Electric Mauveine
Electric Mauveine (#D881E8) is a soft 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 (291°, 69%, 71%) places it in the balanced band at a light lightness. It works as a background wash, large-area fill, or soft illustration tone. Add a darker ink of the same hue when you need type over it. 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.
Etymology
From the Greek elektron, amber — the substance whose static-electric properties were observed by Thales of Miletus. Used as a color modifier since the late nineteenth century after electric light made certain saturated colors feel attention-demanding. Electric blue, electric pink: the implication is hot luminance combined with optical impact. Sits at the bright-bucket extreme.
Synthetic-organic dye first synthesized in 1856 by William Henry Perkin (eighteen years old, a chemistry student at the Royal College of Chemistry) from coal-tar derivatives — the first-ever industrial synthetic dye. Mauveine color refers to a freshly mauveine-dyed Victorian silk: a saturated, slightly cool deep violet with the silky luster of synthetic aniline dye on Lyon silk. Named after the French mauve (mallow flower).
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.