#997ABB

sRGB: 153 / 122 / 187

Restless currents surge toward distant shores
Hidden pathways awaken beneath celestial skies
Eternal flames defy the passing ages

#997ABB belongs to the violet family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 153 red, 122 green and 187 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 268.6° lands in the violet region. Its 32.3% saturation makes it partway between gray and the most vivid version of this hue at this lightness. HSL lightness is 60.6% on a scale from black (0%) to white (100%). Of black and white lettering, black has the clearer light-to-dark separation on this background (5.86:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 153, 122, 187
HSL: 268.62°, 32.34%, 60.59%
HSV / HSB: 268.62°, 34.76%, 73.33%
CMYK (approx.): 18.18%, 34.76%, 0.00%, 26.67%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 29.064, 24.279, 50.171
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 56.367, 24.933, -29.695
WCAG relative luminance: 0.24279
24-bit decimal: 10058427

CMYK uses a profile-free approximation. Printed output depends on the press, ink and paper. Lab uses a D65 white point.

Text contrast

Contrast tells you how clearly lettering separates from #997ABB in light and dark. The ratio compares relative luminance, a measure of light weighted for human vision. Identical colors give 1:1 and black against white gives 21:1. A ratio of 2.99:1 falls just below the 3:1 AA minimum for large text. Body text needs at least 4.5:1 because its finer strokes are harder to distinguish.

Black text: 5.86:1

Normal text: AA
Large text: AAA

White text: 3.59:1

Normal text: Fail
Large text: AA

AA and AAA are WCAG accessibility levels. AAA sets a higher bar: 7:1 for normal text and 4.5:1 for large text. Large text begins at 18 pt regular or 14 pt bold. Ratings use the unrounded ratio.

Reference: WCAG text contrast guidance

Palettes & scales

Harmonies rotate the hue. Scales mix the starting color with white, black or middle gray in 20% steps in encoded sRGB.

Complementary

#9CBB7A sits half a turn (180°) from #997ABB on the HSL wheel. Keeping saturation and lightness steady while crossing to the opposite hue gives you a contrasting accent. Check text contrast separately before using the pair for lettering.

#997ABB #9CBB7A

Analogous

#7A7BBB and #BA7ABB sit 30° to either side of #997ABB. The three hues are neighbors on the wheel, so you can change the color of a border or highlight while keeping it close to the original.

#7A7BBB #997ABB #BA7ABB

Triadic

#997ABB, #BB997A and #7ABB99 are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#997ABB #BB997A #7ABB99

Split complementary

Start at #997ABB and look across the wheel. #BBBA7A and #7BBB7A sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#997ABB #BBBA7A #7BBB7A

Square

Starting with #997ABB, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #BB7A7C, #9CBB7A, then #7ABBBA. Across the square, #997ABB pairs with #9CBB7A, and #BB7A7C with #7ABBBA.

#997ABB #BB7A7C #9CBB7A #7ABBBA

Tetradic

#997ABB and #9CBB7A are opposites, as are #BB7A9C and #7ABB99. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#997ABB #BB7A9C #9CBB7A #7ABB99

Tints

Mixing #997ABB with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #AD95C9, keeps 80% of the original. By #EBE4F1, the mixture is 80% white.

#997ABB #AD95C9 #C2AFD6 #D6CAE4 #EBE4F1 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #997ABB with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #7A6296, keeps 80% of the original. By #1F1825, the mixture is 80% black.

#997ABB #7A6296 #5C4970 #3D314B #1F1825 #000000

Tones

Mixing #997ABB with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #947BAF, keeps 80% of the original. By #857F8C, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#997ABB #947BAF #8F7CA3 #8A7E98 #857F8C #808080

Copy color codes

Hex, RGB and HSL are three ways to write this screen color. Paste any of them into a CSS color property.

Hex

#997ABB

RGB

rgb(153 122 187)

HSL

hsl(268.615 32.338% 60.588%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #997ABB;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#997ABB uses 153 red, 122 green and 187 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 60.0%

Green 47.8%

Blue 73.3%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #997ABB is 18.2% cyan, 34.8% magenta, 0.0% yellow and 26.7% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 18.2%

Magenta 34.8%

Yellow 0.0%

Black 26.7%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #9977BB. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #97B in CSS. For a modern design, keep #997ABB when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #9966CC, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand: #9977BB Nearest web-safe: #9966CC

Gradient to complement

#997ABB #9A85B0 #9A90A5 #9B9B9B #9BA590 #9CB085 #9CBB7A

Color vision previews

Compare how #997ABB appears in each simulation. When two chart lines or status indicators become hard to tell apart, a label, shape or line pattern gives readers another way to distinguish them. Individual perception varies.

Protanopia

A red–green color vision deficiency. Without a distinct response from long-wavelength cones, some reds and greens can look alike, and reds can appear darker.

#6D86BE

Deuteranopia

A red–green color vision deficiency. Without a distinct response from medium-wavelength cones, some greens can be difficult to distinguish from reds or browns.

#7387B9

Tritanopia

A blue–yellow color vision deficiency. Without a distinct response from short-wavelength cones, blue can resemble green, and yellow can resemble pink.

#948492

Protanomaly (50%)

An altered long-wavelength cone response can make reds appear dimmer and harder to distinguish from greens. This swatch shows the model’s halfway setting.

#7E82BC

Deuteranomaly (50%)

An altered medium-wavelength cone response can reduce the visible difference between reds and greens. This swatch shows the model’s halfway setting.

#8083BA

Tritanomaly (50%)

An altered short-wavelength cone response can make blue harder to distinguish from green. This swatch shows the model’s halfway setting.

#977EAE

Grayscale (luminance)

This design check removes hue and preserves relative luminance so you can compare light and dark areas.

#878787

Partial grayscale (50% blend)

This design check mixes the original color halfway toward its grayscale equivalent in linear light. Use it to see how a design holds up as color fades.

#9081A4

Reference: National Eye Institute: Types of Color Vision Deficiency

Technical reference

CAM16 and CIECAM02 below assume D65 white, an average surround, background Y of 20 against white at 100, and adapting luminance of 4.07 cd/m².

Linear sRGB

These channels scale with emitted light. Use them for lighting calculations and physically meaningful blends.

R 0.31855 G 0.19462 B 0.49693

Display P3

P3 displays can reproduce a wider range of reds and greens. These coordinates reproduce this same sRGB swatch on a color-managed P3 display.

R 0.58076 G 0.48310 B 0.71660

Linear Display P3

These P3 channels are proportional to light, before display encoding.

R 0.29654 G 0.19873 B 0.47200

CIE xyY

The x and y coordinates locate chromaticity on a diagram. Y gives relative luminance on a scale where white is 100.

x 0.281 y 0.235 Y 24.279

CMY

Ideal cyan, magenta and yellow are the complements of the encoded red, green and blue channels.

C % 40.000 M % 52.157 Y % 26.667

Binary RGB

Each eight-bit group represents one channel. Together they store the 24-bit hex color.

10011001 01111010 10111011