colors
Back to gallery

Patrician Cane Crimson

#aa2119
Notes

Patrician Cane Crimson (#AA2119) 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 (3°, 74%, 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
#aa2119
RGB
rgb(170, 33, 25)
HSL
hsl(3, 74%, 38%)
HWB
hwb(3 10% 33%)
OKLCH
oklch(48.0% 0.174 28.9)
HSV
hsv(3, 85%, 67%)
LAB
lab(37.31% 53.57 40.20)
LCH
lch(37.31% 66.97 36.89)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 81%, 85%, 33%)

Etymology

Patrician
adjective

Latin patrīcius, of the noble class — derived from pater (father). As a color modifier, patrician implies a saturated-and-aristocratic-and-Roman-Republic quality, the deep-rich color of Roman-Patrician-class toga and senatorial-livery hereditary-aristocratic dress. Sits at the bold-and-aristocratic end of the grid, parallel to senatorial and imperial.

Cane
modifier

Old French canne, reed / cane. As a color modifier, cane implies a hand-cut-bamboo-or-rattan quality, the visual register of English-and-Edwardian-and-Asian-cane hand-cut-and-woven-cane bamboo-and-rattan-and-wicker hand-cut-cane-and-rattan surfaces under English-and-Edwardian-and-Asian hand-cut-cane-and-rattan furniture-and-craft light. Sits at the modifier-and-texture end of the grid, parallel to bark and hemp 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.

#aa2119
Original
#4e4516
Protanopia
#6f6210
Deuteranopia
#bc0021
Tritanopia
#3e3e3e
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
7.14:1
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
2.94:1

Related Colors

Canvas