Resonant Zest Amaranth
Resonant Zest Amaranth (#EE385B) 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 (348°, 84%, 58%) 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 teal. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.
Etymology
Latin resonāns, echoing — present-participle of resonate, sharing root with sonance. As a color modifier, resonant implies a saturated-and-deep-vibrating quality where the hue carries low-frequency visual richness. Sits at the bold-and-resonant end of the grid, parallel to sonorous and resounding in usage.
French zeste, citrus-peel-and-bright-tang. As a color modifier, zest implies a bright-citrus-peel-and-aromatic-oil quality, the visual register of Provençal-and-Sicilian-citrus-zest hand-bright-citrus-peel-and-aromatic-oil Provençal-and-Sicilian-citrus-zest-and-Mediterranean-bergamot zest-and-bright-citrus-peel surfaces under Provençal-and-Sicilian-citrus-zest-and-Mediterranean-bergamot Menton-and-Sicily-and-Calabria-citrus-grove citrus-grove-light. Sits at the modifier-and-flavor end of the grid, parallel to tang and bergamot in usage.
The genus Amaranthus — the grain crop and ornamental flower whose deep red-purple flower spikes give the color its name. Cultivated by the Aztecs as a ceremonial grain. The color refers to a fresh amaranth flower at peak bloom: a saturated, slightly cool deep red-purple with the matte finish of densely packed small flowers. Cooler than burgundy, warmer than wine.
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.
Wide gamut
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.
This color is chromatic enough that authoring it as P3 native (instead of clamping to sRGB) gives a perceptibly more saturated render on wide-gamut displays — modern Macs, iPhones, iPads, and most recent OLED laptops.