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Certain Umber violet

#971969
Notes

Certain Umber violet (#971969) is a true magenta 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 (322°, 72%, 35%) 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
#971969
RGB
rgb(151, 25, 105)
HSL
hsl(322, 72%, 35%)
HWB
hwb(322 10% 41%)
OKLCH
oklch(45.9% 0.175 347.8)
P3
color(display-p3 0.5432 0.1503 0.4025)
HSV
hsv(322, 83%, 59%)
LAB
lab(34.59% 56.04 -14.05)
LCH
lch(34.59% 57.77 345.93)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 83%, 30%, 41%)

Etymology

Certain
adjective

Latin certus, fixed / sure — sharing root with English concern and certify. As a color modifier, certain implies a saturated-and-unambiguous quality where the hue declares its character without hesitation. Sits at the bold-and-confident end of the grid, parallel to assured and decisive in usage.

Umber
modifier

Latin umbra, shadow. As a color modifier, umber implies a shadowed-and-Umbrian-earth-pigment quality, the visual register of Caravaggio-and-Rembrandt-umber hand-shadowed-and-Umbrian-earth-pigment Caravaggio-and-Rembrandt-and-Vermeer-Dutch-Golden-Age umbered-and-shadowed-and-deep-glazed surfaces under Caravaggio-and-Rembrandt-and-Vermeer chiaroscuro-and-tenebrist-and-glazed studio-window-light. Sits at the modifier-and-mood end of the grid, parallel to shade and gloom 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.

#971969
Original
#2f446b
Protanopia
#555966
Deuteranopia
#a21140
Tritanopia
#3a3a3a
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
7.90:1
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
2.66:1

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
##971969
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.5432 0.1503 0.4025)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.175

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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