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violet · cool

#b591df

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Amethyst

RGB
181, 145, 223
HSL
268°, 55%, 72%
CMYK
19, 35, 0, 13
Luminance
0.3540

#b591df is a light vivid violet, 268° on the wheel and 68/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.08:1). As text it scores 2.60:1 on white — use #905ACF instead. Nearest name is Plum, nearest Tailwind family is purple.

hsl(268 55% 72%)rgb(181 145 223)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #b591df is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#b591df
Hue
268°
violet
Saturation
55%
vivid
Lightness
72%
light
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
65%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3540
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
68/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
8.08:1
Closest name
Plum
ΔE2000 9.7
Chroma
45.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.719
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
purple
500 · ΔE 16
Web-safe
#CC99CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue268° of 360°
Saturation55%
Lightness72%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #b591df.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool68% 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
Red28%
Green57%
Blue15%

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

Every format

HEX#b591df
HEX (8-digit)#b591dfff
RGBrgb(181, 145, 223)
RGBArgba(181, 145, 223, 1)
HSLhsl(268, 55%, 72%)
HSV / HSBhsv(268, 35%, 87%)
HWBhwb(268 57% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(19%, 35%, 0%, 13%)
LABlab(66.1 28.6 -34.7)
LCHlch(66.1 45.0 309.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.719 0.117 304.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(42.50, 35.40, 74.39)
Decimal11899359
Display P3color(display-p3 0.710 0.569 0.875)
Web-safe#CC99CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #b591df;
background-color: #b591df;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #b591df;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#b591df] bg-[#b591df]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #b591df;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.710, green: 0.569, blue: 0.875)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.710, green: 0.569, blue: 0.875, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#B591DF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFB591DF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFB591DF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(223, 145, 181)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(181, 145, 223)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(181, 145, 223)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 181, 145, 223)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7098f, 0.5686f, 0.8745f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{181,145,223}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #b591df 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #b591df 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#3D1D63, #DFD3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #b591df 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: #F7F4FB;
  --brand-100: #EFE9F6;
  --brand-200: #DDCEEE;
  --brand-300: #C5A8E6;
  --brand-400: #b591df;
  --brand-500: #8A51CC;
  --brand-600: #7537BE;
  --brand-700: #622E9E;
  --brand-800: #4E257E;
  --brand-900: #3B1E5C;
  --brand-950: #25133A;
  --brand: #b591df;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F7F4FA;
  --brand-border: #D4C0ED;
  --brand-hover: #A376D7;
  --brand-pressed: #905ACF;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1B1424;
    --brand-ink: #DFD3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F4FB',
        100: '#EFE9F6',
        200: '#DDCEEE',
        300: '#C5A8E6',
        400: '#b591df',
        500: '#8A51CC',
        600: '#7537BE',
        700: '#622E9E',
        800: '#4E257E',
        900: '#3B1E5C',
        950: '#25133A',
        DEFAULT: '#b591df',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F4FB,
  '100': #EFE9F6,
  '200': #DDCEEE,
  '300': #C5A8E6,
  '400': #b591df,
  '500': #8A51CC,
  '600': #7537BE,
  '700': #622E9E,
  '800': #4E257E,
  '900': #3B1E5C,
  '950': #25133A,
);
$brand-base: #b591df;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F4FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EFE9F6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DDCEEE", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#C5A8E6", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#b591df", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#8A51CC", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#7537BE", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#622E9E", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#4E257E", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#3B1E5C", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#25133A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #b591df · 8.08:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.60:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.08:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #b591df as text scores 2.60:1 on white and 8.08:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #3D1D63 at 5.20:1.

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
#905ACF · 4.62:1
AA on white−14% L
#905ACF
The quick fox
#7336BA · 7.08:1
AAA on white−25% L
#7336BA
The quick fox
#b591df · 8.08:1
AA on blackalready passes
#b591df
The quick fox
#b591df · 8.08:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#b591df

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #AA81DA 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
#b591df on white: 2.60:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#b591df on black: 8.08:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #b591df as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #b591df.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.60:1AaAa
Slate 502.48:1AaAa
Slate 1002.37:1AaAa
Slate 2002.11:1AaAa
Slate 3001.75:1AaAa
Slate 4001.01:1AaAa
Slate 5001.83:1AaAa
Slate 6002.92:1AaAa
Slate 7003.98:1AaAa
Slate 8005.63:1AaAa
Slate 9006.87:1AaAa
Black8.08:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #809FE2
deuteranopia · #88A1DD
tritanopia · #AF9DAE

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. #b591df 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.

