Color Conversion
#94260fSmoldering Sienna
About this color
Grounded warmth with smoldering intensity
A dense, burnt-rust red with deep orange undertones and low-mid brightness. It feels grounded, fiercely warm, and quietly urgent—like a hearth you both admire and respect.
Designer tip: Use #94260F as a primary accent for focal elements (logo lockups, hero badges, or CTA) on a warm neutral background (D9D2C8) at 60–80px scale, then add a complementary cyan (6BD9F0) for hover or secondary highlights to create high-impact contrast without garishness.
Best use case: Premium artisanal food packaging (smoked spices, cured meats, single-origin chocolate) where the color reads as both rustic provenance and crafted luxury.
Psychology
Psychological traits and emotional associations
Effect
In a space this color reads as an anchoring accent that draws focus and suggests craftsmanship; it tightens perceived space and adds tactile richness. Used sparingly it increases perceived value and appetite; used in large fields it can feel enclosing and heavy.
Emotional impact
Viewers typically feel drawn in and slightly energized, with a sense of dependable warmth and a hint of urgency.
Meaning & symbolism
Cultural symbolism and significance
Cultural significance
In Western contexts this deep rust-red often reads as vintage, leather, and hearth — associated with heritage brands and food. In East Asian cultures, bright red commonly signals luck and celebration, while this darker variant suggests formality, depth, or lacquered wood finishes. In Middle Eastern and Mediterranean traditions the hue connects to terracotta, pottery, and warm earth, signaling craft and lasting materiality.
Positive associations
Associated with artisanal food and heritage craftsmanship in Western, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern contexts (e.g., terracotta, cured meats, leather goods).
Negative associations
Can evoke poverty or decay in some contexts if used as a flat wall color (e.g., perceived as 'rust' or 'stain' in industrial areas); in certain East Asian ceremonial contexts, the darker tone may be seen as too somber compared with celebratory bright reds.
Design applications
How this color is used across different fields
Premium food packaging
As a label background or logo color it signals smoked, spiced, or aged products and elevates perceived authenticity; pairs well with cream printing and copper foil.
Hospitality interiors (restaurant, wine bar)
Use as an accent wall behind the bar or in booth upholstery to create intimate warmth and appetite appeal without neon brightness.
Leather goods and accessories
Perfect for dyed leather (wallets, boots, belts) where the color reads as rich, ageable, and masculine-feminine versatile.
Editorial covers and packaging labels
Acts as a confident headline field or spine color that stands out on shelves while feeling quietly curated and historical.
Brand identity for craft or heritage brands
Functions as a primary brand color that conveys provenance and tactile quality when combined with serif logotypes and muted neutrals.
Design guidance
Practical tips for using this color effectively in your designs
Do this
- + Pair #94260F with a warm, light neutral (e.g., D9D2C8) for backgrounds so the red reads rich without overpowering legibility.
- + Use it as a focal accent—logo, spine, or hero strip—occupying 5–15% of composition to maximize perceived value.
- + Introduce the complementary cyan (6BD9F0) as a small interactive or highlight color to inject modern contrast and improve accessibility when used for CTAs.
Avoid this
- - Don't use it as the primary background for long-form on-screen reading—low luminance and warm chroma reduce legibility and cause eye fatigue.
- - Don't pair it with saturated magentas or neon pinks; they create color conflicts and undermine the heritage feeling.
- - Don't rely on it alone to convey luxury—combine with texture, type, or metallics (copper/bronze) for perceived quality.
Fundamentals: Use it as an anchoring accent—balance scale, contrast, and texture to preserve warmth without overpowering composition.
Overuse risk: When dominant, the color compresses visual space and reads heavy or dated, making interfaces feel cluttered and interiors feel smaller. Excessive use diminishes its impact as a premium accent and can feel oppressive rather than inviting.
Brand fit
Industries and brand archetypes that align with this color
Trust level
medium
Seriousness
serious
Trend
Color pairing
Colors that complement and enhance this shade
#6BD9F0
Mathematical complementary cyan for high-contrast accent and modern pop (complementary harmony).
#D96B0F
Warm, sunbaked orange that sits adjacent on the color wheel for a rich analogous progression (analogous harmony).
#0FAF46
A saturated green for a lively triadic contrast that energizes food and packaging applications (triadic harmony).
