Brand gradient

Plaid gradient

The gradient Plaid's published colour tokens imply, derived by a pure function of the palette: primary → secondary in OKLab (OKLCH shorter hue when the hues are more than 140° apart; a tonal ramp when they are within ΔE 0.15), then a hero background with an ink that passes AA at the worst point along the line, a button surface with hover and active states, and the variant contact sheet. Same inputs, same gradients, forever — which is what makes them citable; the same values are served as --brand-gradient in the brand's brand.css.

#6f80b1 #02294b #043c67

Open in the maker Plaid colors →Full brand page →

Source: plaid.com
Extracted: 2 September 2026
Version: 3

Plaid

white text · worst 3.89:1 · AA large

white 3.89 AA largeblack 1.42 failsbanding medium

Hero and button

Hero background

Open in maker →

Chroma ×0.35 so it can carry text; ink white (inkFor at the midpoint). L shifted −0.04 until the ink passes AA at the worst point (4.55:1).

white 4.55 AAblack 1.28 failsbanding medium

css

linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #6f7687 0%, #16212a 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-br/oklab from-[#6f7687] to-[#16212a]

Button / CTA

Open in maker →

ΔL 0.08 top→bottom in the primary's hue (a lit surface, not a rainbow); hover L +0.03, active L −0.03. L shifted −0.10 so white ink gets as close as the ±0.1 bound allows to AA on the surface and both states (worst 4.41:1). Ink is below AA (4.41:1 at the worst point) — use it for large text only, or pick a darker/lighter primary for buttons.

white 5.00 AAblack 2.98 failsbanding high

Get started

hover

active

label ink below AA — large text only

css

linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #5e6e9e 0%, #485785 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-b/oklch from-[#5e6e9e] to-[#485785]

Variants

Tonal ramp

Open in maker →

white 1.97 failsblack 2.51 failsbanding high

css

linear-gradient(135deg in oklch shorter hue, #a5b8ec 0%, #6f80b1 50%, #3d4c79 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-br/oklch from-[#a5b8ec] via-[#6f80b1] to-[#3d4c79]

Analogous

Open in maker →

Partner hue from the analogous rule at the source colour's lightness.

white 3.79 AA largeblack 5.38 AAbanding high

css

linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #6f80b1 0%, #67879d 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-br/oklab from-[#6f80b1] to-[#67879d]

Complementary

Open in maker →

Partner hue from the complementary rule at the source colour's lightness. ΔH 179° > 140° — interpolating in oklch (shorter hue) keeps the midpoint saturated.

white 3.84 AA largeblack 5.25 AAbanding high

css

linear-gradient(135deg in oklch shorter hue, #6f80b1 0%, #8d8163 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-br/oklch from-[#6f80b1] to-[#8d8163]

Triadic

Open in maker →

Partner hue from the triadic rule at the source colour's lightness.

white 3.87 AA largeblack 5.21 AAbanding high

css

linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #6f80b1 0%, #b16d62 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-br/oklab from-[#6f80b1] to-[#b16d62]

Report — brand gradient

white ink: worst 3.89:1 at 0% (AA-large only); black ink: worst 1.42:1 at 100% (fails AA) → use white text.
Body text fails AA everywhere on this gradient; large text (≥24px / 19px bold) is fine. Add a scrim or lower the chroma for body copy.
Banding medium: ~13px bands at 1440px — add grain 28 (≈2% soft-light noise) or shorten the ramp.

Export

The custom properties below are byte-identical to the gradient block in brand.css; the DTCG token is what tokens.json carries.

css custom properties · brand.css

:root {
  /* Brand gradient (derived) */
  /* worst-case contrast: white 3.89:1 AA-large, black 1.42:1 */
  --brand-gradient: linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #6f80b1 0%, #02294b 100%);
  /* hero — worst-case contrast: white 4.55:1 AA, black 1.28:1; ink passes AA at the worst point */
  --brand-gradient-hero: linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #6f7687 0%, #16212a 100%);
  --brand-gradient-hero-ink: #ffffff;
  /* button — worst-case contrast: white 5.00:1 AA, black 2.98:1 */
  --brand-gradient-button: linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #5e6e9e 0%, #485785 100%);
  --brand-gradient-button-hover: linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #6677a7 0%, #50608f 100%);
  --brand-gradient-button-active: linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #566695 0%, #404f7c 100%);
  --brand-gradient-button-ink: #ffffff;
  /* button ink: 4.4:1 — below AA */
}

