Color #4E495A Color / Colour Code #4E495A
This page shows the hex color code for color #4e495a (#4E495A). The colour is a purple tone with 10% saturation and 32% lightness. Explore its conversions, colour palettes, gradients, accessibility data, and CSS code below.
Color Conversions
Accessibility Contrast
WCAG contrast ratios for #4E495A against common backgrounds.
Complementary Colors
#4E495A paired with its color wheel opposite for maximum contrast.
Analogous Colors
Hues at 228, 258, and 288 degrees for harmonious combinations.
Triadic Palette
Three colors at 258, 18, and 138 degrees.
Color Palettes Using #4E495A
Five shades at lightness levels 15% through 85% while keeping hue at 258 and saturation at 10%. Use the darkest shade for text and the lightest for backgrounds to build a cohesive single-hue design system.
Adjacent hues from 258 to 303 degrees create a warm, unified palette. This analogous scheme works for marketing materials, seasonal campaigns, and any design that needs visual warmth without clashing colors.
Combines the base color at hue 258 with its complement at 78 and two adjacent cool tones. This split-complementary approach provides strong visual contrast while remaining more balanced than a pure complementary scheme.
Five evenly spaced hues at 40% saturation and 80% lightness. Pastels are gentle on the eyes and work well for dashboards, onboarding screens, category tags, and any interface where multiple distinct colors are needed without visual aggression.
Shades & Tints of #4E495A
Lightness variations at hue 258 and 10% saturation.
CSS Gradients with #4E495A
Design Use Cases for #4E495A
Muted Accent Color
With 10% saturation, #4E495A has a subtle, sophisticated quality. This level of desaturation works well for secondary buttons, inactive states, subtle borders, and backgrounds that need a hint of color without being distracting. Muted colors communicate restraint and professionalism.
Primary Interface Color
At 32% lightness, #4E495A is in the mid-range, making it ideal for interactive elements like buttons, links, and selected states. This lightness level ensures good contrast against both light and dark adjacent elements in most layouts.
Creativity & Premium Positioning
#4E495A falls in the purple spectrum (hue 258). Purple communicates creativity, wisdom, and luxury. It is effective for premium product highlights, creative portfolio accents, meditation app interfaces, and rewards program branding. Purple occupies a unique space between the energy of red and the calm of blue.
Gradient Pairing
Create a gradient from #4E495A (hue 258) to its complement at hue 78. For a subtler effect, try pairing with an analogous color at hue 288. Use CSS: background: linear-gradient(135deg, #4e495a, #555a49);
CSS Code for #4E495A
Similar Colors
Colors visually similar to #4E495A based on RGB, lightness, and hue variations.
Use This Color in Design Tools
Apply #4E495A across image editing and color design tools.
About Color #4E495A (#4E495A)
#4E495A is a purple color (colour) with RGB channel values of 78 red, 73 green, and 90 blue. The blue channel is dominant with a relatively balanced channel distribution. In HSL terms, the hue sits at 258 degrees with 10% saturation and 32% lightness, placing it in the cool range of the colour spectrum.
The perceived brightness of #4E495A is 76/255 using the ITU-R BT.601 luma formula (0.299R + 0.587G + 0.114B). This appears dark to the human eye, so pair it with light text for adequate readability. For print production, the CMYK equivalent is 13% cyan, 19% magenta, 0% yellow, and 65% key (black).
The WCAG contrast ratio of #4E495A against white is 8.66:1 and against black is 2.42:1. This exceeds the AAA requirement (7:1) for normal text on white, making it excellent for body text and small UI labels on light backgrounds.
The complementary colour #555A49 creates maximum visual tension when paired with #4E495A. For more harmonious color combinations, use the analogous colours #494D5A and #56495A, which sit 30 degrees on either side of the hue wheel. To build a complete design system, start with the monochromatic scale above for consistent shade variations, then add one complementary or triadic accent for interactive elements.
How to Explore Color #4E495A
- Enter your color value in HEX format.
- The tool converts it to RGB, HSL, CMYK format in real time.
- Copy the converted value to your clipboard.
What is HEX to RGB, HSL, CMYK color conversion
Converting from HEX to RGB, HSL, CMYK translates a color value between two different color models. Different color models are used in web design (HEX, RGB), print (CMYK), and color theory (HSL, HSV).
Related Tools & Colors
Frequently Asked Questions
- What color / colour is #4E495A?
- #4E495A is Color #4E495A, a purple color (colour) with RGB(78, 73, 90), HSL(258, 10%, 32%), and CMYK(13%, 19%, 0%, 65%). Its perceived brightness is 76/255.
- Is #4E495A accessible for text?
- Against white, #4E495A has a contrast ratio of 8.66:1 (passes AA for normal text). Against black, it has 2.42:1 (fails AA). Use the contrast checker tool for custom background pairings.
- What colours pair well with #4E495A?
- The complementary colour is #555A49 (hue 78). For subtle color combinations, use analogous colours #494D5A and #56495A. The triadic palette adds #5A4E49 and #495A4E for vibrant variety.
- How do I use #4E495A in CSS?
- Use any format: color: #4e495a; or rgb(78, 73, 90); or hsl(258, 10%, 32%). For CSS custom properties: --color-primary: 258 10% 32%; then use it as hsl(var(--color-primary)).
- Is this color / colour explorer free?
- Yes, completely free with no signup required. All colour calculations run in your browser. You can explore any valid hex color code, not just the pre-generated palette.