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Tough Domus Crimson

#bb292b
Notes

Tough Domus Crimson (#BB292B) 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 (359°, 64%, 45%) 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
#bb292b
RGB
rgb(187, 41, 43)
HSL
hsl(359, 64%, 45%)
HWB
hwb(359 16% 27%)
OKLCH
oklch(52.0% 0.182 25.7)
HSV
hsv(359, 78%, 73%)
LAB
lab(41.73% 56.86 35.82)
LCH
lch(41.73% 67.20 32.21)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 78%, 77%, 27%)

Etymology

Tough
adjective

Old English tōh, firm / tenacious — sharing root with German zäh. As a color modifier, tough implies a saturated-and-resilient quality where the hue resists fading-and-modulation through its strong pigmentation. Sits at the bold-and-resilient end of the grid, parallel to rugged and hardy in usage.

Domus
modifier

Latin domus, house-or-home. As a color modifier, domus implies a Latin-house-and-Roman-domus-and-atrium quality, the visual register of Pompeian-domus-and-Roman-atrium hand-Latin-house-and-Roman-domus-and-atrium Pompeian-domus-and-Roman-atrium-and-impluvium domus-and-Latin-house surfaces under Pompeian-domus-and-Roman-atrium-and-impluvium Pompeian-and-Herculaneum-domus Roman-villa-light. Sits at the modifier-and-Latin end of the grid, parallel to arbor and via 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.

#bb292b
Original
#564e29
Protanopia
#7a6e25
Deuteranopia
#ce002c
Tritanopia
#484848
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
6.06:1
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
3.47:1

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