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Imperial Altair violet

#b01872
Notes

Imperial Altair violet (#B01872) 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 (324°, 76%, 39%) 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
#b01872
RGB
rgb(176, 24, 114)
HSL
hsl(324, 76%, 39%)
HWB
hwb(324 9% 31%)
OKLCH
oklch(50.7% 0.197 351.3)
HSV
hsv(324, 86%, 69%)
LAB
lab(39.75% 63.26 -11.44)
LCH
lch(39.75% 64.29 349.75)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 86%, 35%, 31%)

Etymology

Imperial
adjective

From the Latin imperialis, of the empire — applied to color since the medieval period for the hues reserved for sovereigns and empires: imperial purple of Tyrian dye, imperial yellow of Ming-dynasty porcelain. As a modifier, imperial implies saturation combined with the institutional weight of a color owned by a court. Sits in the bold-and-deep corner, alongside royal.

Altair
modifier

Arabic al-nasr-al-tā'ir, the-flying-eagle. As a color modifier, altair implies a fast-spinning-and-summer-triangle quality, the visual register of Aquila-Eagle-and-Summer-Triangle-Altair hand-fast-spinning-and-summer-triangle Aquila-Eagle-and-Summer-Triangle-and-Bortle-1-sky altair-and-fast-spinning-and-summer-triangle surfaces under Aquila-Eagle-and-Summer-Triangle-and-Bortle-1-sky July-and-August-summer-vista white-stellar-light. Sits at the modifier-and-cosmic end of the grid, parallel to vega and deneb 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

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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.

#b01872
Original
#394d74
Protanopia
#65676f
Deuteranopia
#be0045
Tritanopia
#3f3f3f
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
6.52:1
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
3.22:1

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