We're live on Product Hunt!Support us
ColorArchive

A curated color library with 5,446 algorithmically generated colors. Browse, search, save favorites, and export palette tokens — no account required.

CollectionsFamiliesBrandsRegionsJournalNotesGuidesFree ResourcesEmbed widgetConvertColorblindAboutSupportUpdatesiOS app
Ready for static export
Privacy·Terms·Refunds·Cookies·Commerce Disclosure
colorarchive.org · © 2026 ColorArchive
Skip to content
ColorArchive
ProLog in
ArchiveAll ColorsCollections
Sage Gray Tone
Color detail

Sage Gray Tone

Neutral gray · Hue 150
Metrics
S 5% · L 60%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white2.8:1Failon black7.6:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Sage Gray Tone (#949E99) belongs to the neutral grays — hue 150°, 5% saturation, 60% lightness. Copy the hex, RGB, or HSL value above, or paste the CSS custom property below into your stylesheet to reference this color directly.

CSS
:root {
  --colorarchive-sage-gray-tone: #949E99;
  --colorarchive-sage-gray-tone-hsl: hsl(150, 5%, 60%);
  --colorarchive-sage-gray-tone-rgb: rgb(148, 158, 153);
}

AI Color Names

Let AI suggest alternative poetic names for this color in English and Chinese.

Color Origins

Neutral family

Not a color, but the canvas every color lives on.

Heritage

Bone black, lamp black, and ivory black are the classical pigment lineage of black, with Mars black a 20th-century addition; lead white (now heavily restricted), zinc white, and titanium white are the whites; and every gray sits between them. Charcoal and graphite extend the lineage. Painters historically mixed their warm and cool grays rather than taking them from a tube — Vermeer tinted grays of lead white, black, and umber with ultramarine. Scandinavian and Japanese design traditions have refined the use of pure neutrals to the point of philosophy.

Across cultures

In Western culture black is mourning (since the Roman Empire), formal (since late-medieval European courts), and rebellious (since 20th-century counterculture). In China and much of East Asia white is the traditional funeral color, though Japan has worn black since the Meiji era. Black-and-white photography defined visual journalism for a century. Concrete gray, since Brutalism, has come to read as both serious-civic and dystopian, depending on context. Scandinavian interiors often lean on the calibration of warm vs cool grays.

In the wild

Apple's restraint is essentially a religion of neutrals — white packaging and, since it dropped the rainbow logo in 1999, a single-color Apple mark. Chanel built a fashion empire on black-and-white. Muji's identity is the absence of identity — the name means 'no-brand quality goods', and its color range is deliberately limited. Vercel, Linear, GitHub, and many modern developer tools dial the saturation way down to make their content shine. The film noir aesthetic and modern minimalist branding both converge on neutrals.

How it reads

Pure neutrals (true gray) are eye-rest colors — they carry no hue of their own. Warm neutrals (taupe, warm gray) read as inviting, hospitality-friendly, soft. Cool neutrals (cool gray, slate) read as technical, premium, slightly distant. Off-whites and creams are heritage-luxury colors; near-blacks (charcoal, ink) read as serious without the harshness of pure black. Designers often choose a slightly warm or slightly cool neutral over true gray because it feels more deliberate and human.

This particular tone

A grounded mid-tone — sober, considered, well-suited to body text accents, editorial layouts, or any context where restraint reads as quality.

Lightness band: At mid-lightness the hue carries its full character. This is the band where many identity colors live: bright enough to be distinctive at small sizes, deep enough to sit cleanly on a white canvas.

Saturation band: The low saturation pulls this color toward earthen, vintage, or editorial palettes. It reads as confident and grown-up rather than playful, and it tolerates being used in large blocks without becoming visually noisy.

Brands using a similar color

Within the public brand-guidelines reference catalog, these are the closest matches to #949E99.

  • Anthropicneutral
    Mid Gray · #B0AEA5
    →
  • Notionneutral
    Notion Gray · #787774
    →
  • Microsoftneutral
    Slate Gray · #737373
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #949E99.

  • Greece (Aegean)Olive Silver
    #9CA38F · Olea europaea leaf undersides
    →
  • IrelandConnemara Marble
    #8DA48A · Mottled green-grey native marble
    →
  • AustraliaEucalyptus Blue-Green
    #7EA08C · Eucalyptus regnans / globulus foliage
    →

Color guides

Go deeper on using color in design.

