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blue · cool

#aba7cf

a light, soft blue · cool · closest name: Thistle

Token name suggestion: Meadow Sapphire

RGB
171, 167, 207
HSL
246°, 29%, 73%
CMYK
17, 19, 0, 19
Luminance
0.4080

#aba7cf is a light soft blue, 246° on the wheel and 75/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.16:1). As text it scores 2.29:1 on white — use #756FB0 instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is slate.

hsl(246 29% 73%)rgb(171 167 207)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #aba7cf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#aba7cf
Hue
246°
blue
Saturation
29%
soft
Lightness
73%
light
Brightness
81%
HSV value
Perceived
68%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4080
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
75/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
9.16:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 11.4
Chroma
22.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.745
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
slate
500 · ΔE 21.7
Web-safe
#9999CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue246° of 360°
Saturation29%
Lightness73%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #aba7cf.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool75% 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
Red21%
Green68%
Blue11%

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

Every format

HEX#aba7cf
HEX (8-digit)#aba7cfff
RGBrgb(171, 167, 207)
RGBArgba(171, 167, 207, 1)
HSLhsl(246, 29%, 73%)
HSV / HSBhsv(246, 19%, 81%)
HWBhwb(246 65% 19%)
CMYKcmyk(17%, 19%, 0%, 19%)
LABlab(70.0 9.6 -19.8)
LCHlch(70.0 22.0 295.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.745 0.057 289.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(41.87, 40.80, 64.69)
Decimal11249615
Display P3color(display-p3 0.671 0.655 0.812)
Web-safe#9999CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #aba7cf;
background-color: #aba7cf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #aba7cf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#aba7cf] bg-[#aba7cf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #aba7cf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.671, green: 0.655, blue: 0.812)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.671, green: 0.655, blue: 0.812, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#ABA7CF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFABA7CF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFABA7CF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(207, 167, 171)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(171, 167, 207)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(171, 167, 207)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 171, 167, 207)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6706f, 0.6549f, 0.8118f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{171,167,207}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #aba7cf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #aba7cf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#312D52, #D9D7E9);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #aba7cf 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: #F6F6F9;
  --brand-100: #EDECF3;
  --brand-200: #D7D5E6;
  --brand-300: #aba7cf;
  --brand-400: #9792C4;
  --brand-500: #746EB0;
  --brand-600: #5E569E;
  --brand-700: #4E4884;
  --brand-800: #3E3A6A;
  --brand-900: #302D4E;
  --brand-950: #1E1C31;
  --brand: #aba7cf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F5FA;
  --brand-border: #CDCAE2;
  --brand-hover: #9590C2;
  --brand-pressed: #7F79B6;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #151424;
    --brand-ink: #D9D7E9;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F6F9',
        100: '#EDECF3',
        200: '#D7D5E6',
        300: '#aba7cf',
        400: '#9792C4',
        500: '#746EB0',
        600: '#5E569E',
        700: '#4E4884',
        800: '#3E3A6A',
        900: '#302D4E',
        950: '#1E1C31',
        DEFAULT: '#aba7cf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F6F9,
  '100': #EDECF3,
  '200': #D7D5E6,
  '300': #aba7cf,
  '400': #9792C4,
  '500': #746EB0,
  '600': #5E569E,
  '700': #4E4884,
  '800': #3E3A6A,
  '900': #302D4E,
  '950': #1E1C31,
);
$brand-base: #aba7cf;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F6F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EDECF3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D7D5E6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#aba7cf", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#9792C4", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#746EB0", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#5E569E", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#4E4884", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#3E3A6A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#302D4E", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1E1C31", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #aba7cf · 9.16:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.29:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.16:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #aba7cf as text scores 2.29:1 on white and 9.16:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #312D52 at 5.63:1.

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
#756FB0 · 4.51:1
AA on white−17% L
#756FB0
The quick fox
#565092 · 7.10:1
AAA on white−29% L
#565092
The quick fox
#aba7cf · 9.16:1
AA on blackalready passes
#aba7cf
The quick fox
#aba7cf · 9.16:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#aba7cf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #928DC1 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
#aba7cf on white: 2.29:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#aba7cf on black: 9.16:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #aba7cf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #aba7cf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.29:1AaAa
Slate 502.19:1AaAa
Slate 1002.09:1AaAa
Slate 2001.86:1AaAa
Slate 3001.54:1AaAa
Slate 4001.12:1AaAa
Slate 5002.08:1AaAa
Slate 6003.31:1AaAa
Slate 7004.52:1AaAa
Slate 8006.38:1AaAa
Slate 9007.79:1AaAa
Black9.16:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #9EACD1
deuteranopia · #9EAACE
tritanopia · #A4ADB4

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. #aba7cf 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.

