Classifying greys, a wholly unscientific survey

[ewc]

Firstly, this is a ≥90% serious thread.

I have trouble with greys. I stress about greys. Charcoal is a staple, but black is a sin. Mid grey is good, but charcoal is better. Oy vey.

Please guestimate where the boundaries between light and mid; mid and charcoal; and charcoal and black lie. Yes, monitors are set to different brightness settings, and suiting is not really uniformly coloured, but humour me.

And no talk of colours in this thread. Baby steps, please.

 

[landshark]

Light = 0 -30
Mid = 30- 55
Dark = 55 - 75
Charcoal = 75 - 90
Black = 90 - 100

I find Mid Grey to be the best, followed by charcoal, then light grey. I have 2 pairs of black trousers. They can look good if you know what you're doing.

 

[meok]

Warning: Classifying the colours may have more to do with one's monitor than with one's eyes.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

My favorite colors.

 

[ewc]

There is a disparity between my level of seriousness WRT to this thread and that of the forum at large.

 

[Nicola]

Black is Zone I
White is Zone VIIII

Look it up.

 

[DerekS]

personally, id classify 0 as light grey.....and yeah....these are some of my favorite colors...someone needs to do a blue scale as well.

 

[pvrhye]

In school we had to differentiate 11 even gradations of grey. Then you've got your differing temperatures (very few greys are totally monochrome).

I more or less agree with landshark's rundown for our purposes.

 

[aj_del]

All the greys I need

 

[Master-Classter]

I'm with Landshark's boundaries, except I'd cut off charcoal a little earlier, like 85, not 90.


I use mid-dark greys a lot but I think light grey looks way classier. It's just seasonal and harder to match.

 

[Testudo_Aubreii]

Originally Posted by Master-Classter

I'm with Landshark's boundaries, except I'd cut off charcoal a little earlier, like 85, not 90.


I use mid-dark greys a lot but I think light grey looks way classier. It's just seasonal and harder to match.

Agreed, though I might shrink Dark gray to 55-70, and give Charcoal 70-85.

What about Oxford gray (the classic morning coat color)? Around 80? Is it a dark shade of charcoal, or a basic gray in its own right?

Dove gray?

Pearl gray?

I find shades trickier to identify than undertones.

 

[*#..]

Originally Posted by landshark

Light = 0 -30
Mid = 30- 55
Dark = 55 - 75
Charcoal = 75 - 90
Black = 90 - 100

I find Mid Grey to be the best, followed by charcoal, then light grey. I have 2 pairs of black trousers. They can look good if you know what you're doing.

I agree with this.

 

[JapanAlex01]

Well, as a graphic designer, whatever you choose for the light gray will be light gray, to you! Then it will be percentages, until black. I.E. 25%: light-mid gray, 50%: mid gray, 75%: dark grey, 100%: black.

 

[yachtie]

Are we talking clothes here? Because if so there is a lot more to "grey" than a scale from black to white as many cloth greys have additional colors as admixtures.

 

[JapanAlex01]

RGB: 255, 255, 255: white; 191, 191, 191: light grey; 128, 128, 128: mid grey; 64, 64 ,64: dark grey; 0, 0, 0: black.