UI/UX DesignNeutral Color Palettes: Warm vs Cool and How to ChooseInterface SystemsBuilding Neutral Color Palettes for Design SystemsColor SystemsChromatic Neutrals: Why Gray Is Never Actually Gray in Professional Design

Tonal strip

All lightness levels at this hue and saturation. Click any to navigate.

Palette moves

Instead of stopping at one swatch, use nearby, opposite, and tonal neighbors to branch into a broader palette.

Lighter companion
Sage Gray Silk
#A9B1AD · hsl(150, 5%, 68%)
Darker companion
Sage Gray Radiant
#84908A · hsl(150, 5%, 54%)
Complementary counterpoint
Blush Tone Faint
#A38F99 · hsl(330, 10%, 60%)
Analogous lead
Cyan Tone Faint
#8FA3A2 · hsl(175, 10%, 60%)
Analogous echo
Mint Tone Faint
#8FA392 · hsl(130, 10%, 60%)
Triadic +120°
Plum Tone Faint
#998FA3 · hsl(270, 10%, 60%)
Triadic +240°
Warm Gray Tone
#9F9993 · hsl(30, 6%, 60%)
Split-comp +150°
Fuchsia Tone Faint
#A38FA3 · hsl(300, 10%, 60%)
Split-comp +210°
Crimson Tone Faint
#A38F8F · hsl(0, 10%, 60%)
Export preview
Base: Sage Gray Tone #949E99
Lighter companion: Sage Gray Silk #A9B1AD
Darker companion: Sage Gray Radiant #84908A
Complementary counterpoint: Blush Tone Faint #A38F99
Analogous lead: Cyan Tone Faint #8FA3A2
Analogous echo: Mint Tone Faint #8FA392
Triadic +120°: Plum Tone Faint #998FA3
Triadic +240°: Warm Gray Tone #9F9993
Split-comp +150°: Fuchsia Tone Faint #A38FA3
Split-comp +210°: Crimson Tone Faint #A38F8F

Compare

See how Sage Gray Tone compares side by side with related colors.

vsSage Gray SilkvsSage Gray RadiantvsBlush Tone FaintvsCyan Tone FaintvsMint Tone FaintvsPlum Tone Faint

Nearest neighbors

The closest archive matches by hue, saturation, and lightness.

Search by hex
Nearby match
Jade Tone Faint
#8FA399 · hsl(150, 10%, 60%)
Nearby match
Sage Gray Radiant
#84908A · hsl(150, 5%, 54%)
Nearby match
Jade Tone Muted
#87AB99 · hsl(150, 18%, 60%)
Nearby match
Sage Gray Silk
#A9B1AD · hsl(150, 5%, 68%)
Nearby match
Jade Radiant Faint
#7E958A · hsl(150, 10%, 54%)
Nearby match
Celadon Tone Faint
#8FA397 · hsl(145, 10%, 60%)

Accessible pairings

Archive colors that meet WCAG contrast standards when paired with this color. Use as text-on-background or background-on-text.

Contrast checker
AA4.7:1
Blush Nocturne Faint
#382E33
AA4.8:1
Blush Nocturne Muted
#3C2A33
AA4.9:1
Blush Nocturne Dust
#402633
AA5:1
Blush Nocturne Soft
#442233
AA5.1:1
Blush Nocturne Clear
#4F1733
AA5:1
Blush Nocturne Vivid
#590D33

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#98979B
Protanopia
#98999A
Tritanopia
#959B9B
Color of the Day

Like Sage Gray Tone? Get one like it every morning.

One hand-picked color a day — with its hex, family, and the story behind it.

Get a color every morning

One email per day. Unsubscribe anytime.

Ready to build

Turn these colors into design tokens

Copy the CSS variables and the Tailwind class free, right here. ColorArchive Pro lifts the daily export limit — 10 a day signed in, 3 without an account.

Upgrade to ProFree downloadView collections

Saturation ladder

Same hue and lightness, from gray to pure

Search
Sage Gray Tone#949E99 · hsl(150, 5%, 60%)Jade Tone Faint#8FA399 · hsl(150, 10%, 60%)Jade Tone Muted#87AB99 · hsl(150, 18%, 60%)Jade Tone Dust#7EB499 · hsl(150, 26%, 60%)Jade Tone Soft#76BC99 · hsl(150, 34%, 60%)Jade Tone Clear#62D099 · hsl(150, 54%, 60%)Jade Tone Vivid#4EE499 · hsl(150, 74%, 60%)Jade Tone Bright#43EF99 · hsl(150, 84%, 60%)Jade Tone Pure#3BF799 · hsl(150, 92%, 60%)