ColorXprez

#4E5D5B

Charcoal · dark neutral

About #4E5D5B

#4E5D5B is a dark, near-neutral gray colour. Digitally that works out to 31% red, 36% green and 36% blue. In CMYK print terms it is 16% cyan, 0% magenta, 2% yellow and 64% black. It is close to neutral, so it sits comfortably next to both warm and cool colours.

Visually it is similar to Charcoal (ΔE 12.5), with Umber the next nearest named colour. Across the colour wheel sits #5D4E50 (umber), its complementary partner.

Because it is dark, it is most useful for headings, body text, footers and dark-mode backgrounds. Put white text on top of it — 6.91:1, a WCAG AA pass. Used as a text colour on white, it is readable too (6.91:1).

Colour codes

HEX
RGB
HSL
HSV / HSB
CMYK
CIELAB
Decimal
CSS
Red78
Green93
Blue91

Closest named colours

Charcoal
#36454F · ΔE 12.5
Umber
#635147 · ΔE 15.5
Graphite
#383838 · ΔE 16.0

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

Text on #4E5D5B

WCAG contrast for white and black text on this colour.

White heading text
Body copy set on charcoal #4E5D5B.
6.91:1AA
Black heading text
Body copy set on charcoal #4E5D5B.
3.04:1AA Large

Colour-blindness preview

How #4E5D5B appears to people with the three most common types of colour-vision deficiency.

Normal vision
#4E5D5B
Protanopia (no red cones)
#5B5B5B
Deuteranopia (no green cones)
#58595B
Tritanopia (no blue cones)
#4A5E5C

Shades, tints & matching colours

Tints and shades

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Split complementary

Tetradic

Similar colours

Frequently asked questions

›What colour is #4E5D5B?

#4E5D5B is a dark, near-neutral gray colour. Digitally that works out to 31% red, 36% green and 36% blue. In CMYK print terms it is 16% cyan, 0% magenta, 2% yellow and 64% black. It is close to neutral, so it sits comfortably next to both warm and cool colours.

›What text colour should I use on #4E5D5B?

Use white text. White on #4E5D5B has a contrast ratio of 6.91:1 (AA).

›What colours go with #4E5D5B?

Its complementary colour is #5D4E50, and analogous partners are #4E5D54 and #4E585D.