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gray · neutral

#968898

a balanced, muted gray · neutral · closest name: Gray

Token name suggestion: True Concrete

RGB
150, 136, 152
HSL
293°, 7%, 57%
CMYK
1, 11, 0, 40
Luminance
0.2636

#968898 is a balanced muted gray, 293° on the wheel and 51/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (6.27:1). As text it scores 3.35:1 on white — large text only. Nearest name is Gray, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(293 7% 57%)rgb(150 136 152)Base step 500AA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #968898 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#968898
Hue
293°
gray
Saturation
7%
muted
Lightness
57%
balanced
Brightness
60%
HSV value
Perceived
56%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.2636
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
51/100 cool
Color family
Gray
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
6.27:1
Closest name
Gray
ΔE2000 11.6
Chroma
10.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.644
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 12.5
Web-safe
#999999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue293° of 360°
Saturation7%
Lightness57%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #968898.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool51% cool

Near-neutral, so temperature is a whisper rather than a statement — the tinted siblings below show which way it can lean.

Luminance by channel
Red25%
Green67%
Blue9%

Green carries most of what the eye calls brightness — that is why WCAG weights it 0.7152.

Every format

HEX#968898
HEX (8-digit)#968898ff
RGBrgb(150, 136, 152)
RGBArgba(150, 136, 152, 1)
HSLhsl(293, 7%, 57%)
HSV / HSBhsv(293, 11%, 60%)
HWBhwb(293 53% 40%)
CMYKcmyk(1%, 11%, 0%, 40%)
LABlab(58.4 8.3 -6.6)
LCHlch(58.4 10.6 321.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.644 0.029 322.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(27.05, 26.36, 33.36)
Decimal9865368
Display P3color(display-p3 0.588 0.533 0.596)
Web-safe#999999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #968898;
background-color: #968898;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #968898;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#968898] bg-[#968898]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #968898;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.588, green: 0.533, blue: 0.596)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.588, green: 0.533, blue: 0.596, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#968898</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF968898)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF968898)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(152, 136, 150)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(150, 136, 152)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(150, 136, 152)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 150, 136, 152)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5882f, 0.5333f, 0.5961f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{150,136,152}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #968898 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #968898 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#433B44, #E2DEE3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #968898 h s calc(l - 7));

Design tokens

The same ramp in the four formats a team actually needs. Paste one and the whole palette lands with it.

css custom propertiesclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: #F8F7F8;
  --brand-100: #F0EFF1;
  --brand-200: #DFDCE0;
  --brand-300: #CAC3CB;
  --brand-400: #AFA5B1;
  --brand-500: #968898;
  --brand-600: #817283;
  --brand-700: #6C5F6D;
  --brand-800: #564C57;
  --brand-900: #403941;
  --brand-950: #282429;
  --brand: #968898;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F7F8;
  --brand-border: #D8D3D9;
  --brand-hover: #857587;
  --brand-pressed: #726574;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1E1A1E;
    --brand-ink: #E2DEE3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F7F8',
        100: '#F0EFF1',
        200: '#DFDCE0',
        300: '#CAC3CB',
        400: '#AFA5B1',
        500: '#968898',
        600: '#817283',
        700: '#6C5F6D',
        800: '#564C57',
        900: '#403941',
        950: '#282429',
        DEFAULT: '#968898',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F7F8,
  '100': #F0EFF1,
  '200': #DFDCE0,
  '300': #CAC3CB,
  '400': #AFA5B1,
  '500': #968898,
  '600': #817283,
  '700': #6C5F6D,
  '800': #564C57,
  '900': #403941,
  '950': #282429,
);
$brand-base: #968898;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F7F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F0EFF1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DFDCE0", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#CAC3CB", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#AFA5B1", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#968898", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#817283", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#6C5F6D", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#564C57", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#403941", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#282429", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#000000", "$type": "color" }
  }
}

Best text color

Only one of black and white can be right. This is the one, with the number that proves it.

Readable at a glance#000000 on #968898 · 6.27:1
Use #000000AA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 3.35:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 6.27:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #968898 as text scores 3.35:1 on white and 6.27:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #433B44 at 3.22:1.

Make it accessible

A contrast checker tells you that you failed. This tells you what to ship instead — same hue, same saturation, lightness moved only as far as WCAG demands.

The quick fox
#807082 · 4.61:1
AA on white−9% L
#807082
The quick fox
#5F5461 · 7.17:1
AAA on white−21% L
#5F5461
The quick fox
#968898 · 6.27:1
AA on blackalready passes
#968898
The quick fox
#A093A2 · 7.19:1
AAA on black+4% L
#A093A2

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #968898 is enough for headings on white. Non-text elements such as icons, chart strokes and focus rings also sit at 3:1 under WCAG 2.2 (1.4.11).

