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violet · neutral

#b2abbd

a light, muted violet · neutral · closest name: Thistle

Token name suggestion: Linen Plum

RGB
178, 171, 189
HSL
263°, 12%, 71%
CMYK
6, 10, 0, 26
Luminance
0.4226

#b2abbd is a light muted violet, 263° on the wheel and 57/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.45:1). As text it scores 2.22:1 on white — use #7B6F8E instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(263 12% 71%)rgb(178 171 189)Base step 400AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #b2abbd is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#b2abbd
Hue
263°
violet
Saturation
12%
muted
Lightness
71%
light
Brightness
74%
HSV value
Perceived
69%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4226
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
57/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
9.45:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 9.3
Chroma
10.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.753
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 21.1
Web-safe
#9999CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue263° of 360°
Saturation12%
Lightness71%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #b2abbd.

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
Red22%
Green69%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#b2abbd
HEX (8-digit)#b2abbdff
RGBrgb(178, 171, 189)
RGBArgba(178, 171, 189, 1)
HSLhsl(263, 12%, 71%)
HSV / HSBhsv(263, 10%, 74%)
HWBhwb(263 67% 26%)
CMYKcmyk(6%, 10%, 0%, 26%)
LABlab(71.0 5.9 -8.3)
LCHlch(71.0 10.2 305.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.753 0.027 303.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(42.11, 42.26, 54.07)
Decimal11709373
Display P3color(display-p3 0.698 0.671 0.741)
Web-safe#9999CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #b2abbd;
background-color: #b2abbd;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #b2abbd;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#b2abbd] bg-[#b2abbd]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #b2abbd;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.698, green: 0.671, blue: 0.741)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.698, green: 0.671, blue: 0.741, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#B2ABBD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFB2ABBD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFB2ABBD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(189, 171, 178)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(178, 171, 189)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(178, 171, 189)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 178, 171, 189)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6980f, 0.6706f, 0.7412f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{178,171,189}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #b2abbd 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #b2abbd 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#3E3847, #E0DDE4);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #b2abbd 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: #F7F7F8;
  --brand-100: #EFEEF1;
  --brand-200: #DDDAE1;
  --brand-300: #C5C0CE;
  --brand-400: #b2abbd;
  --brand-500: #8C819C;
  --brand-600: #776C89;
  --brand-700: #635A72;
  --brand-800: #4F485B;
  --brand-900: #3C3644;
  --brand-950: #25222A;
  --brand: #b2abbd;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F7F6F8;
  --brand-border: #D5D1DB;
  --brand-hover: #A097AD;
  --brand-pressed: #8D839E;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1B191F;
    --brand-ink: #E0DDE4;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F7F8',
        100: '#EFEEF1',
        200: '#DDDAE1',
        300: '#C5C0CE',
        400: '#b2abbd',
        500: '#8C819C',
        600: '#776C89',
        700: '#635A72',
        800: '#4F485B',
        900: '#3C3644',
        950: '#25222A',
        DEFAULT: '#b2abbd',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F7F8,
  '100': #EFEEF1,
  '200': #DDDAE1,
  '300': #C5C0CE,
  '400': #b2abbd,
  '500': #8C819C,
  '600': #776C89,
  '700': #635A72,
  '800': #4F485B,
  '900': #3C3644,
  '950': #25222A,
);
$brand-base: #b2abbd;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F7F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EFEEF1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DDDAE1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#C5C0CE", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#b2abbd", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#8C819C", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#776C89", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#635A72", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#4F485B", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#3C3644", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#25222A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #b2abbd · 9.45:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.22:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.45:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #b2abbd as text scores 2.22:1 on white and 9.45:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #3E3847 at 5.08:1.

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
#7B6F8E · 4.66:1
AA on white−21% L
#7B6F8E
The quick fox
#5D546B · 7.13:1
AAA on white−33% L
#5D546B
The quick fox
#b2abbd · 9.45:1
AA on blackalready passes
#b2abbd
The quick fox
#b2abbd · 9.45:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#b2abbd

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9A91A9 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
#b2abbd on white: 2.22:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#b2abbd on black: 9.45:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #b2abbd as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #b2abbd.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.22:1AaAa
Slate 502.12:1AaAa
Slate 1002.03:1AaAa
Slate 2001.80:1AaAa
Slate 3001.50:1AaAa
Slate 4001.15:1AaAa
Slate 5002.14:1AaAa
Slate 6003.41:1AaAa
Slate 7004.66:1AaAa
Slate 8006.59:1AaAa
Slate 9008.04:1AaAa
Black9.45:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A8AEBE
deuteranopia · #A9AEBC
tritanopia · #B0ADB1

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. #b2abbd 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.

