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violet · cool

#a034da

a balanced, vivid violet · cool · closest name: Dark Orchid

Token name suggestion: Signal Iris

RGB
160, 52, 218
HSL
279°, 69%, 53%
CMYK
27, 76, 0, 15
Luminance
0.1499

#a034da is a balanced vivid violet, 279° on the wheel and 62/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (5.25:1). As text it scores 5.25:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Dark Orchid, nearest Tailwind family is purple.

hsl(279 69% 53%)rgb(160 52 218)Base step 500AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #a034da is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#a034da
Hue
279°
violet
Saturation
69%
vivid
Lightness
53%
balanced
Brightness
85%
HSV value
Perceived
47%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1499
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
62/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
White
5.25:1
Closest name
Dark Orchid
ΔE2000 2.4
Chroma
94.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.562
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
purple
500 · ΔE 8.5
Web-safe
#9933CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue279° of 360°
Saturation69%
Lightness53%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #a034da.

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
Red50%
Green16%
Blue34%

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

Every format

HEX#a034da
HEX (8-digit)#a034daff
RGBrgb(160, 52, 218)
RGBArgba(160, 52, 218, 1)
HSLhsl(279, 69%, 53%)
HSV / HSBhsv(279, 76%, 85%)
HWBhwb(279 20% 15%)
CMYKcmyk(27%, 76%, 0%, 15%)
LABlab(45.6 68.6 -64.5)
LCHlch(45.6 94.1 316.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.562 0.240 310.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(28.38, 14.99, 67.71)
Decimal10499290
Display P3color(display-p3 0.627 0.204 0.855)
Web-safe#9933CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #a034da;
background-color: #a034da;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #a034da;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#a034da] bg-[#a034da]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #a034da;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.627, green: 0.204, blue: 0.855)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.627, green: 0.204, blue: 0.855, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#A034DA</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFA034DA)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFA034DA)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(218, 52, 160)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(160, 52, 218)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(160, 52, 218)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 160, 52, 218)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6275f, 0.2039f, 0.8549f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{160,52,218}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #a034da 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #a034da 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#4D146C, #E5D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #a034da 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: #F9F3FB;
  --brand-100: #F2E7F8;
  --brand-200: #E4CAF2;
  --brand-300: #D3A0EE;
  --brand-400: #BC71E5;
  --brand-500: #a034da;
  --brand-600: #9426CF;
  --brand-700: #7B1FAD;
  --brand-800: #63198A;
  --brand-900: #491664;
  --brand-950: #2E0E3F;
  --brand: #a034da;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F8F4FA;
  --brand-border: #DDC0ED;
  --brand-hover: #8D24C6;
  --brand-pressed: #781FA8;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1F1424;
    --brand-ink: #E5D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F3FB',
        100: '#F2E7F8',
        200: '#E4CAF2',
        300: '#D3A0EE',
        400: '#BC71E5',
        500: '#a034da',
        600: '#9426CF',
        700: '#7B1FAD',
        800: '#63198A',
        900: '#491664',
        950: '#2E0E3F',
        DEFAULT: '#a034da',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F3FB,
  '100': #F2E7F8,
  '200': #E4CAF2,
  '300': #D3A0EE,
  '400': #BC71E5,
  '500': #a034da,
  '600': #9426CF,
  '700': #7B1FAD,
  '800': #63198A,
  '900': #491664,
  '950': #2E0E3F,
);
$brand-base: #a034da;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F3FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F2E7F8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E4CAF2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D3A0EE", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#BC71E5", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#a034da", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#9426CF", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#7B1FAD", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#63198A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#491664", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2E0E3F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#ffffff", "$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#ffffff on #a034da · 5.25:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 5.25:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 4.00:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #a034da as text scores 5.25:1 on white and 4.00:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F5E9FB at 4.48:1.

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
#a034da · 5.25:1
AA on whitealready passes
#a034da
The quick fox
#8722BD · 7.01:1
AAA on white−9% L
#8722BD
The quick fox
#A845DD · 4.56:1
AA on black+4% L
#A845DD
The quick fox
#C079E7 · 7.13:1
AAA on black+16% L
#C079E7

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A034DA 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
#a034da on white: 5.25:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#a034da on black: 4.00:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #a034da as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #a034da.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White5.25:1AaAa
Slate 505.02:1AaAa
Slate 1004.79:1AaAa
Slate 2004.26:1AaAa
Slate 3003.54:1AaAa
Slate 4002.05:1AaAa
Slate 5001.10:1AaAa
Slate 6001.44:1AaAa
Slate 7001.97:1AaAa
Slate 8002.79:1AaAa
Slate 9003.40:1AaAa
Black4.00:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #0067DF
deuteranopia · #006ED7
tritanopia · #985C86

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. #a034da is pinned to step 500; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F9F3FB
#F2E7F8
#E4CAF2
#D3A0EE
#BC71E5
#a034da
#9426CF
#7B1FAD
#63198A
#491664
#2E0E3F
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F9F3FBDarkest = 950 · #2E0E3FText 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 0.060 310.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.096 310.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.144 310.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.187 310.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.221 310.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.240 310.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.240 310.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.226 310.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.202 310.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.168 310.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.132 310.4);
}

Colors that work with #a034da

Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.

