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Heroic Ptah Crimson

#ca4155
Notes

Heroic Ptah Crimson (#CA4155) 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 (351°, 56%, 52%) 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
#ca4155
RGB
rgb(202, 65, 85)
HSL
hsl(351, 56%, 52%)
HWB
hwb(351 25% 21%)
OKLCH
oklch(57.5% 0.172 16.1)
P3
color(display-p3 0.7322 0.2948 0.3435)
HSV
hsv(351, 68%, 79%)
LAB
lab(48.26% 55.29 19.35)
LCH
lch(48.26% 58.58 19.29)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 68%, 58%, 21%)

Etymology

Heroic
adjective

Latin hēroicus, of a hero — derived from Greek hērōs. As a color modifier, heroic implies a saturated-and-monumental-and-victorious quality, the deep-rich color of Wagner-and-Sibelius late-Romantic-era musical-and-painterly heroic-mode. Sits at the bold-and-celebratory end of the grid, parallel to triumphant and valiant.

Ptah
modifier

Egyptian Ptah, Memphis-creator-god. As a color modifier, ptah implies a Memphis-creator-and-craftsman-god quality, the visual register of Egyptian-Ptah-and-Memphis-temple hand-Memphis-creator-and-craftsman-god Egyptian-Ptah-and-Memphis-temple-and-Apis-bull ptah-and-Memphis-creator-and-craftsman-god surfaces under Egyptian-Ptah-and-Memphis-temple-and-Apis-bull Memphis-Saqqara-and-craftsman-workshop creator-craftsman-light. Sits at the modifier-and-myth end of the grid, parallel to thoth and isis 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.

#ca4155
Original
#646055
Protanopia
#877d51
Deuteranopia
#dd2249
Tritanopia
#606060
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
4.77:1
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
4.40:1

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
##CA4155
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.7322 0.2948 0.3435)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.172

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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