ColrShift9C27B0 (Purple 500) — RGB, HSL, CMYK and Contrast
A pink at 42% lightness and 64% saturation, which puts it at 6.30:1 against white and 3.33:1 against black. The tables below give the notation conversions, the tints and shades that keep the hue intact, and the harmonies that pair with it.
Notation conversions
| Notation | Value |
|---|---|
| HEX | 9C27B0 |
| RGB | rgb(156, 39, 176) |
| HSL | hsl(291, 64%, 42%) |
| CMYK | cmyk(11%, 78%, 0%, 31%) |
| Relative luminance | 0.1165 |
| Perceived brightness | 35.1 / 100 |
Contrast against pure white and pure black
Pair this colour with the two extremes to see which is the safer text partner. AA needs 4.5:1 for body text and 3:1 for large text; AAA raises that to 7:1 and 4.5:1.
| Against | Hex | Ratio | AA text | AA large | AAA text |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #FFFFFF | white | 6.30:1 | pass | pass | fail |
| #000000 | black | 3.33:1 | fail | pass | fail |
Tints and shades
Lightness moves in ten-point steps while hue and saturation stay fixed, which keeps the colour recognisable in a scale. The last column is the ratio against white text, useful for deciding where a scale stops working as a background.
| Step | Hex | HSL | vs white text |
|---|---|---|---|
| shade -30 | #2d0b33 | hsl(291, 64%, 12%) | 17.39:1 |
| shade -20 | #52145d | hsl(291, 64%, 22%) | 12.99:1 |
| shade -10 | #771e86 | hsl(291, 64%, 32%) | 9.07:1 |
| tint +10 | #bc37d3 | hsl(291, 64%, 52%) | 4.54:1 |
| tint +20 | #ca61dc | hsl(291, 64%, 62%) | 3.36:1 |
| tint +30 | #d88be5 | hsl(291, 64%, 72%) | 2.40:1 |
Harmonies
| Scheme | Hex |
|---|---|
| Complementary | #3bb027 |
| Analogous −30 | #5727b0 |
| Analogous +30 | #b02780 |
| Triadic −120 | #27b09c |
| Triadic +120 | #b09c27 |
Take the channels apart and the numbers hold together: 156, 39 and 176 average 124, the strongest channel is 176 and the weakest 39, and that span is what pushes saturation to 63.7% at hue 291.2° and lightness 42.2%. Luminance 0.1165 with perceived brightness 35.1 out of 100 is why the white ratio (6.30:1) and the black ratio (3.33:1) diverge by 2.97. Entry 49 of 69, it steps to #2d0b33 at minus thirty and #d88be5 at plus thirty.
Nearby colours
Frequently asked questions
What text colour should sit on 9C27B0?
Black gives 3.33:1 and white gives 6.30:1, so white wins at 6.30:1. That clears the 4.5:1 AA threshold for normal text, but not the 7:1 AAA threshold.
Do the CMYK numbers match a print workflow?
They are the naive conversion from RGB, which assumes no ink limit, no colour profile and no black generation strategy. Real print work needs a profile-aware conversion; the values here are the ones the converter reports and are best used as a starting point for a designer rather than a press-ready separations file.
Convert any other colour, or test a pair against each other, in the ColrShift colour converter and contrast checker. The colour library groups every entry on this site by hue family.