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Heavy Mage Crimson

#b20f26
Notes

Heavy Mage Crimson (#B20F26) is a true red with a jewel character. It carries the deep, saturated richness of a gemstone. Authoritative and slightly formal, it works well for type and heavy UI elements. Its HSL profile (352°, 84%, 38%) places it in the highly saturated band at a mid lightness. Best used in small doses, like logos, CTAs, focus rings, or highlight text, where its saturation becomes a feature rather than noise. 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
#b20f26
RGB
rgb(178, 15, 38)
HSL
hsl(352, 84%, 38%)
HWB
hwb(352 6% 30%)
OKLCH
oklch(48.7% 0.190 23.1)
HSV
hsv(352, 92%, 70%)
LAB
lab(37.75% 60.06 33.93)
LCH
lch(37.75% 68.98 29.46)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 92%, 79%, 30%)

Etymology

Heavy
adjective

Old English hefig, weighty — cognate with heave. Used as a color modifier since at least the seventeenth century to indicate weight in saturation as much as value: heavy with pigment, heavy-bodied. In the engine's adjective grid, heavy sits alongside deep and plush in the dark-and-saturated quadrant. Closer to a fabric description than a pure value word.

Mage
modifier

Latin magus, wise-man / magician. As a color modifier, mage implies a Persian-magus-and-medieval-wizard quality, the visual register of Persian-Magus-and-medieval-European-Wizard hand-spell-cast pointed-hat-and-staff-and-grimoire wise-man-and-magician surfaces under Persian-Magus-and-medieval-European-Wizard hand-spell-cast-and-grimoire candlelit-tower light. Sits at the modifier-and-cultural end of the grid, parallel to druid and bard 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.

#b20f26
Original
#4a4325
Protanopia
#70651f
Deuteranopia
#c4001c
Tritanopia
#333333
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
7.03:1
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
2.99:1

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