Yale Blue
Yale Blue is the dark blue color used in association with Yale University.
| Yale Blue | |
|---|---|
 Color coordinates | |
| Hex triplet | #00356B |
| sRGBB (r, g, b) | (0, 53, 107) |
| HSV (h, s, v) | (210°, 100%, 42%) |
| CIELChuv (L, C, h) | (22, 45, 254°) |
| Source | Identity Guidelines |
| ISCC–NBS descriptor | Deep blue |
| B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) | |
History
Since the 1850s, Yale Crew has rowed in blue uniforms,[2] and in 1894, "dark blue" was officially adopted as Yale's color, after half a century of the university being associated with green.[3] In 1901, this was amended to "dark blue of the shade known as the color of the University of Oxford",[4] although Oxford Blue, while only 2° different in hue, is now substantially darker than Yale Blue, with a brightness of 28% compared to Yale Blue's 42%. In 2005, University Printer John Gambell was asked to standardize the color.[2] He had characterized its spirit as "a strong, relatively dark blue, neither purple nor green, though it can be somewhat gray. It should be a color you would call blue."[3] A vault in the university secretary's office holds two scraps of silk, apocryphally from a bolt of cloth for academic robes, preserved as the first official Yale Blue.[2]
The university administration defines Yale Blue as a custom color whose closest approximation in the Pantone system is Pantone 289.[3][5] Yale Blue inks may be ordered from the Superior Printing Ink Co., formulas 6254 and 6255.[2]
Other uses
Yale Blue is one of the two official colors of Indiana State University,[6] the University of Mississippi,[7] and Southern Methodist University.[8]
Yale Blue is an official color of the University of California, Berkeley, adopted in 1868 by the university's founders, who were mostly Yale graduates.[9] However, UC Berkeley uses a slightly different shade, Pantone 282 , from that adopted by Yale.[10] The "Pomona Blue" (Pantone 2935 [11]) used by Pomona College is similar to Yale Blue and is a reference to the role of Yale alumni in the college's founding.[12]
The color is similar to Duke University's Duke Blue as both are derived from prussian blue, where Pantone 289 remains an acceptable approximation.[13]
The official color "DCU Blue" of Dublin City University is Pantone 289 , very close to Yale Blue, but with no acknowledged connection.[14]
The zine produced by Yale's campus radio station WYBC is named Relatively Dark Blue Neither Purple Nor Green in reference to Gambell's description of the color.[15]
References
- "Yale Blue: What's in a Color? | Yale Printing & Publishing Services".
- "Kind of Blue". Yale Alumni Magazine. July–August 2010. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
- Thompson, Ellen (October 1, 2002). "True Blue". The New Journal. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
- "Yale University". The Intercollegiate Registry of Academic Costume. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
- "Welcome". Office of the University Printer.
- "About - Indiana State University". Archived from the original on April 3, 2012.
- "Ole Miss Traditions: Red & Blue". University of Mississippi. October 1, 2002. Archived from the original on September 24, 2012. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
- "SMU SPIRIT AND TRADITIONS". Southern Methodist University. Archived from the original on February 11, 2012. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
- "Arrival Guide 2021-2022 - For International Students and Scholars" (PDF). University of California, Berkeley. 2021. p. 6.
- "Brand Guidelines: Colors". UC Berkeley. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
- "Graphic Standards Manual" (PDF). Pomona College. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved November 22, 2015.
- Lyon, E. Wilson (1977). The History of Pomona College, 1887–1969. Anaheim, California: The Castle Press. p. 42. OCLC 4114776.
- "The origin of Duke Blue". Duke University Libraries. Retrieved December 3, 2007.
- "Corporate Identity Guidelines Primary and secondary colour palettes". Dublin City University. Archived from the original on 10 January 2015.
- "RDBNPNG". WYBC. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
