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violet · cool

#c4bbdf

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Plum

RGB
196, 187, 223
HSL
255°, 36%, 80%
CMYK
12, 16, 0, 13
Luminance
0.5260

#c4bbdf is a light soft violet, 255° on the wheel and 75/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.52:1). As text it scores 1.82:1 on white — use #7C68B8 instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is slate.

hsl(255 36% 80%)rgb(196 187 223)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #c4bbdf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#c4bbdf
Hue
255°
violet
Saturation
36%
soft
Lightness
80%
light
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
76%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5260
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
75/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
11.52:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 6.7
Chroma
19.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.811
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
slate
500 · ΔE 27.2
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue255° of 360°
Saturation36%
Lightness80%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #c4bbdf.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool75% 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
Red22%
Green68%
Blue10%

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

Every format

HEX#c4bbdf
HEX (8-digit)#c4bbdfff
RGBrgb(196, 187, 223)
RGBArgba(196, 187, 223, 1)
HSLhsl(255, 36%, 80%)
HSV / HSBhsv(255, 16%, 87%)
HWBhwb(255 73% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(12%, 16%, 0%, 13%)
LABlab(77.6 10.1 -16.8)
LCHlch(77.6 19.6 301.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.811 0.051 296.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(53.85, 52.60, 77.11)
Decimal12893151
Display P3color(display-p3 0.769 0.733 0.875)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #c4bbdf;
background-color: #c4bbdf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #c4bbdf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#c4bbdf] bg-[#c4bbdf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #c4bbdf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.769, green: 0.733, blue: 0.875)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.769, green: 0.733, blue: 0.875, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#C4BBDF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFC4BBDF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFC4BBDF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(223, 187, 196)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(196, 187, 223)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(196, 187, 223)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 196, 187, 223)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7686f, 0.7333f, 0.8745f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{196,187,223}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #c4bbdf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #c4bbdf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#342957, #DBD5EB);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #c4bbdf 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: #F6F5F9;
  --brand-100: #EEEBF4;
  --brand-200: #D9D3E8;
  --brand-300: #c4bbdf;
  --brand-400: #9C8DC9;
  --brand-500: #7B66B7;
  --brand-600: #644EA6;
  --brand-700: #54418B;
  --brand-800: #43346F;
  --brand-900: #332951;
  --brand-950: #201A33;
  --brand: #c4bbdf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F5FA;
  --brand-border: #CFC8E5;
  --brand-hover: #AFA3D4;
  --brand-pressed: #9A8AC8;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #181424;
    --brand-ink: #DBD5EB;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F5F9',
        100: '#EEEBF4',
        200: '#D9D3E8',
        300: '#c4bbdf',
        400: '#9C8DC9',
        500: '#7B66B7',
        600: '#644EA6',
        700: '#54418B',
        800: '#43346F',
        900: '#332951',
        950: '#201A33',
        DEFAULT: '#c4bbdf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F5F9,
  '100': #EEEBF4,
  '200': #D9D3E8,
  '300': #c4bbdf,
  '400': #9C8DC9,
  '500': #7B66B7,
  '600': #644EA6,
  '700': #54418B,
  '800': #43346F,
  '900': #332951,
  '950': #201A33,
);
$brand-base: #c4bbdf;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F5F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EEEBF4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D9D3E8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#c4bbdf", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#9C8DC9", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7B66B7", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#644EA6", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#54418B", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#43346F", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#332951", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#201A33", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #c4bbdf · 11.52:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.82:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.52:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #c4bbdf as text scores 1.82:1 on white and 11.52:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #342957 at 7.20:1.

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
#7C68B8 · 4.64:1
AA on white−24% L
#7C68B8
The quick fox
#5F4A9D · 7.11:1
AAA on white−35% L
#5F4A9D
The quick fox
#c4bbdf · 11.52:1
AA on blackalready passes
#c4bbdf
The quick fox
#c4bbdf · 11.52:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#c4bbdf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9A8AC8 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
#c4bbdf on white: 1.82:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#c4bbdf on black: 11.52:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #c4bbdf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #c4bbdf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.82:1AaAa
Slate 501.74:1AaAa
Slate 1001.66:1AaAa
Slate 2001.48:1AaAa
Slate 3001.23:1AaAa
Slate 4001.41:1AaAa
Slate 5002.61:1AaAa
Slate 6004.16:1AaAa
Slate 7005.68:1AaAa
Slate 8008.03:1AaAa
Slate 9009.79:1AaAa
Black11.52:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B4C0E1
deuteranopia · #B5BFDE
tritanopia · #BFC0C7

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. #c4bbdf 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.

