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Resonant Zephyr Crimson

#ae1a21
Notes

Resonant Zephyr Crimson (#AE1A21) 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 (357°, 74%, 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
#ae1a21
RGB
rgb(174, 26, 33)
HSL
hsl(357, 74%, 39%)
HWB
hwb(357 10% 32%)
OKLCH
oklch(48.4% 0.181 25.6)
P3
color(display-p3 0.6262 0.1682 0.1594)
HSV
hsv(357, 85%, 68%)
LAB
lab(37.57% 56.76 36.39)
LCH
lch(37.57% 67.42 32.67)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 85%, 81%, 32%)

Etymology

Resonant
adjective

Latin resonāns, echoing — present-participle of resonate, sharing root with sonance. As a color modifier, resonant implies a saturated-and-deep-vibrating quality where the hue carries low-frequency visual richness. Sits at the bold-and-resonant end of the grid, parallel to sonorous and resounding in usage.

Zephyr
modifier

Greek ζέφυρος, gentle-west-wind. As a color modifier, zephyr implies a gentle-west-wind-and-Mediterranean-breeze quality, the visual register of Greek-Zephyrus-and-Botticelli-Primavera-zephyr hand-gentle-west-wind-and-Mediterranean-breeze Greek-Zephyrus-and-Botticelli-Primavera-zephyr-and-Hellenic-Anemoi zephyr-and-gentle-west-wind surfaces under Greek-Zephyrus-and-Botticelli-Primavera-zephyr-and-Hellenic-Anemoi Hellenic-Mediterranean-and-Florentine-spring gentle-Mediterranean-breeze-light. Sits at the modifier-and-weather end of the grid, parallel to gust and mistral 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.

#ae1a21
Original
#4c441f
Protanopia
#70641a
Deuteranopia
#c0001f
Tritanopia
#3a3a3a
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
7.07:1
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
2.97:1

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
##AE1A21
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.6262 0.1682 0.1594)
P3 has visible headroomOKLCH chroma 0.181

This color is chromatic enough that authoring it as P3 native (instead of clamping to sRGB) gives a perceptibly more saturated render on wide-gamut displays — modern Macs, iPhones, iPads, and most recent OLED laptops.

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