Closest web-safe match: #9966CC

Color Details and Palettes for #9B5ADE

Details about the color Legendary Lavender#9B5ADE

Conversions, palettes, contrast & design ideas for this color.

Purple family Cool WCAG ink: white
HEX #9B5ADE RGB rgb(155, 90, 222) HSL hsl(270, 67%, 61%) CMYK cmyk(30%, 59%, 0%, 13%)

Color profile

About Color Hex #9B5ADE

#9B5ADE is a cool color from the Purple family, closest in name to “Legendary Lavender”. In RGB it is rgb(155, 90, 222); in HSL, hsl(270, 67%, 61%).

The color Legendary Lavender, with hexadecimal code #9b5ade, lands in the purple family, historically reserved for royalty due to the extreme cost of Tyrian dye. Purple activates imagination and spiritual contemplation, blending red's passion with blue's serenity. Additionally, it evokes emotions such as Luxury, Royalty, Spirituality, Imagination and Wisdom. Purple is often linked to creativity, luxury, and spirituality. In Western cultures, it is also associated with ambition and wealth. Indigo and violet have long signified royalty and nobility. At 67% saturation, this color is clearly chromatic yet balanced—colorful enough to be distinctive without overwhelming adjacent content. At 61% lightness, it strikes an approachable, open balance—bright enough to feel welcoming yet substantial enough to carry visual weight. This color is ideal for designs that aim to express Luxury, Royalty, Spirituality, Imagination, or Wisdom. It can be effectively used in web design, branding, and marketing materials to attract attention and convey specific messages.

Key facts

RGB 155, 90, 222 red · green · blue HSL 270° 67% 61% hue · sat · light HSV 270° 59% 87% design-app pickers CMYK 30 59 0 13 print inks, % Luminance 0.196 0 dark → 1 light On black 4.91:1 ✓ AA contrast ratio On white 4.28:1 ✕ AA contrast ratio Web-safe #9966CC closest web-safe Best text black ideal foreground Character Vivid cool · purple family

The story of this color

History, Usage, Psychology & Design Ideas for #9B5ADE

Legendary Lavender (#9B5ADE) belongs to the Purple color family.

This vivid mid-tone strikes the ideal balance between intensity and readability, making it a strong candidate for primary brand colors, interactive UI elements, and logo design where immediate recognition is essential.

Historical Background

Tyrian purple—derived from the mucus of Murex sea snails—required 12,000 snails to produce just 1.5 grams of dye, making it the most expensive substance in the ancient world. Roman emperors decreed it exclusive to royalty, and Byzantine empresses gave birth in a porphyry-lined chamber so children could be 'born in the purple.' This legacy of exclusivity persists: purple remains shorthand for luxury and prestige.

Design & Usage Tips

Purple excels in beauty, wellness, and premium lifestyle branding. Lighter purples (lavender, lilac) suit self-care and floral products, while saturated purples project confidence and creativity. Pair purple with mint green for a fresh contrast, or with charcoal for understated elegance.

Sitting on the cool side of the spectrum (hue 270°), it promotes a feeling of calm distance and intellectual clarity, which is why cool hues dominate corporate identities, healthcare design, and productivity tools. With 67% saturation, it occupies a comfortable middle ground: colorful enough to be distinctive, yet restrained enough for extended reading or large surface areas.

Psychological Impact

Purple activates imagination and spiritual contemplation. It blends red's passion with blue's calm, creating a sense of creative tension. In marketing, purple appeals to audiences seeking uniqueness, quality, and a touch of the mystical.

At 61% lightness, it reads clearly on dark backgrounds and provides a welcoming, open feel in light-themed designs—versatile across both contexts.

Creative Design Ideas

Use deep purple backgrounds with metallic gold or rose-gold typography for luxury brand identities. Create purple-to-pink gradients for creative agency hero sections. In app design, purple primary buttons with white text feel premium and distinctive against light backgrounds.

Every format

#9B5ADE Color Conversions

Every way to write Legendary Lavender — one-tap copy on every format; tap on any card to learn what it is and when to use it.

