Magenta
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- This article is about the color magenta. For other uses of the word, see Magenta (disambiguation).
Magenta | ||
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— Color coordinates — | ||
Hex triplet | #FF00FF | |
RGBa | (r, g, b) | (255, 0, 255) |
HSV | (h, s, v) | (300°, 100%, 100%) |
a: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) |
Magenta is a color made up of equal parts of red and blue light. This would be the precise definition of the color. It is a pure chroma on the color wheel midway between violet and rose. In HSV colour space, magenta has a hue of 300°.
In popular usage, the term magenta itself can be used to indicate a variety of colors. For the names of various of the colors in the magenta range, see the section toward the bottom of this article called "Shades of Magenta".
Magenta is not a spectral but an extraspectral color: it cannot be generated by light of a single wavelength. Humans, being trichromats, can only see as far as 380 nanometers into the spectrum, i.e., as far as violet.
[edit] Could tetrachromats see magenta on the spectrum?
Some have speculated humans might be able to see red-violet (purple) and magenta on the spectrum if we could see farther into the ultraviolet like tetrachromats (such as birds) which can see into the ultraviolet as far as 300 nanometers. Ophthalmologists report that those who have had their retinal lenses removed and replaced with clear plastic can see a "lilac" (a red-violet) color on the spectrum beyond violet), and following this reasoning, magenta would be the next color over. [1]
Others regard the foregoing speculation as problematic: colors are often considered not to be external realities, but representations or constructions by the (human) psyche so that there is no necessary connection between any electro-magnetic wavelength and a subjective color perception. There would then be no reason why a creature whose eyes are stimulated by ultraviolet would not simply connect this wavelength with the experience of violet. If the creature were a true tetrachromat, connecting magenta with the fourth sensor type would necessitate the use of a new experience type for the combination of red and blue light. Lastly, exactly the same argument could be construed for infrared.
[edit] History of the discovery of magenta dye
Magenta was one of the first aniline dyes, discovered shortly after the Battle of Magenta (1859), which occurred near the town of Magenta in northern Italy. The color was originally called fuchsine or roseine, but for marketing purposes in 1860 the color name was changed to magenta after the battle. Hence, the color is named indirectly after the town.
[edit] Historical development of magenta
[edit] Rich magenta (original variation) (1860)
Rich magenta | ||
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— Color coordinates — | ||
Hex triplet | #CA1F7B | |
RGBa | (r, g, b) | (202, 31, 123) |
HSV | (h, s, v) | (300°, 97%, 92%) |
a: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) |
Before printer's magenta was invented in the 1890s for CMYK printing, and electric magenta was invented in the 1980s for computer displays, these two artificially engineered colors were preceded by the color displayed at right, which is the color originally called magenta made from coal tar dyes in the year 1859.[1] Besides being called original magenta, it is also called rich magenta to distinguish it from the colors electric magenta and printer's magenta shown below.
This color corresponds to the Prismacolor colored pencil magenta.
[edit] Process magenta (pigment magenta) (printer's magenta) (1890s)
Magenta (subtractive primary) | ||
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— Color coordinates — | ||
Hex triplet | #FF0090 | |
RGBa | (r, g, b) | (255, 0, 144) |
HSV | (h, s, v) | (320°, 100%, 100%) |
a: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) |
In color printing, the color called process magenta or pigment magenta is one of the three primary pigment colors which, along with yellow and cyan, constitute the three subtractive primary colors of pigment. (The secondary colors of pigment are blue, green, and red.) As such, the hue magenta, is the complement of green: magenta pigments absorb green light; thus magenta and green are opposite colors.
The CMYK printing process was invented in the 1890s, when newspapers began to publish color comic strips.
Process magenta is not an RGB color, and there is no fixed conversion from CMYK primaries to RGB. Different formulations are used for printer's ink, so there can be variations in the printed color that is pure magenta ink. A typical formulation of process magenta is shown in the color box at right. The source of the color shown at right is the color magenta that is shown in the diagram located at the bottom of the following website offering tintbooks for CMYK printing: [2].
