Tints & Shades
50
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
Scale from white (50) through Gunmetal (500) to black (900), interpolated in Lab color space.
Color Values
- HEX
- #2A3439
- RGB
- rgb(42, 52, 57)
- HSL
- hsl(200, 15%, 19%)
- OKLCH
- oklch(0.318 0.016 230)
- CMYK
- cmyk(26%, 9%, 0%, 78%)
--color-gunmetalbg-[#2A3439]Accessibility
Score: 96/100On White (#FFF)
12.74:1
On Black (#000)
1.65:1
On Light Gray (#F5F5F5)
11.68:1
Best text color on this background:
Design Applications
background-color: #2A3439
color: #2A3439
bg-[#2A3439] text-[#FFFFFF]
border-left: 4px solid #2A3439
Color Harmonies
Complementary
Mahogany
#C04000
Split-Complementary
Similar Colors
Color Meaning & Psychology
Gray is the color of balance, intelligence, and maturity. Unlike black or white, gray makes no strong statement — it allows other design elements to speak. Light grays are versatile backgrounds that convey modernity and cleanliness; mid-grays feel sophisticated and professional; dark charcoals carry authority without the extremity of black. Gray's emotional neutrality has made it the dominant color of Apple's design language and most premium technology hardware. Cool grays (blue-tinted) feel modern and urban; warm grays (brown-tinted, often called "greige") feel approachable and cozy. Gray can feel dull and lifeless without colorful accents — context determines whether it reads as timeless or uninspired. Its very dark, near-black depth creates dramatic intensity — maximally contrastive, powerful, and reserved for focal design elements where other dark colors would disappear.
Industry Usage
Common contexts and industries where Gunmetal is applied in professional design.
- Premium technology hardware and devices
- Architectural and interior design services
- Automotive brands emphasizing refinement
- Financial and professional services
- Typography and editorial design
- Industrial and engineering companies
- Minimalist fashion and luxury apparel
- Enterprise software UI neutral elements
Accessibility Considerations
Normal Text
Passes AA
4.5:1 minimum required
Large Text
Passes AA Large
3:1 minimum required
UI Components
Meets 1.4.11
3:1 for non-text UI
Gunmetal is a dark color. Use white (#FFFFFF) text on top of it for maximum readability (12.74:1). Avoid small black text on this background.
CSS & Code Examples
Background
background-color: #2A3439;Text
color: #2A3439;Border
border: 2px solid #2A3439;Box Shadow
box-shadow: 0 4px 20px #2A343940;Gradient
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #2A3439, #535e63);Tailwind-style
--color-gunmetal: #2A3439;Tailwind CSS Utilities
Use arbitrary value syntax in Tailwind CSS to apply Gunmetal without a custom config.
Background
bg-[#2A3439]Text
text-[#2A3439]Border
border-[#2A3439]Ring
ring-[#2A3439]Fill
fill-[#2A3439]From (gradient)
from-[#2A3439]Via (gradient)
via-[#2A3439]To (gradient)
to-[#2A3439]Design Tokens
Ready-to-use Gunmetal design token in CSS custom properties, SCSS, Tailwind v3/v4, and JSON formats.
CSS Custom Properties
:root {
--color-gunmetal: #2A3439;
--color-gunmetal-rgb: 42, 52, 57;
--color-gunmetal-hsl: 200, 15%, 19%;
}SCSS Variables
$color-gunmetal: #2A3439; $color-gunmetal-rgb: 42, 52, 57; $color-gunmetal-hsl: 200, 15%, 19%;
Tailwind v3 Config
// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
theme: {
extend: {
colors: {
'gunmetal': '#2A3439',
},
},
},
};Tailwind v4 (@theme)
/* tailwind.css */
@theme {
--color-gunmetal: #2A3439;
}JSON Design Token (W3C format)
{
"gunmetal": {
"value": "#2A3439",
"type": "color",
"description": "Gunmetal — #2A3439"
}
}Related Palettes & Combinations
Color Combinations
More gray colors
View all →What Does Gunmetal Mean? Color Psychology & Cultural Symbolism
Gunmetal (#2A3439) is design's silent worker—a dark gray that does the structural work of a palette without demanding attention for itself. Its psychology is precisely this intentional absence of personality: it makes everything around it perform better, projecting balance through what it doesn't do.
- Gray is design's great enabler—the neutral foundation on which other colors perform. In corporate contexts it projects professionalism without warmth (contrasted with blue) or assertiveness (contrasted with black). In luxury design, sophisticated warm grays signal refinement and editorial taste.
- In Japanese aesthetics, gray (haiiro) is deeply valued for its understated elegance—a key component of the wabi-sabi philosophy of imperfect, restrained beauty. Chinese ink painting depends on the full spectrum of gray tones as an expressive medium in itself.
- Gunmetal's dark lightness (19%) shifts its psychological register: Dark charcoal and near-black grays carry the authority of black with slightly more approachability—premium, precise, and extremely versatile in professional design systems.
- At 15% saturation, Gunmetal reads as muted—All grays are inherently muted, but mid-tones in the 40-60% lightness range do the heaviest lifting in sophisticated design systems—providing contrast, hierarchy, and structure without ever competing with the palette's primary colors.
The best design systems have at least one gray as foundational as Gunmetal—the tone that organizes without competing.
How to Use Gunmetal in Design: Applications, Pairings & Best Practices
Skilled designers know that the quality of a palette's grays determines the quality of the palette itself. Gunmetal's dark quality provides the right visual density for the level of sophistication or accessibility the design requires.
