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Noble Squire Crimson

#bd322d
Notes

Noble Squire Crimson (#BD322D) 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 (2°, 62%, 46%) 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
#bd322d
RGB
rgb(189, 50, 45)
HSL
hsl(2, 62%, 46%)
HWB
hwb(2 18% 26%)
OKLCH
oklch(53.1% 0.177 27.2)
P3
color(display-p3 0.6830 0.2420 0.2057)
HSV
hsv(2, 76%, 74%)
LAB
lab(43.20% 54.60 36.38)
LCH
lch(43.20% 65.61 33.68)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 74%, 76%, 26%)

Etymology

Noble
adjective

Latin nōbilis, well-known / illustrious — sharing root with gnōscere (to know). As a color modifier, noble implies a saturated-and-dignified-and-aristocratic quality, the deep-rich color of pre-modern European noble-class hereditary-aristocratic livery-and-armorial bearings. Sits at the bold-and-aristocratic end of the grid, parallel to aristocratic and highborn in usage.

Squire
modifier

Old French escuyer, shield-bearer. As a color modifier, squire implies a knight's-attendant-and-page-of-arms quality, the visual register of English-and-French-Squire hand-forged shield-and-stirrup-and-tabard knight's-attendant-and-page-of-arms surfaces under English-and-French-Squire hand-forged shield-and-stirrup ceremonial-court light. Sits at the modifier-and-cultural end of the grid, parallel to knight and page 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.

#bd322d
Original
#5b532b
Protanopia
#7e7128
Deuteranopia
#d00032
Tritanopia
#4f4f4f
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
5.74:1
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
3.66:1

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
##BD322D
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.6830 0.2420 0.2057)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.177

Moderately saturated colors gain a small bump in P3 — the difference is usually visible side-by-side on wide-gamut hardware but won't change the character of the color.

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