Charcoal

#3c343c

Hex, rgb, cmyk and Pantone values for charcoal, with shades, tints, matching colors and free print quality patterns.

Charcoal carries almost no chroma, so it works as a neutral. Neutrals like this hold a palette together quietly. Almost anything sits on top of it, which is what makes a good neutral useful.

Charcoal color values

Every conversion for #3c343c, ready to copy. Hex, rgb, hsl, hsv, cmyk, cie-lab, xyz, decimal, web safe and the nearest Pantone.

Hex#3c343c
RGB60, 52, 60
HSL300, 7%, 22%
HSV300, 13%, 24%
CMYK0%, 13%, 0%, 76%
Lab22.8, 5.31, -3.71
XYZ3.91, 3.74, 4.79
Decimal3945532
Web safe#333333
Pantone532 C
Pantone532 CHex#3c343cRgb60 52 60Cmyk0 13 0 76Lab23 5 -4Darker#211c21Deep#372f37Lighter#625662

Shades of charcoal

Tints of charcoal

Colors that go with charcoal

Charcoal in print

It sits in a comfortable part of the gamut and reproduces reliably on press. The cmyk build is 0, 13, 0, 76.

The same color needs a different cmyk build depending on the paper. Here is #3c343c on both.

Coated stockgloss or silk, C
0 13 0 76
Ink sits on the surface, so colors stay bright and close to screen.
Uncoated stocknatural or matte, U
4 16 4 82
The stock absorbs ink and gains dot, so it needs a heavier build and reads a touch softer.

This color converts to cmyk comfortably and should hold on press.

See how it converts in the rgb to cmyk converter, or readrgb vs cmyk for print andwhat the k in cmyk means.

Charcoal in css

Copy #3c343c straight into your stylesheet.

.background { background-color: #3c343c; }
.text { color: #3c343c; }
.border { border: 2px solid #3c343c; }

How charcoal looks on light and dark

Charcoal and accessibility

Contrast ratios for #3c343c against black and white text, measured to the WCAG standard.

Textwhite text on this color
12.01:1
AApass · AA largepass · AAApass
Textblack text on this color
1.75:1
AAfail · AA largefail · AAAfail

Use white text on this color for readable body copy. To test #3c343c against any other color, not just black and white, run the pair through ourcontrast checker for a live WCAG reading.

Charcoal on a business card, sticker and pattern

A quick look at how #3c343c sits on real print products. Start any of these in the maker.

Your nameFounderhello@brand.comBusiness card
Sticker
Repeat pattern

Building a full palette around charcoal? Pull matching colors from any photo with thecolor palette generator, or check a design for print with thergb to cmyk converter.

Turn charcoal into a seamless pattern

Four patterns built from #3c343c and its shades, free at print quality. Click any one to keep editing in the pattern maker.

Make posters, wallpaper and packaging art from charcoal, free and print ready.

Open in pattern maker

How we calculate these values

Here is how the numbers for #3c343c are worked out. Rgb, hsl, hsv, lab and xyz are derived through the usual sRGB conversion formulas. Two cmyk builds are shown because coated and uncoated papers behave differently, uncoated soaks up ink and needs more of it to hit the same target. The Pantone figure is the nearest match in our reference set by perceptual distance and it is an approximation, not an exact spot color.