In Prismacolor colored pencils, this color (Prismacolor PC 994) is called process red (it would have been more accurate to call it process magenta). The Prismacolor colored pencil process red color is not quite as saturated as the color process magenta shown above.
[edit] Electric magenta (additive secondary magenta) (web color fuchsia) (1990s)
Magenta (additive secondary) | ||
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— Color coordinates — | ||
Hex triplet | #FF00FF | |
RGBa | (r, g, b) | (255, 0, 255) |
HSV | (h, s, v) | (300°, 100%, 100%) |
a: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) |
Electric magenta, shown at the right, is one of the three secondary colors in the RGB color model. For computer color rendition, that specific hue of magenta composed of equal parts of red and blue light was termed the web color fuchsia and was assigned as an alias for the RGB code of magenta on a list of standardized web colors. "Electric" magenta and fuchsia are exactly the same color. Sometimes electric magenta is called electronic magenta.
The color fuchsia is named after the color of the flowers of the Fuchsia plant, named after Leonhart Fuchs, although most of the flowers of the plant are not quite so bright.
[edit] Electronic magenta vs. pigment magenta
Note that while both of these colors are called magenta they are actually substantially different from one another. Printer's (or pigment) magenta (the color used for magenta printing ink) is much less vivid than the color electronic magenta achievable on a computer screen--indeed, CMYK printing technology cannot accurately reproduce pure magenta as described above as electronic magenta (1/2 100% blue light + 1/2 100% red light=magenta) on paper. To see the difference between electronic magenta and printer's magenta, compare the two magentas (additive and subtractive) in the two charts in the Primary colors article.
When electronic magenta is reproduced on paper, it is called fuchsia and it is physically impossible for it to appear on paper as vivid as on a computer screen. In order to reproduce it, a small amount of cyan printer's ink must be added to printer's magenta to make fuchsia, and therefore fuchsia is not a primary color of pigment--it is the color of printer's magenta that is one of the primary colors of pigment (along with cyan and yellow).
The name fuchsia was chosen as the alias for electronic magenta because that is the color name for the color that in printed reproduction is its equivalent.
Since prior to the introduction of personal computers magenta was synonymous with printer's magenta, colored pencils and crayons called "magenta" are usually colored the color of process magenta (printer's magenta) shown above.
[edit] Additional variations of magenta
[edit] Pale Magenta (Light Fuchsia Pink)
Pale Magenta | ||
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— Color coordinates — | ||
Hex triplet | #F984EF | |
RGBa | (r, g, b) | (249, 132, 229) |
HSV | (h, s, v) | (300°, 27%, 94%) |
a: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) |
Displayed at right is the color pale magenta.
This color is also called light fuchsia pink.
[edit] Light Magenta (Fuchsia Pink)
Light Magenta | ||
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— Color coordinates — | ||
Hex triplet | #FF77FF | |
RGBa | (r, g, b) | (255, 119, 255) |
HSV | (h, s, v) | (300°, 47%, 84%) |
a: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) |
Displayed at right is the color light magenta.
This color is also called fuchsia pink.
[edit] Ultra Pink
Ultra Pink | ||
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— Color coordinates — | ||
Hex triplet | #FF6FFF | |
RGBa | (r, g, b) | (255, 111, 255) |
HSV | (h, s, v) | (300°, 48%, 83%) |
a: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) |
Displayed at right is the color ultra pink.
This is a Crayola crayon color invented in 1972. In 1990 the name was changed in error to shocking pink; however, properly speasking, this name should be reserved for the only the original shocking pink invented by Elsa Schiaparelli in 1936.
[edit] Sky Magenta
Sky Magenta | ||
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— Color coordinates — | ||
Hex triplet | #CF71AF | |
RGBa | (r, g, b) | (207, 113, 175) |
HSV | (h, s, v) | (304°, 87%, 54%) |
a: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) |
Displayed at right is the color sky magenta. This color was one of the colors in the set of Venus Paradise colored pencils, a popular brand of colored pencils in the 1950s. This color was sampled directly from the image of the actual colored pencil in a picture of a set of Venus colored pencils for sale on eBay.
