Skip to content
violet · cool

#bca4eb

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Iris

RGB
188, 164, 235
HSL
260°, 64%, 78%
CMYK
20, 30, 0, 8
Luminance
0.4324

#bca4eb is a light vivid violet, 260° on the wheel and 72/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.65:1). As text it scores 2.18:1 on white — use #885DDB instead. Nearest name is Plum, nearest Tailwind family is purple.

hsl(260 64% 78%)rgb(188 164 235)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bca4eb is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bca4eb
Hue
260°
violet
Saturation
64%
vivid
Lightness
78%
light
Brightness
92%
HSV value
Perceived
71%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4324
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
72/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
9.65:1
Closest name
Plum
ΔE2000 9.5
Chroma
39.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.765
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
purple
500 · ΔE 20.4
Web-safe
#CC99FF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue260° of 360°
Saturation64%
Lightness78%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bca4eb.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool72% 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
Red25%
Green61%
Blue14%

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

Every format

HEX#bca4eb
HEX (8-digit)#bca4ebff
RGBrgb(188, 164, 235)
RGBArgba(188, 164, 235, 1)
HSLhsl(260, 64%, 78%)
HSV / HSBhsv(260, 30%, 92%)
HWBhwb(260 64% 8%)
CMYKcmyk(20%, 30%, 0%, 8%)
LABlab(71.7 22.8 -32.4)
LCHlch(71.7 39.7 305.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.765 0.103 299.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(49.01, 43.24, 84.35)
Decimal12362987
Display P3color(display-p3 0.737 0.643 0.922)
Web-safe#CC99FF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bca4eb;
background-color: #bca4eb;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bca4eb;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bca4eb] bg-[#bca4eb]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bca4eb;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.737, green: 0.643, blue: 0.922)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.737, green: 0.643, blue: 0.922, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BCA4EB</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBCA4EB)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBCA4EB)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(235, 164, 188)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(188, 164, 235)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(188, 164, 235)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 188, 164, 235)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7373f, 0.6431f, 0.9216f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{188,164,235}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bca4eb 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bca4eb 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#331769, #DCD3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bca4eb 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: #F6F4FB;
  --brand-100: #EDE8F7;
  --brand-200: #D8CBF1;
  --brand-300: #bca4eb;
  --brand-400: #9975E1;
  --brand-500: #7847D7;
  --brand-600: #612CC9;
  --brand-700: #5125A7;
  --brand-800: #411D86;
  --brand-900: #321961;
  --brand-950: #1F103D;
  --brand: #bca4eb;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F4FA;
  --brand-border: #CFC0ED;
  --brand-hover: #A687E5;
  --brand-pressed: #9169DE;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #191424;
    --brand-ink: #DCD3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F4FB',
        100: '#EDE8F7',
        200: '#D8CBF1',
        300: '#bca4eb',
        400: '#9975E1',
        500: '#7847D7',
        600: '#612CC9',
        700: '#5125A7',
        800: '#411D86',
        900: '#321961',
        950: '#1F103D',
        DEFAULT: '#bca4eb',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F4FB,
  '100': #EDE8F7,
  '200': #D8CBF1,
  '300': #bca4eb,
  '400': #9975E1,
  '500': #7847D7,
  '600': #612CC9,
  '700': #5125A7,
  '800': #411D86,
  '900': #321961,
  '950': #1F103D,
);
$brand-base: #bca4eb;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F4FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EDE8F7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D8CBF1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#bca4eb", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#9975E1", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7847D7", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#612CC9", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#5125A7", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#411D86", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#321961", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1F103D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bca4eb · 9.65:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.18:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.65:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bca4eb as text scores 2.18:1 on white and 9.65:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #331769 at 6.58:1.

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
#885DDB · 4.53:1
AA on white−17% L
#885DDB
The quick fox
#662FD1 · 7.26:1
AAA on white−28% L
#662FD1
The quick fox
#bca4eb · 9.65:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bca4eb
The quick fox
#bca4eb · 9.65:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bca4eb

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A382E4 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
#bca4eb on white: 2.18:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bca4eb on black: 9.65:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bca4eb as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bca4eb.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.18:1AaAa
Slate 502.08:1AaAa
Slate 1001.99:1AaAa
Slate 2001.77:1AaAa
Slate 3001.47:1AaAa
Slate 4001.18:1AaAa
Slate 5002.19:1AaAa
Slate 6003.48:1AaAa
Slate 7004.76:1AaAa
Slate 8006.72:1AaAa
Slate 9008.20:1AaAa
Black9.65:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #94B0EE
deuteranopia · #98AFE9
tritanopia · #B4AFBD

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. #bca4eb 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.

