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violet · cool

#bc1afd

a balanced, electric violet · cool · closest name: Dark Orchid

Token name suggestion: Studio Thistle

RGB
188, 26, 253
HSL
283°, 98%, 55%
CMYK
26, 90, 0, 1
Luminance
0.1852

#bc1afd is a balanced electric violet, 283° on the wheel and 60/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (4.70:1). As text it scores 4.46:1 on white — large text only. Nearest name is Dark Orchid, nearest Tailwind family is purple.

hsl(283 98% 55%)rgb(188 26 253)Base step 500AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bc1afd is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bc1afd
Hue
283°
violet
Saturation
98%
electric
Lightness
55%
balanced
Brightness
99%
HSV value
Perceived
53%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1852
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
60/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
4.70:1
Closest name
Dark Orchid
ΔE2000 8.1
Chroma
115.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.610
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
purple
500 · ΔE 6.6
Web-safe
#CC33FF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue283° of 360°
Saturation98%
Lightness55%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bc1afd.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool60% 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
Red58%
Green4%
Blue38%

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

Every format

HEX#bc1afd
HEX (8-digit)#bc1afdff
RGBrgb(188, 26, 253)
RGBArgba(188, 26, 253, 1)
HSLhsl(283, 98%, 55%)
HSV / HSBhsv(283, 90%, 99%)
HWBhwb(283 10% 1%)
CMYKcmyk(26%, 90%, 0%, 1%)
LABlab(50.1 86.0 -76.7)
LCHlch(50.1 115.3 318.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.610 0.294 312.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(38.83, 18.52, 94.44)
Decimal12327677
Display P3color(display-p3 0.737 0.102 0.992)
Web-safe#CC33FF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bc1afd;
background-color: #bc1afd;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bc1afd;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bc1afd] bg-[#bc1afd]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bc1afd;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.737, green: 0.102, blue: 0.992)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.737, green: 0.102, blue: 0.992, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BC1AFD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBC1AFD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBC1AFD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(253, 26, 188)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(188, 26, 253)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(188, 26, 253)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 188, 26, 253)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7373f, 0.1020f, 0.9922f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{188,26,253}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bc1afd 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bc1afd 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#5A017E, #E6D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bc1afd 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: #FAF1FD;
  --brand-100: #F5E3FC;
  --brand-200: #EAC1FB;
  --brand-300: #DE90FE;
  --brand-400: #CE58FE;
  --brand-500: #bc1afd;
  --brand-600: #AE02F3;
  --brand-700: #9102CA;
  --brand-800: #7401A2;
  --brand-900: #550675;
  --brand-950: #350449;
  --brand: #bc1afd;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9F4FA;
  --brand-border: #E0C0ED;
  --brand-hover: #AD02F1;
  --brand-pressed: #9302CE;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #201424;
    --brand-ink: #E6D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FAF1FD',
        100: '#F5E3FC',
        200: '#EAC1FB',
        300: '#DE90FE',
        400: '#CE58FE',
        500: '#bc1afd',
        600: '#AE02F3',
        700: '#9102CA',
        800: '#7401A2',
        900: '#550675',
        950: '#350449',
        DEFAULT: '#bc1afd',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FAF1FD,
  '100': #F5E3FC,
  '200': #EAC1FB,
  '300': #DE90FE,
  '400': #CE58FE,
  '500': #bc1afd,
  '600': #AE02F3,
  '700': #9102CA,
  '800': #7401A2,
  '900': #550675,
  '950': #350449,
);
$brand-base: #bc1afd;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FAF1FD", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F5E3FC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#EAC1FB", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#DE90FE", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#CE58FE", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#bc1afd", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#AE02F3", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#9102CA", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#7401A2", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#550675", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#350449", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bc1afd · 4.70:1
Use #000000AA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 4.46:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 4.70:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #bc1afd as text scores 4.46:1 on white and 4.70:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #5A017E at 2.70:1.

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
#BA15FD · 4.55:1
AA on white−1% L
#BA15FD
The quick fox
#8C02C4 · 7.19:1
AAA on white−16% L
#8C02C4
The quick fox
#bc1afd · 4.70:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bc1afd
The quick fox
#D266FE · 7.07:1
AAA on black+15% L
#D266FE

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #BC1AFD 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
#bc1afd on white: 4.46:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bc1afd on black: 4.70:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bc1afd as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bc1afd.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White4.46:1AaAa
Slate 504.27:1AaAa
Slate 1004.07:1AaAa
Slate 2003.62:1AaAa
Slate 3003.01:1AaAa
Slate 4001.74:1AaAa
Slate 5001.07:1AaAa
Slate 6001.70:1AaAa
Slate 7002.32:1AaAa
Slate 8003.28:1AaAa
Slate 9004.00:1AaAa
Black4.70:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #0070FF
deuteranopia · #007AF9
tritanopia · #B45F97