#F6F6F9
#EDECF3
#D7D5E6
#aba7cf
#9792C4
#746EB0
#5E569E
#4E4884
#3E3A6A
#302D4E
#1E1C31
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F6F6F9Darkest = 950 · #1E1C31Text 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 0.014 289.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.023 289.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.034 289.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.045 289.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.053 289.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.057 289.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.057 289.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.054 289.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.048 289.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.040 289.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.032 289.5);
}

Colors that work with #aba7cf

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#F6F5FA
Tinted page background
Border#CDCAE2
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#585194
Captions on the surface
Accent#887E44
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#312D52
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EFEFF6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#151424
Dark-mode background
Hover#9590C2
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7F79B6
Two steps down
Disabled#F1F0F6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B3AEDC
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 #aba7cf

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 #312D52
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #928DC1

Meaning and mood

What a colour in this family tends to signal, and how this particular chroma and lightness change the reading.

trustedcalmcompetentcorporate

The default of institutions for a reason: blue is read as stable and safe across nearly every culture that has been surveyed.

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

It is also the most crowded hue on the web. Distinctiveness has to come from your other choices.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight27/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • ApproachabilityReserved

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#CBCFA7
Analogous left#A7B7CF
Analogous right#BFA7CF
Split-complement 1#CFBFA7
Split-complement 2#B7CFA7
Triadic 1#CFABA7
Triadic 2#A7CFAB
Tetradic#CFA7B7
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°246°

#aba7cf sits at 246°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red67.1%
Green65.5%
Blue81.2%
R · 0–255
171
0xab
G · 0–255
167
0xa7
B · 0–255
207
0xcf

CMYK percentages

Cyan17.4%
Magenta19.3%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)18.8%

Total ink coverage is 56%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#aba7cf text on a black background

contrast 9.16:1

Card sample

#aba7cf text on a white background

contrast 2.29:1

Card sample

#aba7cf on grey

2.09:1

#aba7cf on its own surface

2.11:1

#aba7cf on its dark surface

7.91:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #aba7cf;
Background color
Panel with #aba7cf background
background-color: #aba7cf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #aba7cf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(171, 167, 207, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(171, 167, 207, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #aba7cf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #aba7cf, #C6A7CF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #aba7cf, #CFA7CE);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #aba7cf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #aba7cf;
caret-color: #aba7cf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #aba7cf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EFEFF6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #aba7cf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#aba7cf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #aba7cf 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(171, 167, 207, 0.5)
rgb(171 167 207 / 50%)
#aba7cf80
hsl(246 29% 73% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #aba7cf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#aba7cf1a#F7F6FA
20%#aba7cf33#EEEDF5
40%#aba7cf66#DDDCEC
60%#aba7cf99#CDCAE2
80%#aba7cfcc#BCB9D9

Gradients from #aba7cf

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, #D1CEE5, #aba7cf 45%, #312D52);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #aba7cf, #BD93C4);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #aba7cf, #CBCFA7);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E4E2EF 0%, #aba7cf 45%, #312D52 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F5FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #C8D4E1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D0BBDA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #312D52 0%, transparent 65%), #aba7cf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #aba7cf

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.

#aba7cf in the real world

Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.

Industries
TechnologyFinanceHealthcareEnterprise SaaS
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 9.16:1.

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.

#aba7cf, answered

What color is #aba7cf?

#aba7cf is a light soft blue, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 11.4). It sits at 246° on the hue wheel with 29% saturation and 73% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #aba7cf?

rgb(171, 167, 207) — 171 red, 167 green and 207 blue out of 255, or 67.1% / 65.5% / 81.2% by channel.

What is #aba7cf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(246, 29%, 73%) and hsv(246, 19%, 81%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #aba7cf a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4080 and perceived brightness is 68%, so black text on it reaches 9.16:1.

Should I use black or white text on #aba7cf?

Black. It scores 9.16:1 against #aba7cf, versus 2.29:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #aba7cf accessible on a white background?

#aba7cf on white scores 2.29:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #756FB0 to reach 4.5:1, or #565092 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #aba7cf?

#CBCFA7 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CFBFA7 and #B7CFA7, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #aba7cf?

For interface work: #F6F5FA as the surface, #CDCAE2 for borders, #585194 for secondary text, #887E44 as an accent and #312D52 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #A7B7CF and #BFA7CF stays calm, while #CBCFA7 is the loudest partner.

What is #aba7cf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(17%, 19%, 0%, 19%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #aba7cf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 75 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #BAA7CF; nudged cooler, #A6B1D0.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #aba7cf?

The slate family — its 500 step is #64748b, ΔE2000 21.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #aba7cf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #aba7cf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#aba7cf] or text-[#aba7cf], 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 #aba7cf with 50% opacity?

rgba(171, 167, 207, 0.5), or #aba7cf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D5D3E7; over black, #565468.

Is #aba7cf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999CC, ΔE2000 5.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #aba7cf mean?

As a blue, it reads trusted, calm, competent. The default of institutions for a reason: blue is read as stable and safe across nearly every culture that has been surveyed. At this moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #aba7cf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D1CEE5, #aba7cf 45%, #312D52). For more colour, a short hue run to #BD93C4 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #aba7cf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #aba7cf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.