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violet · cool

#e4cdec

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

Token name suggestion: Whisper Amethyst

RGB
228, 205, 236
HSL
285°, 45%, 87%
CMYK
3, 13, 0, 8
Luminance
0.6621

#e4cdec is a pale soft violet, 285° on the wheel and 59/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (14.24:1). As text it scores 1.47:1 on white — use #A253BE instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is pink.

hsl(285 45% 87%)rgb(228 205 236)Base step 200AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #e4cdec is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#e4cdec
Hue
285°
violet
Saturation
45%
soft
Lightness
87%
pale
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
85%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6621
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
59/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
14.24:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 3.9
Chroma
18.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.877
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
pink
500 · ΔE 29.9
Web-safe
#CCCCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue285° of 360°
Saturation45%
Lightness87%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #e4cdec.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool59% 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%
Green66%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#e4cdec
HEX (8-digit)#e4cdecff
RGBrgb(228, 205, 236)
RGBArgba(228, 205, 236, 1)
HSLhsl(285, 45%, 87%)
HSV / HSBhsv(285, 13%, 93%)
HWBhwb(285 80% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(3%, 13%, 0%, 8%)
LABlab(85.1 13.5 -12.3)
LCHlch(85.1 18.3 317.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.877 0.049 317.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(68.96, 66.21, 88.49)
Decimal14994924
Display P3color(display-p3 0.894 0.804 0.925)
Web-safe#CCCCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #e4cdec;
background-color: #e4cdec;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #e4cdec;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#e4cdec] bg-[#e4cdec]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #e4cdec;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.894, green: 0.804, blue: 0.925)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.894, green: 0.804, blue: 0.925, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#E4CDEC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFE4CDEC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFE4CDEC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(236, 205, 228)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(228, 205, 236)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(228, 205, 236)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 228, 205, 236)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8941f, 0.8039f, 0.9255f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{228,205,236}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #e4cdec 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #e4cdec 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#4E235C, #E7D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #e4cdec 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: #F2EAF5;
  --brand-200: #e4cdec;
  --brand-300: #D3AEE0;
  --brand-400: #BD85D1;
  --brand-500: #A75CC1;
  --brand-600: #9543B1;
  --brand-700: #7C3894;
  --brand-800: #632D76;
  --brand-900: #492456;
  --brand-950: #2E1636;
  --brand: #e4cdec;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9F4FA;
  --brand-border: #DFC4E9;
  --brand-hover: #D6B3E2;
  --brand-pressed: #C899D8;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #201424;
    --brand-ink: #E7D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F5FA',
        100: '#F2EAF5',
        200: '#e4cdec',
        300: '#D3AEE0',
        400: '#BD85D1',
        500: '#A75CC1',
        600: '#9543B1',
        700: '#7C3894',
        800: '#632D76',
        900: '#492456',
        950: '#2E1636',
        DEFAULT: '#e4cdec',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F5FA,
  '100': #F2EAF5,
  '200': #e4cdec,
  '300': #D3AEE0,
  '400': #BD85D1,
  '500': #A75CC1,
  '600': #9543B1,
  '700': #7C3894,
  '800': #632D76,
  '900': #492456,
  '950': #2E1636,
);
$brand-base: #e4cdec;
$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": "#F2EAF5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#e4cdec", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D3AEE0", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#BD85D1", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#A75CC1", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#9543B1", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#7C3894", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#632D76", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#492456", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2E1636", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #e4cdec · 14.24:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.47:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 14.24:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #e4cdec as text scores 1.47:1 on white and 14.24:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #4E235C at 8.29:1.

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
#A253BE · 4.65:1
AA on white−33% L
#A253BE
The quick fox
#813A99 · 7.00:1
AAA on white−45% L
#813A99
The quick fox
#e4cdec · 14.24:1
AA on blackalready passes
#e4cdec
The quick fox
#e4cdec · 14.24:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#e4cdec

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #B87CCD 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
#e4cdec on white: 1.47:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#e4cdec on black: 14.24:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #e4cdec as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #e4cdec.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.47:1AaAa
Slate 501.41:1AaAa
Slate 1001.35:1AaAa
Slate 2001.20:1AaAa
Slate 3001.01:1AaAa
Slate 4001.74:1AaAa
Slate 5003.23:1AaAa
Slate 6005.14:1AaAa
Slate 7007.02:1AaAa
Slate 8009.92:1AaAa
Slate 90012.11:1AaAa
Black14.24:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #CAD3ED
deuteranopia · #CED5EB
tritanopia · #E4D0D7

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. #e4cdec 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.

