- Magenta
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For other uses, see Magenta (disambiguation).
Magenta (Fuchsia) 
— Color coordinates —
Hex triplet #FF00FF RGBB (r, g, b) (255, 0, 255) HSV (h, s, v) (300°, 100%, 100[1]%) Source X11 B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) Magenta is a color evoked by light stronger in blue and red wavelengths than in yellowish-green wavelengths (complements of magenta have wavelength 500–530 nm, i.e. green).[2] In light experiments, magenta can be produced by removing the lime-green wavelengths from white light. It is an extra-spectral color, meaning it cannot be generated by a single wavelength of light, being a mixture of red and blue wavelengths.[3] The name magenta comes from the dye magenta, commonly called fuchsine, discovered shortly after the 1859 Battle of Magenta (from the color of the land all covered by the blood) at Magenta, Lombardy (Italy) near Milan.[4]
In the Munsell color system, magenta is called red-purple. In the CMYK color model used in printing, it is one of the primary colors of ink. In the RGB color model, the secondary color created by mixing the red and blue primaries is called magenta or fuchsia, though this color differs in hue from printer’s magenta.
Contents
Historical development of magenta
Magenta dye (1860)
Before printer's magenta was invented in the 1890s for CMYK printing, this artificially engineered color was preceded by the color originally called fuchsine made from coal tar dyes in the year 1859. The name of the color was soon changed to magenta, being named after the Battle of Magenta fought at Magenta (due to the color of the land covered by the blood of the casualties of the battle), Lombardy-Italy.[5]
Process magenta (subtractive primary, sRGB approximation)
— Color coordinates —
Hex triplet #FF0090 RGBB (r, g, b) (255, 0, 144) HSV (h, s, v) (326°, 100%, 100[6]%) Source [1] CMYK B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) Process magenta (pigment magenta; printer's magenta) (1890s)
In color printing, the color called process magenta, or pigment magenta, or printer's 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]. A printer’s magenta is usually out of gamut on a computer display, so the color at right is only an approximation.
Magenta (additive secondary)
— Color coordinates —
Hex triplet #FF00FF RGBB (r, g, b) (255, 0, 255) HSV (h, s, v) (300°, 100%, 100[7]%) Source X11 B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) Electric magenta (additive secondary magenta) (web color fuchsia) (1990s)
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.
Electric magenta vs. process magenta
While both of these colors are called magenta they are actually substantially different from one another. Process magenta (the color used for magenta printing ink is also called printer's or pigment magenta) is much less vivid than the color electric magenta achievable on a computer screen — indeed, CMYK printing technology cannot accurately reproduce pure magenta as described above as electric magenta (1/2 100% blue light + 1/2 100% red light=magenta) on paper.
When electric 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 electric 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.
Additional variations
Main article: Variations of magentaOn the color wheel
If the visible spectrum is wrapped to form a color wheel, magenta (additive secondary) appears midway between red and blue:
Visible spectrum wrapped to join blue and red in an additive mixture of magenta
In popular culture
Astronomy
Artist's vision of a spectral class T brown dwarf- 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.[8][9][10]
Business
- Magenta is a color trademark of Deutsche Telekom AG, parent company of T-Mobile.[11]
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 and creative. It is reported that typical occupations for someone with a magenta aura would be such professions as artist, art dealer, actor, author, costume designer, or set designer.[12]
Politics
- The color magenta is used to symbolize anti-racism by the Amsterdam-based anti-racism Magenta Foundation.[13][14]
- In Spain, magenta is used as the official color of the Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD) political party.
- In the UK, magenta is the official color of Salford City Council in Greater Manchester.[15]
Social protest
- The freemagenta.nl website is a protest against T-mobile’s assertion of intellectual property rights over the color.[16]
See also
References
- ^ web.forrett.com Color Conversion Tool set to hex code #FF00FF (Electric Magenta) :
- ^ Bruce MacEvoy. “Light and the Eye”, Handprint. A chart citing R.W.G. Hunt 2004. The Reproduction of Color.
- ^ Louis Bevier Spinney (1911). A text-book of physics. The Macmillan company. p. 573. http://books.google.com/books?id=5zgFAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA573.
- ^ Cunnington, C. Willett, English Women's Clothing in the Nineteenth Century, Dover Publications, Inc. New York 1990, page 208
- ^ Maerz and Paul. A Dictionary of Color, New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 126 Plate 52 Color Sample K12--Magenta
- ^ web.forrett.com Color Conversion Tool set to hex code #FF0090 (Process Magenta) :
- ^ web.forrett.com Color Conversion Tool set to hex code #FF00FF (Electric Magenta) :
- ^ Brown Dwarves
- ^ Burrows et al. The theory of brown dwarfs and extrasolar giant planets. Reviews of Modern Physics 2001; 73: 719-65
- ^ http://spider.ipac.caltech.edu/staff/davy/2mass/science/comparison.html>"An Artist's View of Brown Dwarf Types" Dr. Robert Hurt of the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center
- ^ http://www.t-mobile.com/Templates/Popup.aspx?PAsset=Ftr_Ftr_Copyright
- ^ Oslie, Pamalie (2000). Life Colors: What the Colors in Your Aura Reveal New World Library, Novato, California. See magenta auras: pages 44-51.
- ^ Magenta Foundation. Organization website.
- ^ Coilhouse alternative culture blog interview with Suzette Brunkhorst and Ronald Eissens, directors of the Magenta Foundation:
- ^ Salford City Council. Council Website.
- ^ Free magenta web site:
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.
- Color Tribe List of colors
- Magenta is a product of the brain rather than a spectral frequency
- Magenta Ain't A Colour
Shades of pinkAmaranth Amaranth pink Apricot Brink pink Carmine Carnation pink Cerise Coral pink Deep carmine Deep pink Fandango French rose Fuchsia Hollywood cerise Hot magenta Hot pink Lavender pink Magenta Peach Persian Rose Pink Puce Rose Rose pink Salmon Shocking pink Thulian pink Ultra pink The samples shown above are only indicative. Shades of redAmaranth Auburn Burgundy Cardinal Carmine Cerise Chestnut Crimson Dark red Electric crimson Fire brick Flame Folly Fuchsia Lust Magenta Raspberry Red Red-violet Redwood Rose Rosewood Rust Scarlet Terra cotta Tuscan red Vermilion Wine The samples shown above are only indicative. Shades of violetAmethyst Byzantium Cerise Eggplant Fandango Fuchsia Heliotrope Indigo Lavender blush Lavender (floral) Lavender (web) Magenta Orchid Plum Purple Red-violet Rose Thistle Violet Wisteria The samples shown above are only indicative. Categories:- Shades of pink
- Shades of red
- Shades of violet
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