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violet · cool

#d9cdec

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

Token name suggestion: Whisper Amethyst

RGB
217, 205, 236
HSL
263°, 45%, 87%
CMYK
8, 13, 0, 8
Luminance
0.6447

#d9cdec is a pale soft violet, 263° on the wheel and 70/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (13.89:1). As text it scores 1.51:1 on white — use #8862C3 instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(263 45% 87%)rgb(217 205 236)Base step 200AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #d9cdec is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#d9cdec
Hue
263°
violet
Saturation
45%
soft
Lightness
87%
pale
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
83%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6447
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
70/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
13.89:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 5.6
Chroma
16.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.868
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 30.7
Web-safe
#CCCCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue263° of 360°
Saturation45%
Lightness87%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #d9cdec.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool70% 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%
Green68%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#d9cdec
HEX (8-digit)#d9cdecff
RGBrgb(217, 205, 236)
RGBArgba(217, 205, 236, 1)
HSLhsl(263, 45%, 87%)
HSV / HSBhsv(263, 13%, 93%)
HWBhwb(263 80% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(8%, 13%, 0%, 8%)
LABlab(84.2 9.9 -13.8)
LCHlch(84.2 16.9 305.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.868 0.044 303.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(65.58, 64.47, 88.33)
Decimal14274028
Display P3color(display-p3 0.851 0.804 0.925)
Web-safe#CCCCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #d9cdec;
background-color: #d9cdec;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #d9cdec;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#d9cdec] bg-[#d9cdec]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #d9cdec;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.851, green: 0.804, blue: 0.925)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.851, green: 0.804, blue: 0.925, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#D9CDEC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFD9CDEC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFD9CDEC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(236, 205, 217)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(217, 205, 236)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(217, 205, 236)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 217, 205, 236)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8510f, 0.8039f, 0.9255f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{217,205,236}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #d9cdec 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #d9cdec 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#39235C, #DDD3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #d9cdec 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: #EEEAF5;
  --brand-200: #d9cdec;
  --brand-300: #C1AEE0;
  --brand-400: #A285D1;
  --brand-500: #835CC1;
  --brand-600: #6E43B1;
  --brand-700: #5C3894;
  --brand-800: #492D76;
  --brand-900: #372456;
  --brand-950: #231636;
  --brand: #d9cdec;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F7F4FA;
  --brand-border: #D2C4E9;
  --brand-hover: #C5B3E2;
  --brand-pressed: #B299D8;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1A1424;
    --brand-ink: #DDD3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F5FA',
        100: '#EEEAF5',
        200: '#d9cdec',
        300: '#C1AEE0',
        400: '#A285D1',
        500: '#835CC1',
        600: '#6E43B1',
        700: '#5C3894',
        800: '#492D76',
        900: '#372456',
        950: '#231636',
        DEFAULT: '#d9cdec',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F5FA,
  '100': #EEEAF5,
  '200': #d9cdec,
  '300': #C1AEE0,
  '400': #A285D1,
  '500': #835CC1,
  '600': #6E43B1,
  '700': #5C3894,
  '800': #492D76,
  '900': #372456,
  '950': #231636,
);
$brand-base: #d9cdec;
$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": "#EEEAF5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#d9cdec", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#C1AEE0", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#A285D1", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#835CC1", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#6E43B1", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#5C3894", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#492D76", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#372456", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#231636", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #d9cdec · 13.89:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.51:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 13.89:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #d9cdec as text scores 1.51:1 on white and 13.89:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #39235C at 8.86:1.

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
#8862C3 · 4.58:1
AA on white−29% L
#8862C3
The quick fox
#6B41AC · 7.05:1
AAA on white−40% L
#6B41AC
The quick fox
#d9cdec · 13.89:1
AA on blackalready passes
#d9cdec
The quick fox
#d9cdec · 13.89:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#d9cdec

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A487D1 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
#d9cdec on white: 1.51:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#d9cdec on black: 13.89:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #d9cdec as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #d9cdec.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.51:1AaAa
Slate 501.44:1AaAa
Slate 1001.38:1AaAa
Slate 2001.23:1AaAa
Slate 3001.02:1AaAa
Slate 4001.70:1AaAa
Slate 5003.15:1AaAa
Slate 6005.01:1AaAa
Slate 7006.85:1AaAa
Slate 8009.68:1AaAa
Slate 90011.81:1AaAa
Black13.89:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C8D2ED
deuteranopia · #CAD2EB
tritanopia · #D6D1D7

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. #d9cdec is pinned to step 200; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F7F5FA
#EEEAF5
#d9cdec
#C1AEE0
#A285D1
#835CC1
#6E43B1
#5C3894
#492D76
#372456
#231636
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F7F5FADarkest = 950 · #231636Text 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 0.011 303.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.018 303.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.027 303.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.034 303.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.041 303.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.044 303.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.044 303.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.042 303.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.037 303.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.031 303.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.024 303.1);
}

Colors that work with #d9cdec

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#D2C4E9
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#6A4B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#8B9735
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#39235C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F1EDF8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1A1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#C5B3E2
One step down in lightness
Pressed#B299D8
Two steps down
Disabled#F4F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#E4D9F4
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 #d9cdec

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 #39235C
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A487D1

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 high lightness makes it recede — a surface colour rather than a statement.

