Blue Color Palettes

Choose a blue and choose an orange for a 2-color complementary palette.

? J. Bear Consider combining blue colors with orange in a complementary color scheme.

Blue is a cool color while orange is a warm color on the other side of the color wheel. To avoid unpleasant vibrations, avoid using in equal amounts. Enliven your blue with a splash of orange (or calm your orange with a dash of blue).

From darkest to lightest, the oranges shown with each blue swatch in the above image are: Hex #FFA500 | RGB 255,165,0 (a golden orange; SVG color keyword & CSS color keyword orange) Hex #FF8000 | RGB 255,128,0 (medium orange) Hex #FF4500 | RGB 255,69,0 (orange red; SVG color keyword orangered) Hex #C83200 | RGB 200,50,0 (a dark orange) Numbers: Hex #FF7F27 | RGB 255,127,39 (a peachy orange) The blues, from darker to lighter are: Navy Hex #000080 | RGB 0,0,128 (CSS color keyword/SVG color keyword navy) Blue Hex #0000FF | RGB 0,0,255 (CSS/SVG color keyword is blue; browser safe color) Hex #0045FF | RGB 0,69,255 (a medium blue) Steel Blue Hex #4682B4 | RGB 70,130,180 (SVG color keyword steelblue; a corporate blue) Hex #0080FF | RGB 0,128,255 (a medium blue) Light Blue Hex #ADD8E6 | RGB 173,216,230 (SVG color keyword lightblue)

Dark blues and medium shades of blue symbolize importance, confidence, power, intelligence, stability, unity, and conservatism. By adding some orange to your predominantly dark blue palette you introduce some warmth and energy that can keep your palette from being too stilted or overpowering.

You don't have to use these exact shades. Go a touch lighter or darker, or step one spot to the left or the right on the color wheel. These color combinations are just to help you find a suitable color palette using blue and orange as the main components.

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Fifties Color Palettes - Atomic Age 1950s Color Combinations

Atomic Age Color Combinations
Color Palettes with CMYK Formulas

These Atomic Age era color palettes are quite bright compared to earlier browns, grays, and more subdued combinations. Not as vivid and eye-popping as what was to come in the Sixties, this era still had its share of bright pinks, seafoam green, and chartreuse. Reds leaned toward orange or pink while blues were closer to cyan.

C100Y100K50 | K40 | C10M25Y80 | C40K100 | White
A dark green pairs with the neutrals of gray, black, and white and a lovely harvest gold.

C80M100Y100K15 | M60Y80K10 | M35Y100 | M15Y35K25 | C40K100
A warm, earthy color palette with golden yellow and a touch of taupe.

M100Y100 | M20Y100 | C40K100 | White
Vivid red, bright yellow, and black.

Two shades of blue-green, a red, a brown, plus a dash of black and white.

C12M95Y60 | C75M6Y20 | C4M5Y2 | C40K100
The palest pink stands in for white in this palette with a definite 50s flavor as seen in the pinkish red and bright light blue.

M40Y10 | C50Y10 | C40K100
Another red/blue/black look uses light red (pink) and light blue as highlights and accents with lots of black.

M75Y100 | C22M30Y55K5 | C15M70Y75K20 | White | C40K100
A warmer color palette of browns and orange with black and white.

C10Y100K15 | C50Y100K20 | C10M100Y80 | C40K100 | White
This isn't a Christmas red and green - there's decidedly yellow tinge to those greens.

Color Meanings and Mixing Colors
Discover the cultural meanings for these colors and more ways to mix and match colors.

More Color Palettes
Explore more color palettes to evoke a certain mood or make a color statement.

Use Swatch Books
Use PANTONE Color Guides to get just the right shades for your color palettes and to find CMYK-PMS color equivalents.

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