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Sonorous Sigil Crimson

#ba232f
Notes

Sonorous Sigil Crimson (#BA232F) 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°, 68%, 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
#ba232f
RGB
rgb(186, 35, 47)
HSL
hsl(355, 68%, 43%)
HWB
hwb(355 14% 27%)
OKLCH
oklch(51.4% 0.185 23.3)
P3
color(display-p3 0.6703 0.1982 0.2075)
HSV
hsv(355, 81%, 73%)
LAB
lab(40.98% 58.43 32.59)
LCH
lch(40.98% 66.90 29.15)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 81%, 75%, 27%)

Etymology

Sonorous
adjective

Latin sonōrus, resounding — derived from sonus (sound). As a color modifier, sonorous implies a saturated-and-richly-vibrating quality where the hue carries the deep-resonance visual register of a cathedral-organ-pipe low-note. Sits at the bold-and-resonant end of the grid, parallel to resonant and deep in usage.

Sigil
modifier

Latin sigillum, little-sign-or-seal. As a color modifier, sigil implies a magical-seal-and-grimoire-symbol quality, the visual register of medieval-grimoire-and-Solomonic-sigil hand-magical-seal-and-grimoire-symbol medieval-grimoire-and-Solomonic-sigil-and-Renaissance-occult sigil-and-magical-seal-and-grimoire-symbol surfaces under medieval-grimoire-and-Solomonic-sigil-and-Renaissance-occult parchment-and-vellum-and-quill grimoire-and-occult-light. Sits at the modifier-and-myth end of the grid, parallel to rune and omen 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.

#ba232f
Original
#534c2e
Protanopia
#786c29
Deuteranopia
#cd0029
Tritanopia
#444444
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
##BA232F
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.6703 0.1982 0.2075)
P3 has visible headroomOKLCH chroma 0.185

This color is chromatic enough that authoring it as P3 native (instead of clamping to sRGB) gives a perceptibly more saturated render on wide-gamut displays — modern Macs, iPhones, iPads, and most recent OLED laptops.

Related Colors

Canvas