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violet · cool

#dbc9ec

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

Token name suggestion: Whisper Amethyst

RGB
219, 201, 236
HSL
271°, 48%, 86%
CMYK
7, 15, 0, 8
Luminance
0.6289

#dbc9ec is a pale vivid violet, 271° on the wheel and 66/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (13.58:1). As text it scores 1.55:1 on white — use #925CC5 instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(271 48% 86%)rgb(219 201 236)Base step 200AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #dbc9ec is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#dbc9ec
Hue
271°
violet
Saturation
48%
vivid
Lightness
86%
pale
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
83%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6289
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
66/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
13.58:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 4.6
Chroma
19.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.862
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 29.4
Web-safe
#CCCCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue271° of 360°
Saturation48%
Lightness86%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #dbc9ec.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool66% 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
Red24%
Green66%
Blue10%

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

Every format

HEX#dbc9ec
HEX (8-digit)#dbc9ecff
RGBrgb(219, 201, 236)
RGBArgba(219, 201, 236, 1)
HSLhsl(271, 48%, 86%)
HSV / HSBhsv(271, 15%, 93%)
HWBhwb(271 79% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(7%, 15%, 0%, 8%)
LABlab(83.4 12.7 -15.0)
LCHlch(83.4 19.6 310.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.862 0.051 308.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(65.24, 62.89, 88.04)
Decimal14404076
Display P3color(display-p3 0.859 0.788 0.925)
Web-safe#CCCCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #dbc9ec;
background-color: #dbc9ec;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #dbc9ec;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#dbc9ec] bg-[#dbc9ec]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #dbc9ec;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.859, green: 0.788, blue: 0.925)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.859, green: 0.788, blue: 0.925, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DBC9EC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDBC9EC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDBC9EC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(236, 201, 219)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(219, 201, 236)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(219, 201, 236)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 219, 201, 236)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8588f, 0.7882f, 0.9255f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{219,201,236}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #dbc9ec 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #dbc9ec 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#41215E, #E1D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #dbc9ec 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: #F7F4FA;
  --brand-100: #F0EAF5;
  --brand-200: #dbc9ec;
  --brand-300: #C8ACE2;
  --brand-400: #AC83D3;
  --brand-500: #9059C5;
  --brand-600: #7C40B5;
  --brand-700: #673597;
  --brand-800: #532B79;
  --brand-900: #3E2258;
  --brand-950: #271537;
  --brand: #dbc9ec;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F7F4FA;
  --brand-border: #D7C3EA;
  --brand-hover: #C9AFE3;
  --brand-pressed: #B894D9;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1C1424;
    --brand-ink: #E1D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F4FA',
        100: '#F0EAF5',
        200: '#dbc9ec',
        300: '#C8ACE2',
        400: '#AC83D3',
        500: '#9059C5',
        600: '#7C40B5',
        700: '#673597',
        800: '#532B79',
        900: '#3E2258',
        950: '#271537',
        DEFAULT: '#dbc9ec',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F4FA,
  '100': #F0EAF5,
  '200': #dbc9ec,
  '300': #C8ACE2,
  '400': #AC83D3,
  '500': #9059C5,
  '600': #7C40B5,
  '700': #673597,
  '800': #532B79,
  '900': #3E2258,
  '950': #271537,
);
$brand-base: #dbc9ec;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F4FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F0EAF5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#dbc9ec", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#C8ACE2", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#AC83D3", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#9059C5", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#7C40B5", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#673597", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#532B79", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#3E2258", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#271537", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #dbc9ec · 13.58:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.55:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 13.58:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #dbc9ec as text scores 1.55:1 on white and 13.58:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #41215E at 8.47:1.

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
#925CC5 · 4.61:1
AA on white−29% L
#925CC5
The quick fox
#743BA9 · 7.14:1
AAA on white−41% L
#743BA9
The quick fox
#dbc9ec · 13.58:1
AA on blackalready passes
#dbc9ec
The quick fox
#dbc9ec · 13.58:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#dbc9ec

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #AB81D3 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
#dbc9ec on white: 1.55:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#dbc9ec on black: 13.58:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #dbc9ec as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #dbc9ec.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.55:1AaAa
Slate 501.48:1AaAa
Slate 1001.41:1AaAa
Slate 2001.25:1AaAa
Slate 3001.04:1AaAa
Slate 4001.66:1AaAa
Slate 5003.08:1AaAa
Slate 6004.90:1AaAa
Slate 7006.70:1AaAa
Slate 8009.46:1AaAa
Slate 90011.54:1AaAa
Black13.58:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C4CFEE
deuteranopia · #C7D0EB
tritanopia · #D9CDD5

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. #dbc9ec 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.