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

Aa
#968898 on white: 3.35:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#968898 on black: 6.27:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #968898 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #968898.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White3.35:1AaAa
Slate 503.20:1AaAa
Slate 1003.06:1AaAa
Slate 2002.72:1AaAa
Slate 3002.26:1AaAa
Slate 4001.31:1AaAa
Slate 5001.42:1AaAa
Slate 6002.26:1AaAa
Slate 7003.09:1AaAa
Slate 8004.37:1AaAa
Slate 9005.33:1AaAa
Black6.27:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #878B99
deuteranopia · #8A8D97
tritanopia · #97898D

Roughly one man in twelve has some form of colour vision deficiency. If any of the three panels above is hard to tell apart from a neighbouring colour in your palette, add a shape, an icon or a label so the meaning does not rest on hue alone.

Color scale — 50 to 950

A Tailwind-shaped ramp built around this exact hex. #968898 is pinned to step 500; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F8F7F8
#F0EFF1
#DFDCE0
#CAC3CB
#AFA5B1
#968898
#817283
#6C5F6D
#564C57
#403941
#282429
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F8F7F8Darkest = 950 · #282429Text step on white = 600
Perceptual ramp — OKLCH

The same eleven steps expressed in OKLCH, where equal lightness numbers actually look equally spaced. HSL ramps go muddy in the yellows and washed out in the blues; this one does not. Modern browsers render it natively — the hex ramp above is the fallback.

50100200300400500600700800900950
oklch tokensclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: oklch(0.97 0.007 322.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.011 322.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.017 322.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.022 322.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.026 322.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.029 322.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.029 322.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.027 322.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.024 322.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.020 322.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.016 322.0);
}

Colors that work with #968898

Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.

Text on it#000000
Black wins here
Surface#F8F7F8
Tinted page background
Border#D8D3D9
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#796A7B
Captions on the surface
Accent#63715B
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#433B44
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F3F1F3
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1E1A1E
Dark-mode background
Hover#857587
One step down in lightness
Pressed#726574
Two steps down
Disabled#CBC4CC
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#A789AC
Offset from the fill so it reads
Light mode
Everything in its place

Surface, border, heading and body all derive from this one hue, so the screen stays coherent without a second palette.

Primary actionSecondaryBadge
Dark mode
Same hue, inverted

Lightness flips, hue holds. The accent stays the anchor in both themes.

Primary actionSecondaryAccent

In real components

The same eight roles, wired into the interface patterns you will actually build with them. Every state below is a computed value, not a mock-up.

Buttons and states
Save changesHoverPressedDisabled
OutlineSubtleLinkFocused
Form field
you@company.com

Focus ring uses the light variant so the field still reads as one shape.

Send me product updates
Notice
Your export is ready

The file stays available for seven days. Download it before it expires.

NewBetaDraft
Data
Storage used68%
Acme LtdActive
NorthwindTrial
GlobexActive

How to use #968898

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Headings from 24px up on white
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Borders, dividers and quiet backgrounds
  • Long-form reading surfaces
  • Neutral UI chrome and typography
Use with care
  • Small text on white — under 4.5:1
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
24px / 18.66px bold
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #433B44
Safe as a 1px border on white
Yes

Meaning and mood

What a colour in this family tends to signal, and how this particular chroma and lightness change the reading.

neutralquieteditorialengineered

Grey is the material the rest of the interface is built from: type, rules, surfaces, disabled states.

With almost no chroma left, the family association is barely present; treat it as a neutral that happens to lean this way. The mid lightness keeps it versatile in both themes.

Worth knowing

Mid-greys are where accessibility quietly fails — check every step of your ladder, not just the ends.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyLow
  • Weight44/100
  • TemperatureNeutral
  • ApproachabilityBalanced

Colour associations are cultural and vary by market. Treat these as a starting point for a conversation with your audience, not a finding about them.

Similar colors

One move away from this hex in each direction. Every swatch is its own page.

Color relationships

The wheel positions with their names attached, so you can grab the one you actually need.

