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violet · neutral

#d09bdd

a light, vivid violet · neutral · closest name: Plum

Token name suggestion: Linen Plum

RGB
208, 155, 221
HSL
288°, 49%, 74%
CMYK
6, 30, 0, 13
Luminance
0.4207

#d09bdd is a light vivid violet, 288° on the wheel and 57/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.41:1). As text it scores 2.23:1 on white — use #AC4FC3 instead. Nearest name is Plum, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(288 49% 74%)rgb(208 155 221)Base step 300AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #d09bdd is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#d09bdd
Hue
288°
violet
Saturation
49%
vivid
Lightness
74%
light
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
71%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4207
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
57/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
9.41:1
Closest name
Plum
ΔE2000 3.1
Chroma
40.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.762
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 17.7
Web-safe
#CC99CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue288° of 360°
Saturation49%
Lightness74%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #d09bdd.

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
Red32%
Green56%
Blue12%

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

Every format

HEX#d09bdd
HEX (8-digit)#d09bddff
RGBrgb(208, 155, 221)
RGBArgba(208, 155, 221, 1)
HSLhsl(288, 49%, 74%)
HSV / HSBhsv(288, 30%, 87%)
HWBhwb(288 61% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(6%, 30%, 0%, 13%)
LABlab(70.9 31.1 -25.9)
LCHlch(70.9 40.4 320.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.762 0.108 319.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(50.78, 42.07, 73.84)
Decimal13671389
Display P3color(display-p3 0.816 0.608 0.867)
Web-safe#CC99CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #d09bdd;
background-color: #d09bdd;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #d09bdd;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#d09bdd] bg-[#d09bdd]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #d09bdd;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.816, green: 0.608, blue: 0.867)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.816, green: 0.608, blue: 0.867, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#D09BDD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFD09BDD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFD09BDD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(221, 155, 208)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(208, 155, 221)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(208, 155, 221)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 208, 155, 221)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8157f, 0.6078f, 0.8667f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{208,155,221}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #d09bdd 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #d09bdd 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#53205F, #E9D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #d09bdd 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: #F9F4FA;
  --brand-100: #F3EAF6;
  --brand-200: #E7CFEC;
  --brand-300: #d09bdd;
  --brand-400: #C481D4;
  --brand-500: #B057C6;
  --brand-600: #9F3EB7;
  --brand-700: #853498;
  --brand-800: #6A297A;
  --brand-900: #4E2159;
  --brand-950: #311538;
  --brand: #d09bdd;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9F4FA;
  --brand-border: #E2C2EA;
  --brand-hover: #C380D4;
  --brand-pressed: #B766CB;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #211424;
    --brand-ink: #E9D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F4FA',
        100: '#F3EAF6',
        200: '#E7CFEC',
        300: '#d09bdd',
        400: '#C481D4',
        500: '#B057C6',
        600: '#9F3EB7',
        700: '#853498',
        800: '#6A297A',
        900: '#4E2159',
        950: '#311538',
        DEFAULT: '#d09bdd',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F4FA,
  '100': #F3EAF6,
  '200': #E7CFEC,
  '300': #d09bdd,
  '400': #C481D4,
  '500': #B057C6,
  '600': #9F3EB7,
  '700': #853498,
  '800': #6A297A,
  '900': #4E2159,
  '950': #311538,
);
$brand-base: #d09bdd;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F4FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F3EAF6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E7CFEC", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#d09bdd", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C481D4", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#B057C6", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#9F3EB7", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#853498", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#6A297A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4E2159", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#311538", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #d09bdd · 9.41:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.23:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.41:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #d09bdd as text scores 2.23:1 on white and 9.41:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #53205F at 5.41:1.

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
#AC4FC3 · 4.51:1
AA on white−20% L
#AC4FC3
The quick fox
#843397 · 7.24:1
AAA on white−34% L
#843397
The quick fox
#d09bdd · 9.41:1
AA on blackalready passes
#d09bdd
The quick fox
#d09bdd · 9.41:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#d09bdd

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #C079D1 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
#d09bdd on white: 2.23:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#d09bdd on black: 9.41:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #d09bdd as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #d09bdd.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.23:1AaAa
Slate 502.13:1AaAa
Slate 1002.04:1AaAa
Slate 2001.81:1AaAa
Slate 3001.50:1AaAa
Slate 4001.15:1AaAa
Slate 5002.13:1AaAa
Slate 6003.40:1AaAa
Slate 7004.64:1AaAa
Slate 8006.56:1AaAa
Slate 9008.00:1AaAa
Black9.41:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #93AAE0
deuteranopia · #9FAFDB
tritanopia · #D1A2B3

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. #d09bdd 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.

