ColorXprez

#4E4A55

Charcoal · dark neutral

About #4E4A55

With the hex code #4E4A55, this is a dark gray with a near-neutral character. Its RGB recipe is 31% red, 29% green and 33% blue, while a printer would mix 8% cyan, 13% magenta, 0% yellow and 67% black. It is close to neutral, so it sits comfortably next to both warm and cool colours.

If you had to name it, it is similar to Charcoal — a ΔE of 8.5 — followed by Graphite. For maximum hue contrast, pair it with its complement #51554A, a umber shade.

In design, a dark colour like this works best for headings, body text, footers and dark-mode backgrounds. Put white text on top of it — 8.63:1, a WCAG AAA pass. Used as a text colour on white, it is readable too (8.63:1).

Colour codes

HEX
RGB
HSL
HSV / HSB
CMYK
CIELAB
Decimal
CSS
Red78
Green74
Blue85

Closest named colours

Charcoal
#36454F · ΔE 8.5
Graphite
#383838 · ΔE 11.3
Gunmetal
#2A3439 · ΔE 13.3

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

Text on #4E4A55

WCAG contrast for white and black text on this colour.

White heading text
Body copy set on charcoal #4E4A55.
8.63:1AAA
Black heading text
Body copy set on charcoal #4E4A55.
2.43:1Fail

Colour-blindness preview

How #4E4A55 appears to people with the three most common types of colour-vision deficiency.

Normal vision
#4E4A55
Protanopia (no red cones)
#484C56
Deuteranopia (no green cones)
#494C55
Tritanopia (no blue cones)
#4D4B4E

Shades, tints & matching colours

Tints and shades

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Split complementary

Tetradic

Similar colours

Frequently asked questions

›What colour is #4E4A55?

With the hex code #4E4A55, this is a dark gray with a near-neutral character. Its RGB recipe is 31% red, 29% green and 33% blue, while a printer would mix 8% cyan, 13% magenta, 0% yellow and 67% black. It is close to neutral, so it sits comfortably next to both warm and cool colours.

›What text colour should I use on #4E4A55?

Use white text. White on #4E4A55 has a contrast ratio of 8.63:1 (AAA).

›What colours go with #4E4A55?

Its complementary colour is #51554A, and analogous partners are #4A4B55 and #544A55.