Shades of Blue

Named shades of blue — from pale sky blue and muted powder blue all the way through cobalt, royal, and deep midnight navy.

Ice Blue

#99FFFF

rgb(153, 255, 255)

Nearly white with a whisper of cyan — icy and ethereal

Powder Blue

#B0E0E6

rgb(176, 224, 230)

Cool and muted — pairs easily with whites and creams

Uranian Blue

#AFDBF5

rgb(175, 219, 245)

Pale silvery-blue — named for the planet Uranus

Fluorescent Blue

#15F4EE

rgb(21, 244, 238)

Vivid cyan-blue — electric and almost neon in quality

Sky Blue

#87CEEB

rgb(135, 206, 235)

Bright and cheerful — like a clear midsummer sky

Baby Blue

#89CFF0

rgb(137, 207, 240)

Soft and gentle, the traditional nursery blue

Argentinian Blue

#6CBFEE

rgb(108, 191, 238)

Light sky blue — from the Argentine national flag

Light Blue

#ADD8E6

rgb(173, 216, 230)

A clean, airy blue — the CSS standard light blue

Morning Blue

#8DA399

rgb(141, 163, 153)

Muted blue-gray-green — the hazy color of early morning

Periwinkle

#CCCCFF

rgb(204, 204, 255)

Blue-violet blend — calm, soft, and slightly whimsical

Ruddy Blue

#76ABDF

rgb(118, 171, 223)

Medium sky blue with a slight gray softness

Munsell Blue

#0093AF

rgb(0, 147, 175)

A standard mid-range blue from the Munsell color system

NCS Blue

#0087BD

rgb(0, 135, 189)

The Natural Color System's reference blue

Teal

#008080

rgb(0, 128, 128)

The canonical teal — equal parts blue and green

Duck Blue

#007791

rgb(0, 119, 145)

Dark teal-blue — the iridescent color of a mallard's head

Teal Blue

#367588

rgb(54, 117, 136)

Blue meets green — calm, refreshing, and coastal

Cornflower Blue

#6495ED

rgb(100, 149, 237)

Mid-tone blue with a subtle violet warmth

Crayola Blue

#1F75FE

rgb(31, 117, 254)

The bright, iconic blue from the Crayola crayon box

Neon Blue

#4666FF

rgb(70, 102, 255)

Electric and vivid — a high-intensity digital blue

Spanish Blue

#0070BB

rgb(0, 112, 187)

A saturated mid-blue used in Spanish heraldry

Steel Blue

#4682B4

rgb(70, 130, 180)

Neutral and dependable — an industrial workhorse blue

Cerulean

#007BA7

rgb(0, 123, 167)

Clear, saturated blue — named from the Latin for sky

Liberty Blue

#545AA7

rgb(84, 90, 167)

Muted blue-purple — named for the Statue of Liberty patina

Royal Blue

#4169E1

rgb(65, 105, 225)

Bold and regal — a classic formal and ceremonial blue

Polynesian Blue

#224C98

rgb(34, 76, 152)

Deep mid-range blue — associated with Pacific Islander identity

RGB Blue

#0000FF

rgb(0, 0, 255)

Pure blue at full digital saturation — the additive primary

Ultramarine

#4000FF

rgb(64, 0, 255)

Intense blue-violet — once ground from lapis lazuli

CMYK Blue

#333399

rgb(51, 51, 153)

The blue standard in four-color printing

Egyptian Blue

#1034A6

rgb(16, 52, 166)

One of the oldest synthetic pigments — vivid and enduring

Cobalt Blue

#0047AB

rgb(0, 71, 171)

Vivid, intense blue — historically used in glass and ceramics

Pantone Blue

#0018A8

rgb(0, 24, 168)

Pantone's benchmark blue — clean, deep, and standardized

Picotee Blue

#2E2787

rgb(46, 39, 135)

Dark blue-purple — named for a petal-edged flower variety

Sapphire

#082567

rgb(8, 37, 103)

Rich gem-blue — the color of the finest blue sapphires

Resolution Blue

#002387

rgb(0, 35, 135)

Deep pure blue — intense and resolute

Independence Blue

#4C516D

rgb(76, 81, 109)

Muted blue-gray — somber and historically American

Delft Blue

#1F305E

rgb(31, 48, 94)

Dark navy-blue — the color of classic Delftware pottery

Space Cadet Blue

#1D2951

rgb(29, 41, 81)

Very dark navy — used by NASA and space-themed design

Midnight Blue

#191970

rgb(25, 25, 112)

Dark and moody — deep navy with strong blue undertones

Dark Blue

#00008B

rgb(0, 0, 139)

CSS dark blue — a deep, near-electric navy

Navy Blue

#001F5B

rgb(0, 31, 91)

The deepest named blue — authoritative and classic

About Shades of Blue

Blue is one of the most universally liked colors across cultures. It carries associations with trust, calm, intelligence, and depth — qualities that make it one of the most common colors in corporate branding, healthcare, and technology. Yet the range of blue shades is vast enough to encompass anything from the delicate softness of powder blue to the commanding weight of navy.

At the light end of the spectrum, sky blue and baby blue feel open, airy, and optimistic. They're the colors of clear weather and warm days. Mid-range blues like cornflower, cerulean, and steel blue are the genuine workhorses of design — versatile, legible, broadly appealing, and rarely wrong. Deeper shades including royal blue, cobalt, midnight, and navy carry real visual weight. They project authority and are often chosen when seriousness and trust are paramount.

How Blue Is Used in Design

Few colors have the design range of blue. Navy and midnight blue are popular replacements for black in text, headers, and hero backgrounds — less harsh, but equally authoritative. Royal blue and cobalt punch hard as accent colors in UI and print. The lighter blues — sky, powder, periwinkle — are invaluable for soft backgrounds, hover states, form highlights, and anything that needs to communicate calm without disappearing into neutral.

Teal blue occupies a particularly useful niche: it has enough green in it to feel fresh and modern rather than corporate, making it a favorite in health, wellness, and startup branding. Cobalt and cerulean are popular in consumer electronics and sports brands where energy and precision matter.

Blue in Nature and Culture

Blue is one of the rarest colors in nature despite being everywhere in the sky and sea. Most animals and plants that look blue use structural coloration — microscopic physical structures that scatter light — rather than blue pigment. True blue pigment is chemically difficult to produce, which is why blue flowers were historically so prized and why the discovery of a stable blue pigment in antiquity was a significant technological achievement.

The sky appears blue because of Rayleigh scattering: the atmosphere scatters short-wavelength blue light in all directions. The ocean looks blue partly from reflecting the sky, and partly because water absorbs red wavelengths more readily than blue ones. Culturally, blue is associated with loyalty and constancy in the West ("true blue"), with enduring royalty ("royal blue", "blue blood"), and in many cultures it carries protective spiritual significance.

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