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Pulsating Purpurnyy

#a96cee
Notes

Pulsating Purpurnyy (#A96CEE) 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 (268°, 79%, 68%) 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
#a96cee
RGB
rgb(169, 108, 238)
HSL
hsl(268, 79%, 68%)
HWB
hwb(268 42% 7%)
OKLCH
oklch(65.3% 0.191 303.2)
HSV
hsv(268, 55%, 93%)
LAB
lab(57.40% 49.21 -56.74)
LCH
lch(57.40% 75.11 310.94)
CMYK
cmyk(29%, 55%, 0%, 7%)

Etymology

Pulsating
adjective

Latin pulsātio, beating — present-participle of pulsate, sharing root with pellere (to drive). As a color modifier, pulsating implies a saturated-and-beating-and-rhythmic quality, the bright color of rave-and-festival light-show synchronized-pulse rhythmic-emission. Sits at the bright-and-active end of the grid, parallel to throbbing and strobing in usage.

Purpurnyy
noun

Russian пурпурный, purple — derived from Latin purpura via Greek porphyra. The Russian Orthodox liturgical color for Pentecost and the deep-purple-and-gold iconostasis tradition. Purpurnyy color refers to a Russian Orthodox cathedral iconostasis royal-doors panel: a saturated, slightly cool deep violet with the matte finish of egg-tempera ultramarine-and-cinnabar on gilt gesso. Slightly cooler than Spanish púrpura.

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.

#a96cee
Original
#3b88f2
Protanopia
#508aeb
Deuteranopia
#9c85a3
Tritanopia
#828282
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
3.46:1
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
6.07:1

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