How to sample a chart color for a blog illustration
Sample a chart color from a blog illustration, get its HEX and RGB values, and avoid picking softened edges or compressed pixels.
You need the exact shade from a chart in a blog illustration, perhaps to match a legend, label, or new graphic. Picking a nearby color by eye can leave small but noticeable mismatches.
Use the Color Picker to sample a pixel on your screen and read its HEX, RGB, HSL, and other color values. The steps below help you choose a clean area of the chart instead of a softened edge or a pixel changed by image scaling.
Sample the chart color
- Open the Color Picker on a desktop computer in Chrome or Edge. The tool can pick a color from anywhere on the screen in those browsers. Other browsers may show a reduced version or no screen-picking option.
- Bring the blog illustration into view. If the chart is inside a web page, close menus or overlays that cover it. If you have the original image file, open it in a viewer so you can inspect the illustration without other page elements around it.
- Choose a broad, flat section in the middle of a chart bar, line, or legend swatch. Avoid antialiased edges, which are blended with the background, and avoid text or gridlines.
- Read the resulting color value. Note the HEX value for web or design work, or use RGB if your destination asks for red, green, and blue numbers. If you are comparing colors, record the value and the exact part of the chart you sampled.
If the tool cannot access the screen, check that you are using Chrome or Edge on a computer, then reload the page and try again. A phone browser is not a supported way to use this screen-picking feature.
What the result means
The sample matches the chart across a large area
If several points inside a solid bar or swatch give the same value, that is a good sign that you sampled a flat color. Use that value as a close match for the illustration as it appears on your screen.
Nearby samples have slightly different values
You may be near an edge, a thin line, or text. The browser or image may blend adjacent colors to make an edge look smooth. Move farther into the flat part of the chart and sample again.
The chart color changes gradually
A gradient is made of many different colors, so there is no single exact value for the whole region. Pick the point that matters, such as the center of the bar, and use that value consistently for your related graphic.
Your value differs from a design file
The displayed image may have been resized, compressed, or color-adjusted. A screen sample describes the pixel currently shown, not necessarily the original color chosen in the chart's design file. If the original HEX or RGB value is available in that file, use it as the source of truth.
How to get a more reliable sample
- Sample a large, solid area. Choose the center of a thick bar or a large legend swatch. A one-pixel move near an outline can land on a blended edge and return a different value.
- Return browser zoom to its default. Use Ctrl + 0 on Windows or Command + 0 on macOS. Page zoom can cause the browser to redraw or resample an image, which may change edge pixels.
- Check whether the chart is resized. If the image is displayed much smaller or larger than its original size, the browser may blend pixels during scaling. Open the original image at its natural size when possible, then sample the middle of a broad color block.
- Use the original design value when available. For a chart made in a design or spreadsheet project, inspect the fill or line color in that project. A sampled screenshot can match the visible result, but it cannot recover a hidden source value after compression or effects have changed the pixels.
- Sample the same kind of area each time. For two bars, compare their centers rather than comparing a bar center with a border. Keep the screen, zoom, and illustration size unchanged while you compare.
Why a chart may not have one exact color
A flat chart fill usually has a stable color, but the edges around it do not. Smoothing, called antialiasing, blends edge pixels with nearby colors so diagonal lines and curves look less jagged. A resized illustration can also blend pixels across the whole chart. Compression may add small color variations, especially around sharp edges and fine details.
Transparency and overlays can change the displayed color too. For example, a partly transparent blue bar over a white background looks lighter than the blue color used to draw it. A shadow, highlight, or color adjustment can have a similar effect. In these cases, the Color Picker reports the visible screen color at the point you choose, not a color hidden underneath the effect.
For a blog illustration that has already been published, sample the broadest clean area to match what readers see. For a new chart based on an editable source, use its original fill value instead. That avoids treating compression or display scaling as part of the intended design.
