Sanzo Wada Combination No. 46: Hex Codes & Room Preview

Combination No. 46 in use

The palette applied to simple layouts. Colors are assigned to roles automatically; try other arrangements.

Color study

A dictionary of color

Background, surface, text and accent, taken from one of Wada’s combinations.

ExploreLearn more

Combination No. 46 as a living room

Painted following the 60-30-10 rule: about 60% wall color, 30% for the sofa, 10% for cushions, throw and vase. A fourth color goes to the rug and curtains; otherwise they stay undyed. Floor and ceiling stay neutral; the print shows the whole palette.

Readable text pairs

Harmony in contrastBlack · 6.5:1

Harmony in contrastOrange · 6.5:1

Analysis

Character

Dark & moderate

Lightness 44 (range 18–70)
Colorfulness 0.091

Average OKLCH lightness (0–100) and chroma (colorfulness).

Harmony

Accented neutral

Neutral colors with a single colored accent.

A heuristic based on the painter’s color wheel. Wada’s combinations often ignore textbook rules, which is part of their appeal.

Temperature

Warm

OrangeWarm
BlackNeutral

Reds, oranges and yellows count as warm; greens, blues and violets as cool.

Distinctness

ΔE 55

Closest pair ΔE 55.3 · average ΔE 55.3

CIEDE2000 color difference. Below about 10 colors look related; above 30 they are clearly distinct.

Contrast

AaBest text pair: Black on Orange (6.5:1)

Contrast	WCAG	APCA Lc
AaAaOrange · Black	6.5:1AA	47 / 49

WCAG 2 contrast ratio for text, and APCA lightness contrast (Lc) for each text/background direction.

Similar combinations

The closest palettes in perceptual color space (OKLab).

Export

Copy the palette as code or download it as an image.

/* Sanzo Wada, combination No. 46 */
:root {
  --orange: #f37420; /* Orange */
  --black: #111314; /* Black */
}

/* Tailwind CSS v4 – Sanzo Wada, combination No. 46 */
@theme {
  --color-orange: #f37420;
  --color-black: #111314;
}

{
  "id": 46,
  "source": "Sanzo Wada, A Dictionary of Color Combinations",
  "colors": [
    {
      "name": "Orange",
      "hex": "#f37420",
      "rgb": [
        243,
        116,
        32
      ],
      "cmyk": [
        0,
        68,
        100,
        0
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "Black",
      "hex": "#111314",
      "rgb": [
        17,
        19,
        20
      ],
      "cmyk": [
        20,
        10,
        15,
        100
      ]
    }
  ]
}

No. 46

Orange

Black

Combination No. 46 in use

Combination No. 46 as a living room

Readable text pairs

Analysis

Character

Harmony

Temperature

Distinctness

Contrast

Similar combinations

Export

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