colors
Back to gallery

Princely Mace Crimson

#b22221
Notes

Princely Mace Crimson (#B22221) is a true red with a vibrant character. It holds its own as a focal accent, carrying visual weight without tipping into neon territory. Its HSL profile (0°, 69%, 41%) 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
#b22221
RGB
rgb(178, 34, 33)
HSL
hsl(0, 69%, 41%)
HWB
hwb(0 13% 30%)
OKLCH
oklch(49.7% 0.180 27.1)
P3
color(display-p3 0.6414 0.1906 0.1625)
HSV
hsv(0, 81%, 70%)
LAB
lab(39.11% 55.89 38.19)
LCH
lch(39.11% 67.69 34.35)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 81%, 81%, 30%)

Etymology

Princely
adjective

Latin prīnceps, first / chief — adjectival suffix -ly. As a color modifier, princely implies a saturated-and-royal-secondary quality, the deep-rich color of European crown-prince coronet-and-livery vestment. Sits at the bold-and-aristocratic end of the grid, parallel to lordly and regal in usage.

Mace
modifier

Latin macir, outer-aril-of-nutmeg. As a color modifier, mace implies a Banda-Islands-aril-and-orange-red-spice quality, the visual register of Banda-Islands-and-Spice-Islands-mace hand-Banda-Islands-aril-and-orange-red-spice Banda-Islands-and-Spice-Islands-mace-and-Maluku-aril mace-and-Banda-Islands-aril surfaces under Banda-Islands-and-Spice-Islands-mace-and-Maluku-aril Banda-Islands-and-Run-and-Maluku Spice-Islands-aril-light. Sits at the modifier-and-flavor end of the grid, parallel to nutmeg and clove 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.

#b22221
Original
#51481f
Protanopia
#74671a
Deuteranopia
#c40024
Tritanopia
#414141
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
6.68:1
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
3.14:1

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
##B22221
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.6414 0.1906 0.1625)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.180

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.

Related Colors

Canvas