Shades of blue

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 colour defined as blue in the RGB color model, X11 blue, is the most chromatic (colourful) blue that can be reproduced on a computer screen, and is the colour named blue in X11. It is one of the three primary colors used in the RGB colour space, along with red and green. The three additive primaries in the RGB colour system are the three colours of light chosen such as to provide the maximum gamut of colours that are capable of being represented on a computer or television set.
This colour is also called color wheel blue. It is at 240 degrees on the HSV/HSL colour wheel, also known as the RGB colour wheel. It is a spectral colour which lies at, or near, the short-wavelength end of the traditional "blue" and possibly was classified as "indigo" by Newton. Its complementary colour is yellow.
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.
Blue (Pantone) is the color that is called blue in Pantone.
The source of this color is the "Pantone Textile Paper eXtended (TPX)" color list, color # Blue C, EC, HC, M, PC, U, or UP—Blue.
The color defined as blue in the NCS or Natural Color System is an azure-like color. The Natural Color System is a color system based on the four unique hues or psychological primary colors red, yellow, green, and blue. The NCS is based on the opponent process theory of vision.
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 a variation of azure that is on the border of cyan.
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.
The term tint and shade is used in its technical sense as used in color theory.
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.
Neon blue is a vivid purplish 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.
Smalt has also been known under other names such as azurblau, Bohemian Blue, Dutch Ultramarine, enamel blue, Isenburg Blue. It was also known by many as Saxon Blue since the primary sources of cobalt ore used to make it were located in Saxony.
Smalt predates Thénard's Blue by several to many hundreds of years, which turned up as a result of the French government's famed search for a synthetic version of Lapis Lazuli. The Napoleonic administration appointed Louis-Jacques Thénard to find a substitute for Lapis Lazuli, and instead he found Cobalt Blue.
Savoy blue, or savoy azure, is a shade of saturation blue between peacock blue and periwinkle, lighter than peacock blue. It owes its name to its being the color of the House of Savoy, a ruling dynasty in Italy from 1861 to 1946.
Having become a national color with the unification of Italy (1861), its use continued even after the birth of the Italian Republic (1946) with the name "Italian blue". An Italian-blue border was inserted on the edge of the Presidential Standard of Italy and the use of the blue scarf for the Italian Armed Forces' officers, for the presidents of the Italian provinces during the official ceremonies and of the blue jersey for Italian national sports teams it was also maintained in the Republican era.
The web color medium blue is a shade of the standard (h = 240°) blue.
Process blue is a Pantone-defined shade used by the football team the Carolina Panthers and is sometimes consequently called "Carolina blue" or "Panther blue".
Liberty is a strong blue color.
The first recorded use of liberty as a color name in English was in 1918.
Egyptian blue is a pigment that was used in Ancient Egypt.
International Klein Blue (IKB) is a deep blue hue first mixed by the French artist Yves 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.
Ultramarine is a blue pigment in use since medieval times. It was originally derived from lapis lazuli, a bright blue mineral.
Dark blue is a shade of the standard (h = 240°) blue.
Picotee blue represents the color of the picotee flower. It is a deep shade of indigo, almost resembling St. Patrick's blue.
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.
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.
Independence is a dark blue color.
The first recorded use of independence as a color name in English was in 1927.
Cool black is a dark shade of blue. It is one of the Pantone colors.
Robin Egg Blue is a pale shade of blue-green, whose name comes from the color of the eggs of the American robin, a bird native to North America whose egg pigment, called biliverdin, is responsible for this color.
Space cadet is one of the colors on the Resene Color List, a color list popular in Australia and New Zealand. The color "space cadet" was formulated in 2007.
Baby blue is known as one of the pastel colors.
The first recorded use of baby blue as a color name in English was in 1892.
The web color light 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.
Powder blue is a light bluish green.
The first recorded use of powder blue as a color name in English was in 1774. It is a web color.
Uranian blue is a light greenish blue, the color of Uranus, which was named after Uranus, the primordial god of the sky and the heavens in Greek mythology.
The web color Argentinian blue is a light azure color seen on the national flag of Argentina.
Ruddy blue represents the coloring of the beak of the ruddy duck.
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.
Bleu de France is a vivid blue color that has been associated in heraldry with the Kings of France since the 12th century.
Delft blue is a dark blue color.
The name is derived from the Dutch pottery Delftware, also known simply as "Delft Blue".
Duck blue is a moderate greenish blue.
Resolution blue is a vivid blue color.
This color name first came into use in 2001 when it was formulated as one of the colors on the Xona.com Color List.
Polynesian blue is a dark blue color, almost navy.
Moroccan blue (also Chefchaouen blue) is a vivid blue color.
Sapphire is a deep shade of navy blue, based on the color of an average sapphire gemstone. However, sapphire gems can also be pink, yellow, or orange.
