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violet · cool

#a596bc

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

Token name suggestion: Morning Thistle

RGB
165, 150, 188
HSL
264°, 22%, 66%
CMYK
12, 20, 0, 26
Luminance
0.3344

#a596bc is a light soft violet, 264° on the wheel and 63/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.69:1). As text it scores 2.73:1 on white — use #806AA0 instead. Nearest name is Plum, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(264 22% 66%)rgb(165 150 188)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #a596bc is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#a596bc
Hue
264°
violet
Saturation
22%
soft
Lightness
66%
light
Brightness
74%
HSV value
Perceived
62%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3344
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
63/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
7.69:1
Closest name
Plum
ΔE2000 12.3
Chroma
21.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.699
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 19.6
Web-safe
#9999CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue264° of 360°
Saturation22%
Lightness66%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #a596bc.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool63% 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
Red24%
Green65%
Blue11%

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

Every format

HEX#a596bc
HEX (8-digit)#a596bcff
RGBrgb(165, 150, 188)
RGBArgba(165, 150, 188, 1)
HSLhsl(264, 22%, 66%)
HSV / HSBhsv(264, 20%, 74%)
HWBhwb(264 59% 26%)
CMYKcmyk(12%, 20%, 0%, 26%)
LABlab(64.5 13.0 -17.7)
LCHlch(64.5 21.9 306.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.699 0.057 302.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(35.50, 33.44, 52.15)
Decimal10852028
Display P3color(display-p3 0.647 0.588 0.737)
Web-safe#9999CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #a596bc;
background-color: #a596bc;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #a596bc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#a596bc] bg-[#a596bc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #a596bc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.647, green: 0.588, blue: 0.737)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.647, green: 0.588, blue: 0.737, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#A596BC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFA596BC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFA596BC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(188, 150, 165)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(165, 150, 188)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(165, 150, 188)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 165, 150, 188)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6471f, 0.5882f, 0.7373f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{165,150,188}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #a596bc 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #a596bc 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#3D324E, #DFDAE7);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #a596bc 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: #F7F6F9;
  --brand-100: #EFEDF2;
  --brand-200: #DCD7E4;
  --brand-300: #C4BBD3;
  --brand-400: #a596bc;
  --brand-500: #8A76A8;
  --brand-600: #755F95;
  --brand-700: #614F7D;
  --brand-800: #4E4064;
  --brand-900: #3B314A;
  --brand-950: #251E2E;
  --brand: #a596bc;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F7F6F9;
  --brand-border: #D4CDDF;
  --brand-hover: #9280AE;
  --brand-pressed: #806AA0;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1B1622;
    --brand-ink: #DFDAE7;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F6F9',
        100: '#EFEDF2',
        200: '#DCD7E4',
        300: '#C4BBD3',
        400: '#a596bc',
        500: '#8A76A8',
        600: '#755F95',
        700: '#614F7D',
        800: '#4E4064',
        900: '#3B314A',
        950: '#251E2E',
        DEFAULT: '#a596bc',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F6F9,
  '100': #EFEDF2,
  '200': #DCD7E4,
  '300': #C4BBD3,
  '400': #a596bc,
  '500': #8A76A8,
  '600': #755F95,
  '700': #614F7D,
  '800': #4E4064,
  '900': #3B314A,
  '950': #251E2E,
);
$brand-base: #a596bc;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F6F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EFEDF2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DCD7E4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#C4BBD3", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#a596bc", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#8A76A8", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#755F95", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#614F7D", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#4E4064", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#3B314A", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#251E2E", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #a596bc · 7.69:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.73:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.69:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #a596bc as text scores 2.73:1 on white and 7.69:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #3D324E at 4.36:1.

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
#806AA0 · 4.68:1
AA on white−14% L
#806AA0
The quick fox
#62507D · 7.09:1
AAA on white−26% L
#62507D
The quick fox
#a596bc · 7.69:1
AA on blackalready passes
#a596bc
The quick fox
#a596bc · 7.69:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#a596bc

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9D8DB6 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
#a596bc on white: 2.73:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#a596bc on black: 7.69:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #a596bc as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #a596bc.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.73:1AaAa
Slate 502.61:1AaAa
Slate 1002.49:1AaAa
Slate 2002.22:1AaAa
Slate 3001.84:1AaAa
Slate 4001.07:1AaAa
Slate 5001.74:1AaAa
Slate 6002.77:1AaAa
Slate 7003.79:1AaAa
Slate 8005.36:1AaAa
Slate 9006.54:1AaAa
Black7.69:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #8F9CBE
deuteranopia · #929CBB
tritanopia · #A29BA3

