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Devout Cardenal

#8a2daa
Notes

Devout Cardenal (#8A2DAA) 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 (285°, 58%, 42%) 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
#8a2daa
RGB
rgb(138, 45, 170)
HSL
hsl(285, 58%, 42%)
HWB
hwb(285 18% 33%)
OKLCH
oklch(49.2% 0.197 315.8)
HSV
hsv(285, 74%, 67%)
LAB
lab(38.17% 57.19 -48.65)
LCH
lch(38.17% 75.08 319.61)
CMYK
cmyk(19%, 74%, 0%, 33%)

Etymology

Devout
adjective

From the Latin devotus, consecrated — used principally in religious contexts for the dignified deep colors of sacred art and ecclesiastical dress. As a color modifier, devout implies saturation combined with restraint: the deep blues of Marian mantles, the deep reds of cardinals' robes. Sits in the bold-and-formal corner alongside imperial.

Cardenal
noun

Spanish for cardinal — both the ecclesiastical office and the Lobelia cardinalis (cardinal flower) of New World gardens. The Spanish cardenal hat is technically deep red, but the color name slipped into Hispanic-American color terminology for the violet-tinted purples of cassocks. Cardenal color refers to a Spanish capa magna cardinal-cassock: a saturated, slightly cool deep violet with the matte finish of multi-bath ecclesiastical wool.

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.

#8a2daa
Original
#0054ae
Protanopia
#2b5ca7
Deuteranopia
#884769
Tritanopia
#4a4a4a
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).
AAon White
6.92:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AA Largeon Black
3.04:1

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