What is Crimson?
Crimson is a bright red color that was once produced from crushing a certain species of insects. A similar color is carmine, a red dye produced by insects. The name carmine’ comes from the French carmin. The pigment is also called cochineal after the insect from which it is made.
Alizarin is a pigment that was first synthesized in 1868 by the German chemists. Alizarin crimson is a dye bonded onto alum which is then used as a pigment and mixed with ochre, sienna and umber.
Crimson References
You may have heard of crimson tide, which means an algae bloom is affecting the beaches. In music, you may have heard of the song “Crimson and Clover,”a 1968 song by American rock band Tommy James and the Shondells.
“Crimson and Clover” spent 16 weeks on the U.S. charts, reaching number one in the United States (in February 1969) and other countries. The single has sold 5 million copies, making it Tommy James and the Shondells’ best-selling song.
School Colors
Crimson is the school color of several universities, including:
- Harvard University
- University of Kansas
- Indiana University
- Korea University
- New Mexico State University
- Saint Joseph’s University
- Tuskegee University
- University of Alabama
- University of Belgrano
- University of Denver
- University of Mississippi
- University of Nebraska at Omaha
- University of Oklahoma
- University of Utah
- Washington State University
- Worcester Polytechnic Institute
HTML Color Codes for Crimson
| COLOR NAME | crimson |
| HEX CODE | #DC143C |
| RGB | 220, 20, 60 |
How to Use HTML Colors
HTML color names can be used with inline HTML styles or in a separate CSS stylesheet, just as you would use hex color codes.
HTML
<!-- In your HTML document -->
<body>
<h1 style="color:crismson">Dark Crimson Title Text</h1>
<p style="color:SlateGray">Slate gray paragraph text</p>
</body>
CSS
/* In your .css stylesheet */
h1 { color: Crimson; }
p { color: SlateGray; }
Variations of Crimson
University of Alabama Crimson #9E1B32
Washington State University Crimson #981d32
Harvard Crimson Code #c90016
Web Safe Version of Crimson
Web safe or browser safe colors read the same across all browsers. There are 216 colors that are in the standard web palette.
| HEX #cc0033 | RGB 204, 0, 51 |
web safe crimson #cc0033
Crimson Color Schemes
Light Salmon #FFA07A
Crimson #DC143C
Dark Red 8b0000
Fire Brick #b22222
Pale Violet Red #db7093
Analogous Crimson Color Scheme
Triad Crimson Color Scheme
Monochomatic Palette
