Indigo Color Codes
Indigo is a very dark, vivid violet with the hex code #4B0082, RGB values of 75, 0, 130 and an HSL value of hsl(275, 100%, 25%).
| HEX | #4B0082 |
|---|---|
| RGB | 75, 0, 130 |
| HSL | hsl(275, 100%, 25%) |
| HSV | 275°, 100%, 51% |
| CMYK | 42%, 100%, 0%, 49% |
| LAB | 20.47, 51.69, -53.31 |
| CIELCHuv | 20.47, 62.16, 279.33° |
- Nearest Pantone
- PMS 2685 C ΔE 4.7 · approximate
- Nearest CSS name
-
indigoΔE 0.0
Source CSS Color Module Level 4 keyword 'Indigo'
Indigo Color Hex Code
The Indigo color hex code is #4B0082. Those six digits are three pairs, 4B for red, 00 for green and 82 for blue, which is the same triplet a browser reads from the CSS value below.
#4B0082
Indigo Color RGB Code
The Indigo RGB code is rgb(75, 0, 130). Blue carries the most light at 130 of 255, which is what puts this color where it sits on the wheel.
rgb(75, 0, 130)
Indigo Color HSV Code
The Indigo HSV code is 275°, 100%, 51%. Read it as a hue of 275 degrees, 100% saturation and 51% value, which is the form most color pickers use because moving one number changes one thing.
275°, 100%, 51%
Indigo Color CIELChuv Code
The Indigo CIELCHuv code is 20.47, 62.16, 279.33°. Unlike hex or RGB this one is perceptual: lightness 20 means dark to the eye rather than to the screen, and chroma 62 is how far it sits from grey.
20.47, 62.16, 279.33°
Tonal scale
What are Indigo Color Palettes?
A shade mixes toward black, a tint toward white, a tone toward grey. Every step keeps the hue and is copy-ready.
Shades, toward black
Tints, toward white
Tones, toward grey
Palettes
What are Indigo Color Palette Codes?
Each of these is a hue rotation from #4B0082. They are generated, not curated, so they are exact.
Complementary
Half a turn away is #378200, a mid-tone, vivid green. This is the widest separation the wheel offers, and the reason complementary pairs are the default for anything that must stand out. Both are saturated, so give the complement much less area than the base or the two will fight.
Analogous
Either side sit #0A0082 and #820078, 30 degrees out. Low tension by construction: useful when you need several related tones that still feel like one choice.
Triadic
#824B00 and #00824B complete an even 120 degree split. Three fully independent hues, so one has to lead: keep this base dominant and let the other two appear in small quantities.
Split-complementary
Instead of the direct complement, this takes the two hues either side of it: #788200 and #00820A. Almost the same contrast, without the edge shimmer a true complementary pair produces at high saturation.
Tetradic
Two complementary pairs forming a rectangle: this base with #378200, and #820A00 with #007882. The richest of the five and the hardest to balance, so treat this base as the lead and hold the other three well back.
Accessibility
Contrast checker: is Indigo accessible?
Measured against white and against black, with a separate verdict for each element type. Small text, large text and UI components have different thresholds, so one pass or fail for the whole color would be wrong roughly a third of the time.
White background
12.95:112.95
contrast ratio on white background
| Element | AA | AAA |
|---|---|---|
| Small text needs 4.5:1 / 7:1 | Passes | Passes |
| Large text needs 3:1 / 4.5:1 | Passes | Passes |
| UI component needs 3:1 | Passes | n/a |
Black background
1.62:11.62
contrast ratio on black background
| Element | AA | AAA |
|---|---|---|
| Small text needs 4.5:1 / 7:1 | Fails | Fails |
| Large text needs 3:1 / 4.5:1 | Fails | Fails |
| UI component needs 3:1 | Fails | n/a |
Indigo clears WCAG AA against white at 12.95:1, so it is safe for body copy as well as headings. Text placed on it should be white, which gives 12.95:1. It is a highly saturated color, so it will dominate anything it sits beside. Give it space rather than surrounding it with other strong colors.
Color vision
How Indigo looks with color blindness
Around 300 million people see color differently from the way it is specified. Each card shows the actual color beside how it appears, and how common that form of vision is.
Protanopia
About 1% of men#383872
Indigo changes substantially here. ΔE 40.1
No working red cones. Reds darken sharply and drift toward the same muddy olive as green.
Deuteranopia
About 1% of men#3B3F6E
Indigo changes substantially here. ΔE 47.9
No working green cones. With the milder deuteranomaly at nearer 6% of men, this is by far the most common form, and the one worth designing around.
Tritanopia
About 1 in 10,000#496460
Indigo changes substantially here. ΔE 83.9
No working blue cones. Blues shift toward green and yellows toward pink. Rare, and unlike the others it is not sex-linked, so it affects men and women equally.
Achromatopsia
About 1 in 30,000#313131
Indigo changes substantially here. ΔE 74.3
No color vision at all. Also a fair proxy for how the color survives a greyscale print or a failing screen.
To a deuteranope, the most common form, Indigo reads as #3B3F6E. That is a shift of ΔE 47.9, so it is a different color to roughly one man in sixteen. Blues survive red-green deficiency well, which is why so much interface design leans on them. The form to watch here is tritanopia, though at roughly 1 in 10,000 it affects far fewer people. The widest shift is under tritanopia, at ΔE 83.9. The rule this leads to needs no simulator: never let color be the only thing carrying a message. Add a label, an icon, or a clear difference in lightness, and the problem disappears for everyone.
Snippets
Using Indigo in code
:root {
--indigo: #4B0082;
}
.example {
color: var(--indigo);
}// tailwind.config.js
theme: {
extend: {
colors: {
'indigo': '#4B0082',
},
},
}// SwiftUI takes 0–1 components, not 0–255.
let indigo = Color(
red: 0.294,
green: 0.000,
blue: 0.510
)<!-- res/values/colors.xml -->
<color name="indigo">#4B0082</color>// Flutter wants ARGB: FF for full opacity, then the hex.
const indigo = Color(0xFF4B0082);