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violet · neutral

#b201df

a dark, electric violet · neutral · closest name: Dark Orchid

Token name suggestion: Slate Amethyst

RGB
178, 1, 223
HSL
288°, 99%, 44%
CMYK
20, 100, 0, 13
Luminance
0.1481

#b201df is a dark electric violet, 288° on the wheel and 57/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (5.30:1). As text it scores 5.30:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Dark Orchid, nearest Tailwind family is purple.

hsl(288 99% 44%)rgb(178 1 223)Base step 700AA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #b201df is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#b201df
Hue
288°
violet
Saturation
99%
electric
Lightness
44%
dark
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
48%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1481
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
57/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Electric
Best ink
White
5.30:1
Closest name
Dark Orchid
ΔE2000 4.3
Chroma
106.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.567
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
purple
500 · ΔE 10.2
Web-safe
#9900CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue288° of 360°
Saturation99%
Lightness44%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #b201df.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool57% cool

Reads neutral. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Luminance by channel
Red64%
Green0%
Blue36%

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

Every format

HEX#b201df
HEX (8-digit)#b201dfff
RGBrgb(178, 1, 223)
RGBArgba(178, 1, 223, 1)
HSLhsl(288, 99%, 44%)
HSV / HSBhsv(288, 100%, 87%)
HWBhwb(288 0% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(20%, 100%, 0%, 13%)
LABlab(45.4 82.1 -67.6)
LCHlch(45.4 106.4 320.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.567 0.277 316.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(31.69, 14.82, 70.99)
Decimal11665887
Display P3color(display-p3 0.698 0.004 0.875)
Web-safe#9900CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #b201df;
background-color: #b201df;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #b201df;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#b201df] bg-[#b201df]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #b201df;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.698, green: 0.004, blue: 0.875)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.698, green: 0.004, blue: 0.875, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#B201DF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFB201DF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFB201DF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(223, 1, 178)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(178, 1, 223)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(178, 1, 223)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 178, 1, 223)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6980f, 0.0039f, 0.8745f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{178,1,223}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #b201df 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #b201df 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#65017F, #E9D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #b201df 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: #FBF1FE;
  --brand-100: #F7E3FC;
  --brand-200: #EFC0FB;
  --brand-300: #E88FFE;
  --brand-400: #DC57FE;
  --brand-500: #D120FE;
  --brand-600: #C201F4;
  --brand-700: #b201df;
  --brand-800: #8201A2;
  --brand-900: #5E0575;
  --brand-950: #3B0349;
  --brand: #b201df;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F9F4FA;
  --brand-border: #E4C0ED;
  --brand-hover: #9501BB;
  --brand-pressed: #790198;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #211424;
    --brand-ink: #E9D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FBF1FE',
        100: '#F7E3FC',
        200: '#EFC0FB',
        300: '#E88FFE',
        400: '#DC57FE',
        500: '#D120FE',
        600: '#C201F4',
        700: '#b201df',
        800: '#8201A2',
        900: '#5E0575',
        950: '#3B0349',
        DEFAULT: '#b201df',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FBF1FE,
  '100': #F7E3FC,
  '200': #EFC0FB,
  '300': #E88FFE,
  '400': #DC57FE,
  '500': #D120FE,
  '600': #C201F4,
  '700': #b201df,
  '800': #8201A2,
  '900': #5E0575,
  '950': #3B0349,
);
$brand-base: #b201df;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FBF1FE", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F7E3FC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#EFC0FB", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#E88FFE", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#DC57FE", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#D120FE", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#C201F4", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#b201df", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#8201A2", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#5E0575", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#3B0349", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #b201df · 5.30:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 5.30:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 3.96:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #b201df as text scores 5.30:1 on white and 3.96:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #FAE6FF at 4.50:1.

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
#b201df · 5.30:1
AA on whitealready passes
#b201df
The quick fox
#9501BB · 7.00:1
AAA on white−7% L
#9501BB
The quick fox
#C201F3 · 4.59:1
AA on black+4% L
#C201F3
The quick fox
#DD5CFE · 7.04:1
AAA on black+24% L
#DD5CFE

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #B201DF 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
#b201df on white: 5.30:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#b201df on black: 3.96:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #b201df as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #b201df.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White5.30:1AaAa
Slate 505.06:1AaAa
Slate 1004.84:1AaAa
Slate 2004.30:1AaAa
Slate 3003.57:1AaAa
Slate 4002.07:1AaAa
Slate 5001.11:1AaAa
Slate 6001.43:1AaAa
Slate 7001.95:1AaAa
Slate 8002.76:1AaAa
Slate 9003.37:1AaAa
Black3.96:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #0063E4
deuteranopia · #006FDB
tritanopia · #AF4D83

