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Chivalrous Garance

#b81502
Notes

Chivalrous Garance (#B81502) is a true red with a jewel character. It carries the deep, saturated richness of a gemstone. Authoritative and slightly formal, it works well for type and heavy UI elements. Its HSL profile (6°, 98%, 36%) places it in the highly saturated band at a mid lightness. Best used in small doses, like logos, CTAs, focus rings, or highlight text, where its saturation becomes a feature rather than noise. 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
#b81502
RGB
rgb(184, 21, 2)
HSL
hsl(6, 98%, 36%)
HWB
hwb(6 1% 28%)
OKLCH
oklch(49.8% 0.195 30.6)
HSV
hsv(6, 99%, 72%)
LAB
lab(39.13% 60.01 52.16)
LCH
lch(39.13% 79.51 41.00)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 89%, 99%, 28%)

Etymology

Chivalrous
adjective

Old French chevaleros, knightly — adjectival suffix -ous, derived from cheval (horse). As a color modifier, chivalrous implies a saturated-and-knightly-and-gallant quality, the deep-rich color of medieval-Romance chanson-de-geste hero-and-troubadour song tradition. Sits at the bold-and-chivalrous end of the grid, parallel to gallant and knightly.

Garance
noun

The French word for madderRubia tinctorum — and the dye that colored French military uniforms from the eighteenth century until garance was replaced by synthetic alizarin in 1869. The color refers to garance-dyed French wool: a saturated, slightly cool deep red with the matte finish of plant-and-mordant dye. The French equivalent of madder.

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

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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.

#b81502
Original
#504600
Protanopia
#766800
Deuteranopia
#cc0015
Tritanopia
#363636
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
6.67:1
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
3.15:1

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