Color Details and Palettes for #550242

Details about the color Eggplant

Closest web-safe match: #660033

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 #550242
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About Color Hex #550242

The color Eggplant, with hexadecimal code #550242, lands in the purple family, historically reserved for royalty due to the extreme cost of Tyrian dye. Purple activates imagination and spiritual contemplation, blending red's passion with blue's serenity. Additionally, it evokes emotions such as Compassion, Sincerity, Sophistication, Sweetness and Romance. Purple is often linked to creativity, luxury, and spirituality. In Western cultures, it is also associated with ambition and wealth. Indigo and violet have long signified royalty and nobility. With a high saturation of 95%, this color is intensely vivid—demanding attention and ideal for focal elements like buttons, banners, and brand marks. At only 17% lightness, this extremely dark shade approaches black, delivering maximum drama and contrast when paired with lighter elements. This color is ideal for designs that aim to express Compassion, Sincerity, Sophistication, Sweetness, or Romance. It can be effectively used in web design, branding, and marketing materials to attract attention and convey specific messages.

The RGB values for Eggplant are (85, 2, 66), providing a combination of red: 85, green: 2, and blue: 66. In HSL format, it has a hue of 314.00°, saturation of 95.00%, and lightness of 17.00%.

The HSV representation includes a hue of 314.00°, saturation of 98.00%, and value of 33.00%. Its CMYK composition is cyan: 0.00%, magenta: 98.00%, yellow: 22.00%, and black: 67.00%.

The calculated luminance of #550242 is 0.024, offering a brightness level suitable for various design requirements.

This color is not part of the web-safe color palette. The closest web-safe color to this is the color HEX #660033. Its contrast ratio is 1.47:1 against black and 14.25:1 against white. It works well on light backgrounds but may be challenging on darker ones.

In terms of color temperature, #550242 reads as cool. When it comes to accessibility, testing against standard guidelines suggests that using white text meets typical WCAG contrast standards. Additionally, the ideal foreground color for improved legibility on #550242 is white.

Considering its saturation and lightness, #550242 appears more vivid and energetic, making it stand out in designs that aim to capture attention.

History, Usage, Psychology & Design Ideas for #550242

Eggplant (#550242) belongs to the Magenta color family.

This deep, saturated shade conveys authority and richness. Deep tones are favored in luxury packaging, evening-event branding, and dark-mode interfaces where they provide dramatic contrast against lighter elements.

Historical Background

Magenta was named after the Battle of Magenta (1859) in Italy, coinciding with the discovery of the first aniline dye of that hue. This synthetic breakthrough launched the modern chemical-dye industry, making vibrant colors accessible to the masses. In the CMYK model, magenta is a primary ink—without it, printers cannot reproduce the warm half of the color spectrum.

Design & Usage Tips

Magenta commands attention and conveys boldness, making it ideal for fashion, entertainment, and disruptive tech brands (T-Mobile's signature magenta is a prime example). Pair it with charcoal or dark teal for grounding, or with lime for an electric, festival-style palette. Magenta headlines on white backgrounds create instant visual impact.

Sitting on the cool side of the spectrum (hue 314°), it promotes a feeling of calm distance and intellectual clarity, which is why cool hues dominate corporate identities, healthcare design, and productivity tools. At 95% saturation, this is a highly vivid color that demands attention. Use it where maximum visual impact is needed—feature banners, accent buttons, and data-visualization highlights.

Psychological Impact

Magenta blends red's energy with purple's creativity, producing a color that feels both passionate and unconventional. It signals confidence, non-conformity, and emotional expressiveness. In UX, magenta accent colors can highlight premium features or creative tools.

Its low lightness of 17% gives it a deep, intense presence. Deep tones like this excel as dark-mode backgrounds, header bars, and anywhere a sense of gravity or luxury is desired.

Creative Design Ideas

Use magenta as a gradient endpoint (blue-to-magenta) for modern SaaS branding. Create neon-magenta-on-black compositions for nightlife and music event promotion. In e-commerce, magenta 'New' or 'Hot' badges draw the eye to featured products.

