Smoky Geranium
Smoky Geranium (#860D14) is a deep red with a jewel character. It carries the deep, saturated richness of a gemstone. Authoritative and slightly formal, it works well for type and heavy UI elements. Its HSL profile (357°, 82%, 29%) places it in the highly saturated band at a dark 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 cyan. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.
Etymology
An adjectival form of smoke, used as a color word since at least the fourteenth century. Smoky implies a slightly muted, slightly hazed quality — as if the color were seen through a layer of suspended particulate. Used across both deep and neutral buckets: a smoky black has slightly less density than pure black; a smoky gray has slightly less coolness than pure gray.
The genus Pelargonium (commonly called geraniums in English horticulture) — particularly P. zonale and P. peltatum, the bright red-flowered geraniums of European balconies and hanging baskets. The color refers to a fresh red geranium bloom in summer: a saturated, slightly orange red with the matte finish of small clustered five-petaled flowers. Brighter than scarlet, warmer than tomato.
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.