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. #bc1afd is pinned to step 500; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FAF1FD
#F5E3FC
#EAC1FB
#DE90FE
#CE58FE
#bc1afd
#AE02F3
#9102CA
#7401A2
#550675
#350449
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #FAF1FDDarkest = 950 · #350449Text 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 0.073 312.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.118 312.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.176 312.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.229 312.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.270 312.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.294 312.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.294 312.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.276 312.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.247 312.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.206 312.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.162 312.2);
}

Colors that work with #bc1afd

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#F9F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#E0C0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#844B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#6DCC00
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#5A017E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F8E6FF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#201424
Dark-mode background
Hover#AD02F1
One step down in lightness
Pressed#9302CE
Two steps down
Disabled#C9B7D1
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C32CFF
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 #bc1afd

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

Works well for
  • Headings from 24px up on white
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • Small text on white — under 4.5:1
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
24px / 18.66px bold
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #5A017E
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 mid lightness keeps it versatile in both themes.

Worth knowing

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

Reads as
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight45/100
  • 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#5BFD1A
Analogous left#4A1AFD
Analogous right#FD1ACD
Split-complement 1#CDFD1A
Split-complement 2#1AFD4A
Triadic 1#FDBC1A
Triadic 2#1AFDBC
Tetradic#FD4A1A
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°283°

#bc1afd sits at 283°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red73.7%
Green10.2%
Blue99.2%
R · 0–255
188
0xbc
G · 0–255
26
0x1a
B · 0–255
253
0xfd

CMYK percentages

Cyan25.7%
Magenta89.7%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)0.8%

Total ink coverage is 116%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bc1afd text on a black background

contrast 4.70:1

Card sample

#bc1afd text on a white background

contrast 4.46:1

Card sample

#bc1afd on grey

4.07:1

#bc1afd on its own surface

4.11:1

#bc1afd on its dark surface

3.96:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bc1afd;
Background color
Panel with #bc1afd background
background-color: #bc1afd;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bc1afd;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(188, 26, 253, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(188, 26, 253, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bc1afd;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bc1afd, #FD1AA7);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bc1afd, #FD1A6E);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bc1afd;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bc1afd;
caret-color: #bc1afd;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bc1afd;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F8E6FF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bc1afd;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bc1afd 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bc1afd 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(188, 26, 253, 0.5)
rgb(188 26 253 / 50%)
#bc1afd80
hsl(283 98% 55% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bc1afd 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bc1afd1a#F8E8FF
20%#bc1afd33#F2D1FF
40%#bc1afd66#E4A3FE
60%#bc1afd99#D776FE
80%#bc1afdcc#C948FD

Gradients from #bc1afd

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, #CE57FE, #bc1afd 45%, #5A017E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bc1afd, #F60285);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bc1afd, #5BFD1A);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D775FE 0%, #bc1afd 45%, #5A017E 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%, #644DFD 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #FD38C3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #5A017E 0%, transparent 65%), #bc1afd;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bc1afd

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.

#bc1afd 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

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 4.70:1.

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.

#bc1afd, answered

What color is #bc1afd?

#bc1afd is a balanced electric violet, closest to Dark Orchid (ΔE2000 8.1). It sits at 283° on the hue wheel with 98% saturation and 55% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #bc1afd?

rgb(188, 26, 253) — 188 red, 26 green and 253 blue out of 255, or 73.7% / 10.2% / 99.2% by channel.

What is #bc1afd in HSL and HSV?

hsl(283, 98%, 55%) and hsv(283, 90%, 99%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bc1afd a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.1852 and perceived brightness is 53%, so black text on it reaches 4.70:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bc1afd?

Black. It scores 4.70:1 against #bc1afd, versus 4.46:1 for white — AA at any size.

Is #bc1afd accessible on a white background?

#bc1afd on white scores 4.46:1, which only clears AA for large text — 18.66px bold or 24px regular and up. Darken it to #BA15FD to reach 4.5:1, or #8C02C4 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bc1afd?

#5BFD1A sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CDFD1A and #1AFD4A, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bc1afd?

For interface work: #F9F4FA as the surface, #E0C0ED for borders, #844B9B for secondary text, #6DCC00 as an accent and #5A017E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #4A1AFD and #FD1ACD stays calm, while #5BFD1A is the loudest partner.

What is #bc1afd in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(26%, 90%, 0%, 1%). 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 #bc1afd warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 60 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #FD1AEB; nudged cooler, #6818FF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bc1afd?

The purple family — its 500 step is #a855f7, ΔE2000 6.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bc1afd as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bc1afd in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bc1afd] or text-[#bc1afd], 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 #bc1afd with 50% opacity?

rgba(188, 26, 253, 0.5), or #bc1afd80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DE8DFE; over black, #5E0D7F.

Is #bc1afd a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC33FF, ΔE2000 4.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bc1afd 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 #bc1afd?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #CE57FE, #bc1afd 45%, #5A017E). For more colour, a short hue run to #F60285 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bc1afd in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bc1afd at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.