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Patrician Spar Crimson

#b7292d
Notes

Patrician Spar Crimson (#B7292D) 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 (358°, 63%, 44%) 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
#b7292d
RGB
rgb(183, 41, 45)
HSL
hsl(358, 63%, 44%)
HWB
hwb(358 16% 28%)
OKLCH
oklch(51.3% 0.178 24.9)
P3
color(display-p3 0.6602 0.2126 0.2015)
HSV
hsv(358, 78%, 72%)
LAB
lab(40.97% 55.74 33.60)
LCH
lch(40.97% 65.08 31.08)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 78%, 75%, 28%)

Etymology

Patrician
adjective

Latin patrīcius, of the noble class — derived from pater (father). As a color modifier, patrician implies a saturated-and-aristocratic-and-Roman-Republic quality, the deep-rich color of Roman-Patrician-class toga and senatorial-livery hereditary-aristocratic dress. Sits at the bold-and-aristocratic end of the grid, parallel to senatorial and imperial.

Spar
modifier

Old Norse sparri, long-pole. As a color modifier, spar implies a long-wooden-pole-for-sail quality, the visual register of Tall-Ship-and-Royal-Navy-spar hand-cut long-wooden-pole-and-spar-for-sail mast-and-yard-and-boom maritime-rigging surfaces under tall-ship-spar-and-yard maritime-rigging light. Sits at the modifier-and-nautical end of the grid, parallel to mast and boom 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.

#b7292d
Original
#554d2c
Protanopia
#786c28
Deuteranopia
#ca002c
Tritanopia
#474747
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
6.23:1
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
3.37:1

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
##B7292D
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.6602 0.2126 0.2015)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.178

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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