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Patrician Knot violet

#ae1272
Notes

Patrician Knot violet (#AE1272) is a true magenta with a jewel character. It carries the deep, saturated richness of a gemstone. Authoritative and slightly formal, it works well for type and heavy UI elements. Its HSL profile (323°, 81%, 38%) 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 green. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#ae1272
RGB
rgb(174, 18, 114)
HSL
hsl(323, 81%, 38%)
HWB
hwb(323 7% 32%)
OKLCH
oklch(50.0% 0.199 350.5)
P3
color(display-p3 0.6256 0.1513 0.4378)
HSV
hsv(323, 90%, 68%)
LAB
lab(38.98% 63.88 -12.65)
LCH
lch(38.98% 65.12 348.80)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 90%, 34%, 32%)

Etymology

Patrician
adjective

Latin patrīcius, of the noble class — derived from pater (father). As a color modifier, patrician implies a saturated-and-aristocratic-and-Roman-Republic quality, the deep-rich color of Roman-Patrician-class toga and senatorial-livery hereditary-aristocratic dress. Sits at the bold-and-aristocratic end of the grid, parallel to senatorial and imperial.

Knot
modifier

Old English cnotta, knot. As a color modifier, knot implies a sailor's-rope-knot quality, the visual register of Royal-Navy-and-merchant-marine-knot hand-tied sailor's-rope-and-line bowline-and-figure-eight-and-clove-hitch maritime-rigging surfaces under tall-ship-and-frigate sailor's-knot-and-line working light. Sits at the modifier-and-nautical end of the grid, parallel to sheet and spar 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.

#ae1272
Original
#364b74
Protanopia
#62656f
Deuteranopia
#bc0044
Tritanopia
#3a3a3a
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
6.71:1
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
3.13:1

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
##AE1272
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.6256 0.1513 0.4378)
P3 has visible headroomOKLCH chroma 0.199

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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