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Booming Dew Crimson

#c23554
Notes

Booming Dew Crimson (#C23554) 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 (347°, 57%, 48%) 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
#c23554
RGB
rgb(194, 53, 84)
HSL
hsl(347, 57%, 48%)
HWB
hwb(347 21% 24%)
OKLCH
oklch(55.0% 0.177 12.7)
HSV
hsv(347, 73%, 76%)
LAB
lab(45.16% 57.25 15.54)
LCH
lch(45.16% 59.32 15.19)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 73%, 57%, 24%)

Etymology

Booming
adjective

Imitative-onomatopoeic origin — present-participle of boom, sharing root with Dutch bommen. As a color modifier, booming implies a saturated-and-loud-and-confident quality where the hue announces itself with full visual amplitude. Sits at the bold-and-resonant end of the grid, parallel to resounding and thunderous.

Dew
modifier

Old English dēaw, morning-moisture. As a color modifier, dew implies a beaded-and-fresh-and-morning-moisture quality, the visual register of spider-web-and-meadow-grass-dew hand-beaded-and-pearl-and-morning spider-web-and-meadow-grass-and-petal-edge dewed-and-beaded-and-pearl surfaces under spider-web-and-meadow-grass first-light-of-dawn-and-rising-mist-and-pearl morning-meadow-light. Sits at the modifier-and-mood end of the grid, parallel to mist and gleam 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.

#c23554
Original
#5a5854
Protanopia
#7e7550
Deuteranopia
#d40d42
Tritanopia
#555555
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
5.34:1
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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