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Shielded Sparta violet

#a81d76
Notes

Shielded Sparta violet (#A81D76) 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 (322°, 71%, 39%) 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
#a81d76
RGB
rgb(168, 29, 118)
HSL
hsl(322, 71%, 39%)
HWB
hwb(322 11% 34%)
OKLCH
oklch(49.7% 0.190 347.5)
P3
color(display-p3 0.6048 0.1714 0.4523)
HSV
hsv(322, 83%, 66%)
LAB
lab(38.75% 60.71 -15.61)
LCH
lch(38.75% 62.68 345.58)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 83%, 30%, 34%)

Etymology

Shielded
adjective

Old English scild, shield — past-participle of shield, sharing root with German Schild. As a color modifier, shielded implies a saturated-and-protected-and-defensive quality, the deep-rich color of medieval-knight armorial-shield-and-coat-of-arms heraldic display. Sits at the bold-and-fortified end of the grid, parallel to armored and bastioned.

Sparta
modifier

Greek Σπάρτη, Sparta. As a color modifier, sparta implies a Lacedaemonian-and-warrior-city-state quality, the visual register of Spartan-Lacedaemonian-City-State hand-built bronze-armor-and-crimson-tunic-and-stone-temple Doric-warrior-state surfaces under Lacedaemonian-Sparta-and-Eurotas-Valley Doric-warrior-state Greek-Peloponnese light. Sits at the modifier-and-cultural end of the grid, parallel to athens and roman 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.

#a81d76
Original
#354c78
Protanopia
#5e6473
Deuteranopia
#b41548
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
6.77:1
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
3.10:1

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
##A81D76
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.6048 0.1714 0.4523)
P3 has visible headroomOKLCH chroma 0.190

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

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