Stern Atitlán
Stern Atitlán (#422C8E) 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 (253°, 53%, 36%) 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.
Etymology
Old English styrne, strict / firm — sharing root with stark. As a color modifier, stern implies a deep-and-uncompromising quality, the dark formal-Calvinist plain-textile color of stripped-down Protestant-and-Quaker tradition. Sits at the deep-and-formal end of the grid, parallel to austere and severe in tone.
Mayan-named volcanic crater lake in Guatemala's western highlands, surrounded by Tolimán, San Pedro, and Atitlán volcanoes. The lake's depth and volcanic basement give it an unusual deep blue-violet at certain light angles. Atitlán color refers to Lake Atitlán surface at crepuscule in clear weather: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue-violet with the optical complexity of deep-water Rayleigh-scattered indigo light.
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
Click any swatch to exploreHarmonies
Accessibility
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.
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.