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Bastioned Spun Crimson

#b71e2a
Notes

Bastioned Spun Crimson (#B71E2A) 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 (355°, 72%, 42%) 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
#b71e2a
RGB
rgb(183, 30, 42)
HSL
hsl(355, 72%, 42%)
HWB
hwb(355 12% 28%)
OKLCH
oklch(50.4% 0.186 23.9)
HSV
hsv(355, 84%, 72%)
LAB
lab(39.86% 58.66 34.14)
LCH
lch(39.86% 67.87 30.20)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 84%, 77%, 28%)

Etymology

Bastioned
adjective

Italian bastionato, fortified-with-bastions — past-participle of bastion, derived from bastia (fortified-tower). As a color modifier, bastioned implies a saturated-and-fortified-and-projecting quality, the deep-rich color of Vauban-period military-fortress star-fort projecting-bastion stone-architecture. Sits at the bold-and-fortified end of the grid, parallel to fortified and buttressed.

Spun
modifier

Old English spinnan, to-spin. As a color modifier, spun implies a hand-spun-fiber quality, the visual register of hand-spinning-wheel hand-spun-and-twisted wool-and-flax-and-cotton hand-spun-fiber-on-spinning-wheel surfaces under hand-spun-and-twisted spinning-wheel working light. Sits at the modifier-and-texture end of the grid, parallel to woven and knit 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.

#b71e2a
Original
#504929
Protanopia
#766924
Deuteranopia
#ca0025
Tritanopia
#3f3f3f
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
6.50:1
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
3.23:1

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