ColorXprez

#4E5553

Charcoal · dark neutral

About #4E5553

With the hex code #4E5553, this is a dark gray with a near-neutral character. Its RGB recipe is 31% red, 33% green and 33% blue, while a printer would mix 8% cyan, 0% magenta, 2% 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 10.8 — followed by Umber. For maximum hue contrast, pair it with its complement #554E50, 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 — 7.64:1, a WCAG AAA pass. Used as a text colour on white, it is readable too (7.64:1).

Colour codes

HEX
RGB
HSL
HSV / HSB
CMYK
CIELAB
Decimal
CSS
Red78
Green85
Blue83

Closest named colours

Charcoal
#36454F · ΔE 10.8
Umber
#635147 · ΔE 12.4
Graphite
#383838 · ΔE 12.4

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

Text on #4E5553

WCAG contrast for white and black text on this colour.

White heading text
Body copy set on charcoal #4E5553.
7.64:1AAA
Black heading text
Body copy set on charcoal #4E5553.
2.75:1Fail

Colour-blindness preview

How #4E5553 appears to people with the three most common types of colour-vision deficiency.

Normal vision
#4E5553
Protanopia (no red cones)
#545453
Deuteranopia (no green cones)
#535353
Tritanopia (no blue cones)
#4C5554

Shades, tints & matching colours

Tints and shades

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Split complementary

Tetradic

Similar colours

Frequently asked questions

›What colour is #4E5553?

With the hex code #4E5553, this is a dark gray with a near-neutral character. Its RGB recipe is 31% red, 33% green and 33% blue, while a printer would mix 8% cyan, 0% magenta, 2% 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 #4E5553?

Use white text. White on #4E5553 has a contrast ratio of 7.64:1 (AAA).

›What colours go with #4E5553?

Its complementary colour is #554E50, and analogous partners are #4E5550 and #4E5355.