svg · brand gradient

<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="1440" height="600" viewBox="0 0 1440 600"><defs><linearGradient id="bs-gradient" gradientUnits="userSpaceOnUse" x1="210" y1="-210" x2="1230" y2="810"><stop offset="0%" stop-color="#6f80b1"/><stop offset="7.14%" stop-color="#6779a9"/><stop offset="14.29%" stop-color="#5f73a2"/><stop offset="21.43%" stop-color="#586c9a"/><stop offset="28.57%" stop-color="#506693"/><stop offset="35.71%" stop-color="#49608b"/><stop offset="42.86%" stop-color="#415984"/><stop offset="50%" stop-color="#39537c"/><stop offset="57.14%" stop-color="#324d75"/><stop offset="64.29%" stop-color="#2b476e"/><stop offset="71.43%" stop-color="#234167"/><stop offset="78.57%" stop-color="#1b3b60"/><stop offset="85.71%" stop-color="#133559"/><stop offset="92.86%" stop-color="#0b2f52"/><stop offset="100%" stop-color="#02294b"/></linearGradient></defs><rect width="1440" height="600" fill="url(#bs-gradient)"/></svg>

dtcg · tokens.json

{
  "gradient": {
    "brand": {
      "$type": "gradient",
      "$value": [
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.435,
              0.502,
              0.694
            ],
            "hex": "#6f80b1"
          },
          "position": 0
        },
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.008,
              0.161,
              0.294
            ],
            "hex": "#02294b"
          },
          "position": 1
        }
      ],
      "$extensions": {
        "com.brandsweets": {
          "kind": "linear",
          "css": "linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #6f80b1 0%, #02294b 100%)",
          "interpolation": "oklab",
          "angle": 135,
          "name": "brand",
          "contrast": {
            "white": {
              "ratio": 3.89,
              "at": 0,
              "passesAA": false,
              "passesAALarge": true
            },
            "black": {
              "ratio": 1.421,
              "at": 1,
              "passesAA": false,
              "passesAALarge": false
            },
            "suggestedInk": "#ffffff"
          }
        }
      },
      "$description": "The canonical brand gradient (--brand-gradient)."
    },
    "hero": {
      "$type": "gradient",
      "$value": [
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.435,
              0.463,
              0.529
            ],
            "hex": "#6f7687"
          },
          "position": 0
        },
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.086,
              0.129,
              0.165
            ],
            "hex": "#16212a"
          },
          "position": 1
        }
      ],
      "$extensions": {
        "com.brandsweets": {
          "kind": "linear",
          "css": "linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #6f7687 0%, #16212a 100%)",
          "interpolation": "oklab",
          "angle": 135,
          "name": "hero",
          "ink": "#ffffff",
          "contrast": {
            "white": {
              "ratio": 4.548,
              "at": 0,
              "passesAA": true,
              "passesAALarge": true
            },
            "black": {
              "ratio": 1.285,
              "at": 1,
              "passesAA": false,
              "passesAALarge": false
            },
            "suggestedInk": "#ffffff"
          }
        }
      },
      "$description": "Low-chroma hero background with a text-safe ink (--brand-gradient-hero)."
    },
    "button": {
      "$type": "gradient",
      "$value": [
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.369,
              0.431,
              0.62
            ],
            "hex": "#5e6e9e"
          },
          "position": 0
        },
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.282,
              0.341,
              0.522
            ],
            "hex": "#485785"
          },
          "position": 1
        }
      ],
      "$extensions": {
        "com.brandsweets": {
          "kind": "linear",
          "css": "linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #5e6e9e 0%, #485785 100%)",
          "interpolation": "oklch",
          "hue": "shorter",
          "angle": 180,
          "name": "button",
          "ink": "#ffffff",
          "states": {
            "hover": "linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #6677a7 0%, #50608f 100%)",
            "active": "linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #566695 0%, #404f7c 100%)"
          },
          "contrast": {
            "white": {
              "ratio": 5,
              "at": 0,
              "passesAA": true,
              "passesAALarge": true
            },
            "black": {
              "ratio": 2.978,
              "at": 0.9841,
              "passesAA": false,
              "passesAALarge": false
            },
            "suggestedInk": "#ffffff"
          }
        }
      },
      "$description": "Button / CTA surface with hover and active states (--brand-gradient-button)."
    }
  }
}

Colours

#6f80b1 #02294b #043c67

mcpConnect your agent — Plaid's gradients on demand

live endpoint

Point any MCP client at the shared gradients endpoint and your agent gets the same engine as this page — make_gradient returns CSS with the interpolation space, Tailwind v4, SVG, a PNG URL, a DTCG token and the contrast report in one call; brand_gradients derives the whole contact sheet from a brand or a palette. Read-only, no key. Every gradient is a /gradients/new/… link: open it, refine, paste it back.

endpointhttps://mcp.brandsweets.com/gradients/mcp

claude mcp add --transport http brandsweets-gradients https://mcp.brandsweets.com/gradients/mcp

try this prompt

›brand_gradients for plaid-com — give me the hero CSS and the ink that passes AA, then a version in oklch

Want the agent to remember your picks and write them into a living brand? Create a free BrandSweets workspace.

Plaid and its marks belong to their owner. This page uses the name nominatively to describe gradients derived from the brand's published colour values; it does not reproduce logos or other brand assets, and it is not affiliated with or endorsed by Plaid. Owner of this brand? Request a correction or removal → Machine-readable: gradients.md