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Praetorian Taurus violet

#9623da
Notes

Praetorian Taurus violet (#9623DA) is a true indigo with a vibrant character. It holds its own as a focal accent, carrying visual weight without tipping into neon territory. Its HSL profile (278°, 72%, 50%) 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
#9623da
RGB
rgb(150, 35, 218)
HSL
hsl(278, 72%, 50%)
HWB
hwb(278 14% 15%)
OKLCH
oklch(53.7% 0.252 307.8)
P3
color(display-p3 0.5409 0.1770 0.8237)
HSV
hsv(278, 84%, 85%)
LAB
lab(42.38% 72.22 -69.81)
LCH
lch(42.38% 100.44 315.98)
CMYK
cmyk(31%, 84%, 0%, 15%)

Etymology

Praetorian
adjective

Latin praetōriānus, of the praetor — adjectival suffix, referring to the Roman-Imperial elite guard-cohorts. As a color modifier, praetorian implies a saturated-and-elite-and-imperial-guard quality, the deep-rich color of Roman-Praetorian-Guard elite-imperial-bodyguard scarlet-tunic-and-bronze-armor military-formation. Sits at the bold-and-formal end of the grid, parallel to spartan and imperial.

Taurus
modifier

Latin taurus, bull-of-the-zodiac. As a color modifier, taurus implies a bull-and-earth-sign-and-Venus-ruled-fixed-earth quality, the visual register of Mesopotamian-bull-and-Greek-Taurus hand-bull-and-earth-sign-and-Venus-ruled-fixed-earth Mesopotamian-bull-and-Greek-Taurus-and-Pleiades-cluster taurus-and-bull-and-earth-sign surfaces under Mesopotamian-bull-and-Greek-Taurus-and-Pleiades-cluster spring-and-April-and-May fixed-earth-sign-light. Sits at the modifier-and-zodiac end of the grid, parallel to aries and gemini in usage.

violet
noun

Viola odorata, the European sweet violet — small, fragrant, and the original meaning of the color name in English (the Violet of the rainbow). The color refers to a fresh sweet violet blossom in late winter: a saturated, slightly red-shifted deep blue-purple with the matte finish of small five-petaled flower. Cooler than amethyst, warmer than indigo, with the perfumed weight of a flower used in Roman garlands and Victorian eau de toilette.

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.

#9623da
Original
#0060df
Protanopia
#0065d7
Deuteranopia
#8b5783
Tritanopia
#494949
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
5.92:1
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
3.55:1

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
##9623DA
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.5409 0.1770 0.8237)
P3 has visible headroomOKLCH chroma 0.252

This color is chromatic enough that authoring it as P3 native (instead of clamping to sRGB) gives a perceptibly more saturated render on wide-gamut displays — modern Macs, iPhones, iPads, and most recent OLED laptops.

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