#F9F4FA
#F3EAF6
#E7CFEC
#d09bdd
#C481D4
#B057C6
#9F3EB7
#853498
#6A297A
#4E2159
#311538
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F9F4FADarkest = 950 · #311538Text 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 0.027 319.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.043 319.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.065 319.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.085 319.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.100 319.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.108 319.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.108 319.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.102 319.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.091 319.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.076 319.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.060 319.6);
}

Colors that work with #d09bdd

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#F9F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#E2C2EA
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#8B4B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#609D2F
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#53205F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F6ECF9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#211424
Dark-mode background
Hover#C380D4
One step down in lightness
Pressed#B766CB
Two steps down
Disabled#F5F2F6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#DBA4E8
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 #d09bdd

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • 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 #53205F
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #C079D1

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.

This is a confident chroma: strong enough to lead a brand, restrained enough to live in an interface all day. 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-high
  • Weight26/100
  • 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#A8DD9B
Analogous left#AF9BDD
Analogous right#DD9BC9
Split-complement 1#C9DD9B
Split-complement 2#9BDDAF
Triadic 1#DDD09B
Triadic 2#9BDDD0
Tetradic#DDAF9B
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°288°

#d09bdd sits at 288°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red81.6%
Green60.8%
Blue86.7%
R · 0–255
208
0xd0
G · 0–255
155
0x9b
B · 0–255
221
0xdd

CMYK percentages

Cyan5.9%
Magenta29.9%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)13.3%

Total ink coverage is 49%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#d09bdd text on a black background

contrast 9.41:1

Card sample

#d09bdd text on a white background

contrast 2.23:1

Card sample

#d09bdd on grey

2.04:1

#d09bdd on its own surface

2.06:1

#d09bdd on its dark surface

7.91:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #d09bdd;
Background color
Panel with #d09bdd background
background-color: #d09bdd;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #d09bdd;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(208, 155, 221, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(208, 155, 221, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #d09bdd;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #d09bdd, #DD9BBE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #d09bdd, #DD9BAD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #d09bdd;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #d09bdd;
caret-color: #d09bdd;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #d09bdd;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F6ECF9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #d09bdd;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#d09bdd 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #d09bdd 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(208, 155, 221, 0.5)
rgb(208 155 221 / 50%)
#d09bdd80
hsl(288 49% 74% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #d09bdd 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#d09bdd1a#FAF5FC
20%#d09bdd33#F6EBF8
40%#d09bdd66#ECD7F1
60%#d09bdd99#E3C3EB
80%#d09bddcc#D9AFE4

Gradients from #d09bdd

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, #E5C9ED, #d09bdd 45%, #53205F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #d09bdd, #D584A8);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #d09bdd, #A8DD9B);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F0DFF4 0%, #d09bdd 45%, #53205F 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F9F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #CAC1EA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E5B2D1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #53205F 0%, transparent 65%), #d09bdd;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #d09bdd

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.

#d09bdd 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 9.41:1.

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.

#d09bdd, answered

What color is #d09bdd?

#d09bdd is a light vivid violet, closest to Plum (ΔE2000 3.1). It sits at 288° on the hue wheel with 49% saturation and 74% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #d09bdd?

rgb(208, 155, 221) — 208 red, 155 green and 221 blue out of 255, or 81.6% / 60.8% / 86.7% by channel.

What is #d09bdd in HSL and HSV?

hsl(288, 49%, 74%) and hsv(288, 30%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #d09bdd a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4207 and perceived brightness is 71%, so black text on it reaches 9.41:1.

Should I use black or white text on #d09bdd?

Black. It scores 9.41:1 against #d09bdd, versus 2.23:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #d09bdd accessible on a white background?

#d09bdd on white scores 2.23:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #AC4FC3 to reach 4.5:1, or #843397 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #d09bdd?

#A8DD9B sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #C9DD9B and #9BDDAF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #d09bdd?

For interface work: #F9F4FA as the surface, #E2C2EA for borders, #8B4B9B for secondary text, #609D2F as an accent and #53205F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AF9BDD and #DD9BC9 stays calm, while #A8DD9B is the loudest partner.

What is #d09bdd in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(6%, 30%, 0%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #d09bdd 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 #DD9BD2; nudged cooler, #B89ADE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #d09bdd?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 17.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #d09bdd as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #d09bdd in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#d09bdd] or text-[#d09bdd], 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 #d09bdd with 50% opacity?

rgba(208, 155, 221, 0.5), or #d09bdd80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E8CDEE; over black, #684E6F.

Is #d09bdd a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99CC, ΔE2000 3.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #d09bdd 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 chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #d09bdd?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E5C9ED, #d09bdd 45%, #53205F). For more colour, a short hue run to #D584A8 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #d09bdd in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #d09bdd at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.