Black and White color palette
black
white · 0
The black here is not pure #000000. It is #0A0A0A, a slightly softened black that reads as solid and absolute without the harshness of true black on a screen. Paired with #FFFFFF white, you get a ratio of 19.8 to 1, which is about as high as it gets and passes AAA for text at any size.
This is the default high-contrast pairing of design. There is no to manage, only lightness, so nothing competes with your content. In branding, it puts all the weight on the logo shape and the typeface. On posters, it gives you maximum legibility from across a room. On the web, it is the safest possible combination for body text and headlines.
If you need a neutral middle tone for borders, dividers, or secondary text, the perceptual midpoint is a plain medium gray (#787878).
See Black and White in use
better
Black Tailwind scale (50-900)
White Tailwind scale (50-900)
Black to White blend
A continuous interpolation from Black to White, sampled into the 10 steps below. Tap any swatch to copy its hex.
Why Black and White blend best in OKLab
The same two colors blended three ways. This site uses OKLab, which keeps the blend smooth and evenly lit. The other two are shown so you can see what to avoid: sRGB darkens and muddies the middle, and HSL detours through colors that are not in your palette.
Accessibility
Black and White can be used together as text and background.
Contrast pairing grid
Rows are Black steps, columns are White steps. Each mark is a Black step shown on a White step: a check means it clears WCAG AA for text (4.5:1). If you can read the mark, the pairing is legible.
| 50 | 100 | 200 | 300 | 400 | 500 | 600 | 700 | 800 | 900 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 100 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 200 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| 300 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| 400 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 500 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 600 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 700 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 800 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 900 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
✓ passes AA ✗ fails AA
Copy for Tailwind
Tailwind v4 — @theme (paste into your CSS)
@theme {
--color-black-50: #EEEEEE;
--color-black-100: #DDDDDD;
--color-black-200: #C1C1C1;
--color-black-300: #9C9C9C;
--color-black-400: #6C6C6C;
--color-black-500: #0A0A0A;
--color-black-600: #060606;
--color-black-700: #030303;
--color-black-800: #010101;
--color-black-900: #000000;
--color-white-50: #FFFFFF;
--color-white-100: #FFFFFF;
--color-white-200: #FFFFFF;
--color-white-300: #FFFFFF;
--color-white-400: #FFFFFF;
--color-white-500: #FFFFFF;
--color-white-600: #D1D1D1;
--color-white-700: #9E9E9E;
--color-white-800: #5D5D5D;
--color-white-900: #292929;
}
Tailwind v3 — tailwind.config.js
// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
theme: {
extend: {
colors: {
'black': {
50: '#EEEEEE',
100: '#DDDDDD',
200: '#C1C1C1',
300: '#9C9C9C',
400: '#6C6C6C',
500: '#0A0A0A',
600: '#060606',
700: '#030303',
800: '#010101',
900: '#000000',
},
'white': {
50: '#FFFFFF',
100: '#FFFFFF',
200: '#FFFFFF',
300: '#FFFFFF',
400: '#FFFFFF',
500: '#FFFFFF',
600: '#D1D1D1',
700: '#9E9E9E',
800: '#5D5D5D',
900: '#292929',
},
},
},
},
};
CSS variables
:root {
--black-50: #EEEEEE;
--black-100: #DDDDDD;
--black-200: #C1C1C1;
--black-300: #9C9C9C;
--black-400: #6C6C6C;
--black-500: #0A0A0A;
--black-600: #060606;
--black-700: #030303;
--black-800: #010101;
--black-900: #000000;
--white-50: #FFFFFF;
--white-100: #FFFFFF;
--white-200: #FFFFFF;
--white-300: #FFFFFF;
--white-400: #FFFFFF;
--white-500: #FFFFFF;
--white-600: #D1D1D1;
--white-700: #9E9E9E;
--white-800: #5D5D5D;
--white-900: #292929;
}SCSS variables
$black-50: #EEEEEE; $black-100: #DDDDDD; $black-200: #C1C1C1; $black-300: #9C9C9C; $black-400: #6C6C6C; $black-500: #0A0A0A; $black-600: #060606; $black-700: #030303; $black-800: #010101; $black-900: #000000; $white-50: #FFFFFF; $white-100: #FFFFFF; $white-200: #FFFFFF; $white-300: #FFFFFF; $white-400: #FFFFFF; $white-500: #FFFFFF; $white-600: #D1D1D1; $white-700: #9E9E9E; $white-800: #5D5D5D; $white-900: #292929;
JSON tokens
{
"black": {
"50": "#EEEEEE",
"100": "#DDDDDD",
"200": "#C1C1C1",
"300": "#9C9C9C",
"400": "#6C6C6C",
"500": "#0A0A0A",
"600": "#060606",
"700": "#030303",
"800": "#010101",
"900": "#000000"
},
"white": {
"50": "#FFFFFF",
"100": "#FFFFFF",
"200": "#FFFFFF",
"300": "#FFFFFF",
"400": "#FFFFFF",
"500": "#FFFFFF",
"600": "#D1D1D1",
"700": "#9E9E9E",
"800": "#5D5D5D",
"900": "#292929"
}
}How we name colors
There is no single official authority for naming colors. We use the common, widely recognized name as the primary label for each color (here, Black and White); many common names are themselves W3C CSS named colors. For transparency we also show the nearest W3C CSS named color and the perceptual distance, ΔE, measured in OKLab. A small ΔE means the name is essentially exact; a larger one means it is the closest standard name rather than a perfect match.
Sources: W3C CSS Color Module Level 4 and the open color-name-list dataset, used to verify every color sits near a recognized name.