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Shadowy Jiang

#5b1b1e
Notes

Shadowy Jiang (#5B1B1E) is a deep red with an earthy character. It leans grounded and natural, the kind of color that plays well with wood, clay, linen, and warm neutrals. Its HSL profile (357°, 54%, 23%) places it in the balanced band at a dark lightness. It works well as a headline, icon, or deep background in an otherwise light layout, pairing cleanly with cream, bone, and warm neutrals. For a confident two-color system, pair it with its complementary cyan. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#5b1b1e
RGB
rgb(91, 27, 30)
HSL
hsl(357, 54%, 23%)
HWB
hwb(357 11% 64%)
OKLCH
oklch(32.6% 0.094 21.4)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3282 0.1235 0.1253)
HSV
hsv(357, 70%, 36%)
LAB
lab(20.45% 29.50 14.20)
LCH
lch(20.45% 32.74 25.70)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 70%, 67%, 64%)

Etymology

Shadowy
adjective

Old English sceaduwig, full of shadow — adjectival form of shadow. As a color modifier, shadowy implies a deep-and-obscured quality where the hue is partially-occluded by intervening shade. Sits at the deep-and-veiled end of the grid, parallel to shaded and cloaked in usage.

Jiang
noun

A deep crimson historical Chinese color — used in the jiangcao (deep-crimson) silks of Tang-dynasty court robes and the lacquer of Han-period burial chambers. The color refers to a jiang-dyed silk in the Forbidden City collection: a deep, slightly cool dark red with the matte finish of multi-bath dyeing. Deeper than hong, cooler than karakurenai.

Closest matches

The nearest named color in three reference sources, ranked by perceptual distance (ΔE76 in CIELAB). ΔE < 1 is imperceptible to most viewers; ΔE > 10 is clearly different. When two sources point to the same hex they’re merged into one tile; click any to open that color’s page.

Variations

Click any swatch to explore

Harmonies

Accessibility

Color-vision simulation

How this color appears to viewers with the four major color-vision-deficiency types. Computed via the Machado (2009) physiologically-based model. If a tile matches the original, the color reads the same to that viewer.

#5b1b1e
Original
#2c291e
Protanopia
#3c361c
Deuteranopia
#640d1d
Tritanopia
#292929
Achromatopsia
WCAG contrast

The color used as foreground text against pure white and pure black, with the contrast ratio and WCAG 2.1 grade. Aim for AA (4.5:1) for body text and AA Large (3:1) for 18 pt+ headlines; AAA (7:1) is the gold standard for long-form reading surfaces.

The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAAon White
12.96:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
Failon Black
1.62:1

Wide gamut

Display P3 representation

The CSS Color 4 wide-gamut form of this color. Both swatches render the same color on every display — the P3 form only diverges from sRGB when a designer pushes channels outside sRGB's reach.

sRGB hex
sRGB hex
##5B1B1E
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3282 0.1235 0.1253)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.094

Moderately saturated colors gain a small bump in P3 — the difference is usually visible side-by-side on wide-gamut hardware but won't change the character of the color.

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