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violet · neutral

#cac4d2

a light, muted violet · neutral · closest name: Thistle

Token name suggestion: Drift Iris

RGB
202, 196, 210
HSL
266°, 14%, 80%
CMYK
4, 7, 0, 18
Luminance
0.5669

#cac4d2 is a light muted violet, 266° on the wheel and 57/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.34:1). As text it scores 1.70:1 on white — use #7F7092 instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(266 14% 80%)rgb(202 196 210)Base step 300AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cac4d2 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cac4d2
Hue
266°
violet
Saturation
14%
muted
Lightness
80%
light
Brightness
82%
HSV value
Perceived
78%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5669
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
57/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
12.34:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 7.9
Chroma
7.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.829
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 27
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue266° of 360°
Saturation14%
Lightness80%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cac4d2.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool57% cool

Reads neutral. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Luminance by channel
Red22%
Green70%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#cac4d2
HEX (8-digit)#cac4d2ff
RGBrgb(202, 196, 210)
RGBArgba(202, 196, 210, 1)
HSLhsl(266, 14%, 80%)
HSV / HSBhsv(266, 7%, 82%)
HWBhwb(266 77% 18%)
CMYKcmyk(4%, 7%, 0%, 18%)
LABlab(80.0 4.7 -6.2)
LCHlch(80.0 7.8 306.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.829 0.020 305.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(55.73, 56.69, 68.97)
Decimal13288658
Display P3color(display-p3 0.792 0.769 0.824)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cac4d2;
background-color: #cac4d2;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cac4d2;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cac4d2] bg-[#cac4d2]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cac4d2;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.792, green: 0.769, blue: 0.824)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.792, green: 0.769, blue: 0.824, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CAC4D2</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCAC4D2)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCAC4D2)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(210, 196, 202)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(202, 196, 210)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(202, 196, 210)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 202, 196, 210)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7922f, 0.7686f, 0.8235f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{202,196,210}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cac4d2 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cac4d2 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#3F3748, #E0DCE5);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cac4d2 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: #F7F7F8;
  --brand-100: #EFEEF1;
  --brand-200: #DDDAE2;
  --brand-300: #cac4d2;
  --brand-400: #A99FB6;
  --brand-500: #8D809E;
  --brand-600: #786A8B;
  --brand-700: #645874;
  --brand-800: #50475D;
  --brand-900: #3C3645;
  --brand-950: #26212B;
  --brand: #cac4d2;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F7F6F8;
  --brand-border: #D5D1DC;
  --brand-hover: #B8B0C3;
  --brand-pressed: #A69BB3;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1C1820;
    --brand-ink: #E0DCE5;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F7F8',
        100: '#EFEEF1',
        200: '#DDDAE2',
        300: '#cac4d2',
        400: '#A99FB6',
        500: '#8D809E',
        600: '#786A8B',
        700: '#645874',
        800: '#50475D',
        900: '#3C3645',
        950: '#26212B',
        DEFAULT: '#cac4d2',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F7F8,
  '100': #EFEEF1,
  '200': #DDDAE2,
  '300': #cac4d2,
  '400': #A99FB6,
  '500': #8D809E,
  '600': #786A8B,
  '700': #645874,
  '800': #50475D,
  '900': #3C3645,
  '950': #26212B,
);
$brand-base: #cac4d2;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F7F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EFEEF1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DDDAE2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#cac4d2", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#A99FB6", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#8D809E", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#786A8B", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#645874", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#50475D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#3C3645", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#26212B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cac4d2 · 12.34:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.70:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.34:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cac4d2 as text scores 1.70:1 on white and 12.34:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #3F3748 at 6.66:1.

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
#7F7092 · 4.53:1
AA on white−29% L
#7F7092
The quick fox
#5E536D · 7.16:1
AAA on white−42% L
#5E536D
The quick fox
#cac4d2 · 12.34:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cac4d2
The quick fox
#cac4d2 · 12.34:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cac4d2

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9B90AA 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
#cac4d2 on white: 1.70:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cac4d2 on black: 12.34:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cac4d2 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cac4d2.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.70:1AaAa
Slate 501.63:1AaAa
Slate 1001.55:1AaAa
Slate 2001.38:1AaAa
Slate 3001.15:1AaAa
Slate 4001.51:1AaAa
Slate 5002.80:1AaAa
Slate 6004.45:1AaAa
Slate 7006.08:1AaAa
Slate 8008.59:1AaAa
Slate 90010.49:1AaAa
Black12.34:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C2C6D3
deuteranopia · #C3C6D2
tritanopia · #C9C6C8

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. #cac4d2 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.

