RAL Design System plus — hue 310

Purple does not exist as a spectral colour. Every other hue in this system corresponds to a wavelength or to a mixture that lies close to one; purple only arises because the eye receives short- and long-wavelength light at the same time. A purple pigment is therefore always a construction, not a single substance, and that limits what can be made with opaque pigments.

You can see the consequence in the data. The most strongly saturated shade, RAL Design 310 30 40 Loden purple, lies at L\* 30 and not at L\* 40 as in the surrounding hues. The peak of intensity shifts to the dark part here, because purple holds its strength precisely at lower lightness and at higher lightness runs away quickly into a muted pink.

This hue has no signalling function whatsoever. Red means danger, green means free passage, yellow means warning — purple means nothing that is laid down in a standard or in custom. In public space that is an advantage: a saturated shade from 310 is not read as a sign and can therefore be used decoratively where red or green cannot.

All 38 colours in this group

RAL 310 20 20 — Obsidian lava blackView RAL 310 20 20 →RAL 310 20 25 — Operetta mauveView RAL 310 20 25 →RAL 310 20 30 — Powerful violetView RAL 310 20 30 →RAL 310 30 15 — Dark grey mauveView RAL 310 30 15 →RAL 310 30 20 — Powerful mauveView RAL 310 30 20 →RAL 310 30 25 — English violetView RAL 310 30 25 →RAL 310 30 30 — Crystal purpleView RAL 310 30 30 →RAL 310 30 35 — Succinct violetView RAL 310 30 35 →RAL 310 30 40 — Loden purpleView RAL 310 30 40 →RAL 310 40 10 — Dark pinkView RAL 310 40 10 →RAL 310 40 15 — Violet hazeView RAL 310 40 15 →RAL 310 40 20 — Indigo redView RAL 310 40 20 →RAL 310 40 25 — Charoite violetView RAL 310 40 25 →RAL 310 40 30 — Royal purpleView RAL 310 40 30 →RAL 310 40 35 — Magenta violetView RAL 310 40 35 →RAL 310 40 40 — Pure mauveView RAL 310 40 40 →RAL 310 50 10 — Dull mauveView RAL 310 50 10 →RAL 310 50 15 — Batik lilacView RAL 310 50 15 →RAL 310 50 20 — Provence violetView RAL 310 50 20 →RAL 310 50 25 — Baroness mauveView RAL 310 50 25 →RAL 310 50 30 — Bitter violetView RAL 310 50 30 →RAL 310 50 35 — Violet roseView RAL 310 50 35 →RAL 310 50 40 — Orchid mauveView RAL 310 50 40 →RAL 310 60 10 — Gentle mauveView RAL 310 60 10 →RAL 310 60 15 — Smoky mauveView RAL 310 60 15 →RAL 310 60 20 — Saffron blossom mauveView RAL 310 60 20 →RAL 310 60 25 — Flirty pinkView RAL 310 60 25 →RAL 310 60 30 — Peony mauveView RAL 310 60 30 →RAL 310 60 35 — Lilac purpleView RAL 310 60 35 →RAL 310 70 10 — Amorphous roseView RAL 310 70 10 →RAL 310 70 15 — Transparent mauveView RAL 310 70 15 →RAL 310 70 20 — Blue pinkView RAL 310 70 20 →RAL 310 70 25 — Glass violetView RAL 310 70 25 →RAL 310 80 10 — Powder violaView RAL 310 80 10 →RAL 310 80 15 — Orchid violetView RAL 310 80 15 →RAL 310 85 05 — Fairy pinkView RAL 310 85 05 →RAL 310 85 10 — Tricot lilac whiteView RAL 310 85 10 →RAL 310 90 05 — Wallflower whiteView RAL 310 90 05 →

More about hue 310

At the same time purple is read culturally. The associations with ecclesiastical vestments, mourning and dignity are old and run deep; RAL Design 310 30 25 is called English violet and 310 50 30 Bitter violet, names that carry that gravity with them. In a healthcare or funeral setting that is a deliberate choice; in a day nursery it works against you.

Of the three colour attributes, saturation determines almost entirely how lively and eye-catching a surface looks; hue hardly plays a part in that. In 310 that is easy to check. RAL Design 310 40 15 Violet haze and RAL Design 310 40 40 Pure mauve have the same lightness and the same hue, with light reflectance values of 15.0 and 14.8 — virtually identical — and yet the first behaves as a background and the second as an accent.

Within this hue you therefore regulate the effect of a surface with the last block, not with the hue. If you want a purple that does not stand out, you do not have to turn to another hue but only go down in saturation.

38 shades, from L\* 20 to L\* 90 and from C\* 05 to C\* 40. At the dark end lie RAL Design 310 20 30 Powerful violet and 310 20 20 Obsidian lava black, with light reflectance values of 6.4 and 6.8. Towards the light end the range runs out into muted tints: RAL Design 310 70 15 Transparent mauve, 310 85 05 Fairy pink and, as the lightest, 310 90 05 Wallflower white with a light reflectance value of 78.0. Assess the choice on the A4 colour samples as the colour standard; with a range as narrow as this a fan-deck sample is too small to keep two candidates apart.

Technical data

Hue: 310 · Shades: 38 · Lightness: L\* 20–90 · Saturation: C\* 05–40 · Lab values: per shade on the colour page · LRV: 6.4 to 78.0 · Included in: RAL D4 A4 colour samples (colour standard), RAL D2 fan deck, RAL D3 colour book, RAL D4 atlas, RAL D6 and D8 boxes

Neighbouring hues

RAL Design 300, RAL Design 320

Loose colour samples from this group

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