This color is also called lavender magenta.
[edit] Hot Magenta
Hot Magenta | ||
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— Color coordinates — | ||
Hex triplet | #FF00CC | |
RGBa | (r, g, b) | (255, 0, 204) |
HSV | (h, s, v) | (310°, 57%, 74%) |
a: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) |
Displayed at right is the color hot magenta. This color was created by Crayola in 1972.
In 1990, Crayola began producing a crayon called purple pizzaz which is exactly the same color. Why Crayola wants to have two different crayons in its box that are differently named but the same color is unclear. See the List of Crayola crayon colors.
[edit] Deutsche Telekom Magenta (T-Mobile Magenta)
T-Mobile Magenta | ||
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— Color coordinates — | ||
Hex triplet | #E4238E | |
RGBa | (r, g, b) | (228, 35, 142) |
HSV | (h, s, v) | (313°, 86%, 86%) |
a: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) |
Displayed at right is the color Deutsche Telekom magenta, otherwise known as T-Magenta.
The source of this color is the following website: [3]
[edit] Deep magenta
Deep Magenta | ||
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— Color coordinates — | ||
Hex triplet | #CC00CC | |
RGBa | (r, g, b) | (204, 0, 204) |
HSV | (h, s, v) | (300°, 67%, 37%) |
a: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) |
Displayed at right is the color deep magenta.
[edit] Dark magenta (web color)
Dark Magenta | ||
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— Color coordinates — | ||
Hex triplet | #8B008B | |
RGBa | (r, g, b) | (139, 0, 139) |
HSV | (h, s, v) | (300°, 33%, 25%) |
a: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) |
Displayed at right is the web color dark magenta.
[edit] Spectral reflectance curve of magenta
[edit] Magenta on the color wheel
If the visible spectrum is wrapped to form a color wheel, magenta (additive secondary) appears midway between red and blue:
[edit] Shades of Magenta Color Comparison Chart
- Cotton Candy (Crayola) (Hex: #FFB7D5) (RGB: 255, 183, 213)
- Carnation Pink (Crayola) (Hex: #FFA6C9) (RGB: 246, 166, 201)
- Pale Magenta (Light Fuchsia Pink) (Hex: #F984EF) (RGB: 249, 132, 229)
- Persian Pink (Hex: #F77FBE) (RGB: 247, 127, 190)
- Hot Pink (web color)(Hex: #FF69B4) (RGB: 255, 105, 180)
- Brilliant Rose (Hex: #FF55A3) (RGB: 255, 85, 163)
- Deep Brilliant Rose (Crayola "Magenta"; Brilliant Rose pre-1958) (Hex: #F653A6) (RGB: 246, 83, 166)
- Process Magenta (Pigment Magenta) (Printer's Magenta) (Hex: #FF0090) (RGB: 255, 0, 144)
- Hollywood Cerise (Fashion Fuchsia) (Hex: #F400A1) (RGB: 244, 0, 161)
- Persian Rose (Hex: #FF1CB1) (RGB: 255, 28, 177)
- Shocking Pink (Hex: #FC0FC0) (RGB: 252, 15, 192)
- Razzle Dazzle Rose (Crayola) (Hex: #FF33CC) (RGB: 255, 51, 204)
- Phlox (Hex: #F254CF) (RGB: 240, 84, 209)
- Light Magenta (Fuchsia Pink) (Hex: #FF77FF) (RGB: 255, 119, 255)
- Ultra Pink (aka Crayola "Shocking Pink") (Hex: #FF6FFF) (RGB: 255, 111, 255)
- Pink Flamingo (Crayola) (Hex: #FF66FF) (RGB: 255, 102, 255)
- Brilliant Magenta (Hex: #FF55FF) (RGB: 255, 85, 255)
- Bright Magenta (Hex: #FF33FF) (RGB: 255, 51, 255)
- MAGENTA (Electric Magenta) (web color Fuchsia) (Hex: #FF00FF) (RGB: 255, 0, 255)
- Hot Magenta (aka Purple Pizzaz) (Crayola) (Hex: #FF00CC) (RGB: 255, 0, 204)
- Amaranth Magenta (Hex: #ED3CCA) (RGB: 237, 60, 202)
- T-Mobile Magenta (Deutsche Telekom Magenta) (Hex: #E4238E) (RGB: 228, 35, 142)
- Pantone Color #226--Magenta (Hex: #D70270) (RGB: 115, 79, 150)
- Rich Magenta (Original Magenta) (Hex: #CA1F7B) (RGB: 202, 31, 123)