#F7F7F8
#EFEEF1
#DDDAE2
#cac4d2
#A99FB6
#8D809E
#786A8B
#645874
#50475D
#3C3645
#26212B
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F7F7F8Darkest = 950 · #26212BText 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 0.005 305.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.008 305.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.012 305.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.016 305.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.019 305.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.020 305.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.020 305.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.019 305.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.017 305.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.014 305.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.011 305.2);
}

Colors that work with #cac4d2

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#F7F6F8
Tinted page background
Border#D5D1DC
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#716382
Captions on the surface
Accent#727854
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#3F3748
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F2F1F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1C1820
Dark-mode background
Hover#B8B0C3
One step down in lightness
Pressed#A69BB3
Two steps down
Disabled#F5F3F6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D4CBDF
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 #cac4d2

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Borders, dividers and quiet backgrounds
  • Long-form reading 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 #3F3748
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9B90AA

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.

With almost no chroma left, the family association is barely present; treat it as a neutral that happens to lean this way. 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
  • EnergyLow
  • Weight20/100
  • TemperatureNeutral
  • 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#CCD2C4
Analogous left#C4C5D2
Analogous right#D1C4D2
Split-complement 1#D2D1C4
Split-complement 2#C5D2C4
Triadic 1#D2CAC4
Triadic 2#C4D2CA
Tetradic#D2C4C5
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°266°

#cac4d2 sits at 266°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red79.2%
Green76.9%
Blue82.4%
R · 0–255
202
0xca
G · 0–255
196
0xc4
B · 0–255
210
0xd2

CMYK percentages

Cyan3.8%
Magenta6.7%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)17.6%

Total ink coverage is 28%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cac4d2 text on a black background

contrast 12.34:1

Card sample

#cac4d2 text on a white background

contrast 1.70:1

Card sample

#cac4d2 on grey

1.55:1

#cac4d2 on its own surface

1.58:1

#cac4d2 on its dark surface

10.27:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cac4d2;
Background color
Panel with #cac4d2 background
background-color: #cac4d2;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cac4d2;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(202, 196, 210, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(202, 196, 210, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cac4d2;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cac4d2, #D2C4D1);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cac4d2, #D2C4CD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cac4d2;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cac4d2;
caret-color: #cac4d2;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cac4d2;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F2F1F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cac4d2;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cac4d2 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cac4d2 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(202, 196, 210, 0.5)
rgb(202 196 210 / 50%)
#cac4d280
hsl(266 14% 80% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cac4d2 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cac4d21a#FAF9FB
20%#cac4d233#F4F3F6
40%#cac4d266#EAE7ED
60%#cac4d299#DFDCE4
80%#cac4d2cc#D5D0DB

Gradients from #cac4d2

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, #E9E7EC, #cac4d2 45%, #3F3748);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cac4d2, #C5B3C2);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cac4d2, #CCD2C4);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F7F6F8 0%, #cac4d2 45%, #3F3748 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F7F6F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #E1E2E8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #DFD5DF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #3F3748 0%, transparent 65%), #cac4d2;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cac4d2

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.

#cac4d2 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
BackgroundsBordersBody textDividers
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 12.34:1.

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.

#cac4d2, answered

What color is #cac4d2?

#cac4d2 is a light muted violet, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 7.9). It sits at 266° on the hue wheel with 14% saturation and 80% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #cac4d2?

rgb(202, 196, 210) — 202 red, 196 green and 210 blue out of 255, or 79.2% / 76.9% / 82.4% by channel.

What is #cac4d2 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(266, 14%, 80%) and hsv(266, 7%, 82%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cac4d2 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5669 and perceived brightness is 78%, so black text on it reaches 12.34:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cac4d2?

Black. It scores 12.34:1 against #cac4d2, versus 1.70:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cac4d2 accessible on a white background?

#cac4d2 on white scores 1.70:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7F7092 to reach 4.5:1, or #5E536D for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cac4d2?

#CCD2C4 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #D2D1C4 and #C5D2C4, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cac4d2?

For interface work: #F7F6F8 as the surface, #D5D1DC for borders, #716382 for secondary text, #727854 as an accent and #3F3748 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #C4C5D2 and #D1C4D2 stays calm, while #CCD2C4 is the loudest partner.

What is #cac4d2 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(4%, 7%, 0%, 18%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cac4d2 warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 57 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CFC4D2; nudged cooler, #C4C3D3.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cac4d2?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 27 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cac4d2 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cac4d2 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cac4d2] or text-[#cac4d2], 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 #cac4d2 with 50% opacity?

rgba(202, 196, 210, 0.5), or #cac4d280 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E5E2E9; over black, #656269.

Is #cac4d2 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 7.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cac4d2 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 low chroma the association is faint; it behaves more like a neutral.

What gradient works with #cac4d2?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E9E7EC, #cac4d2 45%, #3F3748). For more colour, a short hue run to #C5B3C2 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cac4d2 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cac4d2 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.