Complementary#8A9888
Analogous left#8E8898
Analogous right#988892
Split-complement 1#929888
Split-complement 2#88988E
Triadic 1#989688
Triadic 2#889896
Tetradic#988E88
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°293°

#968898 sits at 293°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red58.8%
Green53.3%
Blue59.6%
R · 0–255
150
0x96
G · 0–255
136
0x88
B · 0–255
152
0x98

CMYK percentages

Cyan1.3%
Magenta10.5%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)40.4%

Total ink coverage is 52%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#968898 text on a black background

contrast 6.27:1

Card sample

#968898 text on a white background

contrast 3.35:1

Card sample

#968898 on grey

3.06:1

#968898 on its own surface

3.13:1

#968898 on its dark surface

5.13:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #968898;
Background color
Panel with #968898 background
background-color: #968898;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #968898;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(150, 136, 152, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(150, 136, 152, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #968898;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #968898, #98888F);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #968898, #98888B);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #968898;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #968898;
caret-color: #968898;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #968898;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F3F1F3;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #968898;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#968898 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #968898 over white; the bottom row is the same alpha over a checkerboard, so you can see what survives on a photo or a video.

Bottom row of hexes is the flattened result over white — use those when a design tool refuses transparency, or when you need a solid fallback.

alpha in every syntaxclick to select
rgba(150, 136, 152, 0.5)
rgb(150 136 152 / 50%)
#96889880
hsl(293 7% 57% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #968898 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#9688981a#F5F3F5
20%#96889833#EAE7EA
40%#96889866#D5CFD6
60%#96889899#C0B8C1
80%#968898cc#ABA0AD

Gradients from #968898

Six recipes, each built from this hex and shown with the exact CSS that produced it.

Elevation
Same hue, three lightnesses — safe anywhere
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #B3A9B4, #968898 45%, #433B44);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #968898, #8A787F);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #968898, #8A9888);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #C1B9C3 0%, #968898 45%, #433B44 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F7F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #A7A3B0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #A698A0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #433B44 0%, transparent 65%), #968898;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #968898

Shades — darker

Tints — lighter

Tones — desaturated

Color harmonies

Nearest named colors

Ranked with CIEDE2000 across all 139 CSS keywords. Under ΔE 2 the eye stops telling them apart; over ΔE 10 they are plainly different colors.

#968898 in the real world

Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.

Industries
EditorialArchitectureEnterpriseLuxury goods
Common UI roles
BackgroundsBordersBody textDividers
Print note

Converts to four-color process without much drama. Proof it anyway.

On screens

Holds up across typical panel gamma. Still worth checking on an uncalibrated laptop, where mid-tones shift most.

In dark mode

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 6.27:1.

Explore nearby colors

Small, deliberate steps away from this hex — useful when you are hunting for the version of a colour that finally feels right.

#968898, answered

What color is #968898?

#968898 is a balanced muted gray, closest to Gray (ΔE2000 11.6). It sits at 293° on the hue wheel with 7% saturation and 57% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #968898?

rgb(150, 136, 152) — 150 red, 136 green and 152 blue out of 255, or 58.8% / 53.3% / 59.6% by channel.

What is #968898 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(293, 7%, 57%) and hsv(293, 11%, 60%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #968898 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.2636 and perceived brightness is 56%, so black text on it reaches 6.27:1.

Should I use black or white text on #968898?

Black. It scores 6.27:1 against #968898, versus 3.35:1 for white — AA at any size.

Is #968898 accessible on a white background?

#968898 on white scores 3.35:1, which only clears AA for large text — 18.66px bold or 24px regular and up. Darken it to #807082 to reach 4.5:1, or #5F5461 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #968898?

#8A9888 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #929888 and #88988E, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #968898?

For interface work: #F8F7F8 as the surface, #D8D3D9 for borders, #796A7B for secondary text, #63715B as an accent and #433B44 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #8E8898 and #988892 stays calm, while #8A9888 is the loudest partner.

What is #968898 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(1%, 11%, 0%, 40%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #968898 warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 51 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #A49386; nudged cooler, #7B8A9B.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #968898?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 12.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #968898 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #968898 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#968898] or text-[#968898], or register the whole ramp under theme.extend.colors.brand so you get bg-brand-500 and friends. The generated 50–950 scale on this page is ready to paste into your config.

What is #968898 with 50% opacity?

rgba(150, 136, 152, 0.5), or #96889880 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #CBC4CC; over black, #4B444C.

Is #968898 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #999999, ΔE2000 11.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #968898 mean?

As a gray, it reads neutral, quiet, editorial. Grey is the material the rest of the interface is built from: type, rules, surfaces, disabled states. At this low chroma the association is faint; it behaves more like a neutral.

What gradient works with #968898?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #B3A9B4, #968898 45%, #433B44). For more colour, a short hue run to #8A787F keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #968898 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #968898 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.