colors
Back to gallery

Regal Scarlet

#b42f2f
Notes

Regal Scarlet (#B42F2F) 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 (0°, 59%, 45%) 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
#b42f2f
RGB
rgb(180, 47, 47)
HSL
hsl(0, 59%, 45%)
HWB
hwb(0 18% 29%)
OKLCH
oklch(51.3% 0.170 25.5)
P3
color(display-p3 0.6503 0.2283 0.2083)
HSV
hsv(0, 74%, 71%)
LAB
lab(41.13% 52.90 32.44)
LCH
lch(41.13% 62.06 31.52)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 74%, 74%, 29%)

Etymology

Regal
adjective

Latin rēgālis, kingly — derived from rēx (king). As a color modifier, regal implies a saturated-and-royal-formality quality, the deep-rich color of British-Coronation-period royal vestment-and-mantle and Imperial-State-Crown regalia. Sits at the bold-and-imperial end of the grid, parallel to sovereign and royal in usage.

Scarlet
noun

From the medieval Latin scarlatum, originally a fine wool cloth rather than a color — the dye came later when the fabric was associated with the bright red of kermes-stained textiles. The defining red of British military uniforms, fox-hunt coats, and The Scarlet Letter. Hotter than crimson, less orange than vermillion: a pure, attention-demanding red.

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.

#b42f2f
Original
#564f2d
Protanopia
#776b2a
Deuteranopia
#c60031
Tritanopia
#4b4b4b
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
6.20:1
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
3.39:1

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
##B42F2F
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.6503 0.2283 0.2083)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.170

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