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Taupe Gray Ink
Color detail

Taupe Gray Ink

Orange · Hue 40
Hex
#252422
RGB
rgb(37, 36, 34)
HSL
hsl(40, 5%, 14%)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 3%, 8%, 85%)
Metrics
S 5% · L 14%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white
15.5:1AA
on black
1.4:1Fail
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Taupe Gray Ink (#252422) belongs to the orange family — hue 40°, 5% saturation, 14% lightness. Copy the hex, RGB, or HSL value above, or paste the CSS custom property below into your stylesheet to reference this color directly.

CSS
:root {
  --colorarchive-taupe-gray-ink: #252422;
  --colorarchive-taupe-gray-ink-hsl: hsl(40, 5%, 14%);
  --colorarchive-taupe-gray-ink-rgb: rgb(37, 36, 34);
}

AI Color Names

Let AI suggest alternative poetic names for this color in English and Chinese.

Design Context

EarthyArtisanalGrounded
Common in

Coffee & Bakery · Craft & Handmade · Outdoor Gear

Pairs well with

Olive green, warm cream, or slate gray for organic, natural palettes

Design tip

Great for artisanal brands and rustic interfaces. Combines well with textured backgrounds and serif typography.

Cultural context ▶

Burnt orange and terra cotta evoke earthiness, autumn, and craftsmanship. Popular in Southwestern and Mediterranean design.

Color Origins

Neutral family

Not a color, but the canvas every color lives on.

Heritage

Bone black, lamp black, ivory black, and Mars black are the classical pigment lineage of black; lead white (now banned), zinc white, and titanium white are the whites; and every gray sits between them. Charcoal and graphite extend the lineage. Painters historically built warm and cool grays from full-spectrum colors mixed to neutralize, not from a tube — Vermeer's grays are blue-and-orange, not black-and-white. Scandinavian and Japanese design traditions have refined the use of pure neutrals to the point of philosophy.

Across cultures

In Western culture black is mourning (since the Roman Empire), formal (since the Spanish Habsburg court), and rebellious (since 20th-century counterculture). In Japan and many East Asian cultures white is the funeral color. Black-and-white photography defined visual journalism for a century. Concrete gray, since Brutalism, has come to read as both serious-civic and dystopian, depending on context. The Scandinavian 'lagom' aesthetic depends almost entirely on the calibration of warm vs cool grays.

In the wild

Apple's restraint is essentially a religion of neutrals — black hardware, white packaging, the long disciplined refusal to pick a brand color beyond System Blue. Chanel built a fashion empire on black-and-white. Muji's identity is the absence of identity — an exercise in cool grays. Vercel, Linear, GitHub, and most modern developer tools dial the saturation way down to make their content shine. The film noir aesthetic, the Bauhaus visual language, and modern minimalist branding all converge on neutrals.

How it reads

Pure neutrals (true gray) are eye-rest colors — the brain processes them with the least chromatic effort. Warm neutrals (taupe, warm gray) read as inviting, hospitality-friendly, soft. Cool neutrals (cool gray, slate) read as technical, premium, slightly distant. Off-whites and creams are heritage-luxury colors; near-blacks (charcoal, ink) read as serious without the harshness of pure black. Designers often choose a slightly warm or slightly cool neutral over true gray because it feels more deliberate and human.

This particular tone

A dim, atmospheric reading — closer to a colored shadow than a stated hue. Excellent as a near-black on dark UI or as a moody background.

Lightness band: At this depth the hue starts behaving like a neutral — it can substitute for black in many contexts while still carrying a faint chromatic temperature. It pairs especially well with off-whites and warm metallics.

Saturation band: The low saturation pulls this color toward earthen, vintage, or editorial palettes. It reads as confident and grown-up rather than playful, and it tolerates being used in large blocks without becoming visually noisy.

Brands using a similar color

Within the public brand-guidelines reference catalog, these are the closest matches to #252422.

  • Meituan 美团neutral
    Slate Black · #222222
    →
  • Netflixneutral
    Netflix Black · #221F1F
    →
  • Supabaseneutral
    Background Black · #1F1F1F
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #252422.

  • Korea (Obangsaek)Obangsaek Black (흑 / heuk)
    #1F1F1F · North — water element, ink and lacquer
    →
  • China (Traditional)Ink Wash Black (墨)
    #1C1C1C · Pine-soot ink stick (mò)
    →
  • MexicoVolcanic Black
    #1F1A17 · Obsidian + Popocatépetl basalt
    →

Tonal strip

All lightness levels at this hue and saturation. Click any to navigate.

Palette moves

Instead of stopping at one swatch, use nearby, opposite, and tonal neighbors to branch into a broader palette.

Lighter companion
Taupe Gray Nocturne
#363430 · hsl(40, 5%, 20%)
Complementary counterpoint
Cobalt Ink Faint
#202327 · hsl(220, 10%, 14%)
Analogous lead
Citrine Ink Faint
#272720 · hsl(60, 10%, 14%)
Analogous echo
Vermillion Ink Faint
#272220 · hsl(15, 10%, 14%)
Triadic +120°
Teal Ink Faint
#202725 · hsl(160, 10%, 14%)
Triadic +240°
Mulberry Ink Faint
#252027 · hsl(280, 10%, 14%)
Split-comp +150°
Cerulean Ink Faint
#202627 · hsl(190, 10%, 14%)
Split-comp +210°
Violet Ink Faint
#212027 · hsl(250, 10%, 14%)
Export preview
Base: Taupe Gray Ink #252422
Lighter companion: Taupe Gray Nocturne #363430
Complementary counterpoint: Cobalt Ink Faint #202327
Analogous lead: Citrine Ink Faint #272720
Analogous echo: Vermillion Ink Faint #272220
Triadic +120°: Teal Ink Faint #202725
Triadic +240°: Mulberry Ink Faint #252027
Split-comp +150°: Cerulean Ink Faint #202627
Split-comp +210°: Violet Ink Faint #212027

Compare

See how Taupe Gray Ink compares side by side with related colors.

vsTaupe Gray NocturnevsCobalt Ink FaintvsCitrine Ink FaintvsVermillion Ink FaintvsTeal Ink FaintvsMulberry Ink Faint

Nearest neighbors

The closest archive matches by hue, saturation, and lightness.

Search by hex
Nearby match
Apricot Ink Faint
#272520 · hsl(40, 10%, 14%)
Nearby match
Taupe Gray Nocturne
#363430 · hsl(40, 5%, 20%)
Nearby match
Apricot Ink Muted
#2A261D · hsl(40, 18%, 14%)
Nearby match
Apricot Nocturne Faint
#38352E · hsl(40, 10%, 20%)
Nearby match
Saffron Ink Faint
#272520 · hsl(45, 10%, 14%)
Nearby match
Apricot Ink Dust
#2D271A · hsl(40, 26%, 14%)

Accessible pairings

Archive colors that meet WCAG contrast standards when paired with this color. Use as text-on-background or background-on-text.

Contrast checker
AAA14.8:1
Cobalt Veil Faint
#F9FAFA
AAA14.8:1
Cobalt Veil Muted
#F9FAFB
AAA14.7:1
Cobalt Veil Dust
#F9F9FB
AAA14.7:1
Cobalt Veil Soft
#F8F9FC
AAA14.7:1
Cobalt Veil Clear
#F7F9FD
AAA14.7:1
Cobalt Veil Vivid
#F6F9FE

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#252523
Protanopia
#252522
Tritanopia
#252323
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