Home·Colour name reference

Purple

#800080

HEX#800080
RGB128, 0, 128
HSL300°, 100%, 25%
CMYK0%, 100%, 0%, 50%
Relative luminance0.06

Text contrast

Aa

On white

9.42:1 Passes AA

Aa

On black

2.23:1 Below AA

Colours that work with it

Complement

#008000

Analogous

#400080#800040

Triadic

#7F8000#007F80

Shade scale

50100200300400500600700800

Seen with colour blindness

ProtanopiaDeuteranopiaTritanopia

How to read this

  • A hex code writes red, green and blue as two hexadecimal digits each. #ff0000 is red at full strength and the others at zero.
  • HSL states hue (0–360°), saturation and lightness. Nudging a colour brighter means changing one number, which is why it is easier to work with by hand.
  • Text contrast follows WCAG. Body-size text needs 4.5:1 or better, and 21:1 between white and black is the maximum possible.
  • The colour-blindness row computes how this colour appears under three types of colour vision deficiency — the reason never to encode information in colour alone.

Frequently asked questions

Q. What is the hex code for Purple?

#800080. That is 128, 0, 128 in RGB, and hue 300°, saturation 100%, lightness 25% in HSL.

Q. Should text on Purple be white or black?

White. Contrast against white is 9.42:1 and against black 2.23:1, so take the higher one if body-size text has to be readable.

Q. What is the complement of Purple?

#008000, sitting 180° across the colour wheel. Side by side the two push against each other hardest, which makes it a good accent but tiring over large areas.

Q. Can I send these CMYK values straight to print?

The computed values are C 0% · M 100% · Y 0% · K 50%. Real printing depends on paper and ink, so check against the printer's swatch book when the colour matters.

Q. Is this colour distinguishable with colour blindness?

It appears as #494761 with protanopia, #505A5A with deuteranopia and #7A4943 with tritanopia. Where those values converge with another colour, add a shape or a label instead of relying on hue.

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