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Forceful Vespers

#8a2c9d
Notes

Forceful Vespers (#8A2C9D) is a true violet with a cool character. It leans cool, sitting on the blue, green, and violet side of the wheel. Quiet and dependable, a fit for product UI and data visualization. Its HSL profile (290°, 56%, 39%) 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 green. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#8a2c9d
RGB
rgb(138, 44, 157)
HSL
hsl(290, 56%, 39%)
HWB
hwb(290 17% 38%)
OKLCH
oklch(48.3% 0.186 320.4)
HSV
hsv(290, 72%, 62%)
LAB
lab(37.19% 55.01 -42.41)
LCH
lch(37.19% 69.46 322.37)
CMYK
cmyk(12%, 72%, 0%, 38%)

Etymology

Forceful
adjective

Old French force, strength — adjectival suffix -ful. As a color modifier, forceful implies a saturated-and-vigorous quality where the hue exerts visual force on its substrate. Sits at the bold-and-saturated end of the grid, parallel to mighty and commanding in tone.

Vespers
noun

Latin vesperae, evening prayers — the Catholic and Orthodox liturgical office sung at sunset, traditionally in the deep-violet-and-gold Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts during Lent. Vespers color refers to a Vespers-period priest's Lenten purple chasuble: a saturated, slightly cool deep violet with the matte finish of vat-dyed liturgical wool-and-silk damask. The hour is sung between None and Compline.

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.

#8a2c9d
Original
#0051a0
Protanopia
#375b9a
Deuteranopia
#8b4162
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
7.17:1
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
2.93:1

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