%#d3bcda99#E5D7E9
80%#d3bcdacc#DCC9E1

Gradients from #d3bcda

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, #EDE3F0, #d3bcda 45%, #4A2D52);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #d3bcda, #CFA8BB);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #d3bcda, #C3DABC);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F9F5FA 0%, #d3bcda 45%, #4A2D52 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F9F5FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #E0DDEC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E5D0DD 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #4A2D52 0%, transparent 65%), #d3bcda;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #d3bcda

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.

#d3bcda 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 11.98:1.

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.

#d3bcda, answered

What color is #d3bcda?

#d3bcda is a light soft violet, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 2). It sits at 286° on the hue wheel with 29% saturation and 80% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #d3bcda?

rgb(211, 188, 218) — 211 red, 188 green and 218 blue out of 255, or 82.7% / 73.7% / 85.5% by channel.

What is #d3bcda in HSL and HSV?

hsl(286, 29%, 80%) and hsv(286, 14%, 85%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #d3bcda a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5488 and perceived brightness is 78%, so black text on it reaches 11.98:1.

Should I use black or white text on #d3bcda?

Black. It scores 11.98:1 against #d3bcda, versus 1.75:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #d3bcda accessible on a white background?

#d3bcda on white scores 1.75:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #9760A7 to reach 4.5:1, or #744882 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #d3bcda?

#C3DABC sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #D2DABC and #BCDAC4, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #d3bcda?

For interface work: #F9F5FA as the surface, #DCCAE2 for borders, #845294 for secondary text, #648745 as an accent and #4A2D52 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #C4BCDA and #DABCD2 stays calm, while #C3DABC is the loudest partner.

What is #d3bcda in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(3%, 14%, 0%, 15%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #d3bcda warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 56 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #DABCD6; nudged cooler, #C8BBDB.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #d3bcda?

The pink family — its 500 step is #ec4899, ΔE2000 27 away. That is a visible difference, so define #d3bcda as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #d3bcda in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#d3bcda] or text-[#d3bcda], 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 #d3bcda with 50% opacity?

rgba(211, 188, 218, 0.5), or #d3bcda80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E9DEED; over black, #6A5E6D.

Is #d3bcda a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 15.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #d3bcda 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 moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #d3bcda?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #EDE3F0, #d3bcda 45%, #4A2D52). For more colour, a short hue run to #CFA8BB keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #d3bcda in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #d3bcda at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.