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violet · cool

#bcb1cf

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Amethyst

RGB
188, 177, 207
HSL
262°, 24%, 75%
CMYK
9, 15, 0, 19
Luminance
0.4664

#bcb1cf is a light soft violet, 262° on the wheel and 64/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.33:1). As text it scores 2.03:1 on white — use #806CA4 instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(262 24% 75%)rgb(188 177 207)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bcb1cf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bcb1cf
Hue
262°
violet
Saturation
24%
soft
Lightness
75%
light
Brightness
81%
HSV value
Perceived
72%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4664
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
64/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
10.33:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 6.6
Chroma
16.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.779
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 24.5
Web-safe
#CC99CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue262° of 360°
Saturation24%
Lightness75%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bcb1cf.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool64% 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%
Green67%
Blue10%

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

Every format

HEX#bcb1cf
HEX (8-digit)#bcb1cfff
RGBrgb(188, 177, 207)
RGBArgba(188, 177, 207, 1)
HSLhsl(262, 24%, 75%)
HSV / HSBhsv(262, 14%, 81%)
HWBhwb(262 69% 19%)
CMYKcmyk(9%, 15%, 0%, 19%)
LABlab(74.0 9.7 -13.7)
LCHlch(74.0 16.8 305.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.779 0.044 302.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(47.72, 46.64, 65.51)
Decimal12366287
Display P3color(display-p3 0.737 0.694 0.812)
Web-safe#CC99CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bcb1cf;
background-color: #bcb1cf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bcb1cf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bcb1cf] bg-[#bcb1cf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bcb1cf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.737, green: 0.694, blue: 0.812)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.737, green: 0.694, blue: 0.812, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BCB1CF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBCB1CF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBCB1CF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(207, 177, 188)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(188, 177, 207)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(188, 177, 207)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 188, 177, 207)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7373f, 0.6941f, 0.8118f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{188,177,207}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bcb1cf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bcb1cf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#3C314F, #DED9E8);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bcb1cf 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: #F7F6F9;
  --brand-100: #EFEDF3;
  --brand-200: #DCD7E5;
  --brand-300: #bcb1cf;
  --brand-400: #A697BF;
  --brand-500: #8874AA;
  --brand-600: #735D98;
  --brand-700: #604E7E;
  --brand-800: #4C3E65;
  --brand-900: #3A304B;
  --brand-950: #241E2F;
  --brand: #bcb1cf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F7F6F9;
  --brand-border: #D4CCE0;
  --brand-hover: #A99BC1;
  --brand-pressed: #9685B4;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1A1523;
    --brand-ink: #DED9E8;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F6F9',
        100: '#EFEDF3',
        200: '#DCD7E5',
        300: '#bcb1cf',
        400: '#A697BF',
        500: '#8874AA',
        600: '#735D98',
        700: '#604E7E',
        800: '#4C3E65',
        900: '#3A304B',
        950: '#241E2F',
        DEFAULT: '#bcb1cf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F6F9,
  '100': #EFEDF3,
  '200': #DCD7E5,
  '300': #bcb1cf,
  '400': #A697BF,
  '500': #8874AA,
  '600': #735D98,
  '700': #604E7E,
  '800': #4C3E65,
  '900': #3A304B,
  '950': #241E2F,
);
$brand-base: #bcb1cf;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F6F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EFEDF3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DCD7E5", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#bcb1cf", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#A697BF", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#8874AA", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#735D98", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#604E7E", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#4C3E65", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#3A304B", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#241E2F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bcb1cf · 10.33:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.03:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.33:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bcb1cf as text scores 2.03:1 on white and 10.33:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #3C314F at 5.92:1.

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
#806CA4 · 4.57:1
AA on white−22% L
#806CA4
The quick fox
#635082 · 7.00:1
AAA on white−34% L
#635082
The quick fox
#bcb1cf · 10.33:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bcb1cf
The quick fox
#bcb1cf · 10.33:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bcb1cf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9B8BB8 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
#bcb1cf on white: 2.03:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bcb1cf on black: 10.33:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bcb1cf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bcb1cf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.03:1AaAa
Slate 501.94:1AaAa
Slate 1001.86:1AaAa
Slate 2001.65:1AaAa
Slate 3001.37:1AaAa
Slate 4001.26:1AaAa
Slate 5002.34:1AaAa
Slate 6003.73:1AaAa
Slate 7005.09:1AaAa
Slate 8007.19:1AaAa
Slate 9008.78:1AaAa
Black10.33:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #ACB6D0
deuteranopia · #AEB6CE
tritanopia · #B9B5BB

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. #bcb1cf 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.

