Crimson Star Map

The chart is the same accurate sky as every design we make: roughly 9,000 stars from the HYG catalog down to magnitude 6.5, all 88 constellations with their official line figures, positioned for your coordinates and your minute, for any date between 1900 and 2100. There is no photograph or texture behind it; the colour is flat and even, which lets the stars read cleanly and keeps the print faithful from screen to paper.

• Valentine's Day. Red without a single heart on it, which is exactly why it works: it is a Valentine's gift that still looks like art in March.
• Christmas. The burgundy sits naturally beside the season, and a map of a date that mattered makes a better gift than most things wrapped in the same colour.
• Anniversaries. For couples who find navy and black too cold. Crimson feels like a room with a fire in it.
• A gift for someone who loves colour. Most star maps are dark blue or black. This one is not.

If you want red and a heart, use the Heart design for the shape and the Crimson design for the colour, and pick the one that matters more; we do not currently offer a red heart.

The ground is a deep, slightly cool burgundy, closer to wine than to fire-engine red. Stars are white with a faint tint from their real colour index. Constellation lines are a rose pink at a fine weight, chosen to be visible against the red without turning the map into a diagram. Title and details are set in a warm off-white.

Solid colour prints predictably, which makes Crimson reliable at home on a good matte photo paper; the red stays even and the white stars stay crisp. Our framed print uses semi-gloss paper, which deepens the burgundy, and the black wood frame gives it a clean edge.

On the wall, Crimson pairs with wood, brass, cream and green. It is the design to choose for a dining room, a library corner or a hallway with warm light. In a cool grey room it will fight the palette; look at Navy there.

• Under the same sky / the night we met
• Happy Valentine's / 14 February, every year
• Merry Christmas, Mum / the night you were born
• Twenty years / and still the same sky
• Ours / Rome, 3 September 2011

The off-white type reads well at any length, but a short title keeps the circle central.

The digital map costs $25 and includes a PNG and a print-ready PDF at 300 DPI, sized for 12x16, 18x24 and 24x36 inch frames. Files arrive by email within minutes of purchase.

Framed prints are $69 for 12x16, $109 for 18x24 and $179 for 24x36. Each comes in a black wood frame with an acrylic front on semi-gloss paper, ready to hang. Shipping is free to the US and 40+ countries and usually takes 7 to 12 business days.

You can add your own photo to any map for $19. Every order is covered by a 14-day money-back guarantee, counted from purchase for digital files and from delivery for framed prints.