Varieties of the color blue may differ in hue, chroma (also called saturation, intensity, or colorfulness), or lightness (or value, tone, or brightness), or in two or three of these qualities. Variations in value are also called tints and shades, a tint being a blue or other hue mixed with white, a shade being mixed with black. A large selection of these colors is shown below.
The color defined as blue in the RGB color model, X11 blue, is the most chromatic (colorful) blue that can be reproduced on a computer screen, and is the color named blue in X11. It is one of the three primary colors used in the RGB color space, along with red and green. The three additive primaries in the RGB color system are the three colors of light chosen such as to provide the maximum gamut of colors that are capable of being represented on a computer or television set.
The color defined as blue in the CMYK color system used in printing, also known as pigment blue, is the tone of blue that is achieved by mixing process (printer's) cyan and process (printer's) magenta in equal proportions.
The purpose of the CMYK color system is to provide the maximum possible gamut of color reproducible in printing by the use of only three primaries.
The color indicated is only approximate as the colors of printing inks may vary.
The "Natural Color System" is widely used in Scandinavia.
NCS Blue can only be displayed approximately on a computer screen, as these spectral colors have been adjusted to fit into the sRGB gamut. In the 21st century, this hue is classified as an variation of azure that is on the border of cyan.
Blue (Munsell)
Blue (Munsell)
The hues of the Munsell color system, at varying values, and maximum chroma to stay in the sRGB gamut
The Munsell color system is a color space that specifies colors based on three color dimensions: hue, value (lightness), and chroma (colorfulness), spaced uniformly (in terms of human perception) in three dimensions in the Munsell color solid. In order for all the colors to be spaced uniformly, it was found necessary to use a color wheel with five, non-arbitrary, equally spaced primary colors: red, yellow, green, blue, and purple.
The color of the sample is the most chromatic (colorful) blue in the sRGB gamut that falls in the hue of 5B (primary blue) in the Munsell color space. In the 21st century, this blue is classified as an intermediate between azure and cyan.
In this section, the term 'tint' usually refers to a blueish color mixed with white or light gray. The term shade is used in its technical sense as used in color theory, meaning a blueish color mixed with black or dark gray.
The colors arranged in order of their value (brightness) (V in the HSV code), the brighter colors toward the top and the darker colors toward the bottom.
Periwinkle (also periwinkle blue or lavender blue) is a mixture of white, blue, and red. It is named after the Periwinkle flower and is also commonly referred to as a tone of light blue.
Bluebonnet is a bright shade of blue with a slight violet tinge. It represents the color of bluebonnet flowers, which are part of the lupin family. The bluebonnet is the state flower of Texas.
Twin Blue is so named since its HEX color code spells out "BED" twice. The color is also recognized for bearing close semblance to the light pastel shade of cyan common on bed sheets.
Process blue is a Pantone-defined shade[13] used by the football team the Carolina Panthers and is sometimes consequently called "Carolina blue" or "Panther blue".[14]
International Klein Blue (IKB) is a deep blue hue first mixed by the French artistYves Klein. IKB's visual impact comes from its heavy reliance on ultramarine, as well as Klein's often thick and textured application of paint to canvas. Klein never patented the color, only submitting a Soleau envelope without progressing to the patent stage.[20]
Navy blue is a shade of the standard (h = 240°) blue. Navy blue got its name from the dark blue (contrasted with white) worn by sailors in the Royal Navy since 1748 (originally called marine blue before 1840) and subsequently adopted by other navies around the world.
The first recorded use of navy blue as a color name in English was in 1840.[24]
Midnight blue is an X11 web color. This color was originally called midnight. The first recorded use of midnight as a color name in English was in 1915.[25]
Space cadet is one of the colors on the Resene Color List,[30] a color list popular in Australia and New Zealand. The color "space cadet" was formulated in 2007.
The web colorlight blue is part of the X11 color system, with a hue code of 194. Variations of this color are known as sky blue, baby blue, or angel blue.
