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violet · cool

#dbb9ee

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Amethyst

RGB
219, 185, 238
HSL
279°, 61%, 83%
CMYK
8, 22, 0, 7
Luminance
0.5593

#dbb9ee is a light vivid violet, 279° on the wheel and 62/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.19:1). As text it scores 1.72:1 on white — use #A44ED4 instead. Nearest name is Plum, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(279 61% 83%)rgb(219 185 238)Base step 200AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #dbb9ee is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#dbb9ee
Hue
279°
violet
Saturation
61%
vivid
Lightness
83%
light
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
79%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5593
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
62/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
12.19:1
Closest name
Plum
ΔE2000 7
Chroma
30.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.832
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 24.5
Web-safe
#CCCCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue279° of 360°
Saturation61%
Lightness83%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #dbb9ee.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool62% 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
Red27%
Green62%
Blue11%

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

Every format

HEX#dbb9ee
HEX (8-digit)#dbb9eeff
RGBrgb(219, 185, 238)
RGBArgba(219, 185, 238, 1)
HSLhsl(279, 61%, 83%)
HSV / HSBhsv(278, 22%, 93%)
HWBhwb(279 73% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(8%, 22%, 0%, 7%)
LABlab(79.6 21.6 -21.8)
LCHlch(79.6 30.7 314.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.832 0.081 313.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(61.99, 55.93, 88.40)
Decimal14399982
Display P3color(display-p3 0.859 0.725 0.933)
Web-safe#CCCCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #dbb9ee;
background-color: #dbb9ee;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #dbb9ee;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#dbb9ee] bg-[#dbb9ee]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #dbb9ee;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.859, green: 0.725, blue: 0.933)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.859, green: 0.725, blue: 0.933, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DBB9EE</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDBB9EE)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDBB9EE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(238, 185, 219)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(219, 185, 238)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(219, 185, 238)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 219, 185, 238)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8588f, 0.7255f, 0.9333f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{219,185,238}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #dbb9ee 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #dbb9ee 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#4B1967, #E4D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #dbb9ee 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: #F8F4FB;
  --brand-100: #F2E8F7;
  --brand-200: #dbb9ee;
  --brand-300: #D1A5E9;
  --brand-400: #B978DE;
  --brand-500: #A24AD3;
  --brand-600: #9030C5;
  --brand-700: #7828A4;
  --brand-800: #602083;
  --brand-900: #471B5F;
  --brand-950: #2C113C;
  --brand: #dbb9ee;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F4FA;
  --brand-border: #DDC0ED;
  --brand-hover: #CC9CE7;
  --brand-pressed: #BD7FE0;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1E1424;
    --brand-ink: #E4D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F4FB',
        100: '#F2E8F7',
        200: '#dbb9ee',
        300: '#D1A5E9',
        400: '#B978DE',
        500: '#A24AD3',
        600: '#9030C5',
        700: '#7828A4',
        800: '#602083',
        900: '#471B5F',
        950: '#2C113C',
        DEFAULT: '#dbb9ee',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F4FB,
  '100': #F2E8F7,
  '200': #dbb9ee,
  '300': #D1A5E9,
  '400': #B978DE,
  '500': #A24AD3,
  '600': #9030C5,
  '700': #7828A4,
  '800': #602083,
  '900': #471B5F,
  '950': #2C113C,
);
$brand-base: #dbb9ee;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F4FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F2E8F7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#dbb9ee", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D1A5E9", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#B978DE", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#A24AD3", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#9030C5", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#7828A4", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#602083", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#471B5F", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2C113C", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #dbb9ee · 12.19:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.72:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.19:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #dbb9ee as text scores 1.72:1 on white and 12.19:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #4B1967 at 7.46:1.

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
#A44ED4 · 4.55:1
AA on white−26% L
#A44ED4
The quick fox
#832CB4 · 7.04:1
AAA on white−39% L
#832CB4
The quick fox
#dbb9ee · 12.19:1
AA on blackalready passes
#dbb9ee
The quick fox
#dbb9ee · 12.19:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#dbb9ee

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #BB7BDF 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
#dbb9ee on white: 1.72:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#dbb9ee on black: 12.19:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #dbb9ee as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #dbb9ee.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.72:1AaAa
Slate 501.65:1AaAa
Slate 1001.57:1AaAa
Slate 2001.40:1AaAa
Slate 3001.16:1AaAa
Slate 4001.49:1AaAa
Slate 5002.76:1AaAa
Slate 6004.40:1AaAa
Slate 7006.01:1AaAa
Slate 8008.49:1AaAa
Slate 90010.36:1AaAa
Black12.19:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B2C3F0
deuteranopia · #B9C6EC
tritanopia · #DABFCB

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. #dbb9ee 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.

