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violet · cool

#c4abdf

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Plum

RGB
196, 171, 223
HSL
269°, 45%, 77%
CMYK
12, 23, 0, 13
Luminance
0.4619

#c4abdf is a light soft violet, 269° on the wheel and 67/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.24:1). As text it scores 2.05:1 on white — use #8E5EC1 instead. Nearest name is Plum, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(269 45% 77%)rgb(196 171 223)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #c4abdf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#c4abdf
Hue
269°
violet
Saturation
45%
soft
Lightness
77%
light
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
73%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4619
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
67/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
10.24:1
Closest name
Plum
ΔE2000 7.5
Chroma
29.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.780
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 22.6
Web-safe
#CC99CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue269° of 360°
Saturation45%
Lightness77%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #c4abdf.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool67% 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%
Green63%
Blue12%

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

Every format

HEX#c4abdf
HEX (8-digit)#c4abdfff
RGBrgb(196, 171, 223)
RGBArgba(196, 171, 223, 1)
HSLhsl(269, 45%, 77%)
HSV / HSBhsv(269, 23%, 87%)
HWBhwb(269 67% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(12%, 23%, 0%, 13%)
LABlab(73.7 18.9 -22.9)
LCHlch(73.7 29.6 309.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.780 0.077 306.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(50.64, 46.19, 76.05)
Decimal12889055
Display P3color(display-p3 0.769 0.671 0.875)
Web-safe#CC99CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #c4abdf;
background-color: #c4abdf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #c4abdf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#c4abdf] bg-[#c4abdf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #c4abdf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.769, green: 0.671, blue: 0.875)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.769, green: 0.671, blue: 0.875, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#C4ABDF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFC4ABDF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFC4ABDF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(223, 171, 196)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(196, 171, 223)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(196, 171, 223)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 196, 171, 223)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7686f, 0.6706f, 0.8745f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{196,171,223}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #c4abdf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #c4abdf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#3F235C, #E0D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #c4abdf 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: #F7F5FA;
  --brand-100: #EFEAF5;
  --brand-200: #DDD1EB;
  --brand-300: #c4abdf;
  --brand-400: #A985D1;
  --brand-500: #8D5DC1;
  --brand-600: #7844B1;
  --brand-700: #643894;
  --brand-800: #502D76;
  --brand-900: #3C2456;
  --brand-950: #261636;
  --brand: #c4abdf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F7F4FA;
  --brand-border: #D5C4E8;
  --brand-hover: #B291D5;
  --brand-pressed: #A077CB;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1C1424;
    --brand-ink: #E0D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F5FA',
        100: '#EFEAF5',
        200: '#DDD1EB',
        300: '#c4abdf',
        400: '#A985D1',
        500: '#8D5DC1',
        600: '#7844B1',
        700: '#643894',
        800: '#502D76',
        900: '#3C2456',
        950: '#261636',
        DEFAULT: '#c4abdf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F5FA,
  '100': #EFEAF5,
  '200': #DDD1EB,
  '300': #c4abdf,
  '400': #A985D1,
  '500': #8D5DC1,
  '600': #7844B1,
  '700': #643894,
  '800': #502D76,
  '900': #3C2456,
  '950': #261636,
);
$brand-base: #c4abdf;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F5FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EFEAF5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DDD1EB", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#c4abdf", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#A985D1", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#8D5DC1", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#7844B1", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#643894", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#502D76", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#3C2456", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#261636", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #c4abdf · 10.24:1
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 · 10.24:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #c4abdf as text scores 2.05:1 on white and 10.24:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #3F235C at 6.37:1.

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
#8E5EC1 · 4.64:1
AA on white−21% L
#8E5EC1
The quick fox
#7140A7 · 7.02:1
AAA on white−32% L
#7140A7
The quick fox
#c4abdf · 10.24:1
AA on blackalready passes
#c4abdf
The quick fox
#c4abdf · 10.24:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#c4abdf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A883D0 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
#c4abdf on white: 2.05:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#c4abdf on black: 10.24:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #c4abdf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #c4abdf.

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 5002.32:1AaAa
Slate 6003.69:1AaAa
Slate 7005.05:1AaAa
Slate 8007.13:1AaAa
Slate 9008.70:1AaAa
Black10.24:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A2B4E1
deuteranopia · #A7B5DD
tritanopia · #C0B2BD

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. #c4abdf 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.

