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violet · neutral

#dbb5e7

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Amethyst

RGB
219, 181, 231
HSL
286°, 51%, 81%
CMYK
5, 22, 0, 9
Luminance
0.5388

#dbb5e7 is a light vivid violet, 286° on the wheel and 58/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.78:1). As text it scores 1.78:1 on white — use #A84DC5 instead. Nearest name is Plum, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(286 51% 81%)rgb(219 181 231)Base step 300AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #dbb5e7 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#dbb5e7
Hue
286°
violet
Saturation
51%
vivid
Lightness
81%
light
Brightness
91%
HSV value
Perceived
78%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5388
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
58/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
11.78:1
Closest name
Plum
ΔE2000 5.9
Chroma
29.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.822
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 24
Web-safe
#CCCCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue286° of 360°
Saturation51%
Lightness81%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #dbb5e7.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool58% 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
Red28%
Green61%
Blue11%

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

Every format

HEX#dbb5e7
HEX (8-digit)#dbb5e7ff
RGBrgb(219, 181, 231)
RGBArgba(219, 181, 231, 1)
HSLhsl(286, 51%, 81%)
HSV / HSBhsv(286, 22%, 91%)
HWBhwb(286 71% 9%)
CMYKcmyk(5%, 22%, 0%, 9%)
LABlab(78.4 22.4 -19.8)
LCHlch(78.4 29.9 318.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.822 0.080 318.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(60.16, 53.88, 82.82)
Decimal14398951
Display P3color(display-p3 0.859 0.710 0.906)
Web-safe#CCCCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #dbb5e7;
background-color: #dbb5e7;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #dbb5e7;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#dbb5e7] bg-[#dbb5e7]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #dbb5e7;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.859, green: 0.710, blue: 0.906)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.859, green: 0.710, blue: 0.906, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DBB5E7</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDBB5E7)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDBB5E7)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(231, 181, 219)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(219, 181, 231)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(219, 181, 231)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 219, 181, 231)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8588f, 0.7098f, 0.9059f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{219,181,231}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #dbb5e7 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #dbb5e7 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#511F60, #E8D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #dbb5e7 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: #E6CFED;
  --brand-300: #dbb5e7;
  --brand-400: #C180D6;
  --brand-500: #AD56C8;
  --brand-600: #9B3CB9;
  --brand-700: #81329A;
  --brand-800: #67287B;
  --brand-900: #4C205A;
  --brand-950: #301438;
  --brand: #dbb5e7;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9F4FA;
  --brand-border: #E1C1EB;
  --brand-hover: #CE9ADE;
  --brand-pressed: #C17FD6;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #201424;
    --brand-ink: #E8D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F4FA',
        100: '#F3EAF6',
        200: '#E6CFED',
        300: '#dbb5e7',
        400: '#C180D6',
        500: '#AD56C8',
        600: '#9B3CB9',
        700: '#81329A',
        800: '#67287B',
        900: '#4C205A',
        950: '#301438',
        DEFAULT: '#dbb5e7',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F4FA,
  '100': #F3EAF6,
  '200': #E6CFED,
  '300': #dbb5e7,
  '400': #C180D6,
  '500': #AD56C8,
  '600': #9B3CB9,
  '700': #81329A,
  '800': #67287B,
  '900': #4C205A,
  '950': #301438,
);
$brand-base: #dbb5e7;
$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": "#E6CFED", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#dbb5e7", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C180D6", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#AD56C8", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#9B3CB9", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#81329A", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#67287B", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4C205A", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#301438", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #dbb5e7 · 11.78:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.78:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.78:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #dbb5e7 as text scores 1.78:1 on white and 11.78:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #511F60 at 6.87:1.

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
#A84DC5 · 4.63:1
AA on white−27% L
#A84DC5
The quick fox
#84339D · 7.14:1
AAA on white−40% L
#84339D
The quick fox
#dbb5e7 · 11.78:1
AA on blackalready passes
#dbb5e7
The quick fox
#dbb5e7 · 11.78:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#dbb5e7

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #BF7BD4 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
#dbb5e7 on white: 1.78:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#dbb5e7 on black: 11.78:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #dbb5e7 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #dbb5e7.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.78:1AaAa
Slate 501.70:1AaAa
Slate 1001.63:1AaAa
Slate 2001.45:1AaAa
Slate 3001.20:1AaAa
Slate 4001.44:1AaAa
Slate 5002.67:1AaAa
Slate 6004.25:1AaAa
Slate 7005.81:1AaAa
Slate 8008.20:1AaAa
Slate 90010.01:1AaAa
Black11.78:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #AFBFE9
deuteranopia · #B7C3E5
tritanopia · #DBBAC6

