Commanding Coquelicot
Commanding Coquelicot (#BB4256) is a true red with an earthy character. It leans grounded and natural, the kind of color that plays well with wood, clay, linen, and warm neutrals. Its HSL profile (350°, 48%, 50%) 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 teal. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.
Etymology
Latin commendāre, to entrust / order — present-participle of command. As a color modifier, commanding implies a saturated-and-authoritative quality where the hue claims visual leadership of its surrounding palette. Sits at the bold-and-authoritative end of the grid, parallel to authoritative and imperial in usage.
The French word for poppy — Papaver rhoeas — the wild red flower of European cereal fields and the unifying flower of French Impressionist painting (especially Monet's Coquelicots, Argenteuil). The color refers to a freshly opened poppy in a Provençal field: a saturated, slightly cool red with the satin finish of single-day petal. Brighter than scarlet, slightly cooler than tomato.
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 exploreHarmonies
Accessibility
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.
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.