The first recorded use of "light blue" as a color term in English is in 1915.[33]
Celtic blue is a shade of blue, also known as glas celtig in Welsh, or gorm ceilteach in both the Irish language and in Scottish Gaelic. Julius Caesar reported (in Commentarii de Bello Gallico) that the Britanni used to colour their bodies blue with vitrum, a word that means primarily "glass", but also the domestic name for the "woad" (Isatis tinctoria), besides the Gaulish loanword glastum (from Proto-Celtic *glastos "green"). The connection seems to be that both glass and the woad are "water-like" (lat. vitrum is from Proto-Indo-European *wed-ro- "water-like").
Spanish blue is the color that is called Azul (the Spanish word for "blue") in the Guía de coloraciones (Guide to colorations) by Rosa Gallego and Juan Carlos Sanz, a color dictionary published in 2005 that is widely popular in the Hispanophone realm.
On the RGB color wheel, "azure" (hexadecimal #0080FF) is defined as the color at 210 degrees, i.e., the hue halfway between blue and cyan. In the RGB color model, used to create all the colors on a television or computer screen, azure is created by adding a little green light to blue light. The complementary color of azure is orange.
In the X11 color system which became a standard for early web colors, azure is depicted as a pale cyan or whitish cyan rather than a shade of azure.
In an artistic context, this color could also be called azure mist or cyan mist.
Variations of azure
In this section, the term shade is used in its technical sense as used in color theory, meaning a blueish color mixed with black or dark gray. The colors arranged in order of their value (brightness) (V in the HSV code), the brighter colors toward the top and the darker colors toward the bottom.
The web colorlight blue is part of the X11 color system, with a hue code of 194. This color is closer to cyan than to blue. Variations of this color are known as sky blue, baby blue, or angel blue.
The first recorded use of "light blue" as a color term in English is in the year 1915.[33]
Columbia blue is a medium light tone of azure named after Columbia University. The typical Columbia blue is defined by Pantone Columbia Blue (PANTONE 290).[55]
The first recorded use of sky blue as a color name in English was in 1728 in the Cyclopædia of Ephraim Chambers.[58] Prior to the Chambers reference, the color had first been used in 1585 in a book by Nicolas de Nicolay where he stated "the tulbant[clarification needed] of the merchant must be skie coloured".[59][60]
The first use of Capri as a color name in English was in 1920.[62]
The color Capri in general is named for the azure-cyan color of the Mediterranean Sea around the island of Capri off Italy, the site of several villas belonging to the Roman EmperorTiberius, including his imperial residence in his later years, the Villa Jovis. Specifically, the color Capri is named after the color of the Blue Grotto on the island of Capri[63] as it appears on a bright sunny day. Today the island of Capri is a resort island popular with tourists.
The name deep sky blue for this color did not come into use until the promulgation of the X11 color list in 1987.
Blue Grotto waters showing their distinctive azure colour
The name Capri is still used for this color as well as the name deep sky blue.
The first recorded use of cerulean as a color name in English was in 1590.[64]
The word is probably derived from the Latin word caeruleus, "dark blue, blue, or blue-green", which in turn probably derives from caelulum, diminutive of caelum, "heaven, sky".[65]
The color name jordy blue dates back to at least 2001, and came into wider use when the Resene Paints colors were used as one of the sources for the Xona Games Color List.[citation needed]
The color name Picton blue dates back to at least 2001, and came into wider use when the Resene Paints colors were used as one of the sources for the Xona Games Color List.[66] Many of Resene's shades of blue and cyan are named after places in New Zealand's Marlborough Sounds, where the town of Picton is located.
The color United Nations blue resembles the shade of blue seen on the flag of the United Nations. Current branding guidelines (since 2020[68]) use Pantone 2925. Previously, the flag used Pantone 279.[69]
The color true blue is a deep tone of azure that is the color of the uniforms of the sports teams of UCLA. It is also one of the shades of blue used by the Los Angeles Chargers though they use the name powder blue.
Air force blue, also known as RAF blue, is used by the Royal Air Force, the first air force to choose an "air force blue" color by which to identify itself, in 1920.
The color "air force blue" is a medium tone of azure since it has a hue code of 204 which is a hue code between 195 and 225, signifying a tone of azure.
Steel blue is a grayish tone of azure that resembles the color blue steel, i.e., steel which has been subjected to bluing in order to protect it from rust.