#F6F4FB
#EDE8F7
#D8CBF1
#bca4eb
#9975E1
#7847D7
#612CC9
#5125A7
#411D86
#321961
#1F103D
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F6F4FBDarkest = 950 · #1F103DText 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 0.026 299.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.041 299.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.062 299.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.080 299.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.095 299.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.103 299.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.103 299.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.097 299.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.086 299.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.072 299.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.057 299.5);
}

Colors that work with #bca4eb

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#F6F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#CFC0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#664B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#A0AB21
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#331769
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F0EAFA
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#191424
Dark-mode background
Hover#A687E5
One step down in lightness
Pressed#9169DE
Two steps down
Disabled#F4F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C7B0F3
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 #bca4eb

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 #331769
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A382E4

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
  • Weight22/100
  • 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#D3EBA4
Analogous left#A4AFEB
Analogous right#DFA4EB
Split-complement 1#EBDFA4
Split-complement 2#AFEBA4
Triadic 1#EBBCA4
Triadic 2#A4EBBC
Tetradic#EBA4AF
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°260°

#bca4eb sits at 260°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red73.7%
Green64.3%
Blue92.2%
R · 0–255
188
0xbc
G · 0–255
164
0xa4
B · 0–255
235
0xeb

CMYK percentages

Cyan20.0%
Magenta30.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)7.8%

Total ink coverage is 58%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bca4eb text on a black background

contrast 9.65:1

Card sample

#bca4eb text on a white background

contrast 2.18:1

Card sample

#bca4eb on grey

1.99:1

#bca4eb on its own surface

1.99:1

#bca4eb on its dark surface

8.27:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bca4eb;
Background color
Panel with #bca4eb background
background-color: #bca4eb;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bca4eb;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(188, 164, 235, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(188, 164, 235, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bca4eb;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bca4eb, #EBA4EB);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bca4eb, #EBA4D9);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bca4eb;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bca4eb;
caret-color: #bca4eb;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bca4eb;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F0EAFA;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bca4eb;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bca4eb 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bca4eb 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, 164, 235, 0.5)
rgb(188 164 235 / 50%)
#bca4eb80
hsl(260 64% 78% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bca4eb 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bca4eb1a#F8F6FD
20%#bca4eb33#F2EDFB
40%#bca4eb66#E4DBF7
60%#bca4eb99#D7C8F3
80%#bca4ebcc#C9B6EF

Gradients from #bca4eb

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, #E1D6F6, #bca4eb 45%, #331769);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bca4eb, #E58BDD);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bca4eb, #D3EBA4);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F3EFFC 0%, #bca4eb 45%, #331769 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #CED7F4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #ECBDF0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #331769 0%, transparent 65%), #bca4eb;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bca4eb

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.

#bca4eb 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 9.65:1.

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.

#bca4eb, answered

What color is #bca4eb?

#bca4eb is a light vivid violet, closest to Plum (ΔE2000 9.5). It sits at 260° on the hue wheel with 64% saturation and 78% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #bca4eb?

rgb(188, 164, 235) — 188 red, 164 green and 235 blue out of 255, or 73.7% / 64.3% / 92.2% by channel.

What is #bca4eb in HSL and HSV?

hsl(260, 64%, 78%) and hsv(260, 30%, 92%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bca4eb a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4324 and perceived brightness is 71%, so black text on it reaches 9.65:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bca4eb?

Black. It scores 9.65:1 against #bca4eb, versus 2.18:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bca4eb accessible on a white background?

#bca4eb on white scores 2.18:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #885DDB to reach 4.5:1, or #662FD1 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bca4eb?

#D3EBA4 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #EBDFA4 and #AFEBA4, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bca4eb?

For interface work: #F6F4FA as the surface, #CFC0ED for borders, #664B9B for secondary text, #A0AB21 as an accent and #331769 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #A4AFEB and #DFA4EB stays calm, while #D3EBA4 is the loudest partner.

What is #bca4eb in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(20%, 30%, 0%, 8%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bca4eb warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 72 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #D6A4EB; nudged cooler, #A3A5EC.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bca4eb?

The purple family — its 500 step is #a855f7, ΔE2000 20.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bca4eb as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bca4eb in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bca4eb] or text-[#bca4eb], 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 #bca4eb with 50% opacity?

rgba(188, 164, 235, 0.5), or #bca4eb80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DED2F5; over black, #5E5276.

Is #bca4eb a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99FF, ΔE2000 6.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bca4eb 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 #bca4eb?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E1D6F6, #bca4eb 45%, #331769). For more colour, a short hue run to #E58BDD keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bca4eb in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bca4eb at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.