Typography hints: For headlines on light backgrounds use a warm serif (e.g., Georgia/Merriweather) in 700–800 weight; for UI buttons on this color use a geometric sans (e.g., Montserrat or Open Sans SemiBold 600) in off-white, minimum 14–16px for accessibility; for body copy avoid placing long text directly on this hue—use the warm neutral D9D2C8 instead.
Historical significance
The story and heritage of this color
Shades like this deep red-orange trace back to iron-oxide pigments such as Venetian red and burnt sienna used since antiquity; early craftsmen achieved similar hues from natural earths and later from heated umbers and iron oxides in the Renaissance and before.
Artists and architects employed related tones for terracotta pottery, roof tiles, and leather binding; in the 18th–19th centuries, burnt umber and red earths were staples for underpainting and for conveying warmed flesh tones and rustic materials in oil painting. Fashion adopted the hue intermittently for leather jackets, riding boots, and heritage workwear through the 20th century.
Today the shade resurfaces in artisan branding, heritage product design, and interior accents where consumers seek authenticity; contemporary digital color systems and synthetic iron-oxide pigments make the tone reliably reproducible across print, textile dyeing, and web use, ensuring consistent brand application.
Variations
The purpose of this section is to accurately produce tints (pure white added) and shades (pure black added) of your selected color in 10% increments.
Pro Tip: Use shades for hover states and shadows, tints for highlights and backgrounds.
Shades
Darker variations created by adding black to your base color.
Tints
Lighter variations created by adding white to your base color.
Common Use Cases
- • UI component states (hover, active, disabled)
- • Creating depth with shadows and highlights
- • Building consistent color systems
Design System Tip
These variations form the foundation of a cohesive color palette. Export them to maintain consistency across your entire project.
Color Combinations
Each harmony has its own mood. Use harmonies to brainstorm color combos that work well together.
How to Use
Click on any color to copy its hex value. These combinations are mathematically proven to create visual harmony.
Why It Matters
Color harmonies create balance and evoke specific emotions in your designs.
Complement
A color and its opposite on the color wheel, +180 degrees of hue. High contrast.
Split-complementary
A color and two adjacent to its complement, +/-30 degrees of hue from the value opposite the main color. Bold like a straight complement, but more versatile.
Triadic
Three colors spaced evenly along the color wheel, each 120 degrees of hue apart. Best to allow one color to dominate and use the others as accents.
Analogous
Three colors of the same luminance and saturation with hues that are adjacent on the color wheel, 30 degrees apart. Smooth transitions.
Monochromatic
Three colors of the same hue with luminance values +/-50%. Subtle and refined.
Tetradic
Two sets of complementary colors, separated by 60 degrees of hue.
Color Theory Principles
Balance
Use one dominant color, support with secondary, and accent sparingly.
Contrast
Ensure sufficient contrast for readability and accessibility.
Harmony
Colors should work together to create a unified visual experience.
Color Contrast Checker
Test color combinations to ensure they meet WCAG accessibility standards for text readability.
Text Color
Background Color
Contrast
WCAG Standards
Advanced Contrast Checker
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Technical Formats
Practical Formats
Color Analysis
Blindness Simulator
Creative Aspects
Frequently asked questions
- What color is #94260F?
- #94260F is Smoldering Sienna – A dense, burnt-rust red with deep orange undertones and low-mid brightness. It feels grounded, fiercely warm, and quietly urgent—like a hearth you both admire and respect.
- What does Smoldering Sienna symbolize?
- earth and provenance, culinary warmth and appetite, aged craftsmanship, passion tempered by restraint, heirloom value. In Western contexts this deep rust-red often reads as vintage, leather, and hearth — associated with heritage brands and food. In East Asian cultures, bright red commonly signals luck and celebration, while this darker variant suggests formality, depth, or lacquered wood finishes. In Middle Eastern and Mediterranean traditions the hue connects to terracotta, pottery, and warm earth, signaling craft and lasting materiality.
- Where is Smoldering Sienna used in design?
- In a space this color reads as an anchoring accent that draws focus and suggests craftsmanship; it tightens perceived space and adds tactile richness. Used sparingly it increases perceived value and appetite; used in large fields it can feel enclosing and heavy.