ColorXprez

#4E4043

Graphite · dark neutral

About #4E4043

#4E4043 is a near-neutral, dark shade in the gray family. On screen it is built from 31% red, 25% green and 26% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 0% cyan, 18% magenta, 14% yellow and 69% black. It is close to neutral, so it sits comfortably next to both warm and cool colours.

Of the common colour names it is similar to Graphite (ΔE 8.4); Umber comes next. Its complementary colour, directly opposite on the colour wheel, is #404E4B — a charcoal tone that gives the strongest contrast in hue.

Designers tend to use dark tones like #4E4043 for headings, body text, footers and dark-mode backgrounds. Put white text on top of it — 9.82:1, a WCAG AAA pass. Used as a text colour on white, it is readable too (9.82:1).

Colour codes

HEX
RGB
HSL
HSV / HSB
CMYK
CIELAB
Decimal
CSS
Red78
Green64
Blue67

Closest named colours

Graphite
#383838 · ΔE 8.4
Umber
#635147 · ΔE 11.1
Eggplant
#614051 · ΔE 12.0

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

Text on #4E4043

WCAG contrast for white and black text on this colour.

White heading text
Body copy set on graphite #4E4043.
9.82:1AAA
Black heading text
Body copy set on graphite #4E4043.
2.14:1Fail

Colour-blindness preview

How #4E4043 appears to people with the three most common types of colour-vision deficiency.

Normal vision
#4E4043
Protanopia (no red cones)
#424243
Deuteranopia (no green cones)
#454443
Tritanopia (no blue cones)
#513F41

Shades, tints & matching colours

Tints and shades

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Split complementary

Tetradic

Similar colours

Frequently asked questions

›What colour is #4E4043?

#4E4043 is a near-neutral, dark shade in the gray family. On screen it is built from 31% red, 25% green and 26% blue; for print, its CMYK mix is 0% cyan, 18% magenta, 14% 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 #4E4043?

Use white text. White on #4E4043 has a contrast ratio of 9.82:1 (AAA).

›What colours go with #4E4043?

Its complementary colour is #404E4B, and analogous partners are #4E404A and #4E4440.