12 formats
HEX Web
#9B5ADE

Hexadecimal is the web’s universal color notation — two digits each for red, green and blue. Drop it straight into HTML, CSS or any design tool.

RGB Screen
rgb(155, 90, 222)

RGB is the additive Red-Green-Blue model every screen uses to emit light. The default choice for websites, apps and on-screen UI.

HSL Web
hsl(270, 67%, 61%)

HSL breaks a color into Hue, Saturation and Lightness — the most intuitive way to lighten, darken or mute a color in CSS.

HSV HSB Design
hsv(270, 59%, 87%)

HSV (also called HSB) maps Hue, Saturation and Value/Brightness. It is the model behind the color pickers in Photoshop, Figma and most design apps.

HWB CSS 4
hwb(270 35% 13%)

HWB blends a pure hue with Whiteness and Blackness — a painter-friendly model added in CSS Color 4 for quick tints and shades.

CMYK Print
cmyk(30%, 59%, 0%, 13%)

CMYK is the subtractive Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Black ink model. Use these values when preparing artwork for a printer or commercial press.

OKLCH Modern
oklch(60.25% 0.196 303.77)

OKLCH is a modern, perceptually-uniform space (Lightness, Chroma, Hue). It powers smooth gradients and accessible palettes in today’s CSS.

OKLab Modern
oklab(60.25% 0.109 -0.163)

OKLab is the Cartesian form of OKLCH — ideal for blending and interpolating colors without the muddy midpoints older spaces produce.

CIELAB L*a*b* Perceptual
L: 51.33, a: 51.57, b: -57.57

CIELAB is a device-independent, perceptually-uniform space. It is the standard for measuring color difference (ΔE) and matching across devices.

LCH Perceptual
L: 51.33, C: 77.29, H: 311.85

LCH is CIELAB in cylindrical form — Lightness, Chroma and Hue — letting you adjust vividness and hue while staying perceptually even.

XYZ CIE Science
X: 30.36, Y: 19.55, Z: 71.28

CIE XYZ is the 1931 master space that underpins every other model here — the scientific bridge used to convert between color systems.

Decimal int Code
10181342

The 24-bit integer value of the color — handy for databases, APIs, game engines and low-level graphics code.

Channel breakdown

RGB Color Percentages for #9B5ADE

How much red, green and blue light mixes into Legendary Lavender.

Red 155/255 33.2% Green 90/255 19.3% Blue 222/255 47.5%

Percentages show each channel's share of the total light (R + G + B) in Legendary Lavender.

Ink coverage

CMYK Ink Levels & Print Guide for #9B5ADE

Ink needed to reproduce Legendary Lavender in four-color print. Heaviest ink: Magenta.

30% CYAN 59% MAGENTA 0% YELLOW 13% KEY

Print tip: treat these values as a starting point — final output depends on printer profile, paper stock and calibration.

Accessibility · WCAG

Luminance & Contrast for #9B5ADE

How bright Legendary Lavender is, and how far black and white text clear each WCAG bar.

Relative luminance 0.196
0 · dark1 · light

Contrast ratio · 1:1 → 21:1 (log scale)

Aa Black text 4.91:1 ✓ AA ✕ AAA ✓ Large
Aa White text 4.28:1 ✕ AA ✕ AAA ✓ Large

Developer shortcuts

Quick CSS Snippets for #9B5ADE

Copy-and-paste CSS for Legendary Lavender — per-line copy, or grab the whole block.

legendary-lavender.css
background-color: #9B5ADE;
color: #9B5ADE;
border: 2px solid #9B5ADE;
background-color: rgb(155, 90, 222);
background-color: hsl(270, 67%, 61%);
--color: #9B5ADE;

Shades · light to dark

#9B5ADE Monochrome Palette

Lighter and darker steps of Legendary Lavender — the color's full brightness range in one strip.

#F5EEFC
#E6D6F7
#D7BDF2
#C8A4ED
#B98CE8
#AA73E3
#9B5ADE
#844DBD
#6D3F9B
#55327A
#3E2459
#271738
#100916

The dot marks the original color. Hover any shade to copy its hex or open its color page.

