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Imperial Ventus Crimson

#ae1b24
Notes

Imperial Ventus Crimson (#AE1B24) 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 (356°, 73%, 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
#ae1b24
RGB
rgb(174, 27, 36)
HSL
hsl(356, 73%, 39%)
HWB
hwb(356 11% 32%)
OKLCH
oklch(48.5% 0.180 24.9)
P3
color(display-p3 0.6263 0.1705 0.1684)
HSV
hsv(356, 84%, 68%)
LAB
lab(37.69% 56.62 34.78)
LCH
lch(37.69% 66.45 31.56)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 84%, 79%, 32%)

Etymology

Imperial
adjective

From the Latin imperialis, of the empire — applied to color since the medieval period for the hues reserved for sovereigns and empires: imperial purple of Tyrian dye, imperial yellow of Ming-dynasty porcelain. As a modifier, imperial implies saturation combined with the institutional weight of a color owned by a court. Sits in the bold-and-deep corner, alongside royal.

Ventus
modifier

Latin ventus, wind. As a color modifier, ventus implies a Latin-wind-and-Roman-Aeolus-wind quality, the visual register of Roman-Aeolus-and-Anemoi-ventus hand-Latin-wind-and-Roman-Aeolus-wind Roman-Aeolus-and-Anemoi-ventus-and-Boreas-Notus-Eurus-Zephyrus ventus-and-Latin-wind surfaces under Roman-Aeolus-and-Anemoi-ventus-and-Boreas-Notus-Eurus-Zephyrus Aeolian-and-Vergilian-pastoral Roman-wind-light. Sits at the modifier-and-Latin end of the grid, parallel to ignis and unda 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.

#ae1b24
Original
#4c4522
Protanopia
#70641d
Deuteranopia
#c00021
Tritanopia
#3b3b3b
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
7.04:1
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
2.98:1

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
##AE1B24
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.6263 0.1705 0.1684)
P3 has visible headroomOKLCH chroma 0.180

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.

Related Colors

Canvas