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Sonorous Geranium

#b4382e
Notes

Sonorous Geranium (#B4382E) is a true red with a warm character. It leans warm, pulling light toward red, orange, and yellow. Naturally inviting, it suits editorial and hospitality contexts. Its HSL profile (4°, 59%, 44%) 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 cyan. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#b4382e
RGB
rgb(180, 56, 46)
HSL
hsl(4, 59%, 44%)
HWB
hwb(4 18% 29%)
OKLCH
oklch(52.2% 0.162 28.5)
P3
color(display-p3 0.6518 0.2562 0.2076)
HSV
hsv(4, 74%, 71%)
LAB
lab(42.36% 49.44 34.41)
LCH
lch(42.36% 60.24 34.83)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 69%, 74%, 29%)

Etymology

Sonorous
adjective

Latin sonōrus, resounding — derived from sonus (sound). As a color modifier, sonorous implies a saturated-and-richly-vibrating quality where the hue carries the deep-resonance visual register of a cathedral-organ-pipe low-note. Sits at the bold-and-resonant end of the grid, parallel to resonant and deep in usage.

Geranium
noun

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 explore

Harmonies

Accessibility

Color-vision simulation

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.

#b4382e
Original
#5b532c
Protanopia
#7a6e2a
Deuteranopia
#c61037
Tritanopia
#525252
Achromatopsia
WCAG contrast

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.

The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAon White
5.92:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AA Largeon Black
3.55:1

Wide gamut

Display P3 representation

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.

sRGB hex
sRGB hex
##B4382E
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.6518 0.2562 0.2076)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.162

Moderately saturated colors gain a small bump in P3 — the difference is usually visible side-by-side on wide-gamut hardware but won't change the character of the color.

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