Purple colours

The purple family in numbers

• 16 catalogue colours, from CIELAB lightness 21 to 92 (median 63).
• Most saturated: Blue Violet; least: Lavender. Median chroma 45.
• 0 lean warm, 6 lean cool, 10 sit neutral.
• 6 of 16 are dark enough to use as body text on white (4.5:1).
• 4 of 16 fall within, or at the edge of, what premium coated offset print can reach.

The history of purple: names, pigments and meanings

What is documented about purple

True of the family in the stated context, not of every shade in it and not everywhere. See methodology.

• Historical use · Mediterranean

  Purple dye — notably Tyrian purple, extracted from sea snails — was historically extremely costly to produce, which associated the colour with royalty, wealth and status across several ancient and medieval cultures.