Skip to content
violet · neutral

#dbb8e5

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

Token name suggestion: Linen Iris

RGB
219, 184, 229
HSL
287°, 46%, 81%
CMYK
4, 20, 0, 10
Luminance
0.5500

#dbb8e5 is a light vivid violet, 287° on the wheel and 57/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.00:1). As text it scores 1.75:1 on white — use #A853C0 instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(287 46% 81%)rgb(219 184 229)Base step 300AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #dbb8e5 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#dbb8e5
Hue
287°
violet
Saturation
46%
vivid
Lightness
81%
light
Brightness
90%
HSV value
Perceived
79%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5500
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
57/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
12.00:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 6
Chroma
27.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.827
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 25
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue287° of 360°
Saturation46%
Lightness81%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #dbb8e5.

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
Red27%
Green62%
Blue10%

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

Every format

HEX#dbb8e5
HEX (8-digit)#dbb8e5ff
RGBrgb(219, 184, 229)
RGBArgba(219, 184, 229, 1)
HSLhsl(287, 46%, 81%)
HSV / HSBhsv(287, 20%, 90%)
HWBhwb(287 72% 10%)
CMYKcmyk(4%, 20%, 0%, 10%)
LABlab(79.0 20.4 -17.8)
LCHlch(79.0 27.1 319.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.827 0.072 318.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(60.49, 55.00, 81.54)
Decimal14399717
Display P3color(display-p3 0.859 0.722 0.898)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #dbb8e5;
background-color: #dbb8e5;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #dbb8e5;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#dbb8e5] bg-[#dbb8e5]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #dbb8e5;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.859, green: 0.722, blue: 0.898)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.859, green: 0.722, blue: 0.898, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DBB8E5</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDBB8E5)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDBB8E5)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(229, 184, 219)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(219, 184, 229)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(219, 184, 229)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 219, 184, 229)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8588f, 0.7216f, 0.8980f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{219,184,229}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #dbb8e5 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #dbb8e5 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#50225D, #E8D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #dbb8e5 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: #F9F5FA;
  --brand-100: #F3EAF5;
  --brand-200: #E5D0EB;
  --brand-300: #dbb8e5;
  --brand-400: #C184D2;
  --brand-500: #AC5BC3;
  --brand-600: #9A42B3;
  --brand-700: #803795;
  --brand-800: #672C77;
  --brand-900: #4C2357;
  --brand-950: #2F1637;
  --brand: #dbb8e5;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9F4FA;
  --brand-border: #E1C3E9;
  --brand-hover: #CE9EDB;
  --brand-pressed: #C184D2;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #211424;
    --brand-ink: #E8D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F5FA',
        100: '#F3EAF5',
        200: '#E5D0EB',
        300: '#dbb8e5',
        400: '#C184D2',
        500: '#AC5BC3',
        600: '#9A42B3',
        700: '#803795',
        800: '#672C77',
        900: '#4C2357',
        950: '#2F1637',
        DEFAULT: '#dbb8e5',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F5FA,
  '100': #F3EAF5,
  '200': #E5D0EB,
  '300': #dbb8e5,
  '400': #C184D2,
  '500': #AC5BC3,
  '600': #9A42B3,
  '700': #803795,
  '800': #672C77,
  '900': #4C2357,
  '950': #2F1637,
);
$brand-base: #dbb8e5;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F5FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F3EAF5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E5D0EB", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#dbb8e5", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C184D2", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#AC5BC3", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#9A42B3", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#803795", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#672C77", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4C2357", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2F1637", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #dbb8e5 · 12.00:1
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 · 12.00:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #dbb8e5 as text scores 1.75:1 on white and 12.00:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #50225D at 6.94:1.

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
#A853C0 · 4.50:1
AA on white−27% L
#A853C0
The quick fox
#803795 · 7.25:1
AAA on white−41% L
#803795
The quick fox
#dbb8e5 · 12.00:1
AA on blackalready passes
#dbb8e5
The quick fox
#dbb8e5 · 12.00:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#dbb8e5

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #BD7CCF 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
#dbb8e5 on white: 1.75:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#dbb8e5 on black: 12.00:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #dbb8e5 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #dbb8e5.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.75:1AaAa
Slate 501.67:1AaAa
Slate 1001.60:1AaAa
Slate 2001.42:1AaAa
Slate 3001.18:1AaAa
Slate 4001.47:1AaAa
Slate 5002.72:1AaAa
Slate 6004.33:1AaAa
Slate 7005.92:1AaAa
Slate 8008.36:1AaAa
Slate 90010.20:1AaAa
Black12.00:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B3C1E7
deuteranopia · #BBC5E3
tritanopia · #DCBDC7

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. #dbb8e5 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.

