ColorXprez

#404243

Graphite · dark neutral

About #404243

#404243 is a near-neutral, dark shade in the gray family. On screen it is built from 25% red, 26% green and 26% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 4% cyan, 1% magenta, 0% yellow and 74% black. It is close to neutral, so it sits comfortably next to both warm and cool colours.

Of the common colour names it is very close to Graphite (ΔE 4.4); Charcoal comes next. Its complementary colour, directly opposite on the colour wheel, is #434140 — a graphite tone that gives the strongest contrast in hue.

Designers tend to use dark tones like #404243 for headings, body text, footers and dark-mode backgrounds. Put white text on top of it — 10.10:1, a WCAG AAA pass. Used as a text colour on white, it is readable too (10.10:1).

Colour codes

HEX
RGB
HSL
HSV / HSB
CMYK
CIELAB
Decimal
CSS
Red64
Green66
Blue67

Closest named colours

Graphite
#383838 · ΔE 4.4
Charcoal
#36454F · ΔE 7.6
Gunmetal
#2A3439 · ΔE 8.1

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

Text on #404243

WCAG contrast for white and black text on this colour.

White heading text
Body copy set on graphite #404243.
10.10:1AAA
Black heading text
Body copy set on graphite #404243.
2.08:1Fail

Colour-blindness preview

How #404243 appears to people with the three most common types of colour-vision deficiency.

Normal vision
#404243
Protanopia (no red cones)
#414243
Deuteranopia (no green cones)
#414143
Tritanopia (no blue cones)
#3F4242

Shades, tints & matching colours

Tints and shades

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Split complementary

Tetradic

Similar colours

Frequently asked questions

›What colour is #404243?

#404243 is a near-neutral, dark shade in the gray family. On screen it is built from 25% red, 26% green and 26% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 4% cyan, 1% magenta, 0% yellow and 74% black. It is close to neutral, so it sits comfortably next to both warm and cool colours.

›What text colour should I use on #404243?

Use white text. White on #404243 has a contrast ratio of 10.10:1 (AAA).

›What colours go with #404243?

Its complementary colour is #434140, and analogous partners are #404342 and #404143.