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Majestic Catnip Crimson

#b52c26
Notes

Majestic Catnip Crimson (#B52C26) 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 (3°, 65%, 43%) 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
#b52c26
RGB
rgb(181, 44, 38)
HSL
hsl(3, 65%, 43%)
HWB
hwb(3 15% 29%)
OKLCH
oklch(51.1% 0.175 27.8)
P3
color(display-p3 0.6534 0.2200 0.1806)
HSV
hsv(3, 79%, 71%)
LAB
lab(40.85% 53.90 37.37)
LCH
lch(40.85% 65.58 34.73)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 76%, 79%, 29%)

Etymology

Majestic
adjective

Latin māiestātis, majesty — adjectival suffix -ic. As a color modifier, majestic implies a saturated-and-imposing-grandeur quality, the deep-rich color of Salisbury-Cathedral-and-Chartres-Cathedral Gothic-architecture monumental presence against the open sky. Sits at the bold-and-imposing end of the grid, parallel to regal and imperial.

Catnip
modifier

Old English catte-nepe, cat-mint-or-catnip. As a color modifier, catnip implies a cat-mint-and-grey-green-cottage-herb quality, the visual register of English-cottage-and-Quaker-herb-garden-catnip hand-cat-mint-and-grey-green-cottage-herb English-cottage-and-Quaker-herb-garden-catnip-and-Tudor-still-room catnip-and-cat-mint surfaces under English-cottage-and-Quaker-herb-garden-catnip-and-Tudor-still-room Sussex-cottage-and-New-England-Quaker-garden cottage-herb-light. Sits at the modifier-and-flavor end of the grid, parallel to hyssop and lovage 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.

#b52c26
Original
#564d24
Protanopia
#786b20
Deuteranopia
#c8002c
Tritanopia
#494949
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
6.26:1
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
3.35:1

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
##B52C26
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.6534 0.2200 0.1806)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.175

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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