Resilient Helen Crimson
Resilient Helen Crimson (#CB1A0C) 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 (4°, 89%, 42%) places it in the highly saturated band at a mid lightness. Best used in small doses, like logos, CTAs, focus rings, or highlight text, where its saturation becomes a feature rather than noise. 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.
Etymology
Latin resiliēns, springing-back — present-participle of resilīre. As a color modifier, resilient implies a saturated-and-recovering-and-flexible quality where the hue maintains its strength under visual pressure. Sits at the bold-and-resilient end of the grid, parallel to tough and hardy in usage.
Greek Ἑλένη, Helen-of-Troy. As a color modifier, helen implies a Helen-of-Troy-and-fairest-face quality, the visual register of Helen-of-Troy-and-Tyndareus-Sparta hand-Helen-of-Troy-and-fairest-face Helen-of-Troy-and-Tyndareus-Sparta-and-Iliad-Homeric helen-and-Helen-of-Troy-and-fairest-face surfaces under Helen-of-Troy-and-Tyndareus-Sparta-and-Iliad-Homeric Mycenaean-and-Trojan Bronze-Age-Aegean-light. Sits at the modifier-and-myth end of the grid, parallel to eros and hera in usage.
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 exploreHarmonies
Accessibility
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.
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.