Soft Black Color Palette – HEX, RGB & Design Inspiration
Color Details
HEX: #414A4C
RGB: 65, 74, 76
HEX: #3B444B
RGB: 59, 68, 75
HEX: #353839
RGB: 53, 56, 57
HEX: #232B2B
RGB: 35, 43, 43
HEX: #0E1111
RGB: 14, 17, 17
Text on White/Black Backgrounds
Color Pair Combinations (10 total)
WCAG Contrast Standards:
- AAA (7:1): Enhanced contrast for maximum readability
- AA (4.5:1): Minimum for normal text (under 18pt)
- AA Large (3:1): Acceptable for large text (18pt+ or 14pt+ bold)
- Fail: Below WCAG standards, not recommended for text
Recommended Text Colors
Horizontal (Left to Right)
background: linear-gradient(to right, #414A4C 0%, #3B444B 25%, #353839 50%, #232B2B 75%, #0E1111 100%);Vertical (Top to Bottom)
background: linear-gradient(to bottom, #414A4C 0%, #3B444B 25%, #353839 50%, #232B2B 75%, #0E1111 100%);Diagonal (Top Left to Bottom Right)
background: linear-gradient(to bottom right, #414A4C 0%, #3B444B 25%, #353839 50%, #232B2B 75%, #0E1111 100%);Usage Tips:
- Copy the CSS code and paste directly into your stylesheets
- Linear gradients work great for backgrounds and hero sections
- Radial gradients are perfect for spotlights and focus effects
- Conic gradients create eye-catching loading spinners and progress indicators
- Smooth transitions ensure seamless color blending
Normal Vision
No color vision deficiency
Color Swatches
#414A4C
#3B444B
#353839
#232B2B
#0E1111
Full Palette View
How people with Normal Vision see it:
Overall Mood & Feel
Calm, professional, and trustworthy, with a sophisticated and dramatic atmosphere
Emotional Impact
Calming and contemplative, promoting feelings of trust, stability, and peace. The dark tones establish a premium, sophisticated feel ideal for luxury positioning
Psychological Effect
This 5-color palette creates a calm, professional, and trustworthy, with a sophisticated and dramatic atmosphere. The combination works together to create memorable visual experiences that influence consumer perception, decision-making, and brand recall. The rich variety provides versatility while maintaining cohesive emotional messaging across touchpoints.
Brand Personality Traits
Perfect For These Industries
Target Audience
Affluent consumers seeking premium, high-quality products and experiences
Individual Color Psychology
#414A4C
Modern and professional
Emotions Evoked
Personality Traits
Brand Traits
Ideal Industries
Marketing Use
Provides balance and neutrality. Doesn't compete for attention. Professional and timeless. Can appear dull if not balanced with other colors.
Cultural Meanings
Color Harmony Analysis
Palette Mood
Temperature
This palette combines balanced and dark & bold moods with cool and neutral tones, making it versatile for various design applications.
Professional Implementation Guide
This monochromatic soft black palette features 5 carefully selected cool tones that create a calm and professional aesthetic. With low contrast levels and muted saturation, this palette is optimized for corporate branding and business websites.
Web Design & Development
For web development, implement this palette with CSS variables for easy theme switching. Consider adding darker variants for better text readability.
- Apply the 60-30-10 rule for visual hierarchy
- Use accent colors for CTAs and hover states
- Maintain consistent color usage across all pages
- Test responsive behavior on multiple devices
Mobile App Interfaces
In mobile applications, these cool tones provide excellent battery efficiency on OLED screens. Use the subtle color variations to define clear touch targets.
- Design both light and dark mode variants
- Consider thumb-reach zones for color placement
- Test under direct sunlight and low light
- Use color to indicate interactive elements
Brand Identity Systems
Build a cohesive brand identity by designating specific colors for specific purposes. Establish your primary brand color from the most distinctive shade and create comprehensive brand guidelines specifying exact usage scenarios.
