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Commanding Meteor violet

#9f17d2
Notes

Commanding Meteor violet (#9F17D2) is a true violet with a vibrant character. It holds its own as a focal accent, carrying visual weight without tipping into neon territory. Its HSL profile (284°, 80%, 46%) places it in the highly saturated band at a mid lightness. Best used in small doses, like logos, CTAs, focus rings, or highlight text, where its saturation becomes a feature rather than noise. 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
#9f17d2
RGB
rgb(159, 23, 210)
HSL
hsl(284, 80%, 46%)
HWB
hwb(284 9% 18%)
OKLCH
oklch(53.6% 0.255 313.3)
P3
color(display-p3 0.5718 0.1508 0.7938)
HSV
hsv(284, 89%, 82%)
LAB
lab(42.21% 74.64 -65.42)
LCH
lch(42.21% 99.25 318.76)
CMYK
cmyk(24%, 89%, 0%, 18%)

Etymology

Commanding
adjective

Latin commendāre, to entrust / order — present-participle of command. As a color modifier, commanding implies a saturated-and-authoritative quality where the hue claims visual leadership of its surrounding palette. Sits at the bold-and-authoritative end of the grid, parallel to authoritative and imperial in usage.

Meteor
modifier

Greek μετέωρος, suspended-in-air. As a color modifier, meteor implies a streaking-and-burning-and-shooting-star quality, the visual register of Perseids-and-Leonids-meteor hand-streaking-and-burning-and-shooting-star Perseids-and-Leonids-and-Geminids-meteor meteor-and-streaking-and-burning-and-shooting-star surfaces under Perseids-and-Leonids-and-Geminids-meteor August-and-November-and-December-night-sky shooting-star-light. Sits at the modifier-and-cosmic end of the grid, parallel to comet and nova 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.

#9f17d2
Original
#005dd7
Protanopia
#0066cf
Deuteranopia
#994e7d
Tritanopia
#414141
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
5.95:1
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
3.53:1

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
##9F17D2
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.5718 0.1508 0.7938)
P3 has visible headroomOKLCH chroma 0.255

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.

Related Colors

Canvas