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Ironclad Unda Crimson

#ab291c
Notes

Ironclad Unda Crimson (#AB291C) is a true red 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 (5°, 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
#ab291c
RGB
rgb(171, 41, 28)
HSL
hsl(5, 72%, 39%)
HWB
hwb(5 11% 33%)
OKLCH
oklch(48.9% 0.168 30.0)
P3
color(display-p3 0.6171 0.2058 0.1479)
HSV
hsv(5, 84%, 67%)
LAB
lab(38.43% 51.45 39.74)
LCH
lch(38.43% 65.01 37.68)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 76%, 84%, 33%)

Etymology

Ironclad
adjective

English compound iron + clad — referring to the 19th-century USS-Monitor and CSS-Virginia iron-armored warships. As a color modifier, ironclad implies a saturated-and-armored-and-impenetrable quality where the hue carries the visual weight of forged-iron armor-plate. Sits at the bold-and-fortified end of the grid, parallel to fortified and armored.

Unda
modifier

Latin unda, wave-or-water. As a color modifier, unda implies a Latin-wave-and-water-and-Roman-aqueduct quality, the visual register of Roman-aqueduct-and-Pontine-marsh-unda hand-Latin-wave-and-water-and-Roman-aqueduct Roman-aqueduct-and-Pontine-marsh-unda-and-Tiber-flow unda-and-Latin-wave-and-water surfaces under Roman-aqueduct-and-Pontine-marsh-unda-and-Tiber-flow Aqua-Claudia-and-Aqua-Marcia Roman-water-light. Sits at the modifier-and-Latin end of the grid, parallel to via and arbor 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.

#ab291c
Original
#514819
Protanopia
#716515
Deuteranopia
#bd0028
Tritanopia
#444444
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
6.85:1
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
3.07:1

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
##AB291C
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.6171 0.2058 0.1479)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.168

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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