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Praetorian Malina

#a12a77
Notes

Praetorian Malina (#A12A77) is a true magenta with a cool character. It leans cool, sitting on the blue, green, and violet side of the wheel. Quiet and dependable, a fit for product UI and data visualization. Its HSL profile (321°, 59%, 40%) 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
#a12a77
RGB
rgb(161, 42, 119)
HSL
hsl(321, 59%, 40%)
HWB
hwb(321 16% 37%)
OKLCH
oklch(49.6% 0.173 345.6)
HSV
hsv(321, 74%, 63%)
LAB
lab(38.84% 55.23 -16.21)
LCH
lch(38.84% 57.56 343.64)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 74%, 26%, 37%)

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.

Malina
noun

Polish and Russian for raspberry (Rubus idaeus) — the deep-magenta aggregate-drupe of European raspberry, the iconic summer-fruit of Polish Wileńskie-region forests. Malina color refers to a freshly picked Rubus idaeus aggregate-drupe-cluster: a saturated, slightly cool deep magenta with the matte finish of anthocyanin-rich raspberry-flesh on aggregate drupelets. The Slavic root mal- refers to the small individual drupelet structure.

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.

#a12a77
Original
#394f79
Protanopia
#5d6374
Deuteranopia
#ac284d
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
6.75:1
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
3.11:1

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