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Gladiatorial Procyon Ruby

#cc3959
Notes

Gladiatorial Procyon Ruby (#CC3959) 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°, 59%, 51%) 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
#cc3959
RGB
rgb(204, 57, 89)
HSL
hsl(347, 59%, 51%)
HWB
hwb(347 22% 20%)
OKLCH
oklch(57.2% 0.183 12.7)
HSV
hsv(347, 72%, 80%)
LAB
lab(47.61% 59.19 16.11)
LCH
lch(47.61% 61.34 15.22)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 72%, 56%, 20%)

Etymology

Gladiatorial
adjective

Latin gladiātōrius, of the gladiator — adjectival suffix, derived from gladius (short-sword). As a color modifier, gladiatorial implies a saturated-and-combative-and-bloody quality, the deep-rich color of Roman-Colosseum gladiator-arena bloody-tunic-and-shield combat-attire. Sits at the bold-and-formal end of the grid, parallel to spartan and valiant.

Procyon
modifier

Greek προκύων, before-the-dog. As a color modifier, procyon implies a Canis-Minor-and-bright-foretaste-of-Sirius quality, the visual register of Canis-Minor-Procyon-and-Winter-Triangle hand-Canis-Minor-and-bright-foretaste-of-Sirius Canis-Minor-Procyon-and-Winter-Triangle-and-Bortle-1-sky procyon-and-Canis-Minor-and-bright-foretaste surfaces under Canis-Minor-Procyon-and-Winter-Triangle-and-Bortle-1-sky January-and-February-winter-zenith winter-stellar-light. Sits at the modifier-and-cosmic end of the grid, parallel to rigel and altair in usage.

Ruby
noun

From the Latin ruber — simply, red. The gemstone is a chromium-tinged corundum, harder than anything in nature except diamond, and so saturated that a fine Burmese pigeon's blood ruby at auction outpaces a comparable diamond by weight. The color borrows the gem's confidence: a clear, glassy red without the brown of garnet or the blue of crimson.

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

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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.

#cc3959
Original
#5f5e59
Protanopia
#857c55
Deuteranopia
#df1146
Tritanopia
#5b5b5b
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
4.89:1
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
4.30:1

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