#F7F5FA
#EFEAF5
#DDD1EB
#c4abdf
#A985D1
#8D5DC1
#7844B1
#643894
#502D76
#3C2456
#261636
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F7F5FADarkest = 950 · #261636Text 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 0.019 306.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.031 306.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.046 306.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.060 306.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.071 306.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.077 306.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.077 306.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.073 306.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.065 306.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.054 306.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.043 306.5);
}

Colors that work with #c4abdf

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#D5C4E8
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#714B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#809735
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#3F235C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F2EDF8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1C1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#B291D5
One step down in lightness
Pressed#A077CB
Two steps down
Disabled#F5F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#CEB5E9
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 #c4abdf

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 #3F235C
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A883D0

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#C6DFAB
Analogous left#ABACDF
Analogous right#DEABDF
Split-complement 1#DFDEAB
Split-complement 2#ACDFAB
Triadic 1#DFC4AB
Triadic 2#ABDFC4
Tetradic#DFABAC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°269°

#c4abdf sits at 269°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red76.9%
Green67.1%
Blue87.5%
R · 0–255
196
0xc4
G · 0–255
171
0xab
B · 0–255
223
0xdf

CMYK percentages

Cyan12.1%
Magenta23.3%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)12.5%

Total ink coverage is 48%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#c4abdf text on a black background

contrast 10.24:1

Card sample

#c4abdf text on a white background

contrast 2.05:1

Card sample

#c4abdf on grey

1.87:1

#c4abdf on its own surface

1.88:1

#c4abdf on its dark surface

8.71:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #c4abdf;
Background color
Panel with #c4abdf background
background-color: #c4abdf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #c4abdf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(196, 171, 223, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(196, 171, 223, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #c4abdf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #c4abdf, #DFABD7);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c4abdf, #DFABCA);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #c4abdf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #c4abdf;
caret-color: #c4abdf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #c4abdf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F2EDF8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #c4abdf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#c4abdf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #c4abdf 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(196, 171, 223, 0.5)
rgb(196 171 223 / 50%)
#c4abdf80
hsl(269 45% 77% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #c4abdf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#c4abdf1a#F9F7FC
20%#c4abdf33#F3EEF9
40%#c4abdf66#E7DDF2
60%#c4abdf99#DCCDEC
80%#c4abdfcc#D0BCE5

Gradients from #c4abdf

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, #E3D7F0, #c4abdf 45%, #3F235C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #c4abdf, #D795C8);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c4abdf, #C6DFAB);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F3EEF8 0%, #c4abdf 45%, #3F235C 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%, #D0D3ED 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E7C1E5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #3F235C 0%, transparent 65%), #c4abdf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #c4abdf

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.

#c4abdf 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 10.24:1.

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.

#c4abdf, answered

What color is #c4abdf?

#c4abdf is a light soft violet, closest to Plum (ΔE2000 7.5). It sits at 269° on the hue wheel with 45% saturation and 77% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #c4abdf?

rgb(196, 171, 223) — 196 red, 171 green and 223 blue out of 255, or 76.9% / 67.1% / 87.5% by channel.

What is #c4abdf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(269, 45%, 77%) and hsv(269, 23%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #c4abdf a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4619 and perceived brightness is 73%, so black text on it reaches 10.24:1.

Should I use black or white text on #c4abdf?

Black. It scores 10.24:1 against #c4abdf, versus 2.05:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #c4abdf accessible on a white background?

#c4abdf on white scores 2.05:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #8E5EC1 to reach 4.5:1, or #7140A7 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #c4abdf?

#C6DFAB sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DFDEAB and #ACDFAB, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #c4abdf?

For interface work: #F7F4FA as the surface, #D5C4E8 for borders, #714B9B for secondary text, #809735 as an accent and #3F235C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #ABACDF and #DEABDF stays calm, while #C6DFAB is the loudest partner.

What is #c4abdf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(12%, 23%, 0%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #c4abdf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 67 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #D7ABDF; nudged cooler, #B0AAE0.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #c4abdf?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 22.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #c4abdf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #c4abdf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#c4abdf] or text-[#c4abdf], 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 #c4abdf with 50% opacity?

rgba(196, 171, 223, 0.5), or #c4abdf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E2D5EF; over black, #625670.

Is #c4abdf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99CC, ΔE2000 7.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #c4abdf 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 #c4abdf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E3D7F0, #c4abdf 45%, #3F235C). For more colour, a short hue run to #D795C8 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #c4abdf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #c4abdf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.