#F9F5FA
#F3EAF5
#E5D0EB
#dbb8e5
#C184D2
#AC5BC3
#9A42B3
#803795
#672C77
#4C2357
#2F1637
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F9F5FADarkest = 950 · #2F1637Text 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 0.018 318.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.029 318.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.043 318.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.057 318.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.067 318.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.072 318.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.072 318.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.068 318.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.061 318.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.051 318.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.040 318.7);
}

Colors that work with #dbb8e5

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#E1C3E9
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#894B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#639A32
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#50225D
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F6ECF8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#211424
Dark-mode background
Hover#CE9EDB
One step down in lightness
Pressed#C184D2
Two steps down
Disabled#F6F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#E5C3EE
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 #dbb8e5

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 #50225D
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #BD7CCF

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
  • Weight19/100
  • 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#C2E5B8
Analogous left#C5B8E5
Analogous right#E5B8D9
Split-complement 1#D9E5B8
Split-complement 2#B8E5C5
Triadic 1#E5DBB8
Triadic 2#B8E5DB
Tetradic#E5C5B8
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°287°

#dbb8e5 sits at 287°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red85.9%
Green72.2%
Blue89.8%
R · 0–255
219
0xdb
G · 0–255
184
0xb8
B · 0–255
229
0xe5

CMYK percentages

Cyan4.4%
Magenta19.7%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)10.2%

Total ink coverage is 34%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#dbb8e5 text on a black background

contrast 12.00:1

Card sample

#dbb8e5 text on a white background

contrast 1.75:1

Card sample

#dbb8e5 on grey

1.60:1

#dbb8e5 on its own surface

1.61:1

#dbb8e5 on its dark surface

10.08:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #dbb8e5;
Background color
Panel with #dbb8e5 background
background-color: #dbb8e5;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #dbb8e5;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(219, 184, 229, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(219, 184, 229, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #dbb8e5;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #dbb8e5, #E5B8D1);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dbb8e5, #E5B8C6);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #dbb8e5;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #dbb8e5;
caret-color: #dbb8e5;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #dbb8e5;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F6ECF8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #dbb8e5;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#dbb8e5 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #dbb8e5 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, 184, 229, 0.5)
rgb(219 184 229 / 50%)
#dbb8e580
hsl(287 46% 81% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #dbb8e5 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#dbb8e51a#FBF8FC
20%#dbb8e533#F8F1FA
40%#dbb8e566#F1E3F5
60%#dbb8e599#E9D4EF
80%#dbb8e5cc#E2C6EA

Gradients from #dbb8e5

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, #F2E5F5, #dbb8e5 45%, #50225D);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #dbb8e5, #DDA2BE);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dbb8e5, #C2E5B8);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F9F4FB 0%, #dbb8e5 45%, #50225D 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%, #E2DDF3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #EDCEE2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #50225D 0%, transparent 65%), #dbb8e5;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #dbb8e5

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.

#dbb8e5 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 12.00:1.

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.

#dbb8e5, answered

What color is #dbb8e5?

#dbb8e5 is a light vivid violet, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 6). It sits at 287° on the hue wheel with 46% saturation and 81% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #dbb8e5?

rgb(219, 184, 229) — 219 red, 184 green and 229 blue out of 255, or 85.9% / 72.2% / 89.8% by channel.

What is #dbb8e5 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(287, 46%, 81%) and hsv(287, 20%, 90%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #dbb8e5 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5500 and perceived brightness is 79%, so black text on it reaches 12.00:1.

Should I use black or white text on #dbb8e5?

Black. It scores 12.00:1 against #dbb8e5, versus 1.75:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #dbb8e5 accessible on a white background?

#dbb8e5 on white scores 1.75:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #A853C0 to reach 4.5:1, or #803795 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #dbb8e5?

#C2E5B8 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #D9E5B8 and #B8E5C5, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #dbb8e5?

For interface work: #F9F4FA as the surface, #E1C3E9 for borders, #894B9B for secondary text, #639A32 as an accent and #50225D for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #C5B8E5 and #E5B8D9 stays calm, while #C2E5B8 is the loudest partner.

What is #dbb8e5 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(4%, 20%, 0%, 10%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #dbb8e5 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 #E5B8DF; nudged cooler, #CAB7E6.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #dbb8e5?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 25 away. That is a visible difference, so define #dbb8e5 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #dbb8e5 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#dbb8e5] or text-[#dbb8e5], 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 #dbb8e5 with 50% opacity?

rgba(219, 184, 229, 0.5), or #dbb8e580 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EDDCF2; over black, #6E5C73.

Is #dbb8e5 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 19.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #dbb8e5 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 #dbb8e5?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F2E5F5, #dbb8e5 45%, #50225D). For more colour, a short hue run to #DDA2BE keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #dbb8e5 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #dbb8e5 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.