ColorXprez

#504B59

Charcoal · dark cool gray

About #504B59

#504B59 is a dark, muted gray colour. Digitally that works out to 31% red, 29% green and 35% blue. In CMYK print terms it is 10% cyan, 16% magenta, 0% yellow and 65% black. Most people will perceive it as cool.

Visually it is similar to Charcoal (ΔE 9.5), with Eggplant the next nearest named colour. Across the colour wheel sits #54594B (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 — 8.43:1, a WCAG AAA pass. Used as a text colour on white, it is readable too (8.43:1).

Colour codes

HEX
RGB
HSL
HSV / HSB
CMYK
CIELAB
Decimal
CSS
Red80
Green75
Blue89

Closest named colours

Charcoal
#36454F · ΔE 9.5
Eggplant
#614051 · ΔE 12.5
Graphite
#383838 · ΔE 13.0

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

Text on #504B59

WCAG contrast for white and black text on this colour.

White heading text
Body copy set on charcoal #504B59.
8.43:1AAA
Black heading text
Body copy set on charcoal #504B59.
2.49:1Fail

Colour-blindness preview

How #504B59 appears to people with the three most common types of colour-vision deficiency.

Normal vision
#504B59
Protanopia (no red cones)
#494D5A
Deuteranopia (no green cones)
#494D59
Tritanopia (no blue cones)
#4F4D50

Shades, tints & matching colours

Tints and shades

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Split complementary

Tetradic

Similar colours

Frequently asked questions

›What colour is #504B59?

#504B59 is a dark, muted gray colour. Digitally that works out to 31% red, 29% green and 35% blue. In CMYK print terms it is 10% cyan, 16% magenta, 0% yellow and 65% black. Most people will perceive it as cool.

›What text colour should I use on #504B59?

Use white text. White on #504B59 has a contrast ratio of 8.43:1 (AAA).

›What colours go with #504B59?

Its complementary colour is #54594B, and analogous partners are #4B4D59 and #574B59.