#282912 is a muted, temperate green. On the Color Lab it reads quietly premium, restrained and easy to live with. It is too dark to lead as a primary accent and reproduces cleanly in print.
Not just a swatch — here's how #282912 works with other colors. Named schemes with #282912 in its natural role, and a note on why the supporting colors balance it.
Bistre plays the worn-leather lead, deepened by saddle brown and an oxblood anchor, softened by aged cream and cooled by a muted forest green.
This palette keeps Bistre as the dominant warm neutral, balanced by muted terracotta and olive earth tones and grounded by a deep espresso anchor.
Bistre sets a calm, sun-bleached base here, wrapped in bone and paper off-whites and a soft greige, with a single ink accent for wabi-sabi restraint.
Bistre carries the depth in this luxury scheme, offset by a brass accent and near-black and held together by a deep neutral and an off-white surface.
Bistre is the single accent in this high-contrast editorial system — set on near-white paper against near-black ink, with a warm grey and a desaturated tint of Bistre carrying the quiet middle.
How #282912 actually behaves in design work — read from its OKLCH lightness, chroma and hue, not just its raw numbers. Ten signals to help you decide where this color earns its place.
Not a swatch to memorise — a color to build with. Here is #282912 at work across the surfaces designers actually ship.
:root {
--color-base: #282912;
--color-base-rgb: 40 41 18;
--color-base-oklch: oklch(27.3% 0.038 110.9);
--color-50: #FAFBF4;
--color-100: #F2F3E2;
--color-200: #E4E6C6;
--color-300: #CED19E;
--color-400: #B6B979;
--color-500: #999D58;
--color-600: #777949;
--color-700: #565738;
--color-800: #393A27;
--color-900: #232419;
--color-on-base: #FFFFFF;
}
// tailwind.config.js
colors: {
bistre: {
50: '#FAFBF4',
100: '#F2F3E2',
200: '#E4E6C6',
300: '#CED19E',
400: '#B6B979',
500: '#999D58',
600: '#777949',
700: '#565738',
800: '#393A27',
900: '#232419',
},
}
$base: #282912; $base-ink: #FFFFFF; $base-50: #FAFBF4; $base-100: #F2F3E2; $base-200: #E4E6C6; $base-300: #CED19E; $base-400: #B6B979; $base-500: #999D58; $base-600: #777949; $base-700: #565738; $base-800: #393A27; $base-900: #232419; $base-hover: #21220F; $base-subtle: #CED0A8;
{
"color": {
"base": {
"value": "#282912",
"type": "color"
},
"onBase": {
"value": "#FFFFFF",
"type": "color"
},
"scale": {
"50": {
"value": "#FAFBF4",
"type": "color"
},
"100": {
"value": "#F2F3E2",
"type": "color"
},
"200": {
"value": "#E4E6C6",
"type": "color"
},
"300": {
"value": "#CED19E",
"type": "color"
},
"400": {
"value": "#B6B979",
"type": "color"
},
"500": {
"value": "#999D58",
"type": "color"
},
"600": {
"value": "#777949",
"type": "color"
},
"700": {
"value": "#565738",
"type": "color"
},
"800": {
"value": "#393A27",
"type": "color"
},
"900": {
"value": "#232419",
"type": "color"
}
}
}
}