Blue and Purple color palette
dodgerblue · 0.036
With a ratio of just 1.08 to 1, you cannot put this blue (#3B82F6) and purple (#A855F7) directly next to each other as text and background. They read as one bright glow rather than two separate colors. Treat that as the starting point.
What this pairing does well is gradients. The two sit only 44 degrees apart on the color wheel, and both have a similar lightness and a high chroma, so a blend between them stays vivid the whole way across. The midpoint lands on a saturated blue-purple (#7E6FF7) with no muddy zone in between.
This is why the combination shows up so often in modern web design and in Tailwind projects. It works as a hero background, a button gradient, or an accent behind headings, especially with white or near-black text laid on top for contrast. For separation between the two colors themselves, lean on the Tailwind 50-900 scales and pair a light step of one with a dark step of the other.
See Blue and Purple in use
better
Blue Tailwind scale (50-900)
Purple Tailwind scale (50-900)
Blue to Purple blend
A continuous interpolation from Blue to Purple, sampled into the 10 steps below. Tap any swatch to copy its hex.
Why Blue and Purple blend best in OKLab
The same two colors blended three ways. This site uses OKLab, which keeps the blend smooth and evenly lit. The other two are shown so you can see what to avoid: sRGB darkens and muddies the middle, and HSL detours through colors that are not in your palette.
Accessibility
Do not place Blue text on Purple (or the reverse) for body copy. For readable text, pair a dark scale step such as blue-800 or purple-900 with a light one like purple-50.
Contrast pairing grid
Rows are Blue steps, columns are Purple steps. Each mark is a Blue step shown on a Purple step: a check means it clears WCAG AA for text (4.5:1). If you can read the mark, the pairing is legible.
| 50 | 100 | 200 | 300 | 400 | 500 | 600 | 700 | 800 | 900 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 100 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 200 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 300 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 400 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 500 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| 600 | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 700 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 800 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 900 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
✓ passes AA ✗ fails AA
Copy for Tailwind
Tailwind v4 — @theme (paste into your CSS)
@theme {
--color-blue-50: #F3F8FF;
--color-blue-100: #E7F1FF;
--color-blue-200: #D4E5FF;
--color-blue-300: #B9D4FF;
--color-blue-400: #94BDFE;
--color-blue-500: #3B82F6;
--color-blue-600: #2E69C9;
--color-blue-700: #214E98;
--color-blue-800: #0F2C5A;
--color-blue-900: #030F27;
--color-purple-50: #F9F6FF;
--color-purple-100: #F4ECFF;
--color-purple-200: #EBDCFF;
--color-purple-300: #DEC6FF;
--color-purple-400: #CEA7FF;
--color-purple-500: #A855F7;
--color-purple-600: #8944CA;
--color-purple-700: #673199;
--color-purple-800: #3B1A5A;
--color-purple-900: #170727;
}
Tailwind v3 — tailwind.config.js
// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
theme: {
extend: {
colors: {
'blue': {
50: '#F3F8FF',
100: '#E7F1FF',
200: '#D4E5FF',
300: '#B9D4FF',
400: '#94BDFE',
500: '#3B82F6',
600: '#2E69C9',
700: '#214E98',
800: '#0F2C5A',
900: '#030F27',
},
'purple': {
50: '#F9F6FF',
100: '#F4ECFF',
200: '#EBDCFF',
300: '#DEC6FF',
400: '#CEA7FF',
500: '#A855F7',
600: '#8944CA',
700: '#673199',
800: '#3B1A5A',
900: '#170727',
},
},
},
},
};
CSS variables
:root {
--blue-50: #F3F8FF;
--blue-100: #E7F1FF;
--blue-200: #D4E5FF;
--blue-300: #B9D4FF;
--blue-400: #94BDFE;
--blue-500: #3B82F6;
--blue-600: #2E69C9;
--blue-700: #214E98;
--blue-800: #0F2C5A;
--blue-900: #030F27;
--purple-50: #F9F6FF;
--purple-100: #F4ECFF;
--purple-200: #EBDCFF;
--purple-300: #DEC6FF;
--purple-400: #CEA7FF;
--purple-500: #A855F7;
--purple-600: #8944CA;
--purple-700: #673199;
--purple-800: #3B1A5A;
--purple-900: #170727;
}SCSS variables
$blue-50: #F3F8FF; $blue-100: #E7F1FF; $blue-200: #D4E5FF; $blue-300: #B9D4FF; $blue-400: #94BDFE; $blue-500: #3B82F6; $blue-600: #2E69C9; $blue-700: #214E98; $blue-800: #0F2C5A; $blue-900: #030F27; $purple-50: #F9F6FF; $purple-100: #F4ECFF; $purple-200: #EBDCFF; $purple-300: #DEC6FF; $purple-400: #CEA7FF; $purple-500: #A855F7; $purple-600: #8944CA; $purple-700: #673199; $purple-800: #3B1A5A; $purple-900: #170727;
JSON tokens
{
"blue": {
"50": "#F3F8FF",
"100": "#E7F1FF",
"200": "#D4E5FF",
"300": "#B9D4FF",
"400": "#94BDFE",
"500": "#3B82F6",
"600": "#2E69C9",
"700": "#214E98",
"800": "#0F2C5A",
"900": "#030F27"
},
"purple": {
"50": "#F9F6FF",
"100": "#F4ECFF",
"200": "#EBDCFF",
"300": "#DEC6FF",
"400": "#CEA7FF",
"500": "#A855F7",
"600": "#8944CA",
"700": "#673199",
"800": "#3B1A5A",
"900": "#170727"
}
}How we name colors
There is no single official authority for naming colors. We use the common, widely recognized name as the primary label for each color (here, Blue and Purple); many common names are themselves W3C CSS named colors. For transparency we also show the nearest W3C CSS named color and the perceptual distance, ΔE, measured in OKLab. A small ΔE means the name is essentially exact; a larger one means it is the closest standard name rather than a perfect match.
Sources: W3C CSS Color Module Level 4 and the open color-name-list dataset, used to verify every color sits near a recognized name.