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Indomitable Rust

#a8401b
Notes

Indomitable Rust (#A8401B) is a true orange 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 (16°, 72%, 38%) places it in the balanced band at a mid lightness. It works across type, buttons, and borders, saturated enough to feel deliberate but balanced enough to not fight the rest of the palette. 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
#a8401b
RGB
rgb(168, 64, 27)
HSL
hsl(16, 72%, 38%)
HWB
hwb(16 11% 34%)
OKLCH
oklch(51.0% 0.145 38.6)
P3
color(display-p3 0.6107 0.2774 0.1533)
HSV
hsv(16, 84%, 66%)
LAB
lab(41.33% 40.97 42.70)
LCH
lch(41.33% 59.18 46.18)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 62%, 84%, 34%)

Etymology

Indomitable
adjective

Latin indomitābilis, unconquerable — derived from domāre (to tame). As a color modifier, indomitable implies a saturated-and-unconquerable-and-fierce quality where the hue resists any attempt to subdue or modulate its presence. Sits at the bold-and-resilient end of the grid, parallel to unyielding and adamant.

Rust
noun

Iron oxide — Fe₂O₃ — the slow union of iron with oxygen, accelerated by water and salt. The color is not the bright orange of fresh rust but the deeper, drier brown-red that forms after weeks of weather: the surface of an abandoned car, a Cor-Ten steel sculpture, the desert-varnished sandstone of the American Southwest. Earthier than copper, warmer than maroon.

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.

#a8401b
Original
#5e5315
Protanopia
#776a16
Deuteranopia
#b92539
Tritanopia
#535353
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).
AAon White
6.15:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AA Largeon Black
3.41:1

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
##A8401B
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.6107 0.2774 0.1533)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.145

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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