RAL Design System plus — hue 260

With 46 shades, L\* 20 to L\* 90 and saturation up to C\* 45, this hue reaches more intensity than 250 and 270, which both stop at C\* 40. Five units seems little, but it is exactly the difference between a blue that stands full and a blue that already gives something up, because of all the colour attributes saturation determines almost entirely how lively and eye-catching a surface looks.

The maximum is at RAL Design 260 40 45, with the name LED blue — a name from this century, and not by chance. This is the blue of screens, illuminated panels and on-off indication, and precisely the area where a luminous source goes much further than a pigment ever can. An opaque coat of paint in this hue does not achieve the impression of a blue LED; anyone who expects that will be disappointed on site.

The strongest practical application of 260 is as a substitute for black. A light reflectance value of 6.3 on RAL Design 260 20 15 is in the same range as the darkest greys, but the surface does not look dead: there is a direction in it that becomes visible in raking light and on curved surfaces. For frames, fencing, mouldings and machine frames that is the argument for choosing here and not in the grey axis.

All 46 colours in this group

RAL 260 20 05 — Blue-blackView RAL 260 20 05 →RAL 260 20 10 — Nato blueView RAL 260 20 10 →RAL 260 20 15 — Suit blueView RAL 260 20 15 →RAL 260 20 20 — Halite blueView RAL 260 20 20 →RAL 260 30 05 — Alpine duck greyView RAL 260 30 05 →RAL 260 30 10 — Bronze blueView RAL 260 30 10 →RAL 260 30 15 — Berlin blueView RAL 260 30 15 →RAL 260 30 20 — French blueView RAL 260 30 20 →RAL 260 30 25 — Tanzanite blueView RAL 260 30 25 →RAL 260 30 30 — Opal blueView RAL 260 30 30 →RAL 260 30 35 — Royal blueView RAL 260 30 35 →RAL 260 40 05 — Swedish blueView RAL 260 40 05 →RAL 260 40 10 — Sheet blueView RAL 260 40 10 →RAL 260 40 15 — Plum blueView RAL 260 40 15 →RAL 260 40 20 — Cadet blueView RAL 260 40 20 →RAL 260 40 25 — Enamel blueView RAL 260 40 25 →RAL 260 40 30 — Copenhagen blueView RAL 260 40 30 →RAL 260 40 35 — Bauhaus blueView RAL 260 40 35 →RAL 260 40 40 — Navy blueView RAL 260 40 40 →RAL 260 40 45 — LED blueView RAL 260 40 45 →RAL 260 50 05 — Spitsbergen blueView RAL 260 50 05 →RAL 260 50 10 — Cypress grey blueView RAL 260 50 10 →RAL 260 50 15 — Mahonia berry blueView RAL 260 50 15 →RAL 260 50 20 — Doves blueView RAL 260 50 20 →RAL 260 50 25 — Biedermeier blueView RAL 260 50 25 →RAL 260 50 30 — Beijing blueView RAL 260 50 30 →RAL 260 50 35 — Vermeer blueView RAL 260 50 35 →RAL 260 50 40 — Meissen blueView RAL 260 50 40 →RAL 260 60 05 — Seal greyView RAL 260 60 05 →RAL 260 60 10 — Diopside blueView RAL 260 60 10 →RAL 260 60 15 — Nordland blueView RAL 260 60 15 →RAL 260 60 20 — Cranberry blueView RAL 260 60 20 →RAL 260 60 25 — Lupine blueView RAL 260 60 25 →RAL 260 60 30 — Blueberry soft blueView RAL 260 60 30 →RAL 260 60 35 — Brilliant blueView RAL 260 60 35 →RAL 260 70 05 — Northern light greyView RAL 260 70 05 →RAL 260 70 10 — Petrel blue greyView RAL 260 70 10 →RAL 260 70 15 — Nordland light blueView RAL 260 70 15 →RAL 260 70 20 — Matte blueView RAL 260 70 20 →RAL 260 70 25 — Pacific blueView RAL 260 70 25 →RAL 260 80 05 — Light blue greyView RAL 260 80 05 →RAL 260 80 10 — Powder soft blueView RAL 260 80 10 →RAL 260 80 15 — Wind blueView RAL 260 80 15 →RAL 260 85 05 — Satin whiteView RAL 260 85 05 →RAL 260 85 10 — Sea breeze greenView RAL 260 85 10 →RAL 260 90 05 — Milk blueView RAL 260 90 05 →

More about hue 260

Do reckon with heat absorption, though. Dark surfaces outdoors rise far in temperature in the sun, and with thin sheet metal and plastic profiles that is a structural point, not a colour question. With dark blue that applies just as forcefully as with black, even though the colour looks lighter.

This is the hue in which the light source matters most. Under warm artificial light, with little energy in the short-wavelength region, a saturated shade from 260 collapses: the colour turns dark, drab and sometimes almost black. Under daylight or cool light the same shade stands full and deep. The difference between those two perceptions is greater with dark blue than with almost any other colour in the system.

In interiors that can be both used and avoided. If you want a dark blue wall to withdraw in the evening and enclose the space, warm light is precisely the means. If the colour has to stay recognisable in all conditions — a corporate identity, signage, a corporate surface — choose a shade with lower saturation and higher lightness, such as RAL Design 260 60 15 Nordland blue, which shifts far less.

Blue is the colour the eye focuses on worst. The lens refracts short-wavelength light differently from long, so a saturated blue detail on a dark background never becomes entirely sharp. For large surfaces that makes no difference, for small ones it does: blue letters, thin lines and fine lettering in this area read less well than the same shape in black or grey, even at equal contrast.

So where legibility counts — signs, controls, marking — use 260 as the background colour and not as the text colour, with a light colour on top. The large jump in light reflectance value within this hue, from 6.3 to 76.2, makes that easy to construct within one hue.

Always assess dark blue at a large size and under two light sources, and assess it in the position it will finally hang in: raking light across a vertical surface shows a different blue from a sample on a table. For approval, the A4 colour sample remains without qualification the colour standard.

Technical data

Hue: 260 · Shades: 46 · Lightness: L\* 20–90 · Saturation: C\* 05–45 · Lab values: per shade on the colour page · LRV: 6.3 to 76.2 · Included in: RAL D4 A4 colour samples (colour standard), RAL D2 fan deck, RAL D3 colour book, RAL D4 atlas, RAL D6 and D8 boxes

Neighbouring hues

RAL Design 250, RAL Design 270

Loose colour samples from this group

Click a colour for the available formats, or see the full product range in the shop.

To the RAL Design System plus shop