- Define primary, secondary, and accent colors
- Create usage rules for marketing materials
- Specify minimum sizes and clear space
- Document do's and don'ts for consistency
Frontend Development
Developers can integrate this palette efficiently using modern CSS techniques. Export as CSS variables for maximum flexibility, allowing theme switching and dynamic color updates without rewriting stylesheets.
- Use CSS custom properties for theming
- Implement semantic color naming conventions
- Create utility classes for rapid prototyping
- Consider CSS-in-JS for component-scoped colors
Print Design
For print materials, convert to CMYK using #414A4C as the dominant color for headers and #0E1111 for accents. These colors translate well to print with minimal adjustment.
- Add to your design software color library
- Create swatches for quick color access
- Use CMYK values for print production
- Request color proofs before final print
Marketing Campaigns
Marketing materials benefit from consistent color usage that reinforces brand recognition. Apply this palette across email campaigns, landing pages, advertisements, and social media for maximum impact and memorability.
- Maintain color consistency across channels
- A/B test color variations for conversion
- Consider cultural color associations
- Align colors with campaign messaging
Strategic Color Distribution
Professional designers follow the 60-30-10 rule for balanced color distribution. Here's how to apply this principle with the Soft Black:
Dominant Color
#414A4CUse #414A4C as your primary color for headers, hero sections, and primary CTAs. This gray tone should occupy about 60% of your design space.
Secondary Color
#353839Apply #353839 as your secondary color for subtle backgrounds and card components. Allocate approximately 30% of your layout to this color.
Accent Color
#0E1111Reserve #0E1111 for accent elements like buttons, links, and important highlights. This cyan accent should be used sparingly (10% of design) to draw attention to key actions.
Professional Best Practices
✓ Smart Usage Tips
- •Add white or black text overlays to improve readability on colored backgrounds
- •Add warm accent colors to create focal points and prevent designs from feeling too cold
- •Ensure sufficient lighting contrast for text elements—use light text on dark backgrounds
- •Test your palette across different devices and lighting conditions before finalizing
✗ Common Mistakes to Avoid
- •Don't use all colors equally—establish clear visual hierarchy through color weight
- •Avoid low-contrast text combinations that strain readability
- •Don't rely solely on color to convey meaning (use icons, text, and patterns too)
- •Avoid inconsistent color usage across different pages or screens
- •Don't assume screen colors match print output—always request physical proofs
Palette Overview & Statistics
5
Total Colors
2
Associated Tags
6
Categories
1817
Community Likes
Color Analysis & Technical Guide
Detailed breakdown of each color's role, characteristics, and optimal applications. This monochromatic palette creates a calm and professional aesthetic perfect for corporate branding and business websites.
Individual Color Breakdown
Each color in this cool palette has been analyzed for its properties and ideal usage scenarios. The low contrast and muted saturation ensure harmonious visual relationships.
#414A4C
GRAY
#414A4C serves as the primary/dominant color in this palette. This dark gray (muted) brings neutrality and balance Use it for headers, navigation bars, and brand elements.
Dark toneH: 191°S: 8%L: 28%#3B444B
BLUE
#3B444B serves as the secondary/supporting color in this palette. This dark blue (muted) brings professionalism and depth Use it for cards, borders, section dividers, and supporting UI components.
Dark toneH: 206°S: 12%L: 26%#353839
GRAY
#353839 serves as the secondary/supporting color in this palette. This dark gray (muted) brings neutrality and balance Use it for cards, borders, section dividers, and supporting UI components.
Dark toneH: 195°S: 4%L: 22%#232B2B
CYAN
#232B2B serves as the secondary/supporting color in this palette. This dark cyan (muted) brings clarity and innovation Use it for cards, borders, section dividers, and supporting UI components.
Dark toneH: 180°S: 10%L: 15%#0E1111
CYAN
#0E1111 serves as the accent/highlight color in this palette. This dark cyan (muted) brings clarity and innovation Use it for call-to-action buttons, links, important notifications, and interactive elements.