#F8F4FB
#F2E8F7
#dbb9ee
#D1A5E9
#B978DE
#A24AD3
#9030C5
#7828A4
#602083
#471B5F
#2C113C
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F8F4FBDarkest = 950 · #2C113CText 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 0.020 313.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.032 313.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.049 313.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.063 313.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.075 313.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.081 313.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.081 313.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.076 313.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.068 313.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.057 313.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.045 313.3);
}

Colors that work with #dbb9ee

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#F8F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#DDC0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#7E4B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#75A923
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#4B1967
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F4EAFA
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1E1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#CC9CE7
One step down in lightness
Pressed#BD7FE0
Two steps down
Disabled#F5F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#E4C6F5
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 #dbb9ee

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 #4B1967
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #BB7BDF

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
  • Weight17/100
  • 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#CCEEB9
Analogous left#C0B9EE
Analogous right#EEB9E6
Split-complement 1#E6EEB9
Split-complement 2#B9EEC0
Triadic 1#EEDBB9
Triadic 2#B9EEDB
Tetradic#EEC0B9
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°279°

#dbb9ee sits at 279°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red85.9%
Green72.5%
Blue93.3%
R · 0–255
219
0xdb
G · 0–255
185
0xb9
B · 0–255
238
0xee

CMYK percentages

Cyan8.0%
Magenta22.3%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)6.7%

Total ink coverage is 37%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#dbb9ee text on a black background

contrast 12.19:1

Card sample

#dbb9ee text on a white background

contrast 1.72:1

Card sample

#dbb9ee on grey

1.57:1

#dbb9ee on its own surface

1.58:1

#dbb9ee on its dark surface

10.32:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #dbb9ee;
Background color
Panel with #dbb9ee background
background-color: #dbb9ee;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #dbb9ee;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(219, 185, 238, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(219, 185, 238, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #dbb9ee;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #dbb9ee, #EEB9DE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dbb9ee, #EEB9D0);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #dbb9ee;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #dbb9ee;
caret-color: #dbb9ee;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #dbb9ee;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F4EAFA;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #dbb9ee;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#dbb9ee 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #dbb9ee 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, 185, 238, 0.5)
rgb(219 185 238 / 50%)
#dbb9ee80
hsl(279 61% 83% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #dbb9ee 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#dbb9ee1a#FBF8FD
20%#dbb9ee33#F8F1FC
40%#dbb9ee66#F1E3F8
60%#dbb9ee99#E9D5F5
80%#dbb9eecc#E2C7F1

Gradients from #dbb9ee

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, #F4EAFA, #dbb9ee 45%, #4B1967);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #dbb9ee, #E8A0CC);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dbb9ee, #CCEEB9);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F9F3FC 0%, #dbb9ee 45%, #4B1967 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #E3E2F8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #F4D1EC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #4B1967 0%, transparent 65%), #dbb9ee;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #dbb9ee

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.

#dbb9ee 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 12.19:1.

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.

#dbb9ee, answered

What color is #dbb9ee?

#dbb9ee is a light vivid violet, closest to Plum (ΔE2000 7). It sits at 279° on the hue wheel with 61% saturation and 83% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #dbb9ee?

rgb(219, 185, 238) — 219 red, 185 green and 238 blue out of 255, or 85.9% / 72.5% / 93.3% by channel.

What is #dbb9ee in HSL and HSV?

hsl(279, 61%, 83%) and hsv(278, 22%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #dbb9ee a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5593 and perceived brightness is 79%, so black text on it reaches 12.19:1.

Should I use black or white text on #dbb9ee?

Black. It scores 12.19:1 against #dbb9ee, versus 1.72:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #dbb9ee accessible on a white background?

#dbb9ee on white scores 1.72:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #A44ED4 to reach 4.5:1, or #832CB4 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #dbb9ee?

#CCEEB9 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #E6EEB9 and #B9EEC0, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #dbb9ee?

For interface work: #F8F4FA as the surface, #DDC0ED for borders, #7E4B9B for secondary text, #75A923 as an accent and #4B1967 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #C0B9EE and #EEB9E6 stays calm, while #CCEEB9 is the loudest partner.

What is #dbb9ee in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(8%, 22%, 0%, 7%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #dbb9ee warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 62 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #EEB9EE; nudged cooler, #C7B8EF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #dbb9ee?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 24.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #dbb9ee as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #dbb9ee in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#dbb9ee] or text-[#dbb9ee], 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 #dbb9ee with 50% opacity?

rgba(219, 185, 238, 0.5), or #dbb9ee80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EDDCF7; over black, #6E5D77.

Is #dbb9ee a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCFF, ΔE2000 9.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #dbb9ee 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 #dbb9ee?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F4EAFA, #dbb9ee 45%, #4B1967). For more colour, a short hue run to #E8A0CC keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #dbb9ee in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #dbb9ee at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.