Worth knowing

Deep violets swallow detail on screens with poor gamma; check it on a cheap laptop panel.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight14/100
  • 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#E0ECCD
Analogous left#CDD1EC
Analogous right#E9CDEC
Split-complement 1#ECE9CD
Split-complement 2#D1ECCD
Triadic 1#ECD9CD
Triadic 2#CDECD9
Tetradic#ECCDD1
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°263°

#d9cdec sits at 263°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red85.1%
Green80.4%
Blue92.5%
R · 0–255
217
0xd9
G · 0–255
205
0xcd
B · 0–255
236
0xec

CMYK percentages

Cyan8.1%
Magenta13.1%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)7.5%

Total ink coverage is 29%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#d9cdec text on a black background

contrast 13.89:1

Card sample

#d9cdec text on a white background

contrast 1.51:1

Card sample

#d9cdec on grey

1.38:1

#d9cdec on its own surface

1.39:1

#d9cdec on its dark surface

11.88:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #d9cdec;
Background color
Panel with #d9cdec background
background-color: #d9cdec;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #d9cdec;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(217, 205, 236, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(217, 205, 236, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #d9cdec;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #d9cdec, #ECCDEA);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #d9cdec, #ECCDE3);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #d9cdec;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #d9cdec;
caret-color: #d9cdec;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #d9cdec;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F1EDF8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #d9cdec;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#d9cdec 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #d9cdec 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(217, 205, 236, 0.5)
rgb(217 205 236 / 50%)
#d9cdec80
hsl(263 45% 87% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #d9cdec 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#d9cdec1a#FBFAFD
20%#d9cdec33#F7F5FB
40%#d9cdec66#F0EBF7
60%#d9cdec99#E8E1F4
80%#d9cdeccc#E1D7F0

Gradients from #d9cdec

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, #F4F0F9, #d9cdec 45%, #39235C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #d9cdec, #E4B7DD);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #d9cdec, #E0ECCD);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F7F4FB 0%, #d9cdec 45%, #39235C 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%, #F2F4FA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #F4E3F4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #39235C 0%, transparent 65%), #d9cdec;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #d9cdec

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.

#d9cdec 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

Very light tints can drop out on uncoated stock; check it at 100% size before signing off.

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 13.89:1.

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.

#d9cdec, answered

What color is #d9cdec?

#d9cdec is a pale soft violet, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 5.6). It sits at 263° on the hue wheel with 45% saturation and 87% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #d9cdec?

rgb(217, 205, 236) — 217 red, 205 green and 236 blue out of 255, or 85.1% / 80.4% / 92.5% by channel.

What is #d9cdec in HSL and HSV?

hsl(263, 45%, 87%) and hsv(263, 13%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #d9cdec a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6447 and perceived brightness is 83%, so black text on it reaches 13.89:1.

Should I use black or white text on #d9cdec?

Black. It scores 13.89:1 against #d9cdec, versus 1.51:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #d9cdec accessible on a white background?

#d9cdec on white scores 1.51:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #8862C3 to reach 4.5:1, or #6B41AC for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #d9cdec?

#E0ECCD sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #ECE9CD and #D1ECCD, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #d9cdec?

For interface work: #F7F4FA as the surface, #D2C4E9 for borders, #6A4B9B for secondary text, #8B9735 as an accent and #39235C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CDD1EC and #E9CDEC stays calm, while #E0ECCD is the loudest partner.

What is #d9cdec in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(8%, 13%, 0%, 8%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #d9cdec warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 70 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #E4CDEC; nudged cooler, #CDCCED.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #d9cdec?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 30.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #d9cdec as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #d9cdec in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#d9cdec] or text-[#d9cdec], 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 #d9cdec with 50% opacity?

rgba(217, 205, 236, 0.5), or #d9cdec80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #ECE6F6; over black, #6D6776.

Is #d9cdec a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCFF, ΔE2000 7.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #d9cdec 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 #d9cdec?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F4F0F9, #d9cdec 45%, #39235C). For more colour, a short hue run to #E4B7DD keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #d9cdec in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #d9cdec at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.