Harmony · 180° apart

#9B5ADE Complementary Palette

Two colors opposite on the wheel — maximum contrast for attention-grabbing accents.

#9B5ADE
#9CDE59

The dot marks the original color. Hover any shade to copy its hex or open its color page.

Harmony · adjacent hues

#9B5ADE Analogic Palette

Neighboring hues on the wheel — harmonious, calm combinations that feel unified.

#9B5ADE
#DE59DE
#5959DE
#DE599C
#599CDE
#DE5959
#59DEDE

The dot marks the original color. Hover any shade to copy its hex or open its color page.

Harmony · 120° apart

#9B5ADE Triadic Palette

Three colors evenly spaced on the wheel — vibrant and energetic, yet balanced.

#9B5ADE
#DE9C59
#59DE9C

The dot marks the original color. Hover any shade to copy its hex or open its color page.

Harmony · 90° apart

#9B5ADE Quad Palette

Four colors evenly spaced on the wheel (tetradic) — rich schemes with multiple accents.

#9B5ADE
#DE5959
#9CDE59
#59DEDE

The dot marks the original color. Hover any shade to copy its hex or open its color page.

Accessibility

Color Blindness Simulation for #9B5ADE

How Legendary Lavender reads across five kinds of color vision — a ✓ Friendly verdict means the color difference stays distinguishable for that vision type.

#9B5ADE
#8387B6
#7F7EBE
#98A59F
#717171
Normal vision full color Deuteranopia green weakness ✕ Not friendly Protanopia red weakness ✕ Not friendly Tritanopia blue-yellow weakness ✕ Not friendly Achromatopsia total color blindness ✕ Not friendly

The dot marks the original color. Hover any shade to copy its hex.

Harmony overview

Color Harmonies for #9B5ADE

The lead color from each harmony scheme, side by side — a shortcut to the full palettes above.

#9CDE59
#DE59DE
#DE9C59
#DE5959
Complementary opposite hue Analogous adjacent hue Triadic 120° apart Tetradic (Quad) 90° apart

Perceptually nearby

#9B5ADE Nearby Colors

A step away in brightness, richness or shade — each still feels like the same color.

Violet Voltage#AA66EE
Dreamscape Purple#8844CC
Illicit Purple#BB77FF
Purple Pristine#7733BB
Orion Nebula#9955EE
Amethyst#9966CC
Love Priestess#BB44CC
Medium Slate Blue#7766EE

From the color-name library

Colors Similar to #9B5ADE

The closest named colors to #9B5ADE — same mood, each with its own character.

Legendary Lavender#9D61D4
Orion Nebula#A55AF4
Amethyst#9966CC
Violet Voltage#A669DB
Magenta Affair#AA44DD
Matt Purple#9370DB
Sweet Desire#AA33EE
Lusty Lavender#8D5EB7
Candy Grape Fizz#7755EE
Love Priestess#BB55CC
Prickly Purple#A264BA
Fuchsia Pheromone#9F4CB7

Looking for more Purple shades? Browse Purple colors →

Inspiration

Explore Vibrant Images Featuring Legendary Lavender (#9b5ade)

Curated Unsplash photos that carry the mood of Legendary Lavender — hover any tile to download it or view the original.

Good to know

Frequently Asked Questions about #9B5ADE

#9B5ADE is a cool color from the Purple family. Its closest matched name is “Legendary Lavender”, matched perceptually with the CIEDE2000 color-difference formula. In RGB it is rgb(155, 90, 222); in HSL, hsl(270, 67%, 61%).
In RGB, #9B5ADE is rgb(155, 90, 222); in HSL it is hsl(270, 67%, 61%); and in CMYK — the model used for print — it is cmyk(30%, 59%, 0%, 13%).
#9B5ADE has a contrast ratio of 4.91:1 against black and 4.28:1 against white. For readability, black body text meets the WCAG AA threshold of 4.5:1 on it, while white does not.
The direct complement of #9B5ADE is #9CDE59 (opposite on the color wheel). For ready-made combinations, this page includes monochrome, analogous, triadic and tetradic palettes built from #9B5ADE in the palette sections above.