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violet · cool

#d8bdf6

a pale, electric violet · cool · closest name: Thistle

Token name suggestion: Chalk Amethyst

RGB
216, 189, 246
HSL
268°, 76%, 85%
CMYK
12, 23, 0, 4
Luminance
0.5765

#d8bdf6 is a pale electric violet, 268° on the wheel and 68/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.53:1). As text it scores 1.68:1 on white — use #9851E7 instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(268 76% 85%)rgb(216 189 246)Base step 200AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #d8bdf6 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#d8bdf6
Hue
268°
violet
Saturation
76%
electric
Lightness
85%
pale
Brightness
96%
HSV value
Perceived
80%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5765
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
68/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
12.53:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 8.9
Chroma
31.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.840
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 25.3
Web-safe
#CCCCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue268° of 360°
Saturation76%
Lightness85%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #d8bdf6.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool68% 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
Red25%
Green63%
Blue12%

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

Every format

HEX#d8bdf6
HEX (8-digit)#d8bdf6ff
RGBrgb(216, 189, 246)
RGBArgba(216, 189, 246, 1)
HSLhsl(268, 76%, 85%)
HSV / HSBhsv(268, 23%, 96%)
HWBhwb(268 74% 4%)
CMYKcmyk(12%, 23%, 0%, 4%)
LABlab(80.5 20.2 -24.6)
LCHlch(80.5 31.8 309.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.840 0.083 306.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(63.15, 57.65, 94.97)
Decimal14204406
Display P3color(display-p3 0.847 0.741 0.965)
Web-safe#CCCCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #d8bdf6;
background-color: #d8bdf6;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #d8bdf6;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#d8bdf6] bg-[#d8bdf6]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #d8bdf6;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.847, green: 0.741, blue: 0.965)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.847, green: 0.741, blue: 0.965, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#D8BDF6</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFD8BDF6)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFD8BDF6)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(246, 189, 216)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(216, 189, 246)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(216, 189, 246)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 216, 189, 246)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8471f, 0.7412f, 0.9647f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{216,189,246}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #d8bdf6 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #d8bdf6 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#3D0F70, #E0D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #d8bdf6 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: #F7F3FC;
  --brand-100: #EFE7F9;
  --brand-200: #d8bdf6;
  --brand-300: #C59CF2;
  --brand-400: #A76BEB;
  --brand-500: #8A3AE4;
  --brand-600: #751DD7;
  --brand-700: #6218B4;
  --brand-800: #4E1490;
  --brand-900: #3B1268;
  --brand-950: #250C41;
  --brand: #d8bdf6;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F7F4FA;
  --brand-border: #D5C0ED;
  --brand-hover: #C59EF2;
  --brand-pressed: #B37EED;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1C1424;
    --brand-ink: #E0D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F3FC',
        100: '#EFE7F9',
        200: '#d8bdf6',
        300: '#C59CF2',
        400: '#A76BEB',
        500: '#8A3AE4',
        600: '#751DD7',
        700: '#6218B4',
        800: '#4E1490',
        900: '#3B1268',
        950: '#250C41',
        DEFAULT: '#d8bdf6',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F3FC,
  '100': #EFE7F9,
  '200': #d8bdf6,
  '300': #C59CF2,
  '400': #A76BEB,
  '500': #8A3AE4,
  '600': #751DD7,
  '700': #6218B4,
  '800': #4E1490,
  '900': #3B1268,
  '950': #250C41,
);
$brand-base: #d8bdf6;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F3FC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EFE7F9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#d8bdf6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#C59CF2", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#A76BEB", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#8A3AE4", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#751DD7", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#6218B4", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#4E1490", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#3B1268", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#250C41", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #d8bdf6 · 12.53:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.68:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.53:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #d8bdf6 as text scores 1.68:1 on white and 12.53:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #3D0F70 at 8.35:1.

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
#9851E7 · 4.50:1
AA on white−24% L
#9851E7
The quick fox
#761ED9 · 7.10:1
AAA on white−37% L
#761ED9
The quick fox
#d8bdf6 · 12.53:1
AA on blackalready passes
#d8bdf6
The quick fox
#d8bdf6 · 12.53:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#d8bdf6

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #B07AED 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
#d8bdf6 on white: 1.68:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#d8bdf6 on black: 12.53:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #d8bdf6 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #d8bdf6.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.68:1AaAa
Slate 501.60:1AaAa
Slate 1001.53:1AaAa
Slate 2001.36:1AaAa
Slate 3001.13:1AaAa
Slate 4001.53:1AaAa
Slate 5002.84:1AaAa
Slate 6004.52:1AaAa
Slate 7006.18:1AaAa
Slate 8008.73:1AaAa
Slate 90010.65:1AaAa
Black12.53:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B3C7F8
deuteranopia · #B8C8F4
tritanopia · #D4C5D1