Dark toneH: 180°S: 10%L: 6%
Palette Characteristics
This palette exhibits distinct characteristics that make it particularly suitable for specific design applications and industries.
Cool tones convey professionalism, trust, and calmness. Ideal for corporate and tech applications.
Low contrast creates subtle, sophisticated aesthetics but requires careful attention to text legibility.
Muted saturation offers sophistication and reduces visual fatigue, ideal for content-heavy applications.
Dark tones create dramatic, sophisticated aesthetics and save battery on OLED displays.
💡 Pro Tips for This Palette
- Perfect for: corporate branding, business websites. The monochromatic color relationship creates natural visual flow.
- Mood & Psychology: This palette evokes a calm and professional feeling, making it ideal for brands seeking to convey those qualities.
- Accessibility: Test text combinations carefully with contrast checkers to ensure accessibility compliance.
- Extensions: Create tints (add white) and shades (add black) to expand this 5-color palette into a comprehensive design system.
- Cultural Context: Cool tones are generally perceived as professional worldwide but always research cultural color meanings.
Export Formats
Explore Soft Black Palette
The Soft Black color palette is a masterful blend of deep, rich shades that evoke a sense of serenity and sophistication, making it an ideal choice for designers seeking to create a dramatic yet calming visual experience. At its core, this monochromatic palette is characterized by a range of cool, dark hues that seem to whisper rather than shout, drawing the viewer in with their muted intensity. The palette's darkest shade, 0E1111, sets the tone for the entire color scheme, providing a sense of depth and stability that underpins the entire design.
As we delve deeper into the palette, we find that each shade plays a unique role in creating a sense of harmony and balance. The 232B2B shade, for example, is a deep, mysterious blue-green that seems to shift and change depending on the context in which it is used, while the 353839 shade provides a sense of warmth and nuance, its slightly lighter tone helping to create a sense of visual interest and depth. The 3B444B shade, with its subtle turquoise undertones, adds a touch of sophistication and elegance, while the 414A4C shade, the lightest in the palette, serves as a versatile background color that can help to ground the design and provide a sense of continuity. Throughout the palette, these shades work together in perfect harmony, creating a sense of flow and cohesion that is both soothing and engaging.
In practical terms, the Soft Black color palette is incredibly versatile, lending itself to a wide range of design applications, from websites and apps to branding and marketing materials. Its dark, muted tones make it an ideal choice for designs that require a sense of drama or sophistication, such as luxury lifestyle brands or tech startups. The palette's cool, calming shades also make it well-suited to designs that require a sense of serenity or tranquility, such as wellness or healthcare apps. Whether used as a primary color scheme or as an accent palette, Soft Black is sure to add a touch of depth and nuance to any design, helping to create a lasting impression on the viewer.
From a psychological perspective, the Soft Black color palette is fascinating, as it seems to tap into our deep-seated associations with the color blue, which is often linked with feelings of trust, loyalty, and wisdom. The palette's dark, muted tones also seem to create a sense of intimacy and exclusivity, drawing the viewer in and making them feel like they are part of a special or privileged group. At the same time, the palette's calming, soothing quality can help to reduce stress and anxiety, making it an ideal choice for designs that require a sense of comfort or reassurance. By leveraging these psychological associations, designers can use the Soft Black color palette to create designs that are not only visually stunning but also emotionally resonant.
For designers looking to get the most out of the Soft Black color palette, there are a few key tips and tricks to keep in mind. One approach is to pair the palette's deep, rich shades with complementary colors, such as warm neutrals or bright accents, to create a sense of visual tension and contrast. Another approach is to use the palette's lighter shades, such as 414A4C, as a background color, and then use the darker shades, such as 232B2B or 0E1111, as accent colors to add depth and visual interest. By experimenting with different pairing combinations and design approaches, designers can unlock the full potential of the Soft Black color palette, creating designs that are both beautiful and effective.
Palette Image
Below is the generated palette image showing all colors in a vertical layout. Perfect for sharing on social media or using as a reference.
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about using and implementing the soft black palette effectively in your projects.