Talk:Cambridge Blue (colour)

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University of Cambridge

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Comment[edit]

Have it on an email from the secretary of CUBC. Need to get something a bit more official. Will probably be in the minutes of CUBC or something. --Mrh30 07:34, 31 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Caius Blue[edit]

Is Cambridge Blue chosen for being Caius Blue, and there being several Caius oarsmen in the Cambridge crew in the first Boat Race? 128.232.250.254 01:19, 1 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Short answer, no that's an urban myth. --Mrh30 (talk) 21:54, 5 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Pantone 557[edit]

The Cambridge style guide here[1] clearly states that Cambridge Blue is Pantone 557 C, (163, 193, 173) or ~~#99cccc~~ #a3c1ad (source has been updated to this web colour, rather than the previous web-safe version). (Also, Pantone 284 is approximated by #6699ff not #99ccff). I have updated the article accordingly. OrangeDog (talk • edits) 23:53, 4 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

See also the discussion at Talk:University_of_Cambridge#Colour_of_Cambridge_Blue

I've reverted your change - the reference only applies to printed media for official university purposes. I see no indication that it is anything other than an approximation for the sports colour (for example, when printing, they probably want to restrict themselves to "mainline" Pantone shades). Bluap (talk) 02:16, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

There's no such thing as "mainline Pantone shades". The source clearly states that Pantone 557 is "Cambridge Blue". Given that it's the only source we have, and there's no reason to second-guess it, I will revert the article back to a verified form. The burden of proof is on others who wish to claim that it is some other colour. OrangeDog (τ • ε) 12:40, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You have to consider the scope of the source. It is intended to provide a uniform "image" for the university when communicating with the public (i.e. the corporate identity). I see nothing in the source that says that it is applicable to sports teams (in particular, it does not support the statement "The colour as used by the Rugby club (and generally) is Pantone 557". I do agree, that it does supply a good reference for the colour used in university publications etc. As a compromise, I have removed the previous un-cited colours for the sports teams. Bluap (talk) 01:28, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I have checked some CUBC rowing blades against a Pantone colour chart, and the colour matches the university's guidelines (557) very well.--Jwshale (talk) 12:38, 10 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I'm glad to hear it. However, it doesn't alter the fact that the term "Cambridge Blue" is intrinsically tied with the sports teams of Cambridge University. The "university guidelines" are simply guidelines on the corporate identity. These guidelines are relatively new, and was issued from the central administration. Given the federated nature of the university, the central administration has extremely little authority over the sports clubs. The close colour match is almost certainly because the central administration chose their shade blue to match the Boat Club blue, which is probably the most famous exposure of the colour. I suspect that it probably does not match the Rugby Club "blue" (which to my eyes is actually a green). In summary, I'm happy for the university guidelines for printed material to be included as a source in the article. However, we need to be careful not to mis-represent it as including the sporting colours within its scope. Bluap (talk) 16:21, 10 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

There are problems, though, in the Pantone translations, too. (At least) the following possibilities seem to exist:

Hex RGB	H°	S%	V%	C%	M%	Y%	K%	Source
#8CC1B5	166	27	76	27	0	6	24	Cambridge, Colour guidelines, pp. 2, 4, 5 ("15", "17", "18") Colour rendered by Adobe Reader X on Win7 for "Pantone 557" swatches (captioned "Cambridge Blue")
#8CDE9C	132	37	87	45	13	39	0	Cambridge, Colour guidelines, p. 4 ("17") CMYK values given for "Pantone 557"
#A3C1AD	140	16	76	16	0	10	24	Cambridge, Colour guidelines, p. 5 ("18") RGB values given for "Pantone 557" (web-safe values ignored as they are less precise by definition), ORIGINS OF THE CAMBRIDGE BLUE, p. 11, "Cam admin" RGB values ("CYMK" values are nonsense), Encycolorpedia
#9BBEA9	144	18	75	18	0	11	25	ORIGINS OF THE CAMBRIDGE BLUE, p. 11, "CUBC NCS S 2020-G" RGB values ("CYMK" values are nonsense)
#91BAA3	146	22	73	22	0	12	27	"Pantone 557" according to swatch on Pantone site
#9AC2B9	166	21	76	21	0	5	24	"Pantone 557" from alt source 1 of Pantone swatches
#98BAAC	155	18	73	18	0	8	27	"Pantone 557" from alt source 2 of Pantone swatches

As someone else noted, it seems none of these should really be called "blue". #8CC1B5 and #9AC2B9 are the closest (at 166°), but are still well counter-clockwise (on the green side) of cyan (180°) in the HSV color model.—[AlanM1(talk)]— 20:09, 20 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I found another source under Brand resources, which seems to almost agree with the first colour in that table: Pantone 557C labelled "Cambridge Blue" in the lighter palette shows on my screen as #8DC1B5. Timo210 (talk) 21:17, 16 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Not blue[edit]

Forgive me, but how is this a shade of blue in any sense of the word?Cromulant (talk) 06:11, 27 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It's not red, orange, yellow, white, black or purple. Nor is it definitely green. OrangeDog (τ • ε) 15:36, 27 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It's "spring foam green" on the Pantone colour chart. Thedoctor98 (talk) 09:43, 28 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

It is now green. Such institutions love a throwback, a remnant, a linguistic relic. It would do well however to chart it under green, it would stand out I would say just as much (or more), but verbally not visually.- Adam37 Talk 10:28, 2 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Wikilink Oxford blue[edit]

Can someone add a link from the words "Oxford blue" to that article? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.122.234.57 (talk) 02:40, 26 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Incoherent[edit]

“This colour is actually a medium tone of spring blue.[citation needed] Spring green colours are colours with an h code (hue code) of between 135 and 165; this colour has an h code of 140, putting it within the range of spring green colours on the RGB colour wheel.”

What’s all this, then? 2601:647:5800:7D80:D8F2:48AF:25E9:E5D5 (talk) — Preceding undated comment added 04:57, 14 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

This patently did not need a citation, it was a trite explanation of green in the RGB wheel, which clearly pays a good part over to 'blue'. Hence "B". However incoherent is a word thrown about by ignorant people who do not want to even seek at getting the natural, obvious meaning out of something. I have without even viewing your critique – I hope you share my result – got rid of "citation needed" which is as subserviant to "tweedle dee, tweedle dum" if you have ever read a law text – i.e. I say what a thing is and you just go along with it no matter how absurd, as I have ever seen.- Adam37 Talk 10:33, 2 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]