Crimson Color Codes
Crimson is a mid-tone, saturated red with the hex code #DC143C, RGB values of 220, 20, 60 and an HSL value of hsl(348, 83%, 47%).
| HEX | #DC143C |
|---|---|
| RGB | 220, 20, 60 |
| HSL | hsl(348, 83%, 47%) |
| HSV | 348°, 91%, 86% |
| CMYK | 0%, 91%, 73%, 14% |
| LAB | 47.04, 70.92, 33.60 |
| CIELCHuv | 47.04, 139.64, 8.09° |
- Nearest Pantone
- PMS 199 C ΔE 3.2 · approximate
- Nearest CSS name
-
crimsonΔE 0.0
Source CSS Color Module Level 4 keyword 'Crimson'
Crimson Color Hex Code
The Crimson color hex code is #DC143C. Those six digits are three pairs, DC for red, 14 for green and 3C for blue, which is the same triplet a browser reads from the CSS value below.
#DC143C
Crimson Color RGB Code
The Crimson RGB code is rgb(220, 20, 60). Red carries the most light at 220 of 255, which is what puts this color where it sits on the wheel.
rgb(220, 20, 60)
Crimson Color HSV Code
The Crimson HSV code is 348°, 91%, 86%. Read it as a hue of 348 degrees, 91% saturation and 86% value, which is the form most color pickers use because moving one number changes one thing.
348°, 91%, 86%
Crimson Color CIELChuv Code
The Crimson CIELCHuv code is 47.04, 139.64, 8.09°. Unlike hex or RGB this one is perceptual: lightness 47 means mid-toned to the eye rather than to the screen, and chroma 140 is how far it sits from grey.
47.04, 139.64, 8.09°
Tonal scale
What are Crimson Color Palettes?
A shade mixes toward black, a tint toward white, a tone toward grey. Every step keeps the hue and is copy-ready.
Shades, toward black
Tints, toward white
Tones, toward grey
Palettes
What are Crimson Color Palette Codes?
Each of these is a hue rotation from #DC143C. They are generated, not curated, so they are exact.
Complementary
Half a turn away is #14DCB4, a light, saturated teal. This is the widest separation the wheel offers, and the reason complementary pairs are the default for anything that must stand out. Both are saturated, so give the complement much less area than the base or the two will fight.
Analogous
Either side sit #DC14A0 and #DC5014, 30 degrees out. Low tension by construction: useful when you need several related tones that still feel like one choice.
Triadic
#3CDC14 and #143CDC complete an even 120 degree split. Three fully independent hues, so one has to lead: keep this base dominant and let the other two appear in small quantities.
Split-complementary
Instead of the direct complement, this takes the two hues either side of it: #14DC50 and #14A0DC. Almost the same contrast, without the edge shimmer a true complementary pair produces at high saturation.
Tetradic
Two complementary pairs forming a rectangle: this base with #14DCB4, and #A0DC14 with #5014DC. The richest of the five and the hardest to balance, so treat this base as the lead and hold the other three well back.
Accessibility
Contrast checker: is Crimson accessible?
Measured against white and against black, with a separate verdict for each element type. Small text, large text and UI components have different thresholds, so one pass or fail for the whole color would be wrong roughly a third of the time.
White background
4.99:14.99
contrast ratio on white background
| Element | AA | AAA |
|---|---|---|
| Small text needs 4.5:1 / 7:1 | Passes | Fails |
| Large text needs 3:1 / 4.5:1 | Passes | Passes |
| UI component needs 3:1 | Passes | n/a |
Black background
4.21:14.21
contrast ratio on black background
| Element | AA | AAA |
|---|---|---|
| Small text needs 4.5:1 / 7:1 | Fails | Fails |
| Large text needs 3:1 / 4.5:1 | Passes | Fails |
| UI component needs 3:1 | Passes | n/a |
Crimson clears WCAG AA against white at 4.99:1, so it is safe for body copy as well as headings. Text placed on it should be white, which gives 4.99:1. It is a highly saturated color, so it will dominate anything it sits beside. Give it space rather than surrounding it with other strong colors.
Color vision
How Crimson looks with color blindness
Around 300 million people see color differently from the way it is specified. Each card shows the actual color beside how it appears, and how common that form of vision is.
Protanopia
About 1% of men#ABAA35
Crimson changes substantially here. ΔE 90.5
No working red cones. Reds darken sharply and drift toward the same muddy olive as green.
Deuteranopia
About 1% of men#B3BC34
Crimson changes substantially here. ΔE 99.0
No working green cones. With the milder deuteranomaly at nearer 6% of men, this is by far the most common form, and the one worth designing around.
Tritanopia
About 1 in 10,000#D72F2E
Crimson shifts noticeably here. ΔE 11.5
No working blue cones. Blues shift toward green and yellows toward pink. Rare, and unlike the others it is not sex-linked, so it affects men and women equally.
Achromatopsia
About 1 in 30,000#6F6F6F
Crimson changes substantially here. ΔE 78.5
No color vision at all. Also a fair proxy for how the color survives a greyscale print or a failing screen.
To a deuteranope, the most common form, Crimson reads as #B3BC34. That is a shift of ΔE 99.0, so it is a different color to roughly one man in sixteen. It sits in the red end of the spectrum, which is exactly where red-green deficiency does its damage. Never pair it with a green of similar lightness to signal a difference in meaning: to a large minority the two become one color. The widest shift is under deuteranopia, at ΔE 99.0. The rule this leads to needs no simulator: never let color be the only thing carrying a message. Add a label, an icon, or a clear difference in lightness, and the problem disappears for everyone.
Snippets
Using Crimson in code
:root {
--crimson: #DC143C;
}
.example {
color: var(--crimson);
}// tailwind.config.js
theme: {
extend: {
colors: {
'crimson': '#DC143C',
},
},
}// SwiftUI takes 0–1 components, not 0–255.
let crimson = Color(
red: 0.863,
green: 0.078,
blue: 0.235
)<!-- res/values/colors.xml -->
<color name="crimson">#DC143C</color>// Flutter wants ARGB: FF for full opacity, then the hex.
const crimson = Color(0xFFDC143C);