Gray and White color palette
dimgray · 0.038
white · 0
Dashboards, settings panels, and documentation sites lean on this exact pairing more than almost any other. Gray (#6B7280) is Tailwind's workhorse mid-gray, and white (#FFFFFF) is the default canvas behind it. Together they form the quiet baseline that lets product UI breathe without competing with brand color, charts, or content.
The relationship is purely about lightness. White is fully bright, gray sits roughly in the middle, and the 4.83:1 ratio passes AA for normal body text. That makes gray safe for paragraph copy, table rows, form labels, and secondary navigation on a white background. The midpoint between them lands at a soft cool gray (#B2B6BE), which is close to what you would use for borders, dividers, and disabled states.
For web and app interfaces built on Tailwind, this pair maps cleanly to gray-500 on white. Pair it with one accent color for buttons and links, and the system holds up across long sessions.
See Gray and White in use
better
Gray Tailwind scale (50-900)
White Tailwind scale (50-900)
Gray to White blend
A continuous interpolation from Gray to White, sampled into the 10 steps below. Tap any swatch to copy its hex.
Why Gray 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
Gray and White can be used together as text and background.
Contrast pairing grid
Rows are Gray steps, columns are White steps. Each mark is a Gray 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-gray-50: #F6F6F7;
--color-gray-100: #ECEDEF;
--color-gray-200: #DDDEE2;
--color-gray-300: #C7CAD0;
--color-gray-400: #ABAFB7;
--color-gray-500: #6B7280;
--color-gray-600: #565C68;
--color-gray-700: #3F444D;
--color-gray-800: #22252B;
--color-gray-900: #0B0C0F;
--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: {
'gray': {
50: '#F6F6F7',
100: '#ECEDEF',
200: '#DDDEE2',
300: '#C7CAD0',
400: '#ABAFB7',
500: '#6B7280',
600: '#565C68',
700: '#3F444D',
800: '#22252B',
900: '#0B0C0F',
},
'white': {
50: '#FFFFFF',
100: '#FFFFFF',
200: '#FFFFFF',
300: '#FFFFFF',
400: '#FFFFFF',
500: '#FFFFFF',
600: '#D1D1D1',
700: '#9E9E9E',
800: '#5D5D5D',
900: '#292929',
},
},
},
},
};
CSS variables
:root {
--gray-50: #F6F6F7;
--gray-100: #ECEDEF;
--gray-200: #DDDEE2;
--gray-300: #C7CAD0;
--gray-400: #ABAFB7;
--gray-500: #6B7280;
--gray-600: #565C68;
--gray-700: #3F444D;
--gray-800: #22252B;
--gray-900: #0B0C0F;
--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
$gray-50: #F6F6F7; $gray-100: #ECEDEF; $gray-200: #DDDEE2; $gray-300: #C7CAD0; $gray-400: #ABAFB7; $gray-500: #6B7280; $gray-600: #565C68; $gray-700: #3F444D; $gray-800: #22252B; $gray-900: #0B0C0F; $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
{
"gray": {
"50": "#F6F6F7",
"100": "#ECEDEF",
"200": "#DDDEE2",
"300": "#C7CAD0",
"400": "#ABAFB7",
"500": "#6B7280",
"600": "#565C68",
"700": "#3F444D",
"800": "#22252B",
"900": "#0B0C0F"
},
"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, Gray 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.