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violet · cool

#bcafd8

a light, soft violet · cool · closest name: Thistle

Token name suggestion: Morning Plum

RGB
188, 175, 216
HSL
259°, 35%, 77%
CMYK
13, 19, 0, 15
Luminance
0.4631

#bcafd8 is a light soft violet, 259° on the wheel and 72/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.26:1). As text it scores 2.05:1 on white — use #8067B5 instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(259 35% 77%)rgb(188 175 216)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bcafd8 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bcafd8
Hue
259°
violet
Saturation
35%
soft
Lightness
77%
light
Brightness
85%
HSV value
Perceived
72%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4631
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
72/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
10.26:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 8
Chroma
22.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.778
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 25.1
Web-safe
#CC99CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue259° of 360°
Saturation35%
Lightness77%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bcafd8.

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
Red23%
Green66%
Blue11%

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

Every format

HEX#bcafd8
HEX (8-digit)#bcafd8ff
RGBrgb(188, 175, 216)
RGBArgba(188, 175, 216, 1)
HSLhsl(259, 35%, 77%)
HSV / HSBhsv(259, 19%, 85%)
HWBhwb(259 69% 15%)
CMYKcmyk(13%, 19%, 0%, 15%)
LABlab(73.8 12.6 -19.0)
LCHlch(73.8 22.8 303.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.778 0.059 299.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(48.46, 46.31, 71.34)
Decimal12365784
Display P3color(display-p3 0.737 0.686 0.847)
Web-safe#CC99CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bcafd8;
background-color: #bcafd8;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bcafd8;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bcafd8] bg-[#bcafd8]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bcafd8;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.737, green: 0.686, blue: 0.847)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.737, green: 0.686, blue: 0.847, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BCAFD8</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBCAFD8)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBCAFD8)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(216, 175, 188)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(188, 175, 216)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(188, 175, 216)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 188, 175, 216)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7373f, 0.6863f, 0.8471f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{188,175,216}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bcafd8 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bcafd8 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#382A56, #DDD6EB);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bcafd8 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: #F7F5F9;
  --brand-100: #EEECF4;
  --brand-200: #DAD4E8;
  --brand-300: #bcafd8;
  --brand-400: #A08EC8;
  --brand-500: #8168B6;
  --brand-600: #6B50A5;
  --brand-700: #594389;
  --brand-800: #47356E;
  --brand-900: #362A51;
  --brand-950: #221A32;
  --brand: #bcafd8;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F5FA;
  --brand-border: #D1C8E4;
  --brand-hover: #A897CC;
  --brand-pressed: #947FC1;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #191424;
    --brand-ink: #DDD6EB;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F5F9',
        100: '#EEECF4',
        200: '#DAD4E8',
        300: '#bcafd8',
        400: '#A08EC8',
        500: '#8168B6',
        600: '#6B50A5',
        700: '#594389',
        800: '#47356E',
        900: '#362A51',
        950: '#221A32',
        DEFAULT: '#bcafd8',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F5F9,
  '100': #EEECF4,
  '200': #DAD4E8,
  '300': #bcafd8,
  '400': #A08EC8,
  '500': #8168B6,
  '600': #6B50A5,
  '700': #594389,
  '800': #47356E,
  '900': #362A51,
  '950': #221A32,
);
$brand-base: #bcafd8;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F5F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EEECF4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DAD4E8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#bcafd8", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#A08EC8", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#8168B6", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#6B50A5", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#594389", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#47356E", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#362A51", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#221A32", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bcafd8 · 10.26:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.05:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.26:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bcafd8 as text scores 2.05:1 on white and 10.26:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #382A56 at 6.28:1.

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
#8067B5 · 4.64:1
AA on white−21% L
#8067B5
The quick fox
#614996 · 7.24:1
AAA on white−33% L
#614996
The quick fox
#bcafd8 · 10.26:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bcafd8
The quick fox
#bcafd8 · 10.26:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bcafd8

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9C89C6 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
#bcafd8 on white: 2.05:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bcafd8 on black: 10.26:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bcafd8 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bcafd8.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.05:1AaAa
Slate 501.96:1AaAa
Slate 1001.87:1AaAa
Slate 2001.66:1AaAa
Slate 3001.38:1AaAa
Slate 4001.25:1AaAa
Slate 5002.33:1AaAa
Slate 6003.70:1AaAa
Slate 7005.06:1AaAa
Slate 8007.15:1AaAa
Slate 9008.72:1AaAa
Black10.26:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A7B5DA
deuteranopia · #A9B5D7
tritanopia · #B7B5BD

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. #bcafd8 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.