#550242 Color Conversions

Every way to write Eggplant — copy Eggplant as RGB, HSL, HSV, HWB, CMYK, OKLCH, OKLab, CIELAB, LCH, XYZ or a decimal integer. One-tap copy on every format; tap on any card to learn what it is and when to use it.

12 formats
HEX Web
#550242

Hexadecimal is the web’s universal color notation — two digits each for red, green and blue. Drop it straight into HTML, CSS or any design tool.

RGB Screen
rgb(85, 2, 66)

RGB is the additive Red-Green-Blue model every screen uses to emit light. The default choice for websites, apps and on-screen UI.

HSL Web
hsl(314, 95%, 17%)

HSL breaks a color into Hue, Saturation and Lightness — the most intuitive way to lighten, darken or mute a color in CSS.

HSV HSB Design
hsv(314, 98%, 33%)

HSV (also called HSB) maps Hue, Saturation and Value/Brightness. It is the model behind the color pickers in Photoshop, Figma and most design apps.

HWB CSS 4
hwb(314 1% 67%)

HWB blends a pure hue with Whiteness and Blackness — a painter-friendly model added in CSS Color 4 for quick tints and shades.

CMYK Print
cmyk(0%, 98%, 22%, 67%)

CMYK is the subtractive Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Black ink model. Use these values when preparing artwork for a printer or commercial press.

OKLCH Modern
oklch(30.45% 0.129 340.63)

OKLCH is a modern, perceptually-uniform space (Lightness, Chroma, Hue). It powers smooth gradients and accessible palettes in today’s CSS.

OKLab Modern
oklab(30.45% 0.122 -0.043)

OKLab is the Cartesian form of OKLCH — ideal for blending and interpolating colors without the muddy midpoints older spaces produce.

CIELAB L*a*b* Perceptual
L: 17.31, a: 40.61, b: -15.87

CIELAB is a device-independent, perceptually-uniform space. It is the standard for measuring color difference (ΔE) and matching across devices.

LCH Perceptual
L: 17.31, C: 43.60, H: 338.65

LCH is CIELAB in cylindrical form — Lightness, Chroma and Hue — letting you adjust vividness and hue while staying perceptually even.

XYZ CIE Science
X: 4.75, Y: 2.37, Z: 5.36

CIE XYZ is the 1931 master space that underpins every other model here — the scientific bridge used to convert between color systems.

Decimal int Code
5571138

The 24-bit integer value of the color — handy for databases, APIs, game engines and low-level graphics code.

RGB Color Percentages for #550242

RGB Color Percentages for Eggplant (HEX Code: #550242) display the relative contribution of Red, Green, and Blue in forming the color. Understanding these percentages provides insight into the color's visual balance and primary components.

This color is primarily dominated by Red, making up 55.56% of the total composition. The complete breakdown of RGB contributions is:

Red:
55.56%
Green:
1.31%
Blue:
43.14%

This analysis highlights the influence of each primary color, offering a deeper understanding of the visual characteristics of Eggplant.

CMYK Ink Levels & Print Guide for #550242

CMYK Ink Levels for Eggplant (HEX Code: #550242) provide a breakdown of the percentages of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black inks needed for accurate print reproduction. The composition of Eggplant prominently features Magenta, reflecting its dominant color characteristic. This information is invaluable for optimizing ink usage and achieving precise color results in printed materials.

The exact CMYK values are: Cyan: 0%, Magenta: 97.65%, Yellow: 22.35%, and Black: 66.67%.

Luminance & Contrast for #550242

Relative luminance gauges how bright Eggplant is, while the WCAG contrast ratios show how legible black or white text is on it — and which accessibility levels (AA / AAA) it passes.

Relative luminance 0.024
0 · dark1 · light
Aa
Black text 1.47:1
AA AAA Large
Aa
White text 14.25:1
AA AAA Large

Quick CSS Snippets for #550242

Copy-and-paste CSS for Eggplant — backgrounds, text, borders and a custom property. Each line is ready to drop into your stylesheet.

