Crayola crayon color

Crayola Black #232323

Crayola Black is shown here as #232323, the commonly published value for the crayon. It is a near-black in the neutral family. In OKLCH it sits at lightness 0.256 with chroma 0.000, too low for hue to matter. The nearest CSS named color is black (#000000), ΔE2000 8.3 away.

Relative luminance
0.0168
OKLCH L · C · h
0.256 · 0.000 · —
Best text
White 15.71:1
Hue family
Neutral
Inspect this color Check contrast

#232323 color codes

HEX
#232323
RGB
rgb(35, 35, 35)
HSL
hsl(0, 0%, 14%)
OKLCH
oklch(0.256 0.000 0)
OKLab
oklab(0.256 0.000 0.000)
CIELAB (D65)
L* 13.71, a* 0.00, b* 0.00
XYZ (D65)
X 1.60, Y 1.68, Z 1.83
CMYK (naive)
cmyk(0%, 0%, 0%, 86%)

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.

Crayola is a trademark of Crayola LLC, which this site is not affiliated with. The value is the commonly published sRGB rendering of the crayon, not a Crayola specification.

Legibility

Contrast: is #232323 accessible?

White text on it reaches 15.71:1, passing AAA. Black text fails at 1.33:1.

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

    1.33:1

    • AA fails
    • AA large fails
    • AAA fails
    • APCA Lc 0

    Text is here, unreadable at 1.33:1

  • White text on it

    15.71:1

    • AA passes
    • AA large passes
    • AAA passes
    • APCA Lc −105

  • As text on black

    1.33:1

    • AA fails
    • AA large fails
    • AAA fails
    • APCA Lc 0

    Text is here, unreadable at 1.33:1

  • As text on white

    15.71:1

    • AA passes
    • AA large passes
    • AAA passes
    • APCA Lc +102

Nearest versions that pass 4.5:1

  • For text on white

    #232323 15.71:1

    It already reaches 15.71:1 on white, so no change is needed.

  • For text on black

    #757575 4.55:1

    Lightening its OKLCH lightness from 0.26 to 0.56 reaches 4.55:1 on black, keeping the hue.

    Compare both in the Contrast System

Checking another pair? Use the Contrast Checker.

Studio

Adjust #232323 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 #232323

Eleven OKLCH lightness steps at this hue, each with its contrast against white and black. #232323 sits at step 900.

  1. 50#F5F5F5
    White
    1.09
    Black
    19.26
  2. 100#EBEBEB
    White
    1.19
    Black
    17.61
  3. 200#D7D7D7
    White
    1.43
    Black
    14.59
  4. 300#BEBEBE
    White
    1.85
    Black
    11.29
  5. 400#A1A1A1
    White
    2.58
    Black
    8.12
  6. 500#868686
    White
    3.64
    Black
    5.76
  7. 600#6F6F6F
    White
    5.02
    Black
    4.17
  8. 700#585858
    White
    7.11
    Black
    2.95
  9. 800#404040
    White
    10.36
    Black
    2.02
  10. 900This color#232323
    White
    15.71
    Black
    1.33
  11. 950#161616
    White
    18.09
    Black
    1.16

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

Gamut

How vivid #232323 can get

A gray has no hue, so no gamut holds a more vivid version of #232323: more chroma would make it another color.

0.00.20.40.60.80.20.40.60.8 460480500520540560580600620
  • sRGB
  • Display P3
  • Rec. 2020
  • Dominant wavelength
OKLCH chroma
0.000
sRGB edge
No hue
Display P3 edge
No hue
Rec. 2020 edge
No hue
Dominant wavelength
None, near white
Excitation purity
0%
Chromaticity
x 0.3127, y 0.3290

Mixing

Mixing #232323

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%#919191
  • OKLab50%#888888
  • OKLCH50%#888888

Black #000000

  • sRGB50%#121212
  • OKLab50%#070707
  • OKLCH50%#070707
In CSS
/* A gradient and a mix, worked out in OKLCH */
background: linear-gradient(in oklch, #232323, white);
color: color-mix(in oklch, #232323 50%, white);

In use

#232323 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, 4.5:115.71:1 Passes
  • Link and body-size textText, 4.5:115.71:1 Passes
  • Large headingLarge text, 3:115.71:1 Passes
  • Icons, borders and focus ringsNon-text, 3:115.71:1 Passes

Dark page

  • Button labelText, 4.5:115.71:1 Passes
  • Link and body-size textText, 4.5:11.19:1 Fails
  • Large headingLarge text, 3:11.19:1 Fails
  • Icons, borders and focus ringsNon-text, 3:11.19:1 Fails

For text on this page, the nearest shade that passes is #7D7D7D 4.55:1

Color vision

How #232323 looks with color blindness

As a neutral it barely changes under any simulation, ΔE2000 0.0 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

    #232323 ΔE2000 0.0

    Imperceptible

    Reads as near-black

  • Deuteranopia

    No working green (medium-wavelength) cones

    #232323 ΔE2000 0.0

    Imperceptible

    Reads as near-black

  • Tritanopia

    No working blue (short-wavelength) cones

    #232323 ΔE2000 0.0

    Imperceptible

    Reads as near-black

  • Achromatopsia

    No cone color vision; lightness only

    #232323 ΔE2000 0.0

    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 #232323

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 #F5F5F5 · 14.41:1

    Body text, AAA

  • Step 300 #BEBEBE · 8.45:1

    Body text, AAA

  • Step 700 #585858 · 2.20:1

    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-crayola-black: #232323;
}

Tailwind config

// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
  theme: {
    extend: {
      colors: {
        'crayola-black': '#232323',
      },
    },
  },
};

Tailwind v4 theme

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

@theme {
  --color-crayola-black: oklch(0.256 0.000 0);
}

Design token (W3C DTCG)

{
  "color": {
    "crayola-black": {
      "$type": "color",
      "$value": {
        "colorSpace": "srgb",
        "components": [0.1373, 0.1373, 0.1373],
        "hex": "#232323"
      },
      "$description": "Crayola Black"
    }
  }
}

SwiftUI color

import SwiftUI

enum Palette {
    static let crayolaBlack = Color(.sRGB, red: 0.137, green: 0.137, blue: 0.137, opacity: 1)
}

Jetpack Compose color

import androidx.compose.ui.graphics.Color

object Palette {
    val CrayolaBlack = Color(0xFF232323)
}

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.

Neighbors

The eight nearest colors on this site by ΔE2000, closest first. Under 2 is hard to tell apart side by side.

Tools

Open #232323 in the tools

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