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Classic Blue
#0F4C81 · click to copy
Cool
HEX
#0F4C81
RGB
15, 76, 129
CMYK
88%, 41%, 0%, 49%
Pigment
PB29, PBk9
Lightfastness
Excellent (I)
Moods & Keywords
blue
deep
calm
trustworthy
classic
modern
sophisticated
Pigment & Material
PB29, PBk9
Synthetic
A deep, dependable blue — cobalt or ultramarine based. The blue of clear night skies and deep, still water.
Origin & History
Pantone selected Classic Blue as their 2020 Colour of the Year just before the COVID-19 pandemic began — describing it as "a colour that telegraphs trustworthiness and reliability." The timing proved prophetic: the world that year desperately sought exactly those qualities.
Also Known As
Oxford Blue
Classic Navy
Deep Blue
Heritage Blue
Psychology
Reassuring, reliable, and deeply trustworthy. Classic Blue is blue at its most institutionally comfortable — it communicates stability, competence, and the kind of calm that comes from experience. Chosen at the threshold of a global crisis, it inadvertently embodied the collective desire for stability in uncertain times.
In Culture
Classic Blue's selection as Pantone's 2020 Colour of the Year — announced in December 2019, just before the pandemic — made it one of the most contextually loaded colour choices in Pantone history. The colour's associations with trust, reliability, and institutional stability resonated with unprecedented intensity as the world faced an existential crisis.
Natural Sources
No specific natural source — a deep, rich blue achieved with ultramarine and small amount of black or dark pigment. Represents the classic, conservative blue of British institutional identity.
Making It Yourself
Mix French ultramarine (PB29) with a very small amount of ivory black (PBk9).
Approximate ratio: 90% ultramarine, 10% black.
For slightly warmer classic blue: add touch of burnt umber instead of black.
This produces the deep, rich blue of Oxford University, Eton College, and traditional British institutional design.
Approximate ratio: 90% ultramarine, 10% black.
For slightly warmer classic blue: add touch of burnt umber instead of black.
This produces the deep, rich blue of Oxford University, Eton College, and traditional British institutional design.
Art Movements
Traditional British Portraiture
Institutional Design
Famous Works
British institutional portraits broadly
Pantone 19-4052 Classic Blue
Colour of Year 2020
Oxford and Cambridge University visual identities
Available As
Pantone 19-4052 — Classic Blue (2020 Colour of Year)
Farrow & Ball — Hague Blue No.30
Benjamin Moore — Classic Blue 2062-20
Farrow & Ball — Pitch Blue No.220
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Colour data compiled with AI. Spot an error or have more to add? Leave a Note — ekphra reviews and updates.
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