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Stalwart Bow Crimson

#aa211a
Notes

Stalwart Bow Crimson (#AA211A) 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°, 73%, 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
#aa211a
RGB
rgb(170, 33, 26)
HSL
hsl(3, 73%, 38%)
HWB
hwb(3 10% 33%)
OKLCH
oklch(48.0% 0.174 28.7)
HSV
hsv(3, 85%, 67%)
LAB
lab(37.32% 53.59 39.69)
LCH
lch(37.32% 66.69 36.52)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 81%, 85%, 33%)

Etymology

Stalwart
adjective

Old English stǣl-wyrðe, stable-and-worthy. As a color modifier, stalwart implies a saturated-and-loyal-and-firm quality where the hue carries the dependable-and-trustworthy visual presence of a Knight-Templar guard. Sits at the bold-and-firm end of the grid, parallel to steadfast and firm in usage.

Bow
modifier

Old Norse bógr, bow / shoulder. As a color modifier, bow implies a ship's-front-prow quality, the visual register of Royal-Navy-and-merchant-marine-bow hand-built ship's-front-prow-and-figurehead bow-and-cutwater maritime-architecture surfaces under ship's-front-bow-and-prow maritime-headway light. Sits at the modifier-and-nautical end of the grid, parallel to prow and hull 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

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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.

#aa211a
Original
#4d4517
Protanopia
#6f6212
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

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