- Royal Fuchsia (Hex: #CA2C92) (RGB: 202, 44, 146)
- Fandango (Hex: #B55489) (RGB: 181, 84, 137)
- Sky Magenta (Hex: #CF71AF) (RGB: 207, 113, 175)
- Deep Fuchsia (Crayola Fuchsia) (Hex: #C154C1) (RGB: 193, 84, 193)
- Deep Magenta (Hex: #CC00CC) (RGB: 204, 0, 204)
- Bougainvilla (Hex: #C10BC0) (RGB: 198, 12, 199)
- Violet-Eggplant (Hex: #991199) (RGB: 153, 17, 153)
- Dark Magenta (web color) (Hex: #8B008B) (RGB: 139, 0, 139)
- Purple Cabbage Purple (Hex: #870C8B) (RGB: 135, 12, 139)
- Royal Purple (web color [Royal] Purple)(HTML/CSS Purple)(Hex: #800080) (RGB: 128, 0, 128)
[edit] Magenta in human culture
[edit] Advertising
- Shades of the color magenta are often used in advertising because of their bright, eye-catching nature.
[edit] Art
- Since the mid 1960s, water based fluorescent magenta paint has been available to paint psychedelic black light paintings. (Fluorescent magenta is one of the seven main colors used, in addition to fluorescent orange, fluorescent red, fluorescent cerise, fluorescent chartreuse yellow, fluorescent blue, and fluorescent green.)
- By the early 1960s, many had become aware that magenta, yellow, and cyan and not red, blue, and yellow were the primary pigments, so vivid colors in the magenta range became available in art supply stores for the first time.
[edit] Astronomy
- Astronomers have reported that spectral class T brown dwarves (the ones with the coolest temperatures) are colored magenta because of absorption by sodium and potassium atoms of light in the green portion of the spectrum. To see an artist's impression of a magenta brown dwarf, go to (halfway down the page): [4]
[edit] Cosmetology
- About 1977 bright colored hair dyes became available for the first time to hair stylists, and some people began having their hair dyed magenta.
[edit] Fashion
[edit] Film
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show has a character called Magenta played by Patricia Quinn.
[edit] Food
- Rhubarb is magenta after sugar is added and it is boiled into rhubarbsauce or baked in pies to achieve a delicious flavor similar to sweet and sour sauce.
- The seeds of Pomegranates, a fruit known for its anti-oxidant properties, are magenta.
[edit] Music
- There is a rock group named after the color magenta. See [5]--the website of the rock band Magenta.
[edit] Parapsychology
- To psychics who claim to be able to observe the aura with their third eye, someone who has a magenta aura is usually described as being artistic.
[edit] Politics
- The color Magenta is used to symbolize anti-racism by an anti-racist group headquarted in Amsterdam, Netherlands. See [6]--the website of the anti-racist organization Magenta.
[edit] References
- ^ Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 126 Plate 52 Color Sample K12--Magenta (Color shown is color shown above as rich magenta)
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- How the color magenta was discovered in 1859 through research into coal tar (aniline) dyes.
- Pictures of actual aniline dye samples in various shades of magenta.
- Images of magenta objects or people or bands named Magenta
Shades of violet | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Amethyst | Cerise | Eggplant | Fuchsia | Heliotrope | Indigo | Lavender | Lavender blush | Lavender gray | Lavender rose | Lilac | Magenta |
Mauve | Mountbatten pink | Orchid | Palatinate Purple | Persian indigo | Purple | Red-violet | Rose | Sangria | Thistle | Violet | Violet-eggplant |
Wisteria | |||||||||||
Shades of violet without swatches | |||||||||||
Iris | Purpure |