Get inspired with gray design templates.
The color gray is a total neutral, meaning you can use it to make anything you care to imagine.
Inspiration in the color gray.
Learn the history and meaning of the color gray, suspended in the balance of black and white.
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How to use the color gray.
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Popular uses of the color gray.
The color gray is popular in urban environments. Not only is concrete gray, suits and other business attire are often gray, too. The color gray is also a popular background color in portrait photography because of its neutrality. In logo design, gray is used as a high-end color that represents wisdom and prestige.
Gray color represents intellect and wisdom.
The color gray is associated with gray hair, and therefore with wisdom and experience. Gray color is also representative of nuance because it’s neither black nor white. This means that gray color brings a balanced approach.
Combine gray with other colors.
The color gray is achromatic, meaning that it’s “a color without color” like black and white. This makes gray so neutral that it can be combined with any other color. Some of the calmest color palettes combine gray with other pale pigments. Gray color can also be combined with warm, dark hues like burnt orange to add gentle energy.
Gray takes emotion out of it.
Gray offers the best of white’s bright optimism with black’s profound absorption. Gray is emotionally uninvolved. Gray color’s neutrality can be used to tone more emotional colors down.
Information about gray color.
The gray HEX code picker is #808080. This is the exact intersection of black and white.
The color gray can be achieved in a RGB space with 128 red, 128 green, and 128 blue. Gray color can be achieved in a CMYK color space with 0% cyan, 0% magenta, 0% yellow, and 50% black.
What is the meaning of the color gray?
Gray is the color of rain clouds and of ash. The color gray (rather, avoiding it) is also the spur behind much of the hair dye industry. In general, the color gray is associated with weariness. Just like the “gray area” we use in speech, however, gray color is actually a more ambiguous middle point between bright white and impenetrable black.
Gray color is the perfect neutral. Gray is unemotional and detached. Depending how it’s used, the color gray can mute or enhance.
The history of gray color.
The color gray has been in use as long as the color black.
Gray color is the shadow of black. The oldest known paintings dated 17,000 years ago feature thick lines in gray. The color gray back then was utilitarian. Gray was a shade of black, not a color in itself. In Ancient China, Sumer, and Egypt, the color gray finally came into its own. Gray color was celebrated in iconic art. By the year 900, a Chinese painting technique known as ink wash painting placed gray on a permanent pedestal in Chinese culture.
The word gray dates back to 700 BCE in English.
The color gray (originally “grey” in British English) was first recorded in English in 700 BCE. Grey was later used as a verb meaning “to age, wither, become gray.” Throughout the Middle Ages, gray color was associated with the poor. Gray was the color of undyed wool, and so was worn by peasants. Monks and friars also wore gray as a symbol of their vow to humility.
The Renaissance marked the rebirth of gray color.
Through the Renaissance and Baroque periods in Europe, the color gray was reborn in fashion and art. Black became the formal color for nobility in France, Spain, and Italy. Gray and white contrasted beautifully with black, and so were used freely. The color gray was also used in a new art technique called grisaille. A painting would be composed first in gray and white oil paints, and then colors would be added on top in a transparent glaze.
The color gray across different cultures.
In the West, gray (or “grey” in British English) is often tied to neutrality or old age.
Though American English has favored the spelling “gray” since the 20th century, British English still uses the original spelling “grey.” Surveys in Europe and North America found that gray is associated with neutrality, boredom, old age, and indifference. While these aren’t flattering outlooks, old age is also seen to come with wisdom, and gray symbolizes the experience and insight that comes with age.
Gray color in Ancient Egypt and China.
In Ancient Egypt, the color gray was admired as the main color of the heron’s plumage, and the heron was believed to be the guide to the underworld. Gray color was respected as such. In Ancient China, gray color was tied to humility and modesty. Taoist priests in China often still wear gray today.
Gray color favored by eminent artists, including composers.
Rembrandt’s palette was somber with shades of gray made of charcoal and burnt animal bones. Corot also gave famed harmony to his landscapes using gray blended with blues and greens. Whistler used a prominent gray background in the portrait of his mother. He made such an impression on Claude Debussy that the composer once described his Nocturnes as “an experiment in the combinations that can be obtained from one color – what a study in grey would be in painting.”