#2E2A16 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 #2E2A16 works with other colors. Named schemes with #2E2A16 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 #2E2A16 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 #2E2A16 at work across the surfaces designers actually ship.
:root {
--color-base: #2E2A16;
--color-base-rgb: 46 42 22;
--color-base-oklch: oklch(28.4% 0.034 98.3);
--color-50: #FAF9F4;
--color-100: #F2F0E3;
--color-200: #E4E0C8;
--color-300: #CEC7A1;
--color-400: #B6AC7C;
--color-500: #998F5C;
--color-600: #776F4B;
--color-700: #565139;
--color-800: #393628;
--color-900: #23221A;
--color-on-base: #FFFFFF;
}
// tailwind.config.js
colors: {
bistre: {
50: '#FAF9F4',
100: '#F2F0E3',
200: '#E4E0C8',
300: '#CEC7A1',
400: '#B6AC7C',
500: '#998F5C',
600: '#776F4B',
700: '#565139',
800: '#393628',
900: '#23221A',
},
}
$base: #2E2A16; $base-ink: #FFFFFF; $base-50: #FAF9F4; $base-100: #F2F0E3; $base-200: #E4E0C8; $base-300: #CEC7A1; $base-400: #B6AC7C; $base-500: #998F5C; $base-600: #776F4B; $base-700: #565139; $base-800: #393628; $base-900: #23221A; $base-hover: #242111; $base-subtle: #CEC8AB;
{
"color": {
"base": {
"value": "#2E2A16",
"type": "color"
},
"onBase": {
"value": "#FFFFFF",
"type": "color"
},
"scale": {
"50": {
"value": "#FAF9F4",
"type": "color"
},
"100": {
"value": "#F2F0E3",
"type": "color"
},
"200": {
"value": "#E4E0C8",
"type": "color"
},
"300": {
"value": "#CEC7A1",
"type": "color"
},
"400": {
"value": "#B6AC7C",
"type": "color"
},
"500": {
"value": "#998F5C",
"type": "color"
},
"600": {
"value": "#776F4B",
"type": "color"
},
"700": {
"value": "#565139",
"type": "color"
},
"800": {
"value": "#393628",
"type": "color"
},
"900": {
"value": "#23221A",
"type": "color"
}
}
}
}