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Triumphant Zenith Crimson

#b2271d
Notes

Triumphant Zenith Crimson (#B2271D) 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 (4°, 72%, 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
#b2271d
RGB
rgb(178, 39, 29)
HSL
hsl(4, 72%, 41%)
HWB
hwb(4 11% 30%)
OKLCH
oklch(50.0% 0.177 29.2)
P3
color(display-p3 0.6420 0.2041 0.1528)
HSV
hsv(4, 84%, 70%)
LAB
lab(39.59% 54.31 40.80)
LCH
lch(39.59% 67.93 36.92)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 78%, 84%, 30%)

Etymology

Triumphant
adjective

Latin triumphāns, celebrating victory — present-participle of triumphāre. As a color modifier, triumphant implies a saturated-and-celebratory-and-victorious quality, the deep-rich color of Roman-Imperial-period triumphal-arch spolia relief and Arch-of-Titus victory imagery. Sits at the bold-and-celebratory end of the grid, parallel to victorious and conquering.

Zenith
modifier

Arabic samt-al-ra's, path-overhead. As a color modifier, zenith implies an overhead-pointing-and-high-point quality, the visual register of celestial-sphere-and-overhead-Zenith hand-overhead-pointing-and-high-point celestial-sphere-and-overhead-and-Zenith-pole zenith-and-overhead-pointing-and-high-point surfaces under celestial-sphere-and-overhead-and-Zenith-pole astronomical-and-celestial-mechanics overhead-axis-light. Sits at the modifier-and-cosmic end of the grid, parallel to nadir and axis 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.

#b2271d
Original
#534a1a
Protanopia
#756815
Deuteranopia
#c50027
Tritanopia
#444444
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
6.56:1
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
3.20:1

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
##B2271D
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.6420 0.2041 0.1528)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.177

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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