Chalkboard
Open in tool →Slate green with chalk cream and a coral — nostalgic without being twee.
Color
#252c2a
#252c2a
hex
#252c2argb
rgb(37, 44, 42)hsl
hsl(163, 9%, 16%)oklch
oklch(0.286 0.01 176.5)Closest name: Bitter Liquorice (#262926)Relative luminance 0.0236
Colors that go with #252c2a
Amber, Blue and Blue Violet lead the list. Each partner is a real named colour with the reason it works — a wheel relationship, a neutral that carries it, or a pairing lifted from a palette or brand system that actually shipped — and every pair opens in the palette tool.
Amber #ffbf00
shippedAmber is paired with #252c2a in 18 real palettes, including McDonald's's brand system and Beach Hut, as the lead colour.
Blue #0000ff
shipped23 real palettes, including Readymag's brand system and Headspace's brand system put Blue beside #252c2a, as the supporting colour.
Blue Violet #8a2be2
shippedBlue Violet is paired with #252c2a in 6 real palettes, including ClickUp's brand system and Yahoo's brand system, as the lead colour.
Blush Pink #e8b4b8
shipped7 real palettes, including Rain Garden and Graphite Mono put Blush Pink beside #252c2a, as the accent.
Brown #a52a2a
shipped4 real palettes, including Typewriter and Woodsmoke put Brown beside #252c2a, as the accent.
Burlywood #deb887
shippedBurlywood is paired with #252c2a in 5 real palettes, including Chalkboard and Polaroid, as the lead colour.
Cadet Blue #5f9ea0
shippedDesigners have shipped Cadet Blue with #252c2a: 10 real palettes, including Clean Beauty and Dusk, as the lead colour.
White Smoke #f5f5f5
neutralWhite Smoke is the near-white surface #252c2a was made for — maximum legibility with no colour cast to argue with.
Real palettes that use #252c2a
Tints & shades
Harmonies
Contrast
| #252c2a as text | Ratio | AA | AA large | AAA | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aaon white | 14.26:1 | pass | pass | pass | Passes AAA — no fix needed. |
Aaon black | 1.47:1 | fail | fail | fail |
Fixes keep hue and saturation and move lightness only, so the suggestion stays on-brand. Ratios are symmetric: the same numbers apply with #252c2a as the background.
Brands using this color
- Squarespaceprimary · #2a2a2a · Δ1.048
- McDonald'stext · #292929 · Δ1.145
- Astrotext · #2c2c2c · Δ1.29
- Gilletteprimary · #2b2929 · Δ1.348
- Gillettetext · #2b2929 · Δ1.348
- Readymagtext · #282828 · Δ1.363
- YouTubesecondary · #282828 · Δ1.363
- Loomtext · #292a2e · Δ1.366
- Superhumantext · #292827 · Δ1.399
- Headspacetext · #2d2c2b · Δ1.406
- Vodafonetext · #25282b · Δ1.497
- Fenty Beautyprimary · #2d2929 · Δ1.611
- Fenty Beautytext · #2d2929 · Δ1.611
- Rotten Tomatoesprimary · #2a2c32 · Δ1.784
- American Eagleprimary · #24272a · Δ1.812
- American Eagletext · #24272a · Δ1.812
- Chevroletprimary · #262626 · Δ1.993
- Chevrolettext · #262626 · Δ1.993
- Cloudflaretext · #262626 · Δ1.993
- Obsidiantext · #262626 · Δ1.993
- Sveltetext · #262626 · Δ1.993
Palettes built around it
Homestead
Open in tool →Timber and olive for homes that photograph in golden hour; nothing here competes with a good listing photo.
Clean Beauty
Open in tool →Sage and clay on unbleached white — the nothing-to-hide palette for ingredient-led skincare.
Olive Grove
Open in tool →Olive and straw with a rust accent — Mediterranean and unhurried; good for food, wine and hospitality.
Mushroom
Open in tool →Taupe, oat and a sage accent — the quiet earth palette: almost neutral, with just enough colour to feel alive.
Typewriter
Open in tool →Ink-black and ribbon-red on manila — the correspondence palette; all the vintage comes from the paper colour.
Greige
Open in tool →Grey-beige with a hint of olive — the interior-design neutral; the olive accent is the only thing that isn't a shade of nothing.
Fonts for this mood
#252c2a reads as muted, dark, luxury. The font library is tagged with the same vocabulary:
mcpConnect your agent — build around #252c2a
live endpointPoint any MCP client at the shared colors endpoint and your agent gets the same engine as this page — direct_palette, edit_direction, check_palette, check_contrast — read-only, no key. Every direction it proposes comes with a /colors/d/… link: open it, lock what you like, paste the link back, and the agent edits rather than re-rolls.
endpoint
https://mcp.brandsweets.com/colors/mcpclaude mcp add --transport http brandsweets-colors https://mcp.brandsweets.com/colors/mcp
try this prompt
›analyze #252c2a and generate a 5-color palette that keeps it as the primary; give me the /palettes/new link
tool url
/palettes/new/252c2a-a2beb9-d459b7-1f2b2d-e9f1eb?lock=0&style=vibrantWant the agent to remember your picks and write them into a living brand? Create a free BrandSweets workspace.
Machine-readable: color.md