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. #b201df is pinned to step 700; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FBF1FE
#F7E3FC
#EFC0FB
#E88FFE
#DC57FE
#D120FE
#C201F4
#b201df
#8201A2
#5E0575
#3B0349
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #FBF1FEDarkest = 950 · #3B0349Text 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 0.069 316.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.111 316.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.166 316.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.216 316.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.255 316.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.277 316.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.277 316.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.260 316.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.233 316.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.194 316.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.152 316.4);
}

Colors that work with #b201df

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#F9F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#E4C0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#8B4B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#5CCC00
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#65017F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FAE6FF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#211424
Dark-mode background
Hover#9501BB
One step down in lightness
Pressed#790198
Two steps down
Disabled#B395BB
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C300F4
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 #b201df

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
  • Headers, footers and dark-mode surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • Black text placed on it
  • 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.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. The low lightness adds weight and formality.

Worth knowing

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

Reads as
  • FormalityHigh
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight56/100
  • TemperatureNeutral
  • 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#2EDF01
Analogous left#4301DF
Analogous right#DF019D
Split-complement 1#9DDF01
Split-complement 2#01DF43
Triadic 1#DFB201
Triadic 2#01DFB2
Tetradic#DF4301
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°288°

#b201df sits at 288°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red69.8%
Green0.4%
Blue87.5%
R · 0–255
178
0xb2
G · 0–255
1
0x01
B · 0–255
223
0xdf

CMYK percentages

Cyan20.2%
Magenta99.6%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)12.5%

Total ink coverage is 132%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#b201df text on a black background

contrast 3.96:1

Card sample

#b201df text on a white background

contrast 5.30:1

Card sample

#b201df on grey

4.84:1

#b201df on its own surface

4.88:1

#b201df on its dark surface

3.33:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #b201df;
Background color
Panel with #b201df background
background-color: #b201df;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #b201df;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(178, 1, 223, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(178, 1, 223, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #b201df;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #b201df, #DF0178);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #b201df, #DF0141);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #b201df;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #b201df;
caret-color: #b201df;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #b201df;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FAE6FF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #b201df;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#b201df 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #b201df 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(178, 1, 223, 0.5)
rgb(178 1 223 / 50%)
#b201df80
hsl(288 99% 44% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #b201df 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#b201df1a#F7E6FC
20%#b201df33#F0CCF9
40%#b201df66#E099F2
60%#b201df99#D167EC
80%#b201dfcc#C134E5

Gradients from #b201df

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, #D11FFE, #b201df 45%, #65017F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #b201df, #C00158);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #b201df, #2EDF01);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D73EFE 0%, #b201df 45%, #65017F 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%, #4715FE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #FD019E 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #65017F 0%, transparent 65%), #b201df;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #b201df

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.

#b201df 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

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

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 3.96:1 — lift it to #C201F3 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.

#b201df, answered

What color is #b201df?

#b201df is a dark electric violet, closest to Dark Orchid (ΔE2000 4.3). It sits at 288° on the hue wheel with 99% saturation and 44% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #b201df?

rgb(178, 1, 223) — 178 red, 1 green and 223 blue out of 255, or 69.8% / 0.4% / 87.5% by channel.

What is #b201df in HSL and HSV?

hsl(288, 99%, 44%) and hsv(288, 100%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #b201df a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1481 and perceived brightness is 48%, so white text on it reaches 5.30:1.

Should I use black or white text on #b201df?

White. It scores 5.30:1 against #b201df, versus 3.96:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #b201df accessible on a white background?

#b201df on white scores 5.30:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #b201df?

#2EDF01 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #9DDF01 and #01DF43, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #b201df?

For interface work: #F9F4FA as the surface, #E4C0ED for borders, #8B4B9B for secondary text, #5CCC00 as an accent and #65017F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #4301DF and #DF019D stays calm, while #2EDF01 is the loudest partner.

What is #b201df in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(20%, 100%, 0%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #b201df warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 57 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #DF01BB; nudged cooler, #6000E0.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #b201df?

The purple family — its 500 step is #a855f7, ΔE2000 10.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #b201df as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #b201df in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#b201df] or text-[#b201df], 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 #b201df with 50% opacity?

rgba(178, 1, 223, 0.5), or #b201df80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D980EF; over black, #590170.

Is #b201df a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9900CC, ΔE2000 5.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #b201df 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 #b201df?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D11FFE, #b201df 45%, #65017F). For more colour, a short hue run to #C00158 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #b201df in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #b201df at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.