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Tough Zenith Violet

#a0014c
Notes

Tough Zenith Violet (#A0014C) is a deep 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 (332°, 99%, 32%) places it in the highly saturated band at a dark 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 teal. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#a0014c
RGB
rgb(160, 1, 76)
HSL
hsl(332, 99%, 32%)
HWB
hwb(332 0% 37%)
OKLCH
oklch(45.5% 0.183 3.4)
P3
color(display-p3 0.5741 0.1119 0.2971)
HSV
hsv(332, 99%, 63%)
LAB
lab(34.02% 59.39 4.08)
LCH
lch(34.02% 59.53 3.93)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 99%, 52%, 37%)

Etymology

Tough
adjective

Old English tōh, firm / tenacious — sharing root with German zäh. As a color modifier, tough implies a saturated-and-resilient quality where the hue resists fading-and-modulation through its strong pigmentation. Sits at the bold-and-resilient end of the grid, parallel to rugged and hardy in usage.

Zenith
modifier

Arabic samt-al-ra's, path-overhead. As a color modifier, zenith implies an overhead-pointing-and-high-point quality, the visual register of celestial-sphere-and-overhead-Zenith hand-overhead-pointing-and-high-point celestial-sphere-and-overhead-and-Zenith-pole zenith-and-overhead-pointing-and-high-point surfaces under celestial-sphere-and-overhead-and-Zenith-pole astronomical-and-celestial-mechanics overhead-axis-light. Sits at the modifier-and-cosmic end of the grid, parallel to nadir and axis 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.

#a0014c
Original
#383e4d
Protanopia
#5e5a49
Deuteranopia
#af002b
Tritanopia
#282828
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
8.07:1
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
2.60:1

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
##A0014C
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.5741 0.1119 0.2971)
P3 has visible headroomOKLCH chroma 0.183

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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