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Submersed Cordierite

#3f2d91
Notes

Submersed Cordierite (#3F2D91) is a true indigo with an earthy character. It leans grounded and natural, the kind of color that plays well with wood, clay, linen, and warm neutrals. Its HSL profile (251°, 53%, 37%) places it in the balanced band at a mid lightness. It works across type, buttons, and borders, saturated enough to feel deliberate but balanced enough to not fight the rest of the palette. For a confident two-color system, pair it with its complementary yellow. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#3f2d91
RGB
rgb(63, 45, 145)
HSL
hsl(251, 53%, 37%)
HWB
hwb(251 18% 43%)
OKLCH
oklch(38.3% 0.156 284.5)
HSV
hsv(251, 69%, 57%)
LAB
lab(26.67% 36.09 -52.57)
LCH
lch(26.67% 63.76 304.47)
CMYK
cmyk(57%, 69%, 0%, 43%)

Etymology

Submersed
adjective

Latin sub-mersus, plunged-under — past-participle of submerse. As a color modifier, submersed implies the deep-saturated-and-cool-shifted quality of a hue viewed through a layer of water, like an underwater coral-reef object seen from a glass-bottomed boat. Sits at the deep-and-cool end of the grid, parallel to submerged with slightly-archaic register.

Cordierite
noun

Silicate mineral marketed as the gemstone iolite — pleochroic deep-blue-violet from one viewing angle and pale-yellow from another. The Vikings reportedly used thin slices as polarizing filters to locate the sun through cloud (sólarsteinn). Cordierite color refers to a cleaved Norwegian cordierite cabochon viewed along the deep-blue axis: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue-violet with the glassy finish of pleochroic gem silicate.

Closest matches

The nearest named color in three reference sources, ranked by perceptual distance (ΔE76 in CIELAB). ΔE < 1 is imperceptible to most viewers; ΔE > 10 is clearly different. When two sources point to the same hex they’re merged into one tile; click any to open that color’s page.

Variations

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Harmonies

Accessibility

Color-vision simulation

How this color appears to viewers with the four major color-vision-deficiency types. Computed via the Machado (2009) physiologically-based model. If a tile matches the original, the color reads the same to that viewer.

#3f2d91
Original
#004294
Protanopia
#003c8f
Deuteranopia
#19475b
Tritanopia
#383838
Achromatopsia
WCAG contrast

The color used as foreground text against pure white and pure black, with the contrast ratio and WCAG 2.1 grade. Aim for AA (4.5:1) for body text and AA Large (3:1) for 18 pt+ headlines; AAA (7:1) is the gold standard for long-form reading surfaces.

The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAAon White
10.52:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
Failon Black
2.00:1

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