The Color Blue: Essential Color Theory, Symbolism and Design Application

Blue Color Theory

Calming, relaxing, and trustworthy—just a few of the adjectives used to describe the most universally appealing color blue.  At once soothing and peaceful, while also giving the impression of authority, the color blue is widely versatile and is ideal in most design styles. As a symbol of integrity, transparency and authority, Dunn-Edwards even names Wild Blue Yonder (DE5855) as the 2021 Color of the Year.

How is the Color Blue Created?

Blue is known as a primary color on the traditional color wheel. It is considered a cool hue, along with green and violet. There are shades of blue in light, medium and dark. Light blues consist of tints of blue with names like baby blue, sky blue and powder blue. Medium blues are saturated and include azure, cornflower blue and periwinkle. And dark blue shades, created by mixing different proportions with black and include navy blue, Prussian blue and midnight blue.

And in paint color creation, we also look to create nuances in color by playing with colorant formulas to add depth and character, just the right balance adds the perfect touch of blue to a space.

Light Blues

• Baby blue: pale, powdery blue
• Sky blue: light, bright shade of blue
• Powder blue: soft, pale blue
• Eggshell: soft shade of blue-green
• Watercolor: soft to bright watery blues, inspired by skies and oceans
• Warm blues: blue with lots of yellow undertones

Medium Blues

• Azure: blend of blue and cyan, associated with blue ocean water
• Aquamarine: bolder blue with touch of green, inspired by Caribbean waters
• Teal blue: deep blue-green color, inspired by the eye of the common teal bird
• Cornflower blue: bright, grayish-blue like the floral cornflower
• Periwinkle: blue with hint of purple, inspired by the periwinkle flower
• Denim: understated indigo blue softened with gray, inspired by the classic jeans staple fabric

Dark Blues

• Navy blue: dark, rich blue
• Prussian blue: dark blue pigment with cobalt
• Midnight blue: deepest shade of blue like the night sky

The Meaning of the Color Blue

As with most colors in color theory, the color blue has both positive and negative connections. With a sense of calm, relaxation, trust, loyalty and authority, the positive highlights convey a sense of honesty, commitment, serenity and peace. The negative effects of blue convey fragility, depression, predictability and even coldness.

Where Does the Color Blue Originate From?

As blue is rare in nature, it was the last color to be coined as a term in the English language and has a shorter, though fascinating history throughout the world.  From blue garments to blue pigment, this once rare color caused artists to go into debt and even clashes to obtain and use this color.

Digging a little deeper into the history of blue, historians concluded that the word "blue" did not even exist in Greek times. It seems this color was barely distinguished from "neutral" shades like white, light and dark. Read all of the Greek texts you can find, and you'll never come across a word for "blue." It simply was not important enough to deserve its own descriptor.

Even as the English language developed, blue took a distinct backseat to other colors. The first color words to appear in English, and most other languages for that matter, were words for "white" and "black." Next, red, the color of wine and blood appeared, followed by yellow and then green. Blue appeared last.

Early Greek and Roman Times

Beginning with the Greeks and Romans, as noted, they didn’t have a word to describe blue. When reading through Greek texts, historians have noted many strange color descriptions. In the Odyssey, for example, Homer makes hundreds of references to white and black, but colors like red and yellow are only mentioned a few times. The color blue, it turns out, is never mentioned. Instead, the author uses descriptions like "wine-dark" to describe blue items such as the sea.

In ancient Egypt, they had a love of lapis and turquoise and through this love and determination, the first blue pigment was created around 2,200 B.C. These synthetic blues were invented out of silica, lime, copper, and alkali and heated at a high temperature, creating an opaque blue glass that was crushed and combined with a thickening agent to produce paints and glazes.

Royal Blue

The invention of royal blue came about in early Europe as blue textile dye was made of woad, a flowering plant native to the Mediterranean. The dye was expensive to produce so was used by the wealthy and associated with nobility, while the working class wore brown and green.

As a pigment, it was incredibly expensive and was only used for more important works like paintings of the Virgin Mary. During the Renaissance, she was almost always painted wearing blue, and the color became synonymous with purity.

Ultramarine Blue

The deep blue pigment that is the hallmark of many Renaissance era paintings was the result of painters grinding semi-precious lapis lazuli stones to make ultramarine. The stones to make ultramarine were imported from Afghanistan mines by Italian traders, so the pigment became cost prohibitive that some paintings were never finished. Raphael only used the pigment sparingly and Michelangelo couldn’t afford it for his body of work, though Titan used ultramarine in many of his paintings.

Cobalt

Cobalt, once discovered, became more expensive than gold and was introduced through trade routes with Persia.  And China began producing a highly prized porcelain known as “blue and white ware” using cobalt.

Wedgewood Blue

An Englishman named John Wedgewood invented and perfected a technique call ‘jasperware’ and extensively experimented with blue to get the right shade called ‘Portland Blue’ for his initial work, a museum piece inspired by the Roman-era ‘Portland Vase’.

Indigo Blue

Blue became common in garments over time, however, the arrival of a new blue dye called ‘indigo’ created chaos in the textile trade industry. Europe unsuccessfully tried blocking the import of indigo from Asia, and it eventually replaced woad as the leading dye for garments.

Yves Klein Blue

French artist Yves Klein perfected his namesake blue, and this deep ultramarine blue became his signature color.  He even registered this color as a trademark and hist body of work is covered with this color, including his home that is considered a French historic landmark.

How to Design with Blue?

Blue is a versatile hue that can make a space feel fresh, dramatic, soothing or even nautical. And this beloved color pairs well so a wide range of other colors so is a fairly simple color to incorporate into a design aesthetic. Here are 8 mood boards to inspire your next blue project:

Whimsical Blues

Nautical Blues

Summer Tropical Blues

Mediterranean Blues

Beachside Blues

House + Garden Blues

Chic + Bold Blues

Dramatic Blues

Check out more about the color blue and how to design with this hue. And read on to see why we chose Mountain Bluebird (DET573) as our April 2023 Color of the Month. Need more inspiration? Visit us here to gather more blue color ideas to inspire.