Sparking Orpiment
Sparking Orpiment (#EA6949) 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 (12°, 79%, 60%) 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 cyan. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.
Etymology
Old English spearca, spark — present-participle of spark. As a color modifier, sparking implies a saturated-and-electrical-emission quality, the bright color of welding-arc-and-Tesla-coil high-voltage spark-discharge emission. Sits at the bright-and-electric end of the grid, parallel to flashing and coruscating in usage.
An arsenic-sulfide mineral pigment — used since classical times for the yellow-orange of medieval illuminated manuscripts and Persian miniature painting. The color refers to ground orpiment in a Renaissance illuminator's shell: a saturated, slightly cool yellow-orange with the resinous shine of crystalline arsenic compound. Cooler than realgar, brighter than ochre.
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.