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Saturated Smock Crimson

#970e01
Notes

Saturated Smock Crimson (#970E01) is a deep red with a jewel character. It carries the deep, saturated richness of a gemstone. Authoritative and slightly formal, it works well for type and heavy UI elements. Its HSL profile (5°, 99%, 30%) places it in the highly saturated band at a dark lightness. Best used in small doses, like logos, CTAs, focus rings, or highlight text, where its saturation becomes a feature rather than noise. 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
#970e01
RGB
rgb(151, 14, 1)
HSL
hsl(5, 99%, 30%)
HWB
hwb(5 0% 41%)
OKLCH
oklch(43.0% 0.169 30.5)
P3
color(display-p3 0.5423 0.1259 0.0691)
HSV
hsv(5, 99%, 59%)
LAB
lab(31.57% 52.07 44.72)
LCH
lch(31.57% 68.64 40.65)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 91%, 99%, 41%)

Etymology

Saturated
adjective

From the Latin saturatus, past participle of saturare, to fill. A technical color term in modern usage — saturation is one of the three axes of HSL (with hue and lightness). As a modifier, saturated implies that the hue is at or near its maximum chromatic intensity. Sits at the bold-and-bright top of the grid.

Smock
modifier

Old English smoc, loose-shift-or-shepherd's-smock. As a color modifier, smock implies a shepherd's-smock-and-artist's-smock-and-pleated quality, the visual register of English-shepherd's-smock-and-artist's-smock hand-shepherd's-smock-and-artist's-smock-and-pleated English-shepherd's-smock-and-artist's-smock-and-Sussex-Surrey-rural smock-and-shepherd's-smock surfaces under English-shepherd's-smock-and-artist's-smock-and-Sussex-Surrey-rural Sussex-Downs-and-Surrey-village shepherd-and-painter-light. Sits at the modifier-and-textile end of the grid, parallel to frock and tunic in usage.

Crimson
noun

From the Old Spanish cremesin, itself from the Arabic qirmiz — the kermes scale insect, dried and ground into a brilliant carmine dye prized in the medieval Mediterranean. For centuries the most expensive red on a draper's shelf, reserved for cardinals, kings, and the cloth that gave English the word crimson. Cooler than scarlet, deeper than rose; the color of pomegranate seeds and a serious occasion.

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.

#970e01
Original
#403800
Protanopia
#605400
Deuteranopia
#a7000f
Tritanopia
#2a2a2a
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
8.83:1
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
2.38:1

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
##970E01
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.5423 0.1259 0.0691)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.169

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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