Text on it#ffffff
White wins here
Surface#F8F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#DDC0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#7F4B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#74B11B
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#4D146C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F5E9FB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1F1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#8D24C6
One step down in lightness
Pressed#781FA8
Two steps down
Disabled#C3B1CD
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#AB3AE8
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 #a034da

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Body text and links on white
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
Any size
Safe as a fill behind white type
Yes
Safe as a 1px border on white
Yes

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 mid lightness keeps it versatile in both themes.

Worth knowing

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

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight47/100
  • 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#6EDA34
Analogous left#4D34DA
Analogous right#DA34C1
Split-complement 1#C1DA34
Split-complement 2#34DA4D
Triadic 1#DAA034
Triadic 2#34DAA0
Tetradic#DA4D34
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°279°

#a034da sits at 279°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red62.7%
Green20.4%
Blue85.5%
R · 0–255
160
0xa0
G · 0–255
52
0x34
B · 0–255
218
0xda

CMYK percentages

Cyan26.6%
Magenta76.1%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)14.5%

Total ink coverage is 117%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#a034da text on a black background

contrast 4.00:1

Card sample

#a034da text on a white background

contrast 5.25:1

Card sample

#a034da on grey

4.79:1

#a034da on its own surface

4.83:1

#a034da on its dark surface

3.38:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #a034da;
Background color
Panel with #a034da background
background-color: #a034da;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #a034da;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(160, 52, 218, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(160, 52, 218, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #a034da;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #a034da, #DA34A5);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #a034da, #DA347C);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #a034da;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #a034da;
caret-color: #a034da;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #a034da;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F5E9FB;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #a034da;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#a034da 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #a034da 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(160, 52, 218, 0.5)
rgb(160 52 218 / 50%)
#a034da80
hsl(279 69% 53% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #a034da 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#a034da1a#F6EBFB
20%#a034da33#ECD6F8
40%#a034da66#D9AEF0
60%#a034da99#C685E9
80%#a034dacc#B35DE1

Gradients from #a034da

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, #B868E3, #a034da 45%, #4D146C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #a034da, #CA2588);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #a034da, #6EDA34);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #C481E8 0%, #a034da 45%, #4D146C 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%, #685FE2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #DF4EBD 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #4D146C 0%, transparent 65%), #a034da;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #a034da

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.

#a034da 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
ButtonsLinksFocus statesCharts
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

Too dim on dark surfaces at 4.00:1 — lift it to #A845DD for body text, or reserve it for fills.

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.

#a034da, answered

What color is #a034da?

#a034da is a balanced vivid violet, closest to Dark Orchid (ΔE2000 2.4). It sits at 279° on the hue wheel with 69% saturation and 53% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #a034da?

rgb(160, 52, 218) — 160 red, 52 green and 218 blue out of 255, or 62.7% / 20.4% / 85.5% by channel.

What is #a034da in HSL and HSV?

hsl(279, 69%, 53%) and hsv(279, 76%, 85%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #a034da a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1499 and perceived brightness is 47%, so white text on it reaches 5.25:1.

Should I use black or white text on #a034da?

White. It scores 5.25:1 against #a034da, versus 4.00:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #a034da accessible on a white background?

#a034da on white scores 5.25:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #a034da?

#6EDA34 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #C1DA34 and #34DA4D, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #a034da?

For interface work: #F8F4FA as the surface, #DDC0ED for borders, #7F4B9B for secondary text, #74B11B as an accent and #4D146C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #4D34DA and #DA34C1 stays calm, while #6EDA34 is the loudest partner.

What is #a034da in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(27%, 76%, 0%, 15%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #a034da 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 #DA34D7; nudged cooler, #6231DC.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #a034da?

The purple family — its 500 step is #a855f7, ΔE2000 8.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #a034da as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #a034da in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#a034da] or text-[#a034da], 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 #a034da with 50% opacity?

rgba(160, 52, 218, 0.5), or #a034da80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D09AED; over black, #501A6D.

Is #a034da a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9933CC, ΔE2000 2.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #a034da 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 #a034da?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #B868E3, #a034da 45%, #4D146C). For more colour, a short hue run to #CA2588 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #a034da in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #a034da at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.