#B261CC

sRGB: 178 / 97 / 204

Ancient mountains drift beyond memory
Secret gardens disappear beneath stillness
Boundless spirits awaken sleeping galaxies

#B261CC belongs to the magenta family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 178 red, 97 green and 204 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 285.4° lands in the magenta region. Its 51.2% saturation makes it partway between gray and the most vivid version of this hue at this lightness. HSL lightness is 59.0% 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 (5.47:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 178, 97, 204
HSL: 285.42°, 51.20%, 59.02%
HSV / HSB: 285.42°, 52.45%, 80.00%
CMYK (approx.): 12.75%, 52.45%, 0.00%, 20.00%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 33.532, 22.375, 59.681
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 54.423, 49.757, -42.248
WCAG relative luminance: 0.22374
24-bit decimal: 11690444

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 #B261CC 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: 5.47:1

Normal text: AA
Large text: AAA

White text: 3.84:1

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

#7BCC61 sits half a turn (180°) from #B261CC 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.

#B261CC #7BCC61

Analogous

#7C61CC and #CC61B1 sit 30° to either side of #B261CC. 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.

#7C61CC #B261CC #CC61B1

Triadic

#B261CC, #CCB261 and #61CCB2 are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#B261CC #CCB261 #61CCB2

Split complementary

Start at #B261CC and look across the wheel. #B1CC61 and #61CC7D sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#B261CC #B1CC61 #61CC7D

Square

Starting with #B261CC, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #CC7D61, #7BCC61, then #61B1CC. Across the square, #B261CC pairs with #7BCC61, and #CC7D61 with #61B1CC.

#B261CC #CC7D61 #7BCC61 #61B1CC

Tetradic

#B261CC and #7BCC61 are opposites, as are #CC617B and #61CCB2. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#B261CC #CC617B #7BCC61 #61CCB2

Tints

Mixing #B261CC with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #C181D6, keeps 80% of the original. By #F0DFF5, the mixture is 80% white.

#B261CC #C181D6 #D1A0E0 #E0C0EB #F0DFF5 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #B261CC with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #8E4EA3, keeps 80% of the original. By #241329, the mixture is 80% black.

#B261CC #8E4EA3 #6B3A7A #472752 #241329 #000000

Tones

Mixing #B261CC with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #A867BD, keeps 80% of the original. By #8A7A8F, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#B261CC #A867BD #9E6DAE #94749E #8A7A8F #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

#B261CC

RGB

rgb(178 97 204)

HSL

hsl(285.421 51.196% 59.020%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #B261CC;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#B261CC uses 178 red, 97 green and 204 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 69.8%

Green 38.0%

Blue 80.0%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #B261CC is 12.7% cyan, 52.5% magenta, 0.0% yellow and 20.0% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 12.7%

Magenta 52.5%

Yellow 0.0%

Black 20.0%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #AA66CC. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #A6C in CSS. For a modern design, keep #B261CC when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #9966CC, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand: #AA66CC Nearest web-safe: #9966CC

Gradient to complement

#B261CC #A973BA #A085A8 #979797 #8DA885 #84BA73 #7BCC61

Color vision previews

Compare how #B261CC 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.

#4B7DD0

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.

#6485C9

Tritanopia

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

#B1718D

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.

#7C75CD

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.

#827BCA

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#AF69B9

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#828282

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.

#9C73AC

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 0.44520 G 0.11954 B 0.60383

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 0.65563 G 0.39638 B 0.77730

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.38738 G 0.13035 B 0.56606

CIE xyY

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

x 0.290 y 0.194 Y 22.375

CMY

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

C % 30.196 M % 61.961 Y % 20.000

Binary RGB

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

10110010 01100001 11001100