ColorXprez

#39404E

Charcoal · dark cool blue

About #39404E

#39404E is a dark, muted blue colour. Digitally that works out to 22% red, 25% green and 31% blue. In CMYK print terms it is 27% cyan, 18% magenta, 0% yellow and 69% black. Most people will perceive it as cool.

Visually it is very close to Charcoal (ΔE 4.5), with Gunmetal the next nearest named colour. Across the colour wheel sits #4E4739 (umber), its complementary partner.

Because it is dark, it is most useful for headings, body text, footers and dark-mode backgrounds. White text reads best on it at 10.41:1 (a WCAG AAA pass). Used as a text colour on white, it is readable too (10.41:1).

Colour codes

HEX
RGB
HSL
HSV / HSB
CMYK
CIELAB
Decimal
CSS
Red57
Green64
Blue78

Closest named colours

Charcoal
#36454F · ΔE 4.5
Gunmetal
#2A3439 · ΔE 8.5
Graphite
#383838 · ΔE 10.1

ΔE measures visible difference: under 2 is barely noticeable, over 10 is clearly different.

Text on #39404E

WCAG contrast for white and black text on this colour.

White heading text
Body copy set on charcoal #39404E.
10.41:1AAA
Black heading text
Body copy set on charcoal #39404E.
2.02:1Fail

Colour-blindness preview

How #39404E appears to people with the three most common types of colour-vision deficiency.

Normal vision
#39404E
Protanopia (no red cones)
#3C414F
Deuteranopia (no green cones)
#3A3F4E
Tritanopia (no blue cones)
#344345

Shades, tints & matching colours

Tints and shades

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Split complementary

Tetradic

Similar colours

Frequently asked questions

›What colour is #39404E?

#39404E is a dark, muted blue colour. Digitally that works out to 22% red, 25% green and 31% blue. In CMYK print terms it is 27% cyan, 18% magenta, 0% yellow and 69% black. Most people will perceive it as cool.

›What text colour should I use on #39404E?

Use white text. White on #39404E has a contrast ratio of 10.41:1 (AAA).

›What colours go with #39404E?

Its complementary colour is #4E4739, and analogous partners are #394B4E and #3D394E.