- UI components: neutral backgrounds, disabled states, secondary text—Gunmetal performs reliably in all these roles with its dark tonal character.
- Brand & identity: professional service identities, technology UIs, editorial layouts—contexts where Gunmetal's muted quality creates the right register.
- Typography: Gunmetal works as a background behind white text but requires careful sizing—test at intended heading and body sizes before finalizing.
- As a dark tone, Gunmetal creates maximum contrast with white and light neutrals—excellent for creating premium dark-mode sections, bold headers, and high-drama brand moments
- Proportional use: Gunmetal's muted quality means it scales well across proportions—from full-bleed backgrounds to single-pixel borders—making it an unusually versatile palette component.
The best design systems have at least one gray as foundational as Gunmetal—the tone that organizes without competing.
Gunmetal Accessibility: WCAG Contrast Ratios, Color Blindness & Inclusive Design
Gunmetal (#2A3439) achieves a 12.74:1 contrast ratio with white text, surpassing the WCAG 2.1 AAA threshold of 7:1. This exceptional contrast qualifies it for body text, UI components at any size, and all accessibility-sensitive interface contexts. Relative luminance: 3.2%.
- As text on white (#FFFFFF): 12.74:1 — AAA ✓
- As text on black (#000000): 1.65:1 — Fail
- Best text color on Gunmetal background: White (#FFFFFF) at 12.74:1
- WCAG 2.1 luminance: 3.2% — low luminance (dark)—it provides strong contrast for white and light overlaid text, functioning well as a background in dark-mode and header contexts
- Gunmetal qualifies for all text sizes including small body copy (AAA).
For production use, test Gunmetal against your specific background colors rather than assuming #FFFFFF or #000000 performance translates. Surrounding colors alter perceived contrast.
Gunmetal in Industry: Branding, Design & Market Applications
Gunmetal's brand positioning falls squarely in the territory of neutrality, professionalism, sophistication, and balance. Industry data supports its strongest performance in technology, finance, luxury categories, where the muted saturation calibrates the message at a dark, considered level.
- Technology: Gray dominates technology UI design because it provides the neutral canvas on which colorful, dynamic interface elements perform. Apple's aluminum aesthetic established gray as the physical language of precision engineering, an association that has persisted across all of tech. (examples: Notion, Slack, Salesforce) Cool grays signal digital precision; warm grays feel more approachable and human—choice depends on product personality.
- Finance & Professional Services: Gray communicates the seriousness of people who manage important things—it's the suit of the professional world. Financial services, consulting, and legal firms use it to project competence, precision, and the absence of emotional noise. (examples: JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Visa) Dark charcoal is more authoritative than mid-gray for premium financial brands; lighter grays communicate approachable modernity.
- Luxury & Automotive: Luxury brands use sophisticated warm grays as an alternative to the expected black—it signals refinement, editorial taste, and the confidence that doesn't need to shout. Automotive brands use it for the same reason: gray cars signal understated premium quality. (examples: Porsche, Tesla, Mercedes-Benz) The specific undertone of a luxury gray (warm vs cool, light vs dark) determines whether it reads as contemporary or classic.
- Brand positioning: Gunmetal is best suited for brands projecting precision, reliability, sophistication. Categories outside this positioning—color-forward consumer brands that need warmth and personality—tend to see weaker results.
- Adjacent applications: Beyond primary industries, Gunmetal works effectively in architectural visualization, automotive branding, luxury product design—contexts where sophistication serves a secondary but reinforcing role.
For marketers and brand strategists, Gunmetal is a commitment to neutrality, professionalism, sophistication, and balance. Match it with industries that make that promise and it will pay dividends consistently.
Accessibility & Design Guides
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the hex code for Gunmetal? ▾
- The hex code for Gunmetal is #2A3439. Its RGB values are rgb(42, 52, 57) and its HSL values are hsl(200, 15%, 19%).
- What does Gunmetal mean in design? ▾
- Gray is the color of balance, intelligence, and maturity. Unlike black or white, gray makes no strong statement — it allows other design elements to speak. Light grays are versatile backgrounds that convey modernity and cleanliness; mid-grays feel sophisticated and professional; dark charcoals carry authority without the extremity of black. Gray's emotional neutrality has made it the dominant color of Apple's design language and most premium technology hardware. Cool grays (blue-tinted) feel modern and urban; warm grays (brown-tinted, often called "greige") feel approachable and cozy. Gray can feel dull and lifeless without colorful accents — context determines whether it reads as timeless or uninspired. Its very dark, near-black depth creates dramatic intensity — maximally contrastive, powerful, and reserved for focal design elements where other dark colors would disappear.
- Is Gunmetal WCAG accessible? ▾
- Gunmetal (#2A3439) passes WCAG AAA on white with a 12.74:1 contrast ratio. Its overall accessibility score is 96/100.
- What colors go well with Gunmetal? ▾
- Gunmetal pairs well with its complementary color Mahogany (#C04000). Analogous colors like Ocean Green and Bright Cyan also work harmoniously. Check the Color Harmonies section above for the full palette.
- What is Gunmetal used for? ▾
- Gunmetal is commonly used for: Premium technology hardware and devices; Architectural and interior design services; Automotive brands emphasizing refinement; Financial and professional services; Typography and editorial design.
- What are the CSS and Tailwind values for Gunmetal? ▾
- In CSS, use `color: #2A3439` or `background-color: #2A3439`. The CSS custom property is `--color-gunmetal: #2A3439`. In Tailwind CSS, use the arbitrary value class `bg-[#2A3439]` for backgrounds or `text-[#2A3439]` for text.