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Senatorial Carmesí

#bc3e4a
Notes

Senatorial Carmesí (#BC3E4A) 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 (354°, 50%, 49%) 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.

HEX
#bc3e4a
RGB
rgb(188, 62, 74)
HSL
hsl(354, 50%, 49%)
HWB
hwb(354 24% 26%)
OKLCH
oklch(54.7% 0.161 18.9)
HSV
hsv(354, 67%, 74%)
LAB
lab(45.13% 51.22 21.44)
LCH
lch(45.13% 55.53 22.71)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 67%, 61%, 26%)

Etymology

Senatorial
adjective

Latin senātōrius, of the senator — adjectival suffix. As a color modifier, senatorial implies a saturated-and-aristocratic-and-Roman-Republic quality, the deep-rich color of Roman-Senate toga praetexta purple-bordered ceremonial-citizen-class livery. Sits at the bold-and-aristocratic end of the grid, parallel to patrician and imperial.

Carmesí
noun

The Spanish word for crimson — borrowed via Arabic qirmiz (the kermes scale insect) and used in the deep red textiles of medieval Castilian and Valencian silk. The color refers to a carmesí-dyed Castilian silk: a saturated, slightly cool deep red with the satin finish of plant-and-insect dye. The Spanish cousin of crimson, slightly more formal in register.

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

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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.

#bc3e4a
Original
#5f5a4a
Protanopia
#7f7547
Deuteranopia
#ce2143
Tritanopia
#5a5a5a
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
5.35:1
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
3.93:1

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