#F7F4FA
#F0EAF5
#dbc9ec
#C8ACE2
#AC83D3
#9059C5
#7C40B5
#673597
#532B79
#3E2258
#271537
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F7F4FADarkest = 950 · #271537Text 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 0.013 308.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.021 308.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.031 308.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.040 308.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.047 308.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.051 308.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.051 308.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.048 308.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.043 308.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.036 308.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.028 308.4);
}

Colors that work with #dbc9ec

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#D7C3EA
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#744B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#7E9A32
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#41215E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F2ECF8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1C1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#C9AFE3
One step down in lightness
Pressed#B894D9
Two steps down
Disabled#F5F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#E5D6F4
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 #dbc9ec

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 #41215E
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #AB81D3

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 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-high
  • 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#DAECC9
Analogous left#CAC9EC
Analogous right#ECC9EB
Split-complement 1#EBECC9
Split-complement 2#C9ECCA
Triadic 1#ECDBC9
Triadic 2#C9ECDB
Tetradic#ECCAC9
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°271°

#dbc9ec sits at 271°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red85.9%
Green78.8%
Blue92.5%
R · 0–255
219
0xdb
G · 0–255
201
0xc9
B · 0–255
236
0xec

CMYK percentages

Cyan7.2%
Magenta14.8%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)7.5%

Total ink coverage is 30%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#dbc9ec text on a black background

contrast 13.58:1

Card sample

#dbc9ec text on a white background

contrast 1.55:1

Card sample

#dbc9ec on grey

1.41:1

#dbc9ec on its own surface

1.42:1

#dbc9ec on its dark surface

11.56:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #dbc9ec;
Background color
Panel with #dbc9ec background
background-color: #dbc9ec;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #dbc9ec;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(219, 201, 236, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(219, 201, 236, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #dbc9ec;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #dbc9ec, #ECC9E6);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dbc9ec, #ECC9DD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #dbc9ec;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #dbc9ec;
caret-color: #dbc9ec;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #dbc9ec;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F2ECF8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #dbc9ec;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#dbc9ec 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #dbc9ec 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, 201, 236, 0.5)
rgb(219 201 236 / 50%)
#dbc9ec80
hsl(271 48% 86% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #dbc9ec 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#dbc9ec1a#FBFAFD
20%#dbc9ec33#F8F4FB
40%#dbc9ec66#F1E9F7
60%#dbc9ec99#E9DFF4
80%#dbc9eccc#E2D4F0

Gradients from #dbc9ec

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, #F5F0FA, #dbc9ec 45%, #41215E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #dbc9ec, #E4B2D7);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dbc9ec, #DAECC9);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F7F4FB 0%, #dbc9ec 45%, #41215E 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%, #EFF0F9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #F4E0F2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #41215E 0%, transparent 65%), #dbc9ec;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #dbc9ec

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.

#dbc9ec 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 13.58:1.

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.

#dbc9ec, answered

What color is #dbc9ec?

#dbc9ec is a pale vivid violet, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 4.6). It sits at 271° on the hue wheel with 48% saturation and 86% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #dbc9ec?

rgb(219, 201, 236) — 219 red, 201 green and 236 blue out of 255, or 85.9% / 78.8% / 92.5% by channel.

What is #dbc9ec in HSL and HSV?

hsl(271, 48%, 86%) and hsv(271, 15%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #dbc9ec a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6289 and perceived brightness is 83%, so black text on it reaches 13.58:1.

Should I use black or white text on #dbc9ec?

Black. It scores 13.58:1 against #dbc9ec, versus 1.55:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #dbc9ec accessible on a white background?

#dbc9ec on white scores 1.55:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #925CC5 to reach 4.5:1, or #743BA9 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #dbc9ec?

#DAECC9 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #EBECC9 and #C9ECCA, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #dbc9ec?

For interface work: #F7F4FA as the surface, #D7C3EA for borders, #744B9B for secondary text, #7E9A32 as an accent and #41215E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CAC9EC and #ECC9EB stays calm, while #DAECC9 is the loudest partner.

What is #dbc9ec in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(7%, 15%, 0%, 8%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #dbc9ec warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 66 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #E8C9EC; nudged cooler, #CEC8ED.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #dbc9ec?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 29.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #dbc9ec as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #dbc9ec in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#dbc9ec] or text-[#dbc9ec], 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 #dbc9ec with 50% opacity?

rgba(219, 201, 236, 0.5), or #dbc9ec80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EDE4F6; over black, #6E6576.

Is #dbc9ec a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCFF, ΔE2000 7.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #dbc9ec 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 #dbc9ec?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F5F0FA, #dbc9ec 45%, #41215E). For more colour, a short hue run to #E4B2D7 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #dbc9ec in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #dbc9ec at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.