colors
Back to gallery

Ironclad Altair Crimson

#bf262e
Notes

Ironclad Altair Crimson (#BF262E) 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 (357°, 67%, 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
#bf262e
RGB
rgb(191, 38, 46)
HSL
hsl(357, 67%, 45%)
HWB
hwb(357 15% 25%)
OKLCH
oklch(52.5% 0.188 24.4)
HSV
hsv(357, 80%, 75%)
LAB
lab(42.25% 59.02 34.88)
LCH
lch(42.25% 68.55 30.58)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 80%, 76%, 25%)

Etymology

Ironclad
adjective

English compound iron + clad — referring to the 19th-century USS-Monitor and CSS-Virginia iron-armored warships. As a color modifier, ironclad implies a saturated-and-armored-and-impenetrable quality where the hue carries the visual weight of forged-iron armor-plate. Sits at the bold-and-fortified end of the grid, parallel to fortified and armored.

Altair
modifier

Arabic al-nasr-al-tā'ir, the-flying-eagle. As a color modifier, altair implies a fast-spinning-and-summer-triangle quality, the visual register of Aquila-Eagle-and-Summer-Triangle-Altair hand-fast-spinning-and-summer-triangle Aquila-Eagle-and-Summer-Triangle-and-Bortle-1-sky altair-and-fast-spinning-and-summer-triangle surfaces under Aquila-Eagle-and-Summer-Triangle-and-Bortle-1-sky July-and-August-summer-vista white-stellar-light. Sits at the modifier-and-cosmic end of the grid, parallel to vega and deneb 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.

#bf262e
Original
#564f2d
Protanopia
#7c6f28
Deuteranopia
#d2002b
Tritanopia
#474747
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
5.95:1
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
3.53:1

Related Colors

Canvas