colors
Back to gallery

Certain Mage Crimson

#ba1b28
Notes

Certain Mage Crimson (#BA1B28) 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°, 75%, 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
#ba1b28
RGB
rgb(186, 27, 40)
HSL
hsl(355, 75%, 42%)
HWB
hwb(355 11% 27%)
OKLCH
oklch(50.8% 0.191 24.3)
HSV
hsv(355, 85%, 73%)
LAB
lab(40.21% 60.11 35.87)
LCH
lch(40.21% 70.00 30.83)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 85%, 78%, 27%)

Etymology

Certain
adjective

Latin certus, fixed / sure — sharing root with English concern and certify. As a color modifier, certain implies a saturated-and-unambiguous quality where the hue declares its character without hesitation. Sits at the bold-and-confident end of the grid, parallel to assured and decisive in usage.

Mage
modifier

Latin magus, wise-man / magician. As a color modifier, mage implies a Persian-magus-and-medieval-wizard quality, the visual register of Persian-Magus-and-medieval-European-Wizard hand-spell-cast pointed-hat-and-staff-and-grimoire wise-man-and-magician surfaces under Persian-Magus-and-medieval-European-Wizard hand-spell-cast-and-grimoire candlelit-tower light. Sits at the modifier-and-cultural end of the grid, parallel to druid and bard 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.

#ba1b28
Original
#514927
Protanopia
#776b21
Deuteranopia
#cd0022
Tritanopia
#3e3e3e
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
6.41:1
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
3.28:1

Related Colors

Canvas