#F7F5F9
#EEECF4
#DAD4E8
#bcafd8
#A08EC8
#8168B6
#6B50A5
#594389
#47356E
#362A51
#221A32
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F7F5F9Darkest = 950 · #221A32Text 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 0.015 299.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.024 299.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.036 299.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.046 299.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.054 299.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.059 299.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.059 299.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.056 299.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.050 299.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.041 299.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.033 299.5);
}

Colors that work with #bcafd8

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#F6F5FA
Tinted page background
Border#D1C8E4
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#644B9A
Captions on the surface
Accent#878D3F
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#382A56
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F1EEF7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#191424
Dark-mode background
Hover#A897CC
One step down in lightness
Pressed#947FC1
Two steps down
Disabled#F4F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C6B8E4
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 #bcafd8

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary 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 #382A56
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9C89C6

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.

The muted chroma softens the association — it reads considered rather than loud, which suits long-form and data-heavy screens. 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
  • Weight23/100
  • 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#CBD8AF
Analogous left#AFB7D8
Analogous right#D1AFD8
Split-complement 1#D8D1AF
Split-complement 2#B7D8AF
Triadic 1#D8BCAF
Triadic 2#AFD8BC
Tetradic#D8AFB7
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°259°

#bcafd8 sits at 259°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red73.7%
Green68.6%
Blue84.7%
R · 0–255
188
0xbc
G · 0–255
175
0xaf
B · 0–255
216
0xd8

CMYK percentages

Cyan13.0%
Magenta19.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)15.3%

Total ink coverage is 47%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bcafd8 text on a black background

contrast 10.26:1

Card sample

#bcafd8 text on a white background

contrast 2.05:1

Card sample

#bcafd8 on grey

1.87:1

#bcafd8 on its own surface

1.89:1

#bcafd8 on its dark surface

8.79:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bcafd8;
Background color
Panel with #bcafd8 background
background-color: #bcafd8;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bcafd8;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(188, 175, 216, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(188, 175, 216, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bcafd8;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bcafd8, #D7AFD8);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bcafd8, #D8AFCF);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bcafd8;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bcafd8;
caret-color: #bcafd8;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bcafd8;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F1EEF7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bcafd8;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bcafd8 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bcafd8 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, 175, 216, 0.5)
rgb(188 175 216 / 50%)
#bcafd880
hsl(259 35% 77% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bcafd8 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bcafd81a#F8F7FB
20%#bcafd833#F2EFF7
40%#bcafd866#E4DFEF
60%#bcafd899#D7CFE8
80%#bcafd8cc#C9BFE0

Gradients from #bcafd8

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, #DFD8EC, #bcafd8 45%, #382A56);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bcafd8, #CE9BCB);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bcafd8, #CBD8AF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F0EDF6 0%, #bcafd8 45%, #382A56 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F5FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #D1D8E9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #DFC4E2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #382A56 0%, transparent 65%), #bcafd8;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bcafd8

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.

#bcafd8 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 10.26:1.

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.

#bcafd8, answered

What color is #bcafd8?

#bcafd8 is a light soft violet, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 8). It sits at 259° on the hue wheel with 35% saturation and 77% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #bcafd8?

rgb(188, 175, 216) — 188 red, 175 green and 216 blue out of 255, or 73.7% / 68.6% / 84.7% by channel.

What is #bcafd8 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(259, 35%, 77%) and hsv(259, 19%, 85%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bcafd8 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4631 and perceived brightness is 72%, so black text on it reaches 10.26:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bcafd8?

Black. It scores 10.26:1 against #bcafd8, versus 2.05:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bcafd8 accessible on a white background?

#bcafd8 on white scores 2.05:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #8067B5 to reach 4.5:1, or #614996 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bcafd8?

#CBD8AF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #D8D1AF and #B7D8AF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bcafd8?

For interface work: #F6F5FA as the surface, #D1C8E4 for borders, #644B9A for secondary text, #878D3F as an accent and #382A56 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AFB7D8 and #D1AFD8 stays calm, while #CBD8AF is the loudest partner.

What is #bcafd8 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(13%, 19%, 0%, 15%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bcafd8 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 #CBAFD8; nudged cooler, #AEB0D9.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bcafd8?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 25.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bcafd8 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bcafd8 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bcafd8] or text-[#bcafd8], 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 #bcafd8 with 50% opacity?

rgba(188, 175, 216, 0.5), or #bcafd880 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DED7EC; over black, #5E586C.

Is #bcafd8 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99CC, ΔE2000 9.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bcafd8 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 moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #bcafd8?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #DFD8EC, #bcafd8 45%, #382A56). For more colour, a short hue run to #CE9BCB keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bcafd8 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bcafd8 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.