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Solid Cayenne

#aa3f1c
Notes

Solid Cayenne (#AA3F1C) is a true orange with a warm character. It leans warm, pulling light toward red, orange, and yellow. Naturally inviting, it suits editorial and hospitality contexts. Its HSL profile (15°, 72%, 39%) 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
#aa3f1c
RGB
rgb(170, 63, 28)
HSL
hsl(15, 72%, 39%)
HWB
hwb(15 11% 33%)
OKLCH
oklch(51.2% 0.148 37.6)
HSV
hsv(15, 84%, 67%)
LAB
lab(41.51% 42.21 42.52)
LCH
lch(41.51% 59.92 45.21)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 63%, 84%, 33%)

Etymology

Solid
adjective

Latin solidus, firm, dense — used as a color modifier since the seventeenth century for hues that read as continuous and unbroken: a solid blue is one with no variation across the surface. Implies high saturation combined with optical density. Sits in the bold-bucket alongside strong and robust, slightly more focused on uniformity.

Cayenne
noun

Named for the French Guianan capital that exported the peppers, Cayenne is now the generic name for hot dried Capsicum annuum powder. The color refers to fine ground cayenne: a deep, saturated red-orange with the warmth of capsaicin made visible. Brighter than rust, hotter than paprika, with the resinous edge of a spice that registers as both color and burn.

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.

#aa3f1c
Original
#5e5316
Protanopia
#786b17
Deuteranopia
#bb2338
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
6.11:1
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
3.44:1

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