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violet · neutral

#db9cec

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

Token name suggestion: Morning Iris

RGB
219, 156, 236
HSL
287°, 68%, 77%
CMYK
7, 34, 0, 8
Luminance
0.4489

#db9cec is a light vivid violet, 287° on the wheel and 57/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.98:1). As text it scores 2.10:1 on white — use #B73AD9 instead. Nearest name is Plum, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(287 68% 77%)rgb(219 156 236)Base step 300AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #db9cec is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#db9cec
Hue
287°
violet
Saturation
68%
vivid
Lightness
77%
light
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
73%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4489
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
57/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
9.98:1
Closest name
Plum
ΔE2000 4.1
Chroma
48.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.780
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 17
Web-safe
#CC99FF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue287° of 360°
Saturation68%
Lightness77%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #db9cec.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool57% 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
Red34%
Green53%
Blue13%

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

Every format

HEX#db9cec
HEX (8-digit)#db9cecff
RGBrgb(219, 156, 236)
RGBArgba(219, 156, 236, 1)
HSLhsl(287, 68%, 77%)
HSV / HSBhsv(287, 34%, 93%)
HWBhwb(287 61% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(7%, 34%, 0%, 8%)
LABlab(72.8 36.9 -31.0)
LCHlch(72.8 48.2 319.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.780 0.129 319.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(56.24, 44.89, 85.04)
Decimal14392556
Display P3color(display-p3 0.859 0.612 0.925)
Web-safe#CC99FF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #db9cec;
background-color: #db9cec;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #db9cec;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#db9cec] bg-[#db9cec]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #db9cec;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.859, green: 0.612, blue: 0.925)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.859, green: 0.612, blue: 0.925, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DB9CEC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDB9CEC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDB9CEC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(236, 156, 219)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(219, 156, 236)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(219, 156, 236)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 219, 156, 236)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8588f, 0.6118f, 0.9255f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{219,156,236}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #db9cec 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #db9cec 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#59156B, #E8D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #db9cec 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: #FAF3FB;
  --brand-100: #F4E8F8;
  --brand-200: #E9CAF2;
  --brand-300: #db9cec;
  --brand-400: #CC72E4;
  --brand-500: #BB43DB;
  --brand-600: #AA27CD;
  --brand-700: #8E21AB;
  --brand-800: #721A89;
  --brand-900: #531763;
  --brand-950: #340E3E;
  --brand: #db9cec;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9F4FA;
  --brand-border: #E3C0ED;
  --brand-hover: #D07EE6;
  --brand-pressed: #C560E1;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #211424;
    --brand-ink: #E8D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FAF3FB',
        100: '#F4E8F8',
        200: '#E9CAF2',
        300: '#db9cec',
        400: '#CC72E4',
        500: '#BB43DB',
        600: '#AA27CD',
        700: '#8E21AB',
        800: '#721A89',
        900: '#531763',
        950: '#340E3E',
        DEFAULT: '#db9cec',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FAF3FB,
  '100': #F4E8F8,
  '200': #E9CAF2,
  '300': #db9cec,
  '400': #CC72E4,
  '500': #BB43DB,
  '600': #AA27CD,
  '700': #8E21AB,
  '800': #721A89,
  '900': #531763,
  '950': #340E3E,
);
$brand-base: #db9cec;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FAF3FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F4E8F8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E9CAF2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#db9cec", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#CC72E4", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#BB43DB", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#AA27CD", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#8E21AB", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#721A89", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#531763", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#340E3E", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #db9cec · 9.98:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.10:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.98:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #db9cec as text scores 2.10:1 on white and 9.98:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #59156B at 5.72:1.

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
#B73AD9 · 4.54:1
AA on white−23% L
#B73AD9
The quick fox
#8E21AB · 7.10:1
AAA on white−37% L
#8E21AB
The quick fox
#db9cec · 9.98:1
AA on blackalready passes
#db9cec
The quick fox
#db9cec · 9.98:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#db9cec

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #CA6DE3 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
#db9cec on white: 2.10:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#db9cec on black: 9.98:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #db9cec as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #db9cec.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.10:1AaAa
Slate 502.01:1AaAa
Slate 1001.92:1AaAa
Slate 2001.71:1AaAa
Slate 3001.42:1AaAa
Slate 4001.22:1AaAa
Slate 5002.26:1AaAa
Slate 6003.60:1AaAa
Slate 7004.92:1AaAa
Slate 8006.95:1AaAa
Slate 9008.48:1AaAa
Black9.98:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #92AEEF
deuteranopia · #A1B5E9
tritanopia · #DCA5BA

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. #db9cec 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.