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. #d8bdf6 is pinned to step 200; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F7F3FC
#EFE7F9
#d8bdf6
#C59CF2
#A76BEB
#8A3AE4
#751DD7
#6218B4
#4E1490
#3B1268
#250C41
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F7F3FCDarkest = 950 · #250C41Text 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 0.021 306.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.033 306.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.050 306.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.065 306.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.077 306.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.083 306.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.083 306.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.078 306.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.070 306.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.058 306.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.046 306.2);
}

Colors that work with #d8bdf6

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#F7F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#D5C0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#714B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#92B913
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#3D0F70
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F2E9FC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1C1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#C59EF2
One step down in lightness
Pressed#B37EED
Two steps down
Disabled#F5F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#E2CCFB
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 #d8bdf6

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 #3D0F70
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #B07AED

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 high lightness makes it recede — a surface colour rather than a statement.

Worth knowing

Deep violets swallow detail on screens with poor gamma; check it on a cheap laptop panel.

Reads as
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight15/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • ApproachabilityReserved

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#DBF6BD
Analogous left#BDBFF6
Analogous right#F4BDF6
Split-complement 1#F6F4BD
Split-complement 2#BFF6BD
Triadic 1#F6D8BD
Triadic 2#BDF6D8
Tetradic#F6BDBF
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°268°

#d8bdf6 sits at 268°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red84.7%
Green74.1%
Blue96.5%
R · 0–255
216
0xd8
G · 0–255
189
0xbd
B · 0–255
246
0xf6

CMYK percentages

Cyan12.2%
Magenta23.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)3.5%

Total ink coverage is 39%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#d8bdf6 text on a black background

contrast 12.53:1

Card sample

#d8bdf6 text on a white background

contrast 1.68:1

Card sample

#d8bdf6 on grey

1.53:1

#d8bdf6 on its own surface

1.54:1

#d8bdf6 on its dark surface

10.66:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #d8bdf6;
Background color
Panel with #d8bdf6 background
background-color: #d8bdf6;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #d8bdf6;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(216, 189, 246, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(216, 189, 246, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #d8bdf6;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #d8bdf6, #F6BDEE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #d8bdf6, #F6BDE0);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #d8bdf6;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #d8bdf6;
caret-color: #d8bdf6;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #d8bdf6;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F2E9FC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #d8bdf6;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#d8bdf6 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #d8bdf6 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(216, 189, 246, 0.5)
rgb(216 189 246 / 50%)
#d8bdf680
hsl(268 76% 85% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #d8bdf6 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#d8bdf61a#FBF8FE
20%#d8bdf633#F7F2FD
40%#d8bdf666#EFE5FB
60%#d8bdf699#E8D7FA
80%#d8bdf6cc#E0CAF8

Gradients from #d8bdf6

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, #F4EDFD, #d8bdf6 45%, #3D0F70);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #d8bdf6, #F2A2E0);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #d8bdf6, #DBF6BD);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F7F2FD 0%, #d8bdf6 45%, #3D0F70 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F7F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #EAECFC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #FAD8F8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #3D0F70 0%, transparent 65%), #d8bdf6;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #d8bdf6

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.

#d8bdf6 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 12.53:1.

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.

#d8bdf6, answered

What color is #d8bdf6?

#d8bdf6 is a pale electric violet, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 8.9). It sits at 268° on the hue wheel with 76% saturation and 85% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #d8bdf6?

rgb(216, 189, 246) — 216 red, 189 green and 246 blue out of 255, or 84.7% / 74.1% / 96.5% by channel.

What is #d8bdf6 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(268, 76%, 85%) and hsv(268, 23%, 96%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #d8bdf6 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5765 and perceived brightness is 80%, so black text on it reaches 12.53:1.

Should I use black or white text on #d8bdf6?

Black. It scores 12.53:1 against #d8bdf6, versus 1.68:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #d8bdf6 accessible on a white background?

#d8bdf6 on white scores 1.68:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #9851E7 to reach 4.5:1, or #761ED9 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #d8bdf6?

#DBF6BD sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #F6F4BD and #BFF6BD, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #d8bdf6?

For interface work: #F7F4FA as the surface, #D5C0ED for borders, #714B9B for secondary text, #92B913 as an accent and #3D0F70 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BDBFF6 and #F4BDF6 stays calm, while #DBF6BD is the loudest partner.

What is #d8bdf6 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(12%, 23%, 0%, 4%). 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 #d8bdf6 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 68 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #EDBDF6; nudged cooler, #C3BCF7.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #d8bdf6?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 25.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #d8bdf6 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #d8bdf6 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#d8bdf6] or text-[#d8bdf6], 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 #d8bdf6 with 50% opacity?

rgba(216, 189, 246, 0.5), or #d8bdf680 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #ECDEFB; over black, #6C5F7B.

Is #d8bdf6 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCFF, ΔE2000 7.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #d8bdf6 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 #d8bdf6?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F4EDFD, #d8bdf6 45%, #3D0F70). For more colour, a short hue run to #F2A2E0 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #d8bdf6 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #d8bdf6 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.