colors
Back to gallery

Magisterial Procyon Crimson

#a8121a
Notes

Magisterial Procyon Crimson (#A8121A) is a true 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 (357°, 81%, 36%) places it in the highly saturated band at a mid 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
#a8121a
RGB
rgb(168, 18, 26)
HSL
hsl(357, 81%, 36%)
HWB
hwb(357 7% 34%)
OKLCH
oklch(46.7% 0.180 26.2)
P3
color(display-p3 0.6039 0.1466 0.1359)
HSV
hsv(357, 89%, 66%)
LAB
lab(35.66% 56.53 38.03)
LCH
lch(35.66% 68.13 33.93)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 89%, 85%, 34%)

Etymology

Magisterial
adjective

Latin magisterium, teacher's office — adjectival suffix -al. As a color modifier, magisterial implies a saturated-and-authoritative-and-formal quality, the deep-rich color of Qing-dynasty civil-magistrate court-and-ritual textiles and Imperial-Examination scholar-class livery. Sits at the bold-and-authoritative end of the grid, parallel to authoritative and commanding.

Procyon
modifier

Greek προκύων, before-the-dog. As a color modifier, procyon implies a Canis-Minor-and-bright-foretaste-of-Sirius quality, the visual register of Canis-Minor-Procyon-and-Winter-Triangle hand-Canis-Minor-and-bright-foretaste-of-Sirius Canis-Minor-Procyon-and-Winter-Triangle-and-Bortle-1-sky procyon-and-Canis-Minor-and-bright-foretaste surfaces under Canis-Minor-Procyon-and-Winter-Triangle-and-Bortle-1-sky January-and-February-winter-zenith winter-stellar-light. Sits at the modifier-and-cosmic end of the grid, parallel to rigel and altair 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.

#a8121a
Original
#474018
Protanopia
#6b5f11
Deuteranopia
#ba0018
Tritanopia
#323232
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
7.59:1
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
2.77:1

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
##A8121A
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.6039 0.1466 0.1359)
P3 has visible headroomOKLCH chroma 0.180

This color is chromatic enough that authoring it as P3 native (instead of clamping to sRGB) gives a perceptibly more saturated render on wide-gamut displays — modern Macs, iPhones, iPads, and most recent OLED laptops.

Related Colors

Canvas