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Blackberry

#4D0135·purple family·WCAG AAA

Tints & Shades

50

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

Scale from white (50) through Blackberry (500) to black (900), interpolated in Lab color space.

Color Values

HEX
#4D0135
RGB
rgb(77, 1, 53)
HSL
hsl(319, 97%, 15%)
OKLCH
oklch(0.281 0.117 346)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 99%, 31%, 70%)
Luminance:0.0186
CSS var:--color-blackberry
Tailwind:bg-[#4D0135]

Accessibility

Score: 96/100

On White (#FFF)

15.31:1

AAA

On Black (#000)

1.37:1

Fail

On Light Gray (#F5F5F5)

14.05:1

AAA

Best text color on this background:

white15.31:1
Open in Contrast Checker →

Design Applications

Background

background-color: #4D0135

Text Color

color: #4D0135

bg-[#4D0135] text-[#FFFFFF]

Accent border card component

border-left: 4px solid #4D0135

Color Meaning & Psychology

Purple was among the most expensive dyes in history — extracted from murex snails, requiring thousands to color a single garment. This scarcity created the enduring association with royalty, power, and luxury. Purple is rare in nature, which is why it feels special and mysterious. Red-purples feel passionate and romantic; blue-purples feel calm and contemplative; mid-purples feel creative and spiritual. Purple activates both warm (red) and cool (blue) emotional responses simultaneously, creating an ambiguity that different cultures interpret differently — wisdom in Asia, mourning in parts of Europe, magic in fantasy contexts, lavish excess in baroque design. Its very dark, near-black depth creates dramatic intensity — maximally contrastive, powerful, and reserved for focal design elements where other dark colors would disappear.

Industry Usage

Common contexts and industries where Blackberry is applied in professional design.

  • Luxury beauty and cosmetics brands
  • Premium consumer products and packaging
  • Spiritual, wellness, and meditation apps
  • Creative agencies and design studios
  • Entertainment and gaming (magic, fantasy)
  • Anti-aging and prestige skincare
  • Confectionery and indulgence brands
  • Academic institutions emphasizing wisdom

Accessibility Considerations

Normal Text

Passes AA

4.5:1 minimum required

Large Text

Passes AA Large

3:1 minimum required

UI Components

Meets 1.4.11

3:1 for non-text UI

Blackberry is a dark color. Use white (#FFFFFF) text on top of it for maximum readability (15.31:1). Avoid small black text on this background.

CSS & Code Examples

Background

background-color: #4D0135;

Text

color: #4D0135;

Border

border: 2px solid #4D0135;

Box Shadow

box-shadow: 0 4px 20px #4D013540;

Gradient

background: linear-gradient(135deg, #4D0135, #7c325f);

Tailwind-style

--color-blackberry: #4D0135;

Tailwind CSS Utilities

Use arbitrary value syntax in Tailwind CSS to apply Blackberry without a custom config.

Background

bg-[#4D0135]

Text

text-[#4D0135]

Border

border-[#4D0135]

Ring

ring-[#4D0135]

Fill

fill-[#4D0135]

From (gradient)

from-[#4D0135]

Via (gradient)

via-[#4D0135]

To (gradient)

to-[#4D0135]

Design Tokens

Ready-to-use Blackberry design token in CSS custom properties, SCSS, Tailwind v3/v4, and JSON formats.

CSS Custom Properties

:root {
  --color-blackberry: #4D0135;
  --color-blackberry-rgb: 77, 1, 53;
  --color-blackberry-hsl: 319, 97%, 15%;
}

SCSS Variables

$color-blackberry: #4D0135;
$color-blackberry-rgb: 77, 1, 53;
$color-blackberry-hsl: 319, 97%, 15%;

Tailwind v3 Config

// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
  theme: {
    extend: {
      colors: {
        'blackberry': '#4D0135',
      },
    },
  },
};

Tailwind v4 (@theme)

/* tailwind.css */
@theme {
  --color-blackberry: #4D0135;
}

JSON Design Token (W3C format)

{
  "blackberry": {
    "value": "#4D0135",
    "type": "color",
    "description": "Blackberry — #4D0135"
  }
}

What Does Blackberry Mean? Color Psychology & Cultural Symbolism

Blackberry (#4D0135) is the color of liminal spaces—the purple twilight, the purple of ancient dyes, the purple of futures not yet written. Its dark quality at 15% lightness positions it between accessibility and aspiration, rendering creativity in a register that feels both earned and inviting.

  • Across color psychology research, purple consistently tests high for "luxury" associations, making Blackberry a reliable vehicle for creativity in cross-demographic audiences.
  • Brand designers draw on purple-family tones to project distinction and wisdom—values that Blackberry communicates in a dark key.
  • At 97% saturation, Blackberry reads as vivid—Vivid purples—electric violet, magenta-leaning—signal digital creativity, gaming culture, and technological imagination; they are the purples of sci-fi, crypto, and creative tools.
  • Blackberry's dark lightness (15%) shifts its psychological register: Deep violet and plum tones carry maximal luxury and mystery—positioned at the intersection of black's power and purple's creativity, excellent for premium and high-fashion applications.

Blackberry is a commitment color—use it fully or not at all. Half measures produce neither luxury nor creativity.

How to Use Blackberry in Design: Applications, Pairings & Best Practices

Blackberry rewards bold usage. Timid deployment—a small accent in an otherwise neutral palette—undersells its power. Used with commitment, it creates the kind of brand distinction that no other hue achieves.