#F9F5FA
#F2EAF5
#e4cdec
#D3AEE0
#BD85D1
#A75CC1
#9543B1
#7C3894
#632D76
#492456
#2E1636
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F9F5FADarkest = 950 · #2E1636Text 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 0.012 317.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.019 317.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.029 317.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.038 317.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.045 317.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.049 317.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.049 317.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.046 317.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.041 317.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.034 317.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.027 317.4);
}

Colors that work with #e4cdec

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#DFC4E9
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#864B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#679735
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#4E235C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F5EDF8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#201424
Dark-mode background
Hover#D6B3E2
One step down in lightness
Pressed#C899D8
Two steps down
Disabled#F6F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#EDD9F4
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 #e4cdec

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 #4E235C
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #B87CCD

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 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
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight14/100
  • 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#D5ECCD
Analogous left#D5CDEC
Analogous right#ECCDE5
Split-complement 1#E5ECCD
Split-complement 2#CDECD5
Triadic 1#ECE4CD
Triadic 2#CDECE4
Tetradic#ECD5CD
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°285°

#e4cdec sits at 285°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red89.4%
Green80.4%
Blue92.5%
R · 0–255
228
0xe4
G · 0–255
205
0xcd
B · 0–255
236
0xec

CMYK percentages

Cyan3.4%
Magenta13.1%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)7.5%

Total ink coverage is 24%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#e4cdec text on a black background

contrast 14.24:1

Card sample

#e4cdec text on a white background

contrast 1.47:1

Card sample

#e4cdec on grey

1.35:1

#e4cdec on its own surface

1.36:1

#e4cdec on its dark surface

12.00:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #e4cdec;
Background color
Panel with #e4cdec background
background-color: #e4cdec;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #e4cdec;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(228, 205, 236, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(228, 205, 236, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #e4cdec;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #e4cdec, #ECCDDF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #e4cdec, #ECCDD8);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #e4cdec;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #e4cdec;
caret-color: #e4cdec;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #e4cdec;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F5EDF8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #e4cdec;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#e4cdec 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #e4cdec 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(228, 205, 236, 0.5)
rgb(228 205 236 / 50%)
#e4cdec80
hsl(285 45% 87% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #e4cdec 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#e4cdec1a#FCFAFD
20%#e4cdec33#FAF5FB
40%#e4cdec66#F4EBF7
60%#e4cdec99#EFE1F4
80%#e4cdeccc#E9D7F0

Gradients from #e4cdec

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, #F7F0F9, #e4cdec 45%, #4E235C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #e4cdec, #E4B7CE);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #e4cdec, #D5ECCD);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F9F4FB 0%, #e4cdec 45%, #4E235C 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%, #F3F2FA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #F4E3EF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #4E235C 0%, transparent 65%), #e4cdec;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #e4cdec

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.

#e4cdec 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

Very light tints can drop out on uncoated stock; check it at 100% size before signing off.

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 14.24:1.

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.

#e4cdec, answered

What color is #e4cdec?

#e4cdec is a pale soft violet, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 3.9). It sits at 285° on the hue wheel with 45% saturation and 87% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #e4cdec?

rgb(228, 205, 236) — 228 red, 205 green and 236 blue out of 255, or 89.4% / 80.4% / 92.5% by channel.

What is #e4cdec in HSL and HSV?

hsl(285, 45%, 87%) and hsv(285, 13%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #e4cdec a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6621 and perceived brightness is 85%, so black text on it reaches 14.24:1.

Should I use black or white text on #e4cdec?

Black. It scores 14.24:1 against #e4cdec, versus 1.47:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #e4cdec accessible on a white background?

#e4cdec on white scores 1.47:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #A253BE to reach 4.5:1, or #813A99 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #e4cdec?

#D5ECCD sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #E5ECCD and #CDECD5, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #e4cdec?

For interface work: #F9F4FA as the surface, #DFC4E9 for borders, #864B9B for secondary text, #679735 as an accent and #4E235C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #D5CDEC and #ECCDE5 stays calm, while #D5ECCD is the loudest partner.

What is #e4cdec in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(3%, 13%, 0%, 8%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #e4cdec warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 59 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #ECCDE9; nudged cooler, #D9CCED.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #e4cdec?

The pink family — its 500 step is #ec4899, ΔE2000 29.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #e4cdec as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #e4cdec in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#e4cdec] or text-[#e4cdec], 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 #e4cdec with 50% opacity?

rgba(228, 205, 236, 0.5), or #e4cdec80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #F2E6F6; over black, #726776.

Is #e4cdec a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCFF, ΔE2000 9.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #e4cdec 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 #e4cdec?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F7F0F9, #e4cdec 45%, #4E235C). For more colour, a short hue run to #E4B7CE keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #e4cdec in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #e4cdec at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.