Neutral

Jet

#343434
HEX
#343434
RGB
rgb(52, 52, 52)
HSL
hsl(0, 0%, 20%)

Neutral family

About Jet

Jet (#343434) is a very dark, desaturated neutral. With little or no hue, it acts as a quiet, flexible backdrop that lets other colors lead while adding structure and sophistication of its own.

Psychology

Neutrals feel calm, balanced and unobtrusive. Whites suggest cleanliness and space, grays suggest practicality and composure, and blacks suggest power and elegance, together giving a design room to breathe.

Applications

Neutrals are the backbone of almost every palette: backgrounds, text, borders, and the whitespace that lets accent colors shine. They are essential in editorial, minimal, architectural and luxury design.

History

Charcoal, chalk and ash gave early artists their blacks and whites, while grays have been central to painting and photography since the dawn of each medium. Neutral palettes became a hallmark of modernist design in the 20th century.

Meaning

Neutrals symbolize simplicity, balance and timelessness. White means purity and clarity, gray means neutrality and composure, and black means authority and sophistication.

Why use this color

Use neutrals to build structure, improve readability and let your accent colors stand out. A strong neutral foundation makes any palette feel more polished, professional and timeless.

Accessibility

Against white, #343434 has a 12.4:1 contrast ratio; against black it is 1.7:1. White text on #343434 meets WCAG AA for normal text.

Fun facts

  • Black and white are technically the absence and presence of all visible light, not hues on the color wheel.
  • Grays are often slightly tinted with a hue, giving warm, cool or greenish casts.
  • Minimalist and luxury brands lean heavily on neutrals to project timeless elegance.

Shades, tints & tones

Variations

Ten lightness steps plus Jet's tints, shades and tones — every swatch copies its hex on click.

Lightness scale

Tints (toward white)

Shades (toward black)

Tones (toward gray)

Color theory

Color harmonies

Proven schemes built around Jet. Each swatch is one click from your clipboard.

Complementary

#333333#333333

Analogous

#333333#333333#333333

Triadic

#333333#333333#333333

Split-complementary

#333333#333333#333333

Tetradic

#333333#333333#333333#333333

Monochromatic

#262626#525252#808080#adadad#d9d9d9

Accessibility

Blindness simulator

See how Jet is perceived with common types of color vision deficiency.

#343434

Normal vision

Standard trichromatic vision, shown for reference.

#343434

Protanopia

Red-blind. Reds look darker and can be confused with greens and browns.

#343434

Deuteranopia

Green-blind. Greens look muted and can be confused with reds and browns.

#343434

Tritanopia

Blue-blind. Blues look greenish and yellows fade toward pink.

#343434

Achromatopsia

Complete color blindness. Everything is seen in shades of gray.

WCAG

Contrast checker

How Jet performs against black and white text, with WCAG AA and AAA ratings.

AaWhite on Jet
12.45:1
AAAAAAA LargeAAA Large
AaBlack on Jet
1.69:1
AAAAAAA LargeAAA Large

The ratio is identical whether Jet is used as the text or the background.

Open the full checker

Ready to use

Color palettes

Curated palettes that put Jet to work, with copy-all support for each.

Complementary

The base color paired with its opposite on the wheel for maximum contrast, plus two neutrals and a soft tint.

Analogous

Neighboring hues on the color wheel create a calm, cohesive scheme with a light tint and a deep shade.

Triadic

Three hues spaced evenly around the wheel for a bold, balanced palette anchored by two neutrals.

Monochromatic

A single hue stepped from light to dark for a clean, elegant and foolproof palette.

Jet (#343434) is a neutral-family color. Use its values, variations, harmonies and palettes above to put it to work in your next design.

Frequently asked questions

Jet is #343434 — rgb(52, 52, 52) / hsl(0, 0%, 20%). Jet (#343434) is a very dark, desaturated neutral. With little or no hue, it acts as a quiet, flexible backdrop that lets other colors lead while adding structure and sophistication of its own.

Must-know facts

  • Jet is one of 355 named colors in the library.
  • Its complementary hue sits 180° away on the color wheel: #333333.

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