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Senatorial Nebula Crimson

#ac4873
Notes

Senatorial Nebula Crimson (#AC4873) is a true magenta 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 (334°, 41%, 48%) 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
#ac4873
RGB
rgb(172, 72, 115)
HSL
hsl(334, 41%, 48%)
HWB
hwb(334 28% 33%)
OKLCH
oklch(54.5% 0.139 355.8)
P3
color(display-p3 0.6269 0.3062 0.4465)
HSV
hsv(334, 58%, 67%)
LAB
lab(45.14% 45.41 -4.06)
LCH
lch(45.14% 45.59 354.89)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 58%, 33%, 33%)

Etymology

Senatorial
adjective

Latin senātōrius, of the senator — adjectival suffix. As a color modifier, senatorial implies a saturated-and-aristocratic-and-Roman-Republic quality, the deep-rich color of Roman-Senate toga praetexta purple-bordered ceremonial-citizen-class livery. Sits at the bold-and-aristocratic end of the grid, parallel to patrician and imperial.

Nebula
modifier

Latin nebula, mist-or-cloud. As a color modifier, nebula implies a glowing-cloud-and-stellar-cradle quality, the visual register of Orion-and-Eagle-Nebula hand-glowing-cloud-and-stellar-cradle Orion-and-Eagle-and-Crab-Nebula nebula-and-glowing-cloud-and-stellar-cradle surfaces under Orion-and-Eagle-and-Crab-Nebula Hubble-and-James-Webb-deep-field stellar-cradle-light. Sits at the modifier-and-cosmic end of the grid, parallel to plasma and meteor 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.

#ac4873
Original
#575f74
Protanopia
#727271
Deuteranopia
#b94159
Tritanopia
#606060
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
5.35:1
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
3.93:1

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
##AC4873
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.6269 0.3062 0.4465)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.139

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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