Taupe Color Codes
Taupe is a dark, desaturated orange with the hex code #483C32, RGB values of 72, 60, 50 and an HSL value of hsl(27, 18%, 24%).
| HEX | #483C32 |
|---|---|
| RGB | 72, 60, 50 |
| HSL | hsl(27, 18%, 24%) |
| HSV | 27°, 31%, 28% |
| CMYK | 0%, 17%, 31%, 72% |
| LAB | 26.27, 3.42, 8.13 |
| CIELCHuv | 26.27, 10.99, 47.14° |
- Nearest Pantone
- PMS 412 C ΔE 5.4 · approximate
- Nearest CSS name
-
darkslategrayΔE 19.9
Source Wikipedia, List of colors
Taupe Color Hex Code
The Taupe color hex code is #483C32. Those six digits are three pairs, 48 for red, 3C for green and 32 for blue, which is the same triplet a browser reads from the CSS value below.
#483C32
Taupe Color RGB Code
The Taupe RGB code is rgb(72, 60, 50). Red carries the most light at 72 of 255, which is what puts this color where it sits on the wheel.
rgb(72, 60, 50)
Taupe Color HSV Code
The Taupe HSV code is 27°, 31%, 28%. Read it as a hue of 27 degrees, 31% saturation and 28% value, which is the form most color pickers use because moving one number changes one thing.
27°, 31%, 28%
Taupe Color CIELChuv Code
The Taupe CIELCHuv code is 26.27, 10.99, 47.14°. Unlike hex or RGB this one is perceptual: lightness 26 means dark to the eye rather than to the screen, and chroma 11 is how far it sits from grey.
26.27, 10.99, 47.14°
Tonal scale
What are Taupe Color Palettes?
A shade mixes toward black, a tint toward white, a tone toward grey. Every step keeps the hue and is copy-ready.
Shades, toward black
Tints, toward white
Tones, toward grey
Palettes
What are Taupe Color Palette Codes?
Each of these is a hue rotation from #483C32. They are generated, not curated, so they are exact.
Complementary
Directly opposite sits #323E48, a dark, desaturated azure blue. No other pairing separates two hues further, so this is the one to reach for when a single element has to win attention. Neither is especially saturated, so this pairing stays calm enough for large areas of both.
Analogous
#483233 and #484732 sit 30 degrees either side. All three share most of their hue, so the set reads as one family instead of three separate decisions. Good for backgrounds and for state variations that should not announce themselves.
Triadic
#32483C and #3C3248 complete an even 120 degree split. Three fully independent hues, so one has to lead: keep this base dominant and let the other two appear in small quantities.
Split-complementary
Instead of the direct complement, this takes the two hues either side of it: #324847 and #323348. Almost the same contrast, without the edge shimmer a true complementary pair produces at high saturation.
Tetradic
Two complementary pairs forming a rectangle: this base with #323E48, and #334832 with #473248. The richest of the five and the hardest to balance, so treat this base as the lead and hold the other three well back.
Accessibility
Contrast checker: is Taupe accessible?
Measured against white and against black, with a separate verdict for each element type. Small text, large text and UI components have different thresholds, so one pass or fail for the whole color would be wrong roughly a third of the time.
White background
10.67:110.67
contrast ratio on white background
| Element | AA | AAA |
|---|---|---|
| Small text needs 4.5:1 / 7:1 | Passes | Passes |
| Large text needs 3:1 / 4.5:1 | Passes | Passes |
| UI component needs 3:1 | Passes | n/a |
Black background
1.97:11.97
contrast ratio on black background
| Element | AA | AAA |
|---|---|---|
| Small text needs 4.5:1 / 7:1 | Fails | Fails |
| Large text needs 3:1 / 4.5:1 | Fails | Fails |
| UI component needs 3:1 | Fails | n/a |
Taupe clears WCAG AA against white at 10.67:1, so it is safe for body copy as well as headings. Text placed on it should be white, which gives 10.67:1.
Color vision
How Taupe looks with color blindness
Around 300 million people see color differently from the way it is specified. Each card shows the actual color beside how it appears, and how common that form of vision is.
Protanopia
About 1% of men#434335
Taupe shifts slightly here. ΔE 6.5
No working red cones. Reds darken sharply and drift toward the same muddy olive as green.
Deuteranopia
About 1% of men#444535
Taupe shifts slightly here. ΔE 7.6
No working green cones. With the milder deuteranomaly at nearer 6% of men, this is by far the most common form, and the one worth designing around.
Tritanopia
About 1 in 10,000#473737
Taupe shifts slightly here. ΔE 6.7
No working blue cones. Blues shift toward green and yellows toward pink. Rare, and unlike the others it is not sex-linked, so it affects men and women equally.
Achromatopsia
About 1 in 30,000#3E3E3E
Taupe shifts slightly here. ΔE 8.8
No color vision at all. Also a fair proxy for how the color survives a greyscale print or a failing screen.
To a deuteranope, the most common form, Taupe reads as #444535. That is a shift of ΔE 7.6, so it is a different color to roughly one man in sixteen. The widest shift is under deuteranopia, at ΔE 7.6. The rule this leads to needs no simulator: never let color be the only thing carrying a message. Add a label, an icon, or a clear difference in lightness, and the problem disappears for everyone.
Snippets
Using Taupe in code
:root {
--taupe: #483C32;
}
.example {
color: var(--taupe);
}// tailwind.config.js
theme: {
extend: {
colors: {
'taupe': '#483C32',
},
},
}// SwiftUI takes 0–1 components, not 0–255.
let taupe = Color(
red: 0.282,
green: 0.235,
blue: 0.196
)<!-- res/values/colors.xml -->
<color name="taupe">#483C32</color>// Flutter wants ARGB: FF for full opacity, then the hex.
const taupe = Color(0xFF483C32);