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Blazing Nightfall

#a178ee
Notes

Blazing Nightfall (#A178EE) is a true indigo 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 (261°, 78%, 70%) 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 lime. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#a178ee
RGB
rgb(161, 120, 238)
HSL
hsl(261, 78%, 70%)
HWB
hwb(261 47% 7%)
OKLCH
oklch(66.5% 0.172 297.6)
HSV
hsv(261, 50%, 93%)
LAB
lab(59.14% 40.67 -54.00)
LCH
lch(59.14% 67.61 306.99)
CMYK
cmyk(32%, 50%, 0%, 7%)

Etymology

Blazing
adjective

Old English blǣse, flame — present-participle of blaze. As a color modifier, blazing implies a saturated-and-bright-flaming quality, the bright color of Yule-log and Bonfire-Night large-flame fire-emission. Sits at the bright-and-warm end of the grid, parallel to flaming and scorching in usage.

Nightfall
noun

English compound from Old English niht-feall, fall of night — the brief window between crepuscule (dusk) and full night when the western sky retains a deep blue-violet Belt of Venus glow above the horizon shadow. Nightfall color refers to a clear-sky western horizon at nightfall: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue-violet with the optical complexity of Rayleigh-scattered atmospheric Belt of Venus light.

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.

#a178ee
Original
#4e8ff2
Protanopia
#588deb
Deuteranopia
#908fa8
Tritanopia
#898989
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).
AA Largeon White
3.26:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAon Black
6.44:1

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