Valiant Virtus Crimson
Valiant Virtus Crimson (#DD2537) 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 (354°, 73%, 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.
Etymology
Latin valēns, strong — present-participle of valēre, sharing root with English value and valor. As a color modifier, valiant implies a saturated-and-courageous-and-firm quality, the deep-rich color of Crusader-and-Knight-Templar military-religious-order vestment. Sits at the bold-and-chivalrous end of the grid, parallel to gallant and heroic in usage.
Latin virtus, manliness-and-courage-and-virtue. As a color modifier, virtus implies a Roman-virtus-and-stoic-and-Cardinal-Virtues quality, the visual register of Roman-virtus-and-Stoic-Cardinal-Virtues hand-Roman-virtus-and-stoic-and-Cardinal-Virtues Roman-virtus-and-Stoic-Cardinal-Virtues-and-Marcus-Aurelius virtus-and-Roman-virtus surfaces under Roman-virtus-and-Stoic-Cardinal-Virtues-and-Marcus-Aurelius Republican-Rome-and-Marcus-Aurelius Stoic-virtue-light. Sits at the modifier-and-Latin end of the grid, parallel to senex and dux 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.