Tailwind CSS v3 color

Tailwind zinc-950 #09090B

Tailwind CSS v3's zinc-950 is #09090B. It is a near-black in the neutral family. In OKLCH it sits at lightness 0.141 with chroma 0.004, too low for hue to matter. The nearest CSS named color is black (#000000), ΔE2000 1.7 away.

Relative luminance: 0.0028
OKLCH L · C · h: 0.141 · 0.004 · 285.8
Best text: White 19.89:1
Hue family: Neutral

Inspect this color Check contrast

#09090B color codes

HEX: #09090B
RGB: rgb(9, 9, 11)
HSL: hsl(240, 10%, 4%)
OKLCH: oklch(0.141 0.004 285.8)
OKLab: oklab(0.141 0.001 -0.004)
CIELAB (D65): L* 2.51, a* 0.28, b* -0.77
XYZ (D65): X 0.27, Y 0.28, Z 0.36
CMYK (naive): cmyk(18%, 18%, 0%, 96%)

CIELAB and XYZ use the D65 white point; CSS lab() uses D50, so paste the OKLCH or HEX value into stylesheets. CMYK here is a plain formula with no press profile.

Legibility

Contrast: is #09090B accessible?

White text on it reaches 19.89:1, passing AAA. Black text fails at 1.05:1.

WCAG 2 gives the same ratio whichever color is the text; APCA does not, so its Lc changes sign and size with polarity.

Open the Contrast System

Black text on it

1.05:1
- AA fails
- AA large fails
- AAA fails
- APCA Lc 0
Text is here, unreadable at 1.05:1
White text on it

19.89:1
- AA passes
- AA large passes
- AAA passes
- APCA Lc −107
As text on black

1.05:1
- AA fails
- AA large fails
- AAA fails
- APCA Lc 0
Text is here, unreadable at 1.05:1
As text on white

19.89:1
- AA passes
- AA large passes
- AAA passes
- APCA Lc +105

Nearest versions that pass 4.5:1

For text on white

#09090B 19.89:1

It already reaches 19.89:1 on white, so no change is needed.
For text on black

#747477 4.50:1

Lightening its OKLCH lightness from 0.14 to 0.56 reaches 4.50:1 on black, keeping the hue.

Compare both in the Contrast System

Checking another pair? Use the Contrast Checker.

Studio

Adjust #09090B live

Move lightness, chroma and hue in OKLCH, or drag on the map. The map is every lightness and chroma at the current hue: sRGB inside the solid area, Display P3 out to the dashed line.

The studio needs JavaScript.

Scale

Shades and tints of #09090B

Eleven OKLCH lightness steps at this hue, each with its contrast against white and black. #09090B sits at step 950.

50#F5F5F7

White
1.08
Black
19.28
100#EBEBED

White
1.19
Black
17.63
200#D7D7DA

White
1.43
Black
14.62
300#BDBDC0

White
1.87
Black
11.20
400#A1A1A4

White
2.57
Black
8.14
500#868689

White
3.63
Black
5.78
600#6E6E71

White
5.08
Black
4.13
700#58585A

White
7.09
Black
2.95
800#3F3F42

White
10.49
Black
2.00
900#29292B

White
14.51
Black
1.44
950This color#09090B

White
19.89
Black
1.05

Under each step, white and black text on it; a bold figure passes 4.5:1.

Tailwind CSS v3 zinc scale

The real Tailwind palette, for comparison with the computed ramp above.

50#FAFAFA
White
1.04
Black
20.11
100#F4F4F5
White
1.09
Black
19.10
200#E4E4E7
White
1.26
Black
16.55
300#D4D4D8
White
1.47
Black
14.20
400#A1A1AA
White
2.56
Black
8.19
500#71717A
White
4.83
Black
4.34
600#52525B
White
7.72
Black
2.71
700#3F3F46
White
10.44
Black
2.01
800#27272A
White
14.89
Black
1.40
900#18181B
White
17.71
Black
1.18
950This color#09090B

White
19.89
Black
1.05

Gamut

How vivid #09090B can get

A gray has no hue, so no gamut holds a more vivid version of #09090B: more chroma would make it another color.

sRGB
Display P3
Rec. 2020
Dominant wavelength

OKLCH chroma: 0.004
sRGB edge: No hue
Display P3 edge: No hue
Rec. 2020 edge: No hue
Dominant wavelength: 464 nm
Excitation purity: 8%
Chromaticity: x 0.2994, y 0.3070

Mixing

Mixing #09090B

Each row is the same mix worked out in a different space, with the halfway color at its end. sRGB, which older CSS gradients use, can sag gray or dark in the middle; OKLab keeps the lightness steps even; OKLCH holds chroma and hue as it goes.