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. #a596bc is pinned to step 400; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F7F6F9
#EFEDF2
#DCD7E4
#C4BBD3
#a596bc
#8A76A8
#755F95
#614F7D
#4E4064
#3B314A
#251E2E
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F7F6F9Darkest = 950 · #251E2EText 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 0.014 302.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.023 302.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.034 302.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.045 302.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.053 302.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.057 302.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.057 302.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.054 302.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.048 302.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.040 302.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.031 302.9);
}

Colors that work with #a596bc

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#F7F6F9
Tinted page background
Border#D4CDDF
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#6D598C
Captions on the surface
Accent#79804C
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#3D324E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F2EFF5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1B1622
Dark-mode background
Hover#9280AE
One step down in lightness
Pressed#806AA0
Two steps down
Disabled#E0DBE8
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#AE9BCC
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 #a596bc

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 #3D324E
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9D8DB6

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 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
  • Weight34/100
  • 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#ADBC96
Analogous left#969ABC
Analogous right#B896BC
Split-complement 1#BCB896
Split-complement 2#9ABC96
Triadic 1#BCA596
Triadic 2#96BCA5
Tetradic#BC969A
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°264°

#a596bc sits at 264°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red64.7%
Green58.8%
Blue73.7%
R · 0–255
165
0xa5
G · 0–255
150
0x96
B · 0–255
188
0xbc

CMYK percentages

Cyan12.2%
Magenta20.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)26.3%

Total ink coverage is 59%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#a596bc text on a black background

contrast 7.69:1

Card sample

#a596bc text on a white background

contrast 2.73:1

Card sample

#a596bc on grey

2.49:1

#a596bc on its own surface

2.54:1

#a596bc on its dark surface

6.49:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #a596bc;
Background color
Panel with #a596bc background
background-color: #a596bc;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #a596bc;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(165, 150, 188, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(165, 150, 188, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #a596bc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #a596bc, #BC96BA);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #a596bc, #BC96B0);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #a596bc;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #a596bc;
caret-color: #a596bc;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #a596bc;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F2EFF5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #a596bc;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#a596bc 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #a596bc 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(165, 150, 188, 0.5)
rgb(165 150 188 / 50%)
#a596bc80
hsl(264 22% 66% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #a596bc 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#a596bc1a#F6F5F8
20%#a596bc33#EDEAF2
40%#a596bc66#DBD5E4
60%#a596bc99#C9C0D7
80%#a596bccc#B7ABC9

Gradients from #a596bc

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, #C5BBD4, #a596bc 45%, #3D324E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #a596bc, #B083AA);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #a596bc, #ADBC96);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D5CEE0 0%, #a596bc 45%, #3D324E 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F7F6F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #B5BAD0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C7A9C8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #3D324E 0%, transparent 65%), #a596bc;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #a596bc

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.

#a596bc 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 7.69:1.

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.

#a596bc, answered

What color is #a596bc?

#a596bc is a light soft violet, closest to Plum (ΔE2000 12.3). It sits at 264° on the hue wheel with 22% saturation and 66% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #a596bc?

rgb(165, 150, 188) — 165 red, 150 green and 188 blue out of 255, or 64.7% / 58.8% / 73.7% by channel.

What is #a596bc in HSL and HSV?

hsl(264, 22%, 66%) and hsv(264, 20%, 74%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #a596bc a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3344 and perceived brightness is 62%, so black text on it reaches 7.69:1.

Should I use black or white text on #a596bc?

Black. It scores 7.69:1 against #a596bc, versus 2.73:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #a596bc accessible on a white background?

#a596bc on white scores 2.73:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #806AA0 to reach 4.5:1, or #62507D for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #a596bc?

#ADBC96 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BCB896 and #9ABC96, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #a596bc?

For interface work: #F7F6F9 as the surface, #D4CDDF for borders, #6D598C for secondary text, #79804C as an accent and #3D324E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #969ABC and #B896BC stays calm, while #ADBC96 is the loudest partner.

What is #a596bc in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(12%, 20%, 0%, 26%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #a596bc warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 63 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #B396BC; nudged cooler, #9694BE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #a596bc?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 19.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #a596bc as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #a596bc in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#a596bc] or text-[#a596bc], 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 #a596bc with 50% opacity?

rgba(165, 150, 188, 0.5), or #a596bc80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D2CBDE; over black, #534B5E.

Is #a596bc a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999CC, ΔE2000 6.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #a596bc 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 #a596bc?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C5BBD4, #a596bc 45%, #3D324E). For more colour, a short hue run to #B083AA keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #a596bc in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #a596bc at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.