ColorXprez

#3F4E49

Charcoal · dark neutral

About #3F4E49

#3F4E49 is a dark, near-neutral gray colour. Digitally that works out to 25% red, 31% green and 29% blue. In CMYK print terms it is 19% cyan, 0% magenta, 6% yellow and 69% black. It is close to neutral, so it sits comfortably next to both warm and cool colours.

Visually it is similar to Charcoal (ΔE 10.3), with Graphite the next nearest named colour. Across the colour wheel sits #4E3F44 (graphite), its complementary partner.

Because it is dark, it is most useful for headings, body text, footers and dark-mode backgrounds. Put white text on top of it — 8.76:1, a WCAG AAA pass. Used as a text colour on white, it is readable too (8.76:1).

Colour codes

HEX
RGB
HSL
HSV / HSB
CMYK
CIELAB
Decimal
CSS
Red63
Green78
Blue73

Closest named colours

Charcoal
#36454F · ΔE 10.3
Graphite
#383838 · ΔE 10.9
Gunmetal
#2A3439 · ΔE 12.9

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

Text on #3F4E49

WCAG contrast for white and black text on this colour.

White heading text
Body copy set on charcoal #3F4E49.
8.76:1AAA
Black heading text
Body copy set on charcoal #3F4E49.
2.40:1Fail

Colour-blindness preview

How #3F4E49 appears to people with the three most common types of colour-vision deficiency.

Normal vision
#3F4E49
Protanopia (no red cones)
#4D4C49
Deuteranopia (no green cones)
#4A4A49
Tritanopia (no blue cones)
#3C4E4C

Shades, tints & matching colours

Tints and shades

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Split complementary

Tetradic

Similar colours

Frequently asked questions

›What colour is #3F4E49?

#3F4E49 is a dark, near-neutral gray colour. Digitally that works out to 25% red, 31% green and 29% blue. In CMYK print terms it is 19% cyan, 0% magenta, 6% yellow and 69% black. It is close to neutral, so it sits comfortably next to both warm and cool colours.

›What text colour should I use on #3F4E49?

Use white text. White on #3F4E49 has a contrast ratio of 8.76:1 (AAA).

›What colours go with #3F4E49?

Its complementary colour is #4E3F44, and analogous partners are #3F4E42 and #3F4C4E.