ColorXprez

#424B4D

Charcoal · dark neutral

About #424B4D

#424B4D is a near-neutral, dark shade in the gray family. On screen it is built from 26% red, 29% green and 30% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 14% cyan, 3% magenta, 0% yellow and 70% 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 Charcoal (ΔE 6.2); Graphite comes next. Its complementary colour, directly opposite on the colour wheel, is #4D4442 — a graphite tone that gives the strongest contrast in hue.

Designers tend to use dark tones like #424B4D for headings, body text, footers and dark-mode backgrounds. Put white text on top of it — 8.95:1, a WCAG AAA pass. Used as a text colour on white, it is readable too (8.95:1).

Colour codes

HEX
RGB
HSL
HSV / HSB
CMYK
CIELAB
Decimal
CSS
Red66
Green75
Blue77

Closest named colours

Charcoal
#36454F · ΔE 6.2
Graphite
#383838 · ΔE 8.6
Gunmetal
#2A3439 · ΔE 10.4

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

Text on #424B4D

WCAG contrast for white and black text on this colour.

White heading text
Body copy set on charcoal #424B4D.
8.95:1AAA
Black heading text
Body copy set on charcoal #424B4D.
2.35:1Fail

Colour-blindness preview

How #424B4D appears to people with the three most common types of colour-vision deficiency.

Normal vision
#424B4D
Protanopia (no red cones)
#494A4D
Deuteranopia (no green cones)
#47494D
Tritanopia (no blue cones)
#3F4C4C

Shades, tints & matching colours

Tints and shades

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Split complementary

Tetradic

Similar colours

Frequently asked questions

›What colour is #424B4D?

#424B4D is a near-neutral, dark shade in the gray family. On screen it is built from 26% red, 29% green and 30% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 14% cyan, 3% 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 #424B4D?

Use white text. White on #424B4D has a contrast ratio of 8.95:1 (AAA).

›What colours go with #424B4D?

Its complementary colour is #4D4442, and analogous partners are #424D4A and #42464D.