Beaming Cardenal
Beaming Cardenal (#C993FF) is a soft indigo with a pastel character. It reads calm and airy, with enough chroma to feel intentional rather than washed out. Its HSL profile (270°, 100%, 79%) places it in the highly saturated band at a light 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.
Etymology
The progressive participle of beam, to emit a directional light — used as a color word since the nineteenth century for hues that read as if focused and projecting. Beaming yellow, beaming pink: the implication is luminance combined with directionality. Sits at the bright-bucket center alongside radiant and glowing.
Spanish for cardinal — both the ecclesiastical office and the Lobelia cardinalis (cardinal flower) of New World gardens. The Spanish cardenal hat is technically deep red, but the color name slipped into Hispanic-American color terminology for the violet-tinted purples of cassocks. Cardenal color refers to a Spanish capa magna cardinal-cassock: a saturated, slightly cool deep violet with the matte finish of multi-bath ecclesiastical wool.
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 exploreHarmonies
Accessibility
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.
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.