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Forceful Zǐsè

#9e42bf
Notes

Forceful Zǐsè (#9E42BF) is a true violet 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 (284°, 49%, 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 green. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#9e42bf
RGB
rgb(158, 66, 191)
HSL
hsl(284, 49%, 50%)
HWB
hwb(284 26% 25%)
OKLCH
oklch(55.5% 0.198 315.9)
HSV
hsv(284, 65%, 75%)
LAB
lab(45.54% 57.04 -49.04)
LCH
lch(45.54% 75.22 319.31)
CMYK
cmyk(17%, 65%, 0%, 25%)

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.

Zǐsè
noun

Chinese 紫色, deep purple color — the formal color name for imperial purple in Chinese color terminology, distinguished from the broader (purple). Zǐsè color refers to a Qing-dynasty qipao dress in formal court-purple silk: a saturated, slightly cool deep violet with the silk luster of multi-bath fermentation-and-mineral dye on tussah silk. Slightly warmer than Japanese murasaki.

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.

#9e42bf
Original
#0966c3
Protanopia
#426ebc
Deuteranopia
#9c597b
Tritanopia
#5f5f5f
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
5.27:1
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
3.99:1

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