White #FFFFFF

sRGB50%#848485
OKLab50%#777779
OKLCH50%#777779

Black #000000

sRGB50%#050506
OKLab50%#010101
OKLCH50%#010101

In CSS

/* A gradient and a mix, worked out in OKLCH */
background: linear-gradient(in oklch, #09090b, white);
color: color-mix(in oklch, #09090b 50%, white);

In use

#09090B in an interface

A button, a link, a heading, a focused field, an icon and a chart line in this color, on a light page and a dark one. Each check is a WCAG 2 contrast minimum: 1.4.3 for text, 1.4.11 for the rest.

Light page

Button labelText, 4.5:119.89:1 Passes
Link and body-size textText, 4.5:119.89:1 Passes
Large headingLarge text, 3:119.89:1 Passes
Icons, borders and focus ringsNon-text, 3:119.89:1 Passes

Dark page

Button labelText, 4.5:119.89:1 Passes
Link and body-size textText, 4.5:11.06:1 Fails
Large headingLarge text, 3:11.06:1 Fails
Icons, borders and focus ringsNon-text, 3:11.06:1 Fails

Color vision

How #09090B looks with color blindness

As a neutral it barely changes under any simulation, ΔE2000 0.9 at most.

Simulated with Machado et al. (2009) at full severity, in linear light.

Simulate a whole page What each type sees

Protanopia

No working red (long-wavelength) cones

#09090B ΔE2000 0.0

Imperceptible

Reads as near-black
Deuteranopia

No working green (medium-wavelength) cones

#09090B ΔE2000 0.0

Imperceptible

Reads as near-black
Tritanopia

No working blue (short-wavelength) cones

#09090A ΔE2000 0.4

Imperceptible

Reads as near-black
Achromatopsia

No cone color vision; lightness only

#090909 ΔE2000 0.9

Imperceptible

Reads as near-black

Pairing check

A near-neutral has no complementary hue to pair with, so tell it apart from neighboring grays by lightness contrast alone.

Harmony

Color harmonies for #09090B

A neutral has no hue to rotate, so every harmony collapses back to the same gray. Pair it with an accent color instead.

Or pair it by lightness: steps of its own scale as text on it, and what each can carry.

Build a lightness scale in Harmony Studio

Step 50 #F5F5F7 · 18.27:1

Body text, AAA
Step 300 #BDBDC0 · 10.61:1

Body text, AAA
Step 700 #58585A · 2.80:1

Decoration only, under 3:1

Code

Design tokens

Ready-to-paste tokens in six formats. Rename them to fit your system.

CSS custom property

:root {
  --color-zinc-950: #09090b;
}

Tailwind config

// tailwind.config.js — already built in as zinc-950;
// pin the v3 value explicitly like this:
module.exports = {
  theme: {
    extend: {
      colors: {
        zinc: { 950: '#09090b' },
      },
    },
  },
};

Tailwind v4 theme

/* app.css — Tailwind CSS v4 */
@import "tailwindcss";

@theme {
  /* v4 has its own zinc-950; this pins the v3 value. */
  --color-zinc-950: oklch(0.141 0.004 285.8);
}

Design token (W3C DTCG)

{
  "color": {
    "zinc-950": {
      "$type": "color",
      "$value": {
        "colorSpace": "srgb",
        "components": [0.0353, 0.0353, 0.0431],
        "hex": "#09090b"
      },
      "$description": "Tailwind CSS v3 zinc-950"
    }
  }
}

SwiftUI color

import SwiftUI

enum Palette {
    static let zinc950 = Color(.sRGB, red: 0.035, green: 0.035, blue: 0.043, opacity: 1)
}

Jetpack Compose color

import androidx.compose.ui.graphics.Color

object Palette {
    val Zinc950 = Color(0xFF09090B)
}

Matches

The nearest match in each system

The closest CSS name, Tailwind shade, RAL Classic paint and Crayola crayon by ΔE2000; under 2 is hard to tell apart side by side. RAL and Crayola values approximate physical colors.

Tools

Open #09090B in the tools

Each opens over this page. More colors live in the Color Library, and every color page is listed on the hub.