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Charred Bellflower

#4d1e8c
Notes

Charred Bellflower (#4D1E8C) is a deep indigo with a jewel character. It carries the deep, saturated richness of a gemstone. Authoritative and slightly formal, it works well for type and heavy UI elements. Its HSL profile (266°, 65%, 33%) places it in the balanced band at a dark lightness. It works well as a headline, icon, or deep background in an otherwise light layout, pairing cleanly with cream, bone, and warm neutrals. For a confident two-color system, pair it with its complementary lime. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#4d1e8c
RGB
rgb(77, 30, 140)
HSL
hsl(266, 65%, 33%)
HWB
hwb(266 12% 45%)
OKLCH
oklch(37.3% 0.167 296.7)
P3
color(display-p3 0.2792 0.1284 0.5281)
HSV
hsv(266, 79%, 55%)
LAB
lab(24.95% 44.93 -52.22)
LCH
lch(24.95% 68.89 310.71)
CMYK
cmyk(45%, 79%, 0%, 45%)

Etymology

Charred
adjective

The past participle of char, to burn slightly — and a color word for surfaces that have been heat-blackened without fully consuming. Charred implies the carbon-blackened skin of grilled meat, fired wood, or smoke-darkened cathedral stone. Sits in the deep-and-near-black end of the engine's grid, slightly drier than inky and warmer than somber.

Bellflower
noun

The genus Campanula — Latin for little bell — small to mid-sized perennials whose bell-shaped blue or violet flowers fill rock gardens and herbaceous borders across temperate climates. The color refers to a fresh Campanula medium canterbury bell: a saturated, slightly violet-shifted blue with the matte finish of a single bell-form flower. Cooler than periwinkle, warmer than larkspur, with the cottage-garden weight of a plant that names an entire genus and color.

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 explore

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.

#4d1e8c
Original
#003c8f
Protanopia
#003a8a
Deuteranopia
#3c3c54
Tritanopia
#303030
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
11.17:1
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
1.88:1

Wide gamut

Display P3 representation

The CSS Color 4 wide-gamut form of this color. Both swatches render the same color on every display — the P3 form only diverges from sRGB when a designer pushes channels outside sRGB's reach.

sRGB hex
sRGB hex
##4D1E8C
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.2792 0.1284 0.5281)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.167

Moderately saturated colors gain a small bump in P3 — the difference is usually visible side-by-side on wide-gamut hardware but won't change the character of the color.

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