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Plumb Zǐsè

#ac8db6
Notes

Plumb Zǐsè (#AC8DB6) is a true violet 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 (285°, 22%, 63%) places it in the muted 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
#ac8db6
RGB
rgb(172, 141, 182)
HSL
hsl(285, 22%, 63%)
HWB
hwb(285 55% 29%)
OKLCH
oklch(68.6% 0.069 317.8)
HSV
hsv(285, 23%, 71%)
LAB
lab(62.67% 19.20 -17.02)
LCH
lch(62.67% 25.66 318.45)
CMYK
cmyk(5%, 23%, 0%, 29%)

Etymology

Plumb
adjective

Latin plumbum, lead — referring to the lead-weighted plumb-line of pre-modern carpentry. As a color modifier, plumb implies a clear-and-vertical-true quality where the hue carries the visual register of gravity-aligned-and-perfectly-vertical surface. Sits at the crisp-and-balanced end of the grid, parallel to level and squared in usage.

Zǐsè
noun

Chinese 紫色, deep purple color — the formal color name for imperial purple in Chinese color terminology, distinguished from the broader (purple). Zǐsè color refers to a Qing-dynasty qipao dress in formal court-purple silk: a saturated, slightly cool deep violet with the silk luster of multi-bath fermentation-and-mineral dye on tussah silk. Slightly warmer than Japanese murasaki.

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.

#ac8db6
Original
#8896b8
Protanopia
#8f99b5
Deuteranopia
#ac919b
Tritanopia
#979797
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).
Failon White
2.90:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAAon Black
7.24:1

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