ColorXprez

#4E4552

Charcoal · dark cool gray

About #4E4552

#4E4552 is a dark, muted gray colour. Digitally that works out to 31% red, 27% green and 32% blue. In CMYK print terms it is 5% cyan, 16% magenta, 0% yellow and 68% black. Most people will perceive it as cool.

Visually it is similar to Charcoal (ΔE 10.2), with Eggplant the next nearest named colour. Across the colour wheel sits #495245 (umber), its complementary partner.

Because it is dark, it is most useful for headings, body text, footers and dark-mode backgrounds. White text reads best on it at 9.14:1 (a WCAG AAA pass). Used as a text colour on white, it is readable too (9.14:1).

Colour codes

HEX
RGB
HSL
HSV / HSB
CMYK
CIELAB
Decimal
CSS
Red78
Green69
Blue82

Closest named colours

Charcoal
#36454F · ΔE 10.2
Eggplant
#614051 · ΔE 10.9
Graphite
#383838 · ΔE 11.6

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

Text on #4E4552

WCAG contrast for white and black text on this colour.

White heading text
Body copy set on charcoal #4E4552.
9.14:1AAA
Black heading text
Body copy set on charcoal #4E4552.
2.30:1Fail

Colour-blindness preview

How #4E4552 appears to people with the three most common types of colour-vision deficiency.

Normal vision
#4E4552
Protanopia (no red cones)
#434753
Deuteranopia (no green cones)
#454852
Tritanopia (no blue cones)
#4E4649

Shades, tints & matching colours

Tints and shades

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Split complementary

Tetradic

Similar colours

Frequently asked questions

›What colour is #4E4552?

#4E4552 is a dark, muted gray colour. Digitally that works out to 31% red, 27% green and 32% blue. In CMYK print terms it is 5% cyan, 16% magenta, 0% yellow and 68% black. Most people will perceive it as cool.

›What text colour should I use on #4E4552?

Use white text. White on #4E4552 has a contrast ratio of 9.14:1 (AAA).

›What colours go with #4E4552?

Its complementary colour is #495245, and analogous partners are #484552 and #524550.