#282E21

sRGB: 40 / 46 / 33

Distant whispers illuminate hidden paths
Withered branches transcend the boundaries of time
Distant echoes surrender to silence

#282E21 belongs to the yellow-green family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 40 red, 46 green and 33 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 87.7° lands in the yellow-green region. Its 16.5% saturation makes it close to gray at this lightness. HSL lightness is 15.5% on a scale from black (0%) to white (100%). Of black and white lettering, white has the clearer light-to-dark separation on this background (13.97:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 40, 46, 33
HSL: 87.69°, 16.46%, 15.49%
HSV / HSB: 87.69°, 28.26%, 18.04%
CMYK (approx.): 13.04%, 0.00%, 28.26%, 81.96%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 2.126, 2.515, 1.812
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 17.986, -5.601, 7.535
WCAG relative luminance: 0.02515
24-bit decimal: 2633249

CMYK uses a profile-free approximation. Printed output depends on the press, ink and paper. Lab uses a D65 white point.

Text contrast

Contrast tells you how clearly lettering separates from #282E21 in light and dark. The ratio compares relative luminance, a measure of light weighted for human vision. Identical colors give 1:1 and black against white gives 21:1. A ratio of 2.99:1 falls just below the 3:1 AA minimum for large text. Body text needs at least 4.5:1 because its finer strokes are harder to distinguish.

Black text: 1.50:1

Normal text: Fail
Large text: Fail

White text: 13.97:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

AA and AAA are WCAG accessibility levels. AAA sets a higher bar: 7:1 for normal text and 4.5:1 for large text. Large text begins at 18 pt regular or 14 pt bold. Ratings use the unrounded ratio.

Reference: WCAG text contrast guidance

Palettes & scales

Harmonies rotate the hue. Scales mix the starting color with white, black or middle gray in 20% steps in encoded sRGB.

Complementary

#27212E sits half a turn (180°) from #282E21 on the HSL wheel. Keeping saturation and lightness steady while crossing to the opposite hue gives you a contrasting accent. Check text contrast separately before using the pair for lettering.

#282E21 #27212E

Analogous

#2E2E21 and #212E21 sit 30° to either side of #282E21. The three hues are neighbors on the wheel, so you can change the color of a border or highlight while keeping it close to the original.

#2E2E21 #282E21 #212E21

Triadic

#282E21, #21282E and #2E2128 are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#282E21 #21282E #2E2128

Split complementary

Start at #282E21 and look across the wheel. #21212E and #2E212E sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#282E21 #21212E #2E212E

Square

Starting with #282E21, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #212E2E, #27212E, then #2E2121. Across the square, #282E21 pairs with #27212E, and #212E2E with #2E2121.

#282E21 #212E2E #27212E #2E2121

Tetradic

#282E21 and #27212E are opposites, as are #212E27 and #2E2128. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#282E21 #212E27 #27212E #2E2128

Tints

Mixing #282E21 with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #53584D, keeps 80% of the original. By #D4D5D3, the mixture is 80% white.

#282E21 #53584D #7E827A #A9ABA6 #D4D5D3 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #282E21 with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #20251A, keeps 80% of the original. By #080907, the mixture is 80% black.

#282E21 #20251A #181C14 #10120D #080907 #000000

Tones

Mixing #282E21 with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #3A3E34, keeps 80% of the original. By #6E706D, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#282E21 #3A3E34 #4B4F47 #5D5F5A #6E706D #808080

Copy color codes

Hex, RGB and HSL are three ways to write this screen color. Paste any of them into a CSS color property.

Hex

#282E21

RGB

rgb(40 46 33)

HSL

hsl(87.692 16.456% 15.490%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #282E21;
  color: #FFFFFF;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#282E21 uses 40 red, 46 green and 33 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 15.7%

Green 18.0%

Blue 12.9%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #282E21 is 13.0% cyan, 0.0% magenta, 28.3% yellow and 82.0% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 13.0%

Magenta 0.0%

Yellow 28.3%

Black 82.0%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #223322. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #232 in CSS. For a modern design, keep #282E21 when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #333333, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand: #223322 Nearest web-safe: #333333

Gradient to complement

#282E21 #282C23 #282A25 #282828 #27252A #27232C #27212E

Color vision previews

Compare how #282E21 appears in each simulation. When two chart lines or status indicators become hard to tell apart, a label, shape or line pattern gives readers another way to distinguish them. Individual perception varies.

Protanopia

A red–green color vision deficiency. Without a distinct response from long-wavelength cones, some reds and greens can look alike, and reds can appear darker.

#2F2C20

Deuteranopia

A red–green color vision deficiency. Without a distinct response from medium-wavelength cones, some greens can be difficult to distinguish from reds or browns.

#2E2C22

Tritanopia

A blue–yellow color vision deficiency. Without a distinct response from short-wavelength cones, blue can resemble green, and yellow can resemble pink.

#292D2A

Protanomaly (50%)

An altered long-wavelength cone response can make reds appear dimmer and harder to distinguish from greens. This swatch shows the model’s halfway setting.

#2D2D21

Deuteranomaly (50%)

An altered medium-wavelength cone response can reduce the visible difference between reds and greens. This swatch shows the model’s halfway setting.

#2D2D21

Tritanomaly (50%)

An altered short-wavelength cone response can make blue harder to distinguish from green. This swatch shows the model’s halfway setting.

#282E25

Grayscale (luminance)

This design check removes hue and preserves relative luminance so you can compare light and dark areas.

#2C2C2C

Partial grayscale (50% blend)

This design check mixes the original color halfway toward its grayscale equivalent in linear light. Use it to see how a design holds up as color fades.

#2A2D27

Reference: National Eye Institute: Types of Color Vision Deficiency

Technical reference

CAM16 and CIECAM02 below assume D65 white, an average surround, background Y of 20 against white at 100, and adapting luminance of 4.07 cd/m².

Linear sRGB

These channels scale with emitted light. Use them for lighting calculations and physically meaningful blends.

R 0.02122 G 0.02732 B 0.01521

Display P3

P3 displays can reproduce a wider range of reds and greens. These coordinates reproduce this same sRGB swatch on a color-managed P3 display.

R 0.16130 G 0.17966 B 0.13427

Linear Display P3

These P3 channels are proportional to light, before display encoding.

R 0.02230 G 0.02712 B 0.01619

CIE xyY

The x and y coordinates locate chromaticity on a diagram. Y gives relative luminance on a scale where white is 100.

x 0.330 y 0.390 Y 2.515

CMY

Ideal cyan, magenta and yellow are the complements of the encoded red, green and blue channels.

C % 84.314 M % 81.961 Y % 87.059

Binary RGB

Each eight-bit group represents one channel. Together they store the 24-bit hex color.

00101000 00101110 00100001