Fluorescent blue is a shade of blue that is radiant based on fluorescence. This is the main color on the Indian 50-rupee note.
Teal blue is a medium tone of teal with more blue.
The first recorded use of teal blue as a color name in English was in 1927.
Azure (/ˈæʒər, ˈeɪʒər/ AZH-ər, AY-zhər, UK also /ˈæzjʊər, ˈeɪzjʊər/ AZ-ure, AY-zure) is a variation of blue that is often described as the color of the sky on a clear day.
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.
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 color Alice blue is a pale tint of azure.
Uranian blue is a light greenish blue, the color of Uranus.
The web color light 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.
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).
Cloudy blue is a light, opaque tone of azure.
Baby blue is known as one of the pastel colors. With a hue code of 199, this color is a tone of azure.
This color is associated with baby boys in Western culture.
The first recorded use of baby blue as a color name in English was in 1892.
Havana blue is a very light tone of azure.
There is a web color of light sky blue.
The first recorded use of sky blue as a color name in English was in 1728 in the Cyclopædia of Ephraim Chambers. 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 of the merchant must be skie coloured".
Deep sky blue is an azure-cyan color associated with deep sky blue.
Deep sky blue (Capri) is a web color.
This color is on the color wheel (RGB/HSV color wheel) halfway between azure and cyan.
The traditional name for this color is Capri.
The first use of Capri as a color name in English was in 1920.
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 Emperor Tiberius, 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 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.
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.
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".
Maya blue was a pigment widely used by the Mayan civilization.
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.
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. 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) use Pantone 2925. Previously, the flag used Pantone 279.
Cornflower blue is a shade of medium-to-light blue containing relatively little green. Its name is a reference to the flower Centaurea cyanus.
Bleu de France is a color that has been associated in heraldry with the Kings of France since the 12th century.
Manganese blue is a clear greenish azure blue colour.
Dodger blue is a rich bright tone of azure named for its use in the uniform of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Brandeis blue is the tone of azure used in association with Brandeis University.
The university administration defines Brandeis blue as corresponding to the Pantone color of 294 or the process color of 100c 86m 14y w24k.
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.
The color tang blue is a deep tone of azure that is the color of royal blue tang fish.
Puerto Rican blue is a bright, cool, saturated shade of blue matching the shade of color of the triangle on Puerto Rico's current national flag.
The web color royal blue is a rich tone of azure.
The first recorded use of celestial blue as a color name in English was in 1535.
The source of this color is the Plochere Color System, a color system formulated in 1948 that is widely used by interior designers.
The source of vista blue is the "Pantone Textile Paper eXtended (TPX)" color list, color #15-3930 TPX—Vista Blue.
The source of Silver Lake blue is the "Pantone Textile Paper eXtended (TPX)" color list, color #17-4030 TPX—Silver Lake Blue.
Tufts blue is the tone of azure used in association with Tufts University.
Honolulu blue is the tone of azure used in association with the Detroit Lions football team.
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.
French blue is a deep azure color commonly used in quality men's dress shirts.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first use of French Blue in English was in The Times of 1802.
The color lapis lazuli is displayed at left.
Lapis Lazuli is a color that is a representation of the most common color of lapis lazuli.
The traditional color called royal blue is a dark shade of azure.
The color defined as blue in the NCS or Natural Color System is an azure-like color. The Natural Color System is a color system based on the four unique hues or psychological primary colors red, yellow, green, and blue. The NCS is based on the opponent process theory of vision.
The "Natural Color System" is widely used in Scandinavia.
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.
The web color Argentinian blue is a light azure color seen on the national flag of Argentina.
Berkeley Blue is one of the official colors of the University of California, Berkeley, along with California Gold. Until 2007, the university had used Yale Blue in its place, given Berkeley's historical ties to Yale University, particularly in its founding. Berkeley's school colors are the originators for those of all the campuses in the University of California system, of which Berkeley is the oldest as its flagship.
Ruddy blue represents the coloring of the beak of the ruddy duck. It is a light shade of azure.
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").
Polynesian blue is a dark blue color, almost navy.
Moroccan blue (also Chefchaouen blue) is a vivid blue color.
Yale Blue is the dark azure color used in association with Yale University. The hue of Yale Blue is one of the two official colors of Indiana State University, the University of Mississippi, and Southern Methodist University. The official color "DCU Blue" of Dublin City University is very close to Yale Blue.
Yale Blue was also an official color of University of California, Berkeley and Duke University.
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, 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. Originally defined as the colors used on the American flag, the colors have since deviated.
Sapphire is a deep shade of navy blue, based on the color of an average sapphire gemstone. However, sapphires can also be pink, yellow, or orange.
Delft blue is a dark blue color. The name is derived from the Dutch pottery Delftware, also known simply as "Delft Blue".
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. Many of Resene's shades of blue and cyan are named after places in New Zealand's Marlborough Sounds, where Resolution Bay is located.