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Hardy Pluto Crimson

#b83221
Notes

Hardy Pluto Crimson (#B83221) 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 (7°, 70%, 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
#b83221
RGB
rgb(184, 50, 33)
HSL
hsl(7, 70%, 43%)
HWB
hwb(7 13% 28%)
OKLCH
oklch(52.1% 0.173 30.7)
P3
color(display-p3 0.6651 0.2394 0.1693)
HSV
hsv(7, 82%, 72%)
LAB
lab(42.13% 52.59 41.53)
LCH
lch(42.13% 67.01 38.30)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 73%, 82%, 28%)

Etymology

Hardy
adjective

Old French hardi, bold / brave — past-participle of hardir (to make brave). As a color modifier, hardy implies a saturated-and-cold-resistant quality, the deep-rich color of Scandinavian-and-Russian boreal-forest-and-tundra outdoor-clothing. Sits at the bold-and-resilient end of the grid, parallel to tough and resilient.

Pluto
modifier

Latin Pluto, Roman-god-of-underworld-and-dwarf-planet. As a color modifier, pluto implies a Roman-god-of-underworld-and-Kuiper-belt-dwarf-planet quality, the visual register of Roman-Pluto-and-New-Horizons-flyby hand-Roman-god-of-underworld-and-Kuiper-belt-dwarf-planet Roman-Pluto-and-New-Horizons-flyby-and-Tombaugh-Regio pluto-and-Roman-god-of-underworld surfaces under Roman-Pluto-and-New-Horizons-flyby-and-Tombaugh-Regio 2015-flyby-and-heart-shaped-Tombaugh-Regio dwarf-planet-light. Sits at the modifier-and-zodiac end of the grid, parallel to neptune and saturn 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.

#b83221
Original
#5b511d
Protanopia
#7c6e1a
Deuteranopia
#cb002f
Tritanopia
#4d4d4d
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
5.97:1
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
3.52:1

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
##B83221
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.6651 0.2394 0.1693)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.173

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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