#F7F6F9
#EFEDF3
#DCD7E5
#bcb1cf
#A697BF
#8874AA
#735D98
#604E7E
#4C3E65
#3A304B
#241E2F
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F7F6F9Darkest = 950 · #241E2FText 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 0.011 302.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.017 302.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.026 302.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.034 302.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.040 302.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.044 302.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.044 302.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.041 302.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.037 302.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.031 302.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.024 302.1);
}

Colors that work with #bcb1cf

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#F7F6F9
Tinted page background
Border#D4CCE0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#6B578E
Captions on the surface
Accent#7A8349
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#3C314F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F1EFF5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1A1523
Dark-mode background
Hover#A99BC1
One step down in lightness
Pressed#9685B4
Two steps down
Disabled#F4F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C5B8DC
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 #bcb1cf

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 #3C314F
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9B8BB8

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
  • Weight25/100
  • 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#C4CFB1
Analogous left#B1B5CF
Analogous right#CBB1CF
Split-complement 1#CFCBB1
Split-complement 2#B5CFB1
Triadic 1#CFBCB1
Triadic 2#B1CFBC
Tetradic#CFB1B5
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°262°

#bcb1cf sits at 262°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red73.7%
Green69.4%
Blue81.2%
R · 0–255
188
0xbc
G · 0–255
177
0xb1
B · 0–255
207
0xcf

CMYK percentages

Cyan9.2%
Magenta14.5%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)18.8%

Total ink coverage is 43%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bcb1cf text on a black background

contrast 10.33:1

Card sample

#bcb1cf text on a white background

contrast 2.03:1

Card sample

#bcb1cf on grey

1.86:1

#bcb1cf on its own surface

1.89:1

#bcb1cf on its dark surface

8.79:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bcb1cf;
Background color
Panel with #bcb1cf background
background-color: #bcb1cf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bcb1cf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(188, 177, 207, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(188, 177, 207, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bcb1cf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bcb1cf, #CFB1CE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bcb1cf, #CFB1C7);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bcb1cf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bcb1cf;
caret-color: #bcb1cf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bcb1cf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F1EFF5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bcb1cf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bcb1cf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bcb1cf 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, 177, 207, 0.5)
rgb(188 177 207 / 50%)
#bcb1cf80
hsl(262 24% 75% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bcb1cf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bcb1cf1a#F8F7FA
20%#bcb1cf33#F2EFF5
40%#bcb1cf66#E4E0EC
60%#bcb1cf99#D7D0E2
80%#bcb1cfcc#C9C1D9

Gradients from #bcb1cf

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, #DDD7E6, #bcb1cf 45%, #3C314F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bcb1cf, #C39EBF);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bcb1cf, #C4CFB1);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EDEAF2 0%, #bcb1cf 45%, #3C314F 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F7F6F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #D1D4E2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #DAC4DB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #3C314F 0%, transparent 65%), #bcb1cf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bcb1cf

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.

#bcb1cf 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 10.33:1.

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.

#bcb1cf, answered

What color is #bcb1cf?

#bcb1cf is a light soft violet, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 6.6). It sits at 262° on the hue wheel with 24% saturation and 75% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #bcb1cf?

rgb(188, 177, 207) — 188 red, 177 green and 207 blue out of 255, or 73.7% / 69.4% / 81.2% by channel.

What is #bcb1cf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(262, 24%, 75%) and hsv(262, 14%, 81%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bcb1cf a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4664 and perceived brightness is 72%, so black text on it reaches 10.33:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bcb1cf?

Black. It scores 10.33:1 against #bcb1cf, versus 2.03:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bcb1cf accessible on a white background?

#bcb1cf on white scores 2.03:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #806CA4 to reach 4.5:1, or #635082 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bcb1cf?

#C4CFB1 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CFCBB1 and #B5CFB1, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bcb1cf?

For interface work: #F7F6F9 as the surface, #D4CCE0 for borders, #6B578E for secondary text, #7A8349 as an accent and #3C314F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #B1B5CF and #CBB1CF stays calm, while #C4CFB1 is the loudest partner.

What is #bcb1cf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(9%, 15%, 0%, 19%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bcb1cf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 64 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C7B1CF; nudged cooler, #B0B0D0.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bcb1cf?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 24.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bcb1cf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bcb1cf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bcb1cf] or text-[#bcb1cf], 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 #bcb1cf with 50% opacity?

rgba(188, 177, 207, 0.5), or #bcb1cf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DED8E7; over black, #5E5968.

Is #bcb1cf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99CC, ΔE2000 11.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bcb1cf 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 #bcb1cf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #DDD7E6, #bcb1cf 45%, #3C314F). For more colour, a short hue run to #C39EBF keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bcb1cf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bcb1cf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.