#F6F5F9
#EEEBF4
#D9D3E8
#c4bbdf
#9C8DC9
#7B66B7
#644EA6
#54418B
#43346F
#332951
#201A33
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F6F5F9Darkest = 950 · #201A33Text 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 0.013 296.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.020 296.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.031 296.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.040 296.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.047 296.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.051 296.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.051 296.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.048 296.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.043 296.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.036 296.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.028 296.7);
}

Colors that work with #c4bbdf

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#CFC8E5
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#5F4B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#8F8F3D
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#342957
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F0EEF7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#181424
Dark-mode background
Hover#AFA3D4
One step down in lightness
Pressed#9A8AC8
Two steps down
Disabled#F4F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#CEC5EA
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 #c4bbdf

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 #342957
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9A8AC8

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
  • Weight20/100
  • 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#D6DFBB
Analogous left#BBC4DF
Analogous right#D6BBDF
Split-complement 1#DFD6BB
Split-complement 2#C4DFBB
Triadic 1#DFC4BB
Triadic 2#BBDFC4
Tetradic#DFBBC4
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°255°

#c4bbdf sits at 255°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red76.9%
Green73.3%
Blue87.5%
R · 0–255
196
0xc4
G · 0–255
187
0xbb
B · 0–255
223
0xdf

CMYK percentages

Cyan12.1%
Magenta16.1%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)12.5%

Total ink coverage is 41%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#c4bbdf text on a black background

contrast 11.52:1

Card sample

#c4bbdf text on a white background

contrast 1.82:1

Card sample

#c4bbdf on grey

1.66:1

#c4bbdf on its own surface

1.68:1

#c4bbdf on its dark surface

9.89:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #c4bbdf;
Background color
Panel with #c4bbdf background
background-color: #c4bbdf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #c4bbdf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(196, 187, 223, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(196, 187, 223, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #c4bbdf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #c4bbdf, #DCBBDF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c4bbdf, #DFBBD9);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #c4bbdf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #c4bbdf;
caret-color: #c4bbdf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #c4bbdf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F0EEF7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #c4bbdf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#c4bbdf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #c4bbdf 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, 187, 223, 0.5)
rgb(196 187 223 / 50%)
#c4bbdf80
hsl(255 36% 80% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #c4bbdf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#c4bbdf1a#F9F8FC
20%#c4bbdf33#F3F1F9
40%#c4bbdf66#E7E4F2
60%#c4bbdf99#DCD6EC
80%#c4bbdfcc#D0C9E5

Gradients from #c4bbdf

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, #E8E5F3, #c4bbdf 45%, #342957);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #c4bbdf, #D5A6D5);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c4bbdf, #D6DFBB);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F6F5FA 0%, #c4bbdf 45%, #342957 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%, #DEE4EF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E5D0E9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #342957 0%, transparent 65%), #c4bbdf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #c4bbdf

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.

#c4bbdf 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 11.52:1.

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.

#c4bbdf, answered

What color is #c4bbdf?

#c4bbdf is a light soft violet, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 6.7). It sits at 255° on the hue wheel with 36% saturation and 80% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #c4bbdf?

rgb(196, 187, 223) — 196 red, 187 green and 223 blue out of 255, or 76.9% / 73.3% / 87.5% by channel.

What is #c4bbdf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(255, 36%, 80%) and hsv(255, 16%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #c4bbdf a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5260 and perceived brightness is 76%, so black text on it reaches 11.52:1.

Should I use black or white text on #c4bbdf?

Black. It scores 11.52:1 against #c4bbdf, versus 1.82:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #c4bbdf accessible on a white background?

#c4bbdf on white scores 1.82:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7C68B8 to reach 4.5:1, or #5F4A9D for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #c4bbdf?

#D6DFBB sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DFD6BB and #C4DFBB, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #c4bbdf?

For interface work: #F6F5FA as the surface, #CFC8E5 for borders, #5F4B9B for secondary text, #8F8F3D as an accent and #342957 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BBC4DF and #D6BBDF stays calm, while #D6DFBB is the loudest partner.

What is #c4bbdf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(12%, 16%, 0%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #c4bbdf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 75 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #D1BBDF; nudged cooler, #BABEE0.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #c4bbdf?

The slate family — its 500 step is #64748b, ΔE2000 27.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #c4bbdf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #c4bbdf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#c4bbdf] or text-[#c4bbdf], 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 #c4bbdf with 50% opacity?

rgba(196, 187, 223, 0.5), or #c4bbdf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E2DDEF; over black, #625E70.

Is #c4bbdf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 15.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #c4bbdf 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 #c4bbdf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E8E5F3, #c4bbdf 45%, #342957). For more colour, a short hue run to #D5A6D5 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #c4bbdf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #c4bbdf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.