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. #dbb5e7 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
#E6CFED
#dbb5e7
#C180D6
#AD56C8
#9B3CB9
#81329A
#67287B
#4C205A
#301438
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F9F4FADarkest = 950 · #301438Text 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 0.020 318.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.032 318.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.048 318.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.062 318.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.074 318.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.080 318.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.080 318.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.075 318.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.067 318.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.056 318.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.044 318.0);
}

Colors that work with #dbb5e7

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#E1C1EB
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#884B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#669E2E
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#511F60
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F6ECF9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#201424
Dark-mode background
Hover#CE9ADE
One step down in lightness
Pressed#C17FD6
Two steps down
Disabled#F6F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#E5C1F0
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 #dbb5e7

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 #511F60
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #BF7BD4

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
  • Weight19/100
  • 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#C1E7B5
Analogous left#C2B5E7
Analogous right#E7B5DA
Split-complement 1#DAE7B5
Split-complement 2#B5E7C2
Triadic 1#E7DBB5
Triadic 2#B5E7DB
Tetradic#E7C2B5
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°286°

#dbb5e7 sits at 286°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red85.9%
Green71.0%
Blue90.6%
R · 0–255
219
0xdb
G · 0–255
181
0xb5
B · 0–255
231
0xe7

CMYK percentages

Cyan5.2%
Magenta21.6%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)9.4%

Total ink coverage is 36%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#dbb5e7 text on a black background

contrast 11.78:1

Card sample

#dbb5e7 text on a white background

contrast 1.78:1

Card sample

#dbb5e7 on grey

1.63:1

#dbb5e7 on its own surface

1.64:1

#dbb5e7 on its dark surface

9.92:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #dbb5e7;
Background color
Panel with #dbb5e7 background
background-color: #dbb5e7;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #dbb5e7;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(219, 181, 231, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(219, 181, 231, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #dbb5e7;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #dbb5e7, #E7B5D2);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dbb5e7, #E7B5C5);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #dbb5e7;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #dbb5e7;
caret-color: #dbb5e7;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #dbb5e7;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F6ECF9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #dbb5e7;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#dbb5e7 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #dbb5e7 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(219, 181, 231, 0.5)
rgb(219 181 231 / 50%)
#dbb5e780
hsl(286 51% 81% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #dbb5e7 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#dbb5e71a#FBF8FD
20%#dbb5e733#F8F0FA
40%#dbb5e766#F1E1F5
60%#dbb5e799#E9D3F1
80%#dbb5e7cc#E2C4EC

Gradients from #dbb5e7

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, #F2E3F6, #dbb5e7 45%, #511F60);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #dbb5e7, #E09EBE);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dbb5e7, #C1E7B5);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F9F3FB 0%, #dbb5e7 45%, #511F60 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%, #E0DCF4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #EFCCE3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #511F60 0%, transparent 65%), #dbb5e7;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #dbb5e7

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.

#dbb5e7 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 11.78:1.

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.

#dbb5e7, answered

What color is #dbb5e7?

#dbb5e7 is a light vivid violet, closest to Plum (ΔE2000 5.9). It sits at 286° on the hue wheel with 51% saturation and 81% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #dbb5e7?

rgb(219, 181, 231) — 219 red, 181 green and 231 blue out of 255, or 85.9% / 71% / 90.6% by channel.

What is #dbb5e7 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(286, 51%, 81%) and hsv(286, 22%, 91%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #dbb5e7 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5388 and perceived brightness is 78%, so black text on it reaches 11.78:1.

Should I use black or white text on #dbb5e7?

Black. It scores 11.78:1 against #dbb5e7, versus 1.78:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #dbb5e7 accessible on a white background?

#dbb5e7 on white scores 1.78:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #A84DC5 to reach 4.5:1, or #84339D for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #dbb5e7?

#C1E7B5 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DAE7B5 and #B5E7C2, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #dbb5e7?

For interface work: #F9F4FA as the surface, #E1C1EB for borders, #884B9B for secondary text, #669E2E as an accent and #511F60 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #C2B5E7 and #E7B5DA stays calm, while #C1E7B5 is the loudest partner.

What is #dbb5e7 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(5%, 22%, 0%, 9%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #dbb5e7 warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 58 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #E7B5E1; nudged cooler, #C9B4E8.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #dbb5e7?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 24 away. That is a visible difference, so define #dbb5e7 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #dbb5e7 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#dbb5e7] or text-[#dbb5e7], 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 #dbb5e7 with 50% opacity?

rgba(219, 181, 231, 0.5), or #dbb5e780 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EDDAF3; over black, #6E5B74.

Is #dbb5e7 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCFF, ΔE2000 11 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #dbb5e7 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 #dbb5e7?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F2E3F6, #dbb5e7 45%, #511F60). For more colour, a short hue run to #E09EBE keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #dbb5e7 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #dbb5e7 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.