#F7F4FB
#EFE9F6
#DDCEEE
#C5A8E6
#b591df
#8A51CC
#7537BE
#622E9E
#4E257E
#3B1E5C
#25133A
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F7F4FBDarkest = 950 · #25133AText 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 0.029 304.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.047 304.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.070 304.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.091 304.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.107 304.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.117 304.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.117 304.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.110 304.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.098 304.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.082 304.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.064 304.8);
}

Colors that work with #b591df

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#F7F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#D4C0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#704B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#88A22A
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#3D1D63
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F2EBF9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1B1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#A376D7
One step down in lightness
Pressed#905ACF
Two steps down
Disabled#F0EDF3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#BF9BEA
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 #b591df

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • 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 #3D1D63
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #AA81DA

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 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-high
  • Weight28/100
  • 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#BBDF91
Analogous left#9194DF
Analogous right#DC91DF
Split-complement 1#DFDC91
Split-complement 2#94DF91
Triadic 1#DFB591
Triadic 2#91DFB5
Tetradic#DF9194
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°268°

#b591df sits at 268°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red71.0%
Green56.9%
Blue87.5%
R · 0–255
181
0xb5
G · 0–255
145
0x91
B · 0–255
223
0xdf

CMYK percentages

Cyan18.8%
Magenta35.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)12.5%

Total ink coverage is 66%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#b591df text on a black background

contrast 8.08:1

Card sample

#b591df text on a white background

contrast 2.60:1

Card sample

#b591df on grey

2.37:1

#b591df on its own surface

2.39:1

#b591df on its dark surface

6.89:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #b591df;
Background color
Panel with #b591df background
background-color: #b591df;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #b591df;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(181, 145, 223, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(181, 145, 223, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #b591df;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #b591df, #DF91D5);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #b591df, #DF91C2);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #b591df;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #b591df;
caret-color: #b591df;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #b591df;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F2EBF9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #b591df;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#b591df 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #b591df 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(181, 145, 223, 0.5)
rgb(181 145 223 / 50%)
#b591df80
hsl(268 55% 72% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #b591df 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#b591df1a#F8F4FC
20%#b591df33#F0E9F9
40%#b591df66#E1D3F2
60%#b591df99#D3BDEC
80%#b591dfcc#C4A7E5

Gradients from #b591df

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, #D5C1ED, #b591df 45%, #3D1D63);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #b591df, #D879C4);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #b591df, #BBDF91);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E5D8F4 0%, #b591df 45%, #3D1D63 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F7F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #B9BFEB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E6A9E3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #3D1D63 0%, transparent 65%), #b591df;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #b591df

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.

#b591df 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 8.08:1.

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.

#b591df, answered

What color is #b591df?

#b591df is a light vivid violet, closest to Plum (ΔE2000 9.7). It sits at 268° on the hue wheel with 55% saturation and 72% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #b591df?

rgb(181, 145, 223) — 181 red, 145 green and 223 blue out of 255, or 71% / 56.9% / 87.5% by channel.

What is #b591df in HSL and HSV?

hsl(268, 55%, 72%) and hsv(268, 35%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #b591df a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3540 and perceived brightness is 65%, so black text on it reaches 8.08:1.

Should I use black or white text on #b591df?

Black. It scores 8.08:1 against #b591df, versus 2.60:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #b591df accessible on a white background?

#b591df on white scores 2.60:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #905ACF to reach 4.5:1, or #7336BA for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #b591df?

#BBDF91 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DFDC91 and #94DF91, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #b591df?

For interface work: #F7F4FA as the surface, #D4C0ED for borders, #704B9B for secondary text, #88A22A as an accent and #3D1D63 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #9194DF and #DC91DF stays calm, while #BBDF91 is the loudest partner.

What is #b591df in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(19%, 35%, 0%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #b591df warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 68 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #D291DF; nudged cooler, #9790E0.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #b591df?

The purple family — its 500 step is #a855f7, ΔE2000 16 away. That is a visible difference, so define #b591df as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #b591df in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#b591df] or text-[#b591df], 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 #b591df with 50% opacity?

rgba(181, 145, 223, 0.5), or #b591df80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DAC8EF; over black, #5B4970.

Is #b591df a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99CC, ΔE2000 8.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #b591df 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 #b591df?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D5C1ED, #b591df 45%, #3D1D63). For more colour, a short hue run to #D879C4 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #b591df in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #b591df at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.