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Forthright Periwinkle

#5739aa
Notes

Forthright Periwinkle (#5739AA) 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 (256°, 50%, 45%) 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 lime. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#5739aa
RGB
rgb(87, 57, 170)
HSL
hsl(256, 50%, 45%)
HWB
hwb(256 22% 33%)
OKLCH
oklch(44.6% 0.171 289.9)
HSV
hsv(256, 66%, 67%)
LAB
lab(33.68% 41.14 -56.23)
LCH
lch(33.68% 69.67 306.19)
CMYK
cmyk(49%, 66%, 0%, 33%)

Etymology

Forthright
adjective

Old English forð-riht, straight ahead, direct. Used as a color modifier in Anglo-Saxon-revival contexts for hues that read as honest and unguarded. Forthright red, forthright blue: the saturation is full, the hue is presented without ornamentation or qualification. Sits in the bold-bucket center alongside frank and direct.

Periwinkle
noun

Vinca minor, the trailing groundcover of European woodland whose pale blue-violet flowers gave English the color name in the eighteenth century. Distinct from Catharanthus roseus (Madagascar periwinkle, the source of vincristine for chemotherapy). The color refers to the corolla of a fresh Vinca flower: a soft, slightly violet-shifted pale blue with the matte finish of five-petaled bloom. Lighter than bluebell, cooler than lavender.

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.

#5739aa
Original
#0051ad
Protanopia
#004da8
Deuteranopia
#3c556c
Tritanopia
#484848
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
8.17:1
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
2.57:1

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