ColorXprez

#3E474D

Charcoal · dark neutral

About #3E474D

With the hex code #3E474D, this is a dark gray with a near-neutral character. Its RGB recipe is 24% red, 28% green and 30% blue, while a printer would mix 19% cyan, 8% magenta, 0% yellow and 70% black. It is close to neutral, so it sits comfortably next to both warm and cool colours.

If you had to name it, it is very close to Charcoal — a ΔE of 3.5 — followed by Graphite. For maximum hue contrast, pair it with its complement #4D443E, a umber shade.

In design, a dark colour like this works best for headings, body text, footers and dark-mode backgrounds. Put white text on top of it — 9.49:1, a WCAG AAA pass. Used as a text colour on white, it is readable too (9.49:1).

Colour codes

HEX
RGB
HSL
HSV / HSB
CMYK
CIELAB
Decimal
CSS
Red62
Green71
Blue77

Closest named colours

Charcoal
#36454F · ΔE 3.5
Graphite
#383838 · ΔE 8.0
Gunmetal
#2A3439 · ΔE 8.6

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

Text on #3E474D

WCAG contrast for white and black text on this colour.

White heading text
Body copy set on charcoal #3E474D.
9.49:1AAA
Black heading text
Body copy set on charcoal #3E474D.
2.21:1Fail

Colour-blindness preview

How #3E474D appears to people with the three most common types of colour-vision deficiency.

Normal vision
#3E474D
Protanopia (no red cones)
#44474D
Deuteranopia (no green cones)
#42454D
Tritanopia (no blue cones)
#3A4949

Shades, tints & matching colours

Tints and shades

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Split complementary

Tetradic

Similar colours

Frequently asked questions

›What colour is #3E474D?

With the hex code #3E474D, this is a dark gray with a near-neutral character. Its RGB recipe is 24% red, 28% green and 30% blue, while a printer would mix 19% cyan, 8% magenta, 0% yellow and 70% black. It is close to neutral, so it sits comfortably next to both warm and cool colours.

›What text colour should I use on #3E474D?

Use white text. White on #3E474D has a contrast ratio of 9.49:1 (AAA).

›What colours go with #3E474D?

Its complementary colour is #4D443E, and analogous partners are #3E4D4C and #3E3F4D.