#231B52 is a deep, cool purple. On the Color Lab it reads clean and engineered, quietly premium. It is too dark to lead as a primary accent and reproduces cleanly in print.
Not just a swatch — here's how #231B52 works with other colors. Named schemes with #231B52 in its natural role, and a note on why the supporting colors balance it.
Russian Violet carries the depth in this luxury scheme, offset by a brass accent and near-black and held together by a deep neutral and an off-white surface.
Russian Violet adds the colour to this moody editorial scheme — charcoal and a mid-grey around it, a bone highlight, and a muted jewel accent drawn from Russian Violet.
Russian Violet opens this coastal palette with sea-glass and warm sand alongside it, grounded by driftwood grey and a deep-navy anchor.
Russian Violet plays the worn-leather lead, deepened by saddle brown and an oxblood anchor, softened by aged cream and cooled by a muted forest green.
Russian Violet is the single accent in this high-contrast editorial system — set on near-white paper against near-black ink, with a warm grey and a desaturated tint of Russian Violet carrying the quiet middle.
How #231B52 actually behaves in design work — read from its OKLCH lightness, chroma and hue, not just its raw numbers. Ten signals to help you decide where this color earns its place.
Not a swatch to memorise — a color to build with. Here is #231B52 at work across the surfaces designers actually ship.
:root {
--color-base: #231B52;
--color-base-rgb: 35 27 82;
--color-base-oklch: oklch(26.8% 0.096 284.5);
--color-50: #F4F3FC;
--color-100: #E3E0F5;
--color-200: #C8C2EB;
--color-300: #A197D8;
--color-400: #7C70C2;
--color-500: #5C4EA6;
--color-600: #4B4280;
--color-700: #39335C;
--color-800: #28243C;
--color-900: #1A1825;
--color-on-base: #FFFFFF;
}
// tailwind.config.js
colors: {
russian-violet: {
50: '#F4F3FC',
100: '#E3E0F5',
200: '#C8C2EB',
300: '#A197D8',
400: '#7C70C2',
500: '#5C4EA6',
600: '#4B4280',
700: '#39335C',
800: '#28243C',
900: '#1A1825',
},
}
$base: #231B52; $base-ink: #FFFFFF; $base-50: #F4F3FC; $base-100: #E3E0F5; $base-200: #C8C2EB; $base-300: #A197D8; $base-400: #7C70C2; $base-500: #5C4EA6; $base-600: #4B4280; $base-700: #39335C; $base-800: #28243C; $base-900: #1A1825; $base-hover: #1C1540; $base-subtle: #B2ACDA;
{
"color": {
"base": {
"value": "#231B52",
"type": "color"
},
"onBase": {
"value": "#FFFFFF",
"type": "color"
},
"scale": {
"50": {
"value": "#F4F3FC",
"type": "color"
},
"100": {
"value": "#E3E0F5",
"type": "color"
},
"200": {
"value": "#C8C2EB",
"type": "color"
},
"300": {
"value": "#A197D8",
"type": "color"
},
"400": {
"value": "#7C70C2",
"type": "color"
},
"500": {
"value": "#5C4EA6",
"type": "color"
},
"600": {
"value": "#4B4280",
"type": "color"
},
"700": {
"value": "#39335C",
"type": "color"
},
"800": {
"value": "#28243C",
"type": "color"
},
"900": {
"value": "#1A1825",
"type": "color"
}
}
}
}