Background background-color: #550242;
Text color: #550242;
Border border: 2px solid #550242;
RGB background-color: rgb(85, 2, 66);
HSL background-color: hsl(314, 95%, 17%);
Variable --color: #550242;

#550242 Monochrome Palette

The Monochrome Palette consists of shades created by adjusting the brightness. These include lighter, original, and darker shades of the color. This layout helps to visualize the color's range and its potential use in design.

#eee6ec
#d5c0d0
#bb9ab3
#a27497
#884e7b
#6f285e
#550242 Original
#480238
#3b012e
#2f0124
#22011a
#150111
#090007

#550242 Complementary Palette

The Complementary Palette is made up of two colors that sit opposite each other on the color wheel. These colors create high contrast and vibrant designs, making them perfect for attention-grabbing elements and dynamic visuals.

#550242 Original
#025515

#550242 Analogic Palette

The Analogic Palette consists of colors that are next to each other on the color wheel. These colors typically create harmonious and subtle designs, often used to evoke calmness and unity in your visual projects.

#550242 Original
#550218
#3f0255
#551502
#150255
#553f02
#021855

#550242 Triadic Palette

The Triadic Palette is made up of three colors evenly spaced on the color wheel. This combination provides a vibrant and balanced color scheme, often used for dynamic and energetic designs while maintaining harmony.

#550242 Original
#415502
#024155

#550242 Quad Palette

The Quad Palette, also known as tetradic, consists of four colors evenly spaced on the color wheel. This combination offers a diverse and bold color scheme, ideal for creating rich, complex designs with multiple accents while still maintaining balance.

#550242 Original
#553f02
#025515
#021855

Color Blindness Simulation for #550242

Colors are perceived differently by individuals with various forms of color blindness. Use the dropdown below to see how this color may look through the eyes of someone with color vision deficiency. Explore how Eggplant (#550242) might appear to people with different visual experiences, and gain deeper insights into color accessibility for your designs!

Each color box displays a "Friendly" or "Not Friendly" tag in the bottom-right corner. A "Friendly" tag indicates that the color difference is distinguishable to individuals with the specific type of color blindness. Conversely, a "Not Friendly" tag means that the color difference might not be distinguishable, potentially causing accessibility issues in your design.

Normal Vision

Deuteranopia (Green Weakness)

Not Friendly

Protanopia (Red Weakness)

Not Friendly

Tritanopia (Blue-Yellow Weakness)

Friendly

Achromatopsia (Total Color Blindness)

Not Friendly

Color Harmonies for #550242

Color harmonies refer to the visually pleasing combinations of colors that are derived from specific relationships on the color wheel. These harmonious schemes, such as complementary, triadic, and analogous colors, create a balanced and engaging visual experience in design.

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Tetradic (Quad)

#550242 Nearby Colors

A handful of colors just a step away from #550242 — each one nudges the brightness, richness, or shade a little while still feeling like the same color. Use the buttons on any swatch to copy its hex or open its full color page.

#661155 Purple Velour
#440033 Dark Sanctuary
#772266 Bane of Royalty
#330022 Vienna Roast
#550044 Eggplant
#551144 Velvet Cosmos
#550033 Soul Anchor
#660033 Merlot

Colors Similar to #550242

These colors are close neighbours of #550242 in the RGB color space. Each subtle variation can produce a noticeably different mood in your design while remaining harmonious with the original Purple tone.

#560242 Eggplant
#550342 Eggplant
#550243 Eggplant
#540242 Eggplant
#550142 Eggplant
#550241 Eggplant
#660242 Velvet
#551342 Velvet Cosmos
#550253 Cloak and Dagger
#440242 Eggplant
#550042 Eggplant
#550231 Soul Anchor

Looking for more Purple shades? Browse Purple colors →

Explore Vibrant Images Featuring Eggplant (#550242)

Discover a vibrant gallery of images that not only showcase the captivating hue of Eggplant, but also embody its unique mood and personality. Each carefully curated photo is selected to highlight the richness and diversity of this color, offering inspiration for design, art, and creative projects.