  • Avoid: mainstream corporate environments where it reads as unconventional, food packaging (no natural purple vegetables beyond eggplant and berries), and mass-market consumer products where premium positioning is not intended.
  • Color harmonies: Blackberry's complementary color creates a high-energy split ideal for promotional design; its analogous palette (±30° hue) builds cohesive, monochromatic sophistication.
  • Proportional use: Blackberry's vivid saturation (97%) means small applications—accents, highlights, icons—deliver maximum impact without visual fatigue. Reserve large-scale use for intentional brand moments.
  • As a dark tone, Blackberry creates maximum contrast with white and light neutrals—excellent for creating premium dark-mode sections, bold headers, and high-drama brand moments
  • Typography: Blackberry works as a background behind white text but requires careful sizing—test at intended heading and body sizes before finalizing.

Blackberry is a commitment color—use it fully or not at all. Half measures produce neither luxury nor creativity.

Blackberry Accessibility: WCAG Contrast Ratios, Color Blindness & Inclusive Design

Blackberry (#4D0135) achieves a 15.31:1 contrast ratio with white text, surpassing the WCAG 2.1 AAA threshold of 7:1. This exceptional contrast qualifies it for body text, UI components at any size, and all accessibility-sensitive interface contexts. Relative luminance: 1.9%.

  • As text on white (#FFFFFF): 15.31:1 — AAA ✓
  • As text on black (#000000): 1.37:1 — Fail
  • Best text color on Blackberry background: White (#FFFFFF) at 15.31:1
  • WCAG 2.1 luminance: 1.9% — low luminance (dark)—it provides strong contrast for white and light overlaid text, functioning well as a background in dark-mode and header contexts
  • Blackberry qualifies for all text sizes including small body copy (AAA).
  • Color blindness consideration: tritanopia (blue-yellow color blindness, ~0.003% of population) may affect how this color reads. While rare, for maximum accessibility supplement color signals with text or icon indicators in critical states.

Always verify Blackberry at its final intended size and weight using a real contrast checker—font weight and rendering environment affect perceived legibility beyond what raw ratios capture.

Blackberry in Industry: Branding, Design & Market Applications

Blackberry's brand positioning falls squarely in the territory of luxury, creativity, mystery, and wisdom. Industry data supports its strongest performance in beauty & cosmetics, luxury goods, creative services categories, where the vivid saturation calibrates the message at a dark, considered level.

  • Beauty & Cosmetics: Purple is the second most common color in beauty branding, projecting luxury, femininity, and transformative aspiration. It signals that a product is special, premium, and designed for moments of indulgence. (examples: Glossier, Fenty Beauty, Rare Beauty) Lavender tones work for accessible beauty; deep violet and plum for luxury skincare and perfume.
  • Creative & Agency Services: Creative studios, design agencies, and advertising firms use purple to signal imagination, unconventional thinking, and creative authority. It differentiates them from the blue-dominated corporate world while retaining enough gravitas to command respect. Works best when paired with a strong neutral (black, charcoal, or cream) to prevent it from reading as whimsical.
  • Gaming & Entertainment: Purple dominates gaming, streaming, and digital entertainment branding because it signals the threshold between the ordinary world and an imaginative one. It's the color of portals, magic systems, and premium digital experiences. (examples: Spotify, Netflix, Hulu) Twitch's purple brand has made the color synonymous with live streaming culture—worth considering in adjacent spaces.
  • Brand positioning: Blackberry is best suited for brands projecting distinction, wisdom, imagination. Categories outside this positioning—mainstream corporate environments where it reads as unconventional—tend to see weaker results.
  • Adjacent applications: Beyond primary industries, Blackberry works effectively in cryptocurrency projects, gaming UIs, spiritual and wellness platforms—contexts where mystery serves a secondary but reinforcing role.

For marketers and brand strategists, Blackberry is a commitment to luxury, creativity, mystery, and wisdom. Match it with industries that make that promise and it will pay dividends consistently.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the hex code for Blackberry?
The hex code for Blackberry is #4D0135. Its RGB values are rgb(77, 1, 53) and its HSL values are hsl(319, 97%, 15%).
What does Blackberry mean in design?
Purple was among the most expensive dyes in history — extracted from murex snails, requiring thousands to color a single garment. This scarcity created the enduring association with royalty, power, and luxury. Purple is rare in nature, which is why it feels special and mysterious. Red-purples feel passionate and romantic; blue-purples feel calm and contemplative; mid-purples feel creative and spiritual. Purple activates both warm (red) and cool (blue) emotional responses simultaneously, creating an ambiguity that different cultures interpret differently — wisdom in Asia, mourning in parts of Europe, magic in fantasy contexts, lavish excess in baroque design. Its very dark, near-black depth creates dramatic intensity — maximally contrastive, powerful, and reserved for focal design elements where other dark colors would disappear.
Is Blackberry WCAG accessible?
Blackberry (#4D0135) passes WCAG AAA on white with a 15.31:1 contrast ratio. Its overall accessibility score is 96/100.
What colors go well with Blackberry?
Blackberry pairs well with its complementary color Emerald (#50C878). Analogous colors like English Violet and Neon Pink also work harmoniously. Check the Color Harmonies section above for the full palette.
What is Blackberry used for?
Blackberry is commonly used for: Luxury beauty and cosmetics brands; Premium consumer products and packaging; Spiritual, wellness, and meditation apps; Creative agencies and design studios; Entertainment and gaming (magic, fantasy).
What are the CSS and Tailwind values for Blackberry?
In CSS, use `color: #4D0135` or `background-color: #4D0135`. The CSS custom property is `--color-blackberry: #4D0135`. In Tailwind CSS, use the arbitrary value class `bg-[#4D0135]` for backgrounds or `text-[#4D0135]` for text.