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Plum Shadow Soft
Color detail

Plum Shadow Soft

Purple · Hue 270
Hex
#472F60
RGB
rgb(71, 47, 96)
HSL
hsl(270, 34%, 28%)
CMYK
cmyk(26%, 51%, 0%, 62%)
Metrics
S 34% · L 28%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white
11.4:1AA
on black
1.8:1Fail
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Plum Shadow Soft (#472F60) belongs to the purple family — hue 270°, 34% saturation, 28% lightness. Copy the hex, RGB, or HSL value above, or paste the CSS custom property below into your stylesheet to reference this color directly.

CSS
:root {
  --colorarchive-plum-shadow-soft: #472F60;
  --colorarchive-plum-shadow-soft-hsl: hsl(270, 34%, 28%);
  --colorarchive-plum-shadow-soft-rgb: rgb(71, 47, 96);
}

AI Color Names

Let AI suggest alternative poetic names for this color in English and Chinese.

Design Context

MysteriousOpulentDeep
Common in

Luxury Cosmetics · Night Entertainment · Premium Gaming

Pairs well with

Gold, bright cyan, or warm amber for striking contrast

Design tip

Excellent for dark themes in entertainment and luxury. Deep purple as a background creates an immersive, premium feel.

Cultural context ▶

Deep purple evokes mystery, power, and the cosmos. Associated with wisdom, the occult, and premium experiences.

Color Origins

Purple family

The color of empire, twilight, and tech-luxury.

Heritage

Tyrian purple, extracted from the murex snail in Phoenicia, took 12,000 snails to dye one toga and was the literal definition of expense — Roman law restricted who could wear it. Mauve, the world's first synthetic dye, was discovered by accident in 1856 by an 18-year-old chemistry student trying to make quinine — the discovery launched the chemical-dye industry that funded the modern pharmaceutical industry. Quinacridone violet is the modern fade-resistant standard.

Across cultures

In Catholic liturgy purple marks Lent and Advent — penance and preparation. In Japan murasaki (a deep violet) was the highest court color in the Heian period; The Tale of Genji's Lady Murasaki takes her name from it. In Thailand purple is the mourning color for widows. Across Western culture purple is associated with royalty (because of Tyrian's cost), creativity (because of its rarity), and from the 1960s onward with rock and psychedelia.

In the wild

Cadbury's purple has been trademarked since 2008 (and hard-fought in court). Yahoo, Twitch, Discord, and Linear all use saturated purples as primary brand colors — the choice signals creative-tech where blue would signal corporate-tech. Prince's purple was so associated with him that his estate has trademark issues with the broader color. Stripe's signature indigo (#635BFF) helped redefine fintech away from trust-blue. The Lakers, the Vikings, and most NBA teams' second jerseys use purple to claim a color lane that no other major team owns.

How it reads

Purple sits at the boundary of warm and cool — biologically, our eyes process it as a blend rather than a single hue, which is why it can feel slightly unstable or magical. It reads as premium, creative, slightly counterculture. Light purples (lavender, lilac) read as gentle and feminine in Western convention. Saturated purples read as luxurious, electronic, or theatrical. Deep purples read as nocturnal, regal, or somber. It is one of the colors most commonly avoided by traditional finance and most embraced by creative tools.

This particular tone

A deep, weighted version of the hue — formal, considered, and pairs especially well with off-white and warm metallic accents.

Lightness band: At this depth the hue starts behaving like a neutral — it can substitute for black in many contexts while still carrying a faint chromatic temperature. It pairs especially well with off-whites and warm metallics.

Saturation band: The clear, mid-saturation register is the most common identity sweet spot — saturated enough to register as a 'real' color, restrained enough not to fight typography or photography placed over it.

Brands using a similar color

Within the public brand-guidelines reference catalog, these are the closest matches to #472F60.

  • Xiaohongshu 小红书neutral
    Slate Text · #333333
    →
  • JD.com 京东neutral
    Slate · #333333
    →
  • Taobao 淘宝neutral
    Slate · #333333
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #472F60.

  • BrazilAçaí Purple
    #3D1F4D · Euterpe oleracea berry
    →
  • JapanIndigo (ai-iro 藍色)
    #22366E · Persicaria tinctoria fermentation dye
    →
  • France (Paris)Bordeaux Wine
    #5C2E2A · Bordeaux region red wine
    →

Tonal strip

All lightness levels at this hue and saturation. Click any to navigate.

Palette moves

Instead of stopping at one swatch, use nearby, opposite, and tonal neighbors to branch into a broader palette.

Lighter companion
Plum Dusk Soft
#573974 · hsl(270, 34%, 34%)
Darker companion
Plum Nocturne Soft
#332244 · hsl(270, 34%, 20%)
Complementary counterpoint
Lime Shadow Soft
#47602F · hsl(90, 34%, 28%)
Analogous lead
Magenta Shadow Soft
#582F60 · hsl(290, 34%, 28%)
Analogous echo
Amethyst Shadow Soft
#332F60 · hsl(245, 34%, 28%)
Triadic +120°
Coral Shadow Soft
#60472F · hsl(30, 34%, 28%)
Triadic +240°
Jade Shadow Soft
#2F6047 · hsl(150, 34%, 28%)
Split-comp +150°
Citrine Shadow Soft
#60602F · hsl(60, 34%, 28%)
Split-comp +210°
Emerald Shadow Soft
#2F602F · hsl(120, 34%, 28%)
Export preview
Base: Plum Shadow Soft #472F60
Lighter companion: Plum Dusk Soft #573974
Darker companion: Plum Nocturne Soft #332244
Complementary counterpoint: Lime Shadow Soft #47602F
Analogous lead: Magenta Shadow Soft #582F60
Analogous echo: Amethyst Shadow Soft #332F60
Triadic +120°: Coral Shadow Soft #60472F
Triadic +240°: Jade Shadow Soft #2F6047
Split-comp +150°: Citrine Shadow Soft #60602F
Split-comp +210°: Emerald Shadow Soft #2F602F

Compare

See how Plum Shadow Soft compares side by side with related colors.

vsPlum Dusk SoftvsPlum Nocturne SoftvsLime Shadow SoftvsMagenta Shadow SoftvsAmethyst Shadow SoftvsCoral Shadow Soft

Nearest neighbors

The closest archive matches by hue, saturation, and lightness.

Search by hex
Nearby match
Plum Shadow Dust
#47355A · hsl(270, 26%, 28%)
Nearby match
Plum Dusk Soft
#573974 · hsl(270, 34%, 34%)
Nearby match
Plum Nocturne Soft
#332244 · hsl(270, 34%, 20%)
Nearby match
Plum Shadow Muted
#473B54 · hsl(270, 18%, 28%)
Nearby match
Plum Dusk Dust
#57406D · hsl(270, 26%, 34%)
Nearby match
Plum Shadow Clear
#47216E · hsl(270, 54%, 28%)

Accessible pairings

Archive colors that meet WCAG contrast standards when paired with this color. Use as text-on-background or background-on-text.

Contrast checker
AAA10.9:1
Lime Veil Faint
#FAFAF9
AAA11:1
Lime Veil Muted
#FAFBF9
AAA11:1
Lime Veil Dust
#FAFBF9
AAA11:1
Lime Veil Soft
#FAFCF8
AAA11.1:1
Lime Veil Clear
#FAFDF7
AAA11.2:1
Lime Veil Vivid
#FAFEF6

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#3F4155
Protanopia
#3E3E57
Tritanopia
#464F4D
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