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Majestic Malbec

#aa3657
Notes

Majestic Malbec (#AA3657) is a true red with an earthy character. It leans grounded and natural, the kind of color that plays well with wood, clay, linen, and warm neutrals. Its HSL profile (343°, 52%, 44%) 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 teal. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#aa3657
RGB
rgb(170, 54, 87)
HSL
hsl(343, 52%, 44%)
HWB
hwb(343 21% 33%)
OKLCH
oklch(51.1% 0.153 7.1)
P3
color(display-p3 0.6157 0.2453 0.3429)
HSV
hsv(343, 68%, 67%)
LAB
lab(41.02% 49.73 7.25)
LCH
lch(41.02% 50.26 8.30)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 68%, 49%, 33%)

Etymology

Majestic
adjective

Latin māiestātis, majesty — adjectival suffix -ic. As a color modifier, majestic implies a saturated-and-imposing-grandeur quality, the deep-rich color of Salisbury-Cathedral-and-Chartres-Cathedral Gothic-architecture monumental presence against the open sky. Sits at the bold-and-imposing end of the grid, parallel to regal and imperial.

Malbec
noun

A red-wine grape originally from Cahors in southwest France, now most associated with Argentine Mendoza wine regions. The color refers to a young Argentine Malbec: a deep, slightly cool dark red with the high tannin opacity of high-altitude grape wine. Deeper than Tempranillo, cooler than Rioja.

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.

#aa3657
Original
#505258
Protanopia
#6f6954
Deuteranopia
#b92343
Tritanopia
#515151
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
6.22:1
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
3.37:1

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
##AA3657
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.6157 0.2453 0.3429)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.153

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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