#FAF3FB
#F4E8F8
#E9CAF2
#db9cec
#CC72E4
#BB43DB
#AA27CD
#8E21AB
#721A89
#531763
#340E3E
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #FAF3FBDarkest = 950 · #340E3EText 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 0.032 319.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.052 319.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.078 319.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.101 319.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.119 319.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.129 319.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.129 319.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.122 319.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.109 319.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.091 319.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.071 319.0);
}

Colors that work with #db9cec

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#E3C0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#8A4B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#61AF1D
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#59156B
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F7EAFB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#211424
Dark-mode background
Hover#D07EE6
One step down in lightness
Pressed#C560E1
Two steps down
Disabled#F6F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#E4A8F4
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 #db9cec

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 #59156B
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #CA6DE3

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
  • Weight23/100
  • 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#ADEC9C
Analogous left#B39CEC
Analogous right#EC9CD5
Split-complement 1#D5EC9C
Split-complement 2#9CECB3
Triadic 1#ECDB9C
Triadic 2#9CECDB
Tetradic#ECB39C
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°287°

#db9cec sits at 287°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red85.9%
Green61.2%
Blue92.5%
R · 0–255
219
0xdb
G · 0–255
156
0x9c
B · 0–255
236
0xec

CMYK percentages

Cyan7.2%
Magenta33.9%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)7.5%

Total ink coverage is 49%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#db9cec text on a black background

contrast 9.98:1

Card sample

#db9cec text on a white background

contrast 2.10:1

Card sample

#db9cec on grey

1.92:1

#db9cec on its own surface

1.94:1

#db9cec on its dark surface

8.38:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #db9cec;
Background color
Panel with #db9cec background
background-color: #db9cec;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #db9cec;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(219, 156, 236, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(219, 156, 236, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #db9cec;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #db9cec, #EC9CC8);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #db9cec, #EC9CB4);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #db9cec;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #db9cec;
caret-color: #db9cec;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #db9cec;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F7EAFB;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #db9cec;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#db9cec 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #db9cec 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(219, 156, 236, 0.5)
rgb(219 156 236 / 50%)
#db9cec80
hsl(287 68% 77% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #db9cec 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#db9cec1a#FBF5FD
20%#db9cec33#F8EBFB
40%#db9cec66#F1D7F7
60%#db9cec99#E9C4F4
80%#db9ceccc#E2B0F0

Gradients from #db9cec

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, #EED0F6, #db9cec 45%, #59156B);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #db9cec, #E782B1);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #db9cec, #ADEC9C);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F7E9FB 0%, #db9cec 45%, #59156B 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%, #D0C7F4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #F1B6DB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #59156B 0%, transparent 65%), #db9cec;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #db9cec

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.

#db9cec 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 9.98:1.

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.

#db9cec, answered

What color is #db9cec?

#db9cec is a light vivid violet, closest to Plum (ΔE2000 4.1). It sits at 287° on the hue wheel with 68% saturation and 77% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #db9cec?

rgb(219, 156, 236) — 219 red, 156 green and 236 blue out of 255, or 85.9% / 61.2% / 92.5% by channel.

What is #db9cec in HSL and HSV?

hsl(287, 68%, 77%) and hsv(287, 34%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #db9cec a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4489 and perceived brightness is 73%, so black text on it reaches 9.98:1.

Should I use black or white text on #db9cec?

Black. It scores 9.98:1 against #db9cec, versus 2.10:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #db9cec accessible on a white background?

#db9cec on white scores 2.10:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #B73AD9 to reach 4.5:1, or #8E21AB for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #db9cec?

#ADEC9C sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #D5EC9C and #9CECB3, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #db9cec?

For interface work: #F9F4FA as the surface, #E3C0ED for borders, #8A4B9B for secondary text, #61AF1D as an accent and #59156B for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #B39CEC and #EC9CD5 stays calm, while #ADEC9C is the loudest partner.

What is #db9cec in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(7%, 34%, 0%, 8%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #db9cec warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 57 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #EC9CE0; nudged cooler, #BE9BED.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #db9cec?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 17 away. That is a visible difference, so define #db9cec as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #db9cec in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#db9cec] or text-[#db9cec], 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 #db9cec with 50% opacity?

rgba(219, 156, 236, 0.5), or #db9cec80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EDCEF6; over black, #6E4E76.

Is #db9cec a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99FF, ΔE2000 5.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #db9cec 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 #db9cec?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #EED0F6, #db9cec 45%, #59156B). For more colour, a short hue run to #E782B1 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #db9cec in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #db9cec at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.