#F7F7F8
#EFEEF1
#DDDAE1
#C5C0CE
#b2abbd
#8C819C
#776C89
#635A72
#4F485B
#3C3644
#25222A
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F7F7F8Darkest = 950 · #25222AText 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 0.007 303.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.011 303.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.016 303.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.021 303.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.024 303.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.027 303.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.027 303.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.025 303.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.022 303.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.019 303.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.015 303.4);
}

Colors that work with #b2abbd

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#F7F6F8
Tinted page background
Border#D5D1DB
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#706581
Captions on the surface
Accent#727656
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#3E3847
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F2F1F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1B191F
Dark-mode background
Hover#A097AD
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8D839E
Two steps down
Disabled#ECEAEE
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#BBB0CC
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 #b2abbd

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Borders, dividers and quiet backgrounds
  • Long-form reading 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 #3E3847
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9A91A9

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.

With almost no chroma left, the family association is barely present; treat it as a neutral that happens to lean this way. 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
  • EnergyLow
  • Weight29/100
  • 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#B6BDAB
Analogous left#ABADBD
Analogous right#BBABBD
Split-complement 1#BDBBAB
Split-complement 2#ADBDAB
Triadic 1#BDB2AB
Triadic 2#ABBDB2
Tetradic#BDABAD
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°263°

#b2abbd sits at 263°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red69.8%
Green67.1%
Blue74.1%
R · 0–255
178
0xb2
G · 0–255
171
0xab
B · 0–255
189
0xbd

CMYK percentages

Cyan5.8%
Magenta9.5%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)25.9%

Total ink coverage is 41%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#b2abbd text on a black background

contrast 9.45:1

Card sample

#b2abbd text on a white background

contrast 2.22:1

Card sample

#b2abbd on grey

2.03:1

#b2abbd on its own surface

2.06:1

#b2abbd on its dark surface

7.84:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #b2abbd;
Background color
Panel with #b2abbd background
background-color: #b2abbd;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #b2abbd;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(178, 171, 189, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(178, 171, 189, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #b2abbd;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #b2abbd, #BDABBC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #b2abbd, #BDABB8);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #b2abbd;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #b2abbd;
caret-color: #b2abbd;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #b2abbd;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F2F1F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #b2abbd;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#b2abbd 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #b2abbd 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, 171, 189, 0.5)
rgb(178 171 189 / 50%)
#b2abbd80
hsl(263 12% 71% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #b2abbd 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#b2abbd1a#F7F7F8
20%#b2abbd33#F0EEF2
40%#b2abbd66#E0DDE5
60%#b2abbd99#D1CDD7
80%#b2abbdcc#C1BCCA

Gradients from #b2abbd

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, #D1CDD8, #b2abbd 45%, #3E3847);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #b2abbd, #B09AAD);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #b2abbd, #B6BDAB);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E1DEE5 0%, #b2abbd 45%, #3E3847 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F7F6F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #C8CAD3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #CABCCA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #3E3847 0%, transparent 65%), #b2abbd;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #b2abbd

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.

#b2abbd 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
BackgroundsBordersBody textDividers
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 9.45:1.

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.

#b2abbd, answered

What color is #b2abbd?

#b2abbd is a light muted violet, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 9.3). It sits at 263° on the hue wheel with 12% saturation and 71% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #b2abbd?

rgb(178, 171, 189) — 178 red, 171 green and 189 blue out of 255, or 69.8% / 67.1% / 74.1% by channel.

What is #b2abbd in HSL and HSV?

hsl(263, 12%, 71%) and hsv(263, 10%, 74%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #b2abbd a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4226 and perceived brightness is 69%, so black text on it reaches 9.45:1.

Should I use black or white text on #b2abbd?

Black. It scores 9.45:1 against #b2abbd, versus 2.22:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #b2abbd accessible on a white background?

#b2abbd on white scores 2.22:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7B6F8E to reach 4.5:1, or #5D546B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #b2abbd?

#B6BDAB sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BDBBAB and #ADBDAB, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #b2abbd?

For interface work: #F7F6F8 as the surface, #D5D1DB for borders, #706581 for secondary text, #727656 as an accent and #3E3847 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #ABADBD and #BBABBD stays calm, while #B6BDAB is the loudest partner.

What is #b2abbd in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(6%, 10%, 0%, 26%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #b2abbd 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 #B9ABBD; nudged cooler, #AAAABF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #b2abbd?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 21.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #b2abbd as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #b2abbd in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#b2abbd] or text-[#b2abbd], 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 #b2abbd with 50% opacity?

rgba(178, 171, 189, 0.5), or #b2abbd80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D9D5DE; over black, #59565F.

Is #b2abbd a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999CC, ΔE2000 11.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #b2abbd 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 low chroma the association is faint; it behaves more like a neutral.

What gradient works with #b2abbd?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D1CDD8, #b2abbd 45%, #3E3847). For more colour, a short hue run to #B09AAD keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #b2abbd in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #b2abbd at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.