diff --git a/docs/styling.md b/docs/styling.md
index db201a6..56773df 100644
--- a/docs/styling.md
+++ b/docs/styling.md
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ Colours (neither logical nor device — nothing to scale):
 | field | default | meaning |
 |---|---|---|
 | `background` | `0x101418` | frame clear colour and legend/readout panel base |
-| `grid_major` | `0x2A3038` | major (labelled-tick) grid lines |
+| `grid_major` | `0x39414C` | major (labelled-tick) grid lines |
 | `grid_minor` | `0x1C2126` at 50% alpha | minor (subdivision) grid lines |
 | `axis_line` | `0x8A94A6` | axis lines |
 | `axis_text` | `0xC8D0DC` | tick labels and axis titles |
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ grid's three defaults are what makes that read: it is thinner than the major hai
 display as a narrower line), its colour carries an **alpha** so it blends into the
 background instead of sitting on it, and it is **dashed** (`grid_minor_dash_on`/`_off`) so an
 unlabelled line at an unlabelled position is never mistaken for a labelled one. Together
-those put a minor line at roughly a fifth of a major line's ink — at full opacity and the
+those put a minor line at an order of magnitude less ink than a major one — at full opacity and the
 same width a dense minor grid reads as a second set of ticks. The dash is a fragment-shader
 discard, not extra geometry: the vertices are the line either way. Set
 `grid_minor_dash_off = 0` for the old solid subdivision.
diff --git a/include/plot/render/style.hpp b/include/plot/render/style.hpp
index ba67c40..7f46fca 100644
--- a/include/plot/render/style.hpp
+++ b/include/plot/render/style.hpp
@@ -38,13 +38,18 @@ struct Style {
   // --- colours: neither logical nor device, so nothing to scale ------------
 
   Color background = Color::hex(0x101418);
-  Color grid_major = Color::hex(0x2A3038);
+  /// The labelled grid. Brighter than the subdivisions and still well under `axis_line`
+  /// (0x8A94A6): the grid is structure the eye can read, the axis is the frame, and the
+  /// hierarchy between the three is what keeps a dense plot legible. It is already fully
+  /// opaque, so "more prominent" means a brighter colour and nothing else.
+  Color grid_major = Color::hex(0x39414C);
   /// The minor grid's colour, **with an alpha** so it blends into the background rather than
   /// sitting on it: a subdivision is a reading aid, and at full opacity a dense minor grid
   /// reads as a second set of ticks competing with the labelled one. The line shader applies
   /// `u_color.a` (see `src/render/shaders.cpp`), so this one blends and the major -- opaque at
-  /// 0x2A3038 -- stays the structure the eye picks out. Together with `grid_minor_width` and
-  /// the dash below, the defaults put a minor line at roughly a fifth of a major line's ink.
+  /// 0x39414C -- stays the structure the eye picks out. Together with `grid_minor_width` and
+  /// the dash below, the defaults put a minor line at an order of magnitude less ink than a
+  /// major one.
   Color grid_minor = Color::hex(0x1C2126, 0.5f);
   Color axis_line = Color::hex(0x8A94A6);
   Color axis_text = Color::hex(0xC8D0DC);
diff --git a/tests/test_render_smoke.cpp b/tests/test_render_smoke.cpp
index 610a38a..8c30c33 100644
--- a/tests/test_render_smoke.cpp
+++ b/tests/test_render_smoke.cpp
@@ -5481,9 +5481,10 @@ plot::i32 densest_column(const std::vector<plot::u8>& frame, plot::u32 fb_w, plo
   return best;
 }
 
-/// The grid *majors* (0x2A3038 over the 0x101418 background), which no other element of these
-/// frames reaches: the minors are 0x1C2126 (too dark for the bound), the crosshair is near-white,
-/// a trace is saturated and the cursor is the orange accent.
+/// The grid *majors* (0x39414C over the 0x101418 background), which no other element of these
+/// frames reaches: the minors are that same colour at 50% alpha over a 0.75-covered dashed
+/// stroke, so their brightest pixel is about 15 levels off the background and stays under this
+/// bound; the crosshair is near-white, a trace is saturated and the cursor is the orange accent.
 bool grid_pixel(const plot::u8 px[4]) {
   const plot::u8 lo = std::min(px[0], std::min(px[1], px[2]));
   const plot::u8 hi = std::max(px[0], std::max(px[1], px[2]));