The first recorded use of steel blue as a color name in English was in 1817.[85]
Spanish blue is the color that is called Azul (the Spanish word for "blue") in the Guía de coloraciones (Guide to colorations) by Rosa Gallego and Juan Carlos Sanz, a color dictionary published in 2005 that is widely popular in the Hispanophone realm. It is a shade of azure. [citation needed]
Celtic blue is a shade of blue, also known as glas celtig in Welsh, or gorm ceilteach in both the Irish language and in Scottish Gaelic. Julius Caesar reported (in Commentarii de Bello Gallico) that the Britanni used to colour their bodies blue with vitrum, a word that means primarily "glass", but also the domestic name for the "woad" (Isatis tinctoria), besides the Gaulish loanword glastum (from Proto-Celtic *glastos "green"). The connection seems to be that both glass and the woad are "water-like" (lat. vitrum is from Proto-Indo-European *wed-ro- "water-like").
Penn Blue is one of the official colors of the University of Pennsylvania, along with Penn Red. While the school colors were defined by 1910,[100] university history points to earlier times when the colors may have been chosen, including a possible visit by George Washington to the university, where students used the color of his tunic to determine school colors or a track meet where Penn athletes declared that they would wear the colors "of the teams we beat," which would be those of both Harvard University and Yale University.[101] Originally defined as the colors used on the American flag, the colors have since deviated.[100]
Resolution blue is a vivid blue color. The color name dates back to at least 2001, and came into wider use when the Resene Paints colors were used as one of the sources for the Xona Games Color List.[66] Many of Resene's shades of blue and cyan are named after places in New Zealand's Marlborough Sounds, where Resolution Bay is located.
↑ Grossmann, Maria (1988). Colori e lessico: studi sulla struttura semantica degli aggettivi di colore in catalano, castigliano, italiano, romeno, latino ed ungherese (in Italian). Gunter Narr Verlag. ISBN3-87808-370-X.
↑ Color sample #196 on the ISCC-NBS color list is the color sample that matches the color in the book by Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill—Color Sample of Liberty: Page 109 Plate 43 Color Sample C12
↑ Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 197; Color Sample of Liberty: Page 109 Plate 43 Color Sample C12
↑ Christa Haiml (2007). "Restoring the Immaterial: Study and Treatment of Yves Klein's Blue Monochrome (IKB42)". In Learner, Tom (ed.). Modern Paints Uncovered: Proceedings from the Modern Paints Uncovered Symposium. Getty Conservation Institute. Los Angeles: Getty Publications. ISBN9780892369065.
1 2 3 Maerz & Paul (1930). A Dictionary of Color. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. p.63, plate35, sampleE2; p190.
1 2 The color displayed in this color box matches the color called baby blue is displayed on page93, plate35, as color sampleE2 in Maerz & Paul (1930).[31]
1 2 Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 190
↑ Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 202. See color sample of powder blue, Page 95—Plate 36 Color Sample H2
1 2 Gallego, Rosa; Sanz, Juan Carlos (2005). Guía de coloraciones (Gallego, Rosa; Sanz, Juan Carlos (2005). Guide to Colorations) Madrid: H. Blume. ISBN84-89840-31-8
↑ Maerz, Aloys John and M. Rea Paul (1930) A Dictionary of Color, New York, McGraw-Hill, p. 205; color sample of Teal Blue: p. 101 Plate 39 Color Sample L6
↑ On the RGB color wheel, Azure is defined as the colour halfway between blue and cyan. It has a hex code of 0080FF.
↑ On colour plate 33 (page 89) of the 1930 book A Dictionary of Color by Maerz and Paul, the colours on the right side of colour plate 33 from top to bottom represent the most highly saturated colours on the color wheel from cyan to azure, and the colours on the bottom of colour plate 33 from right to left represent the most highly saturated colours on the colour wheel from azure to blue. The colour sample that represents azure is colour sample L12 on Plate 33 on Page 89. See reference to Azure on Page 190 in the index. See also discussion of the color azure, Page 149.
↑ Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 204; Color Sample of Sky Blue: Page 89 Plate 33 Color Sample E6
↑ Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Color Sample of Capri: Page 93 Plate 35 Color Sample L7; The color Capri is shown as lying halfway between Cyan and Azure.
↑ Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 191
↑ Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 152 Discussion of the color Capri
↑ Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 190; Color Sample of Cerulean: Page 89 Plate 33 Color Sample E6
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Color coordinates
