#2E281E
Espresso · very dark neutral
About #2E281E
#2E281E is a near-neutral, very dark shade in the brown family. On screen it is built from 18% red, 16% green and 12% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 0% cyan, 13% magenta, 35% yellow and 82% black. Being nearly neutral, it pairs easily with warm and cool tones alike.
Of the common colour names it is very close to Espresso (ΔE 6.3); Jet comes next. Its complementary colour, directly opposite on the colour wheel, is #1E242E — a gunmetal tone that gives the strongest contrast in hue.
Designers tend to use very dark tones like #2E281E for headings, body text, footers and dark-mode backgrounds. White text reads best on it at 14.60:1 (a WCAG AAA pass). Used as a text colour on white, it is readable too (14.60:1).
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Closest named colours
ΔE measures visible difference: under 2 is barely noticeable, over 10 is clearly different.
Text on #2E281E
WCAG contrast for white and black text on this colour.
Colour-blindness preview
How #2E281E appears to people with the three most common types of colour-vision deficiency.
Shades, tints & matching colours
Similar colours
Frequently asked questions
›What colour is #2E281E?
#2E281E is a near-neutral, very dark shade in the brown family. On screen it is built from 18% red, 16% green and 12% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 0% cyan, 13% magenta, 35% yellow and 82% black. Being nearly neutral, it pairs easily with warm and cool tones alike.
›What text colour should I use on #2E281E?
Use white text. White on #2E281E has a contrast ratio of 14.60:1 (AAA).
›What colours go with #2E281E?
Its complementary colour is #1E242E, and analogous partners are #2E201E and #2C2E1E.