RAL Design System plus — hue 280

The maximum of colour coolness lies at around a hue angle of 230 degrees, in the middle of the blues. With an average angle of 277 degrees, 280 is clearly past that, but still well inside the cool half; nothing of warmth is noticeable here. The practical difference from a real blue is that 280 cools less sharply. A blue from 230 makes a space chilly; a shade from 280 makes it reserved.

What determines that impression is above all the saturation, not the hue. At C\* 05 to 10 a shade from this hue feels virtually neutral and behaves as a grey with a direction. From C\* 30 upwards the coolness becomes noticeable and the colour begins to steer a space.

It is precisely that weakly saturated part which is most used in practice. RAL Design 280 40 05 is called Gallery grey and RAL Design 280 20 05 Granite black — names that betray that these are not colours which present themselves as violet. In offices, museums and healthcare buildings these shades are chosen where a grey is wanted, but not a dead grey: the blue-violet direction keeps the surface fresh without imposing a colour choice.

All 50 colours in this group

RAL 280 20 05 — Granite blackView RAL 280 20 05 →RAL 280 20 10 — Diamond blackView RAL 280 20 10 →RAL 280 20 15 — Crow blackView RAL 280 20 15 →RAL 280 20 20 — Manganese blackView RAL 280 20 20 →RAL 280 20 25 — Elite blueView RAL 280 20 25 →RAL 280 20 30 — Ambassador blueView RAL 280 20 30 →RAL 280 30 05 — Smoking night blueView RAL 280 30 05 →RAL 280 30 10 — Meteorite black blueView RAL 280 30 10 →RAL 280 30 15 — Anthracite blueView RAL 280 30 15 →RAL 280 30 20 — Garnet stone blueView RAL 280 30 20 →RAL 280 30 25 — Hydrogen blueView RAL 280 30 25 →RAL 280 30 30 — Deep blueView RAL 280 30 30 →RAL 280 30 35 — Theatre blueView RAL 280 30 35 →RAL 280 30 40 — Poster blueView RAL 280 30 40 →RAL 280 40 05 — Gallery greyView RAL 280 40 05 →RAL 280 40 10 — Suede indigoView RAL 280 40 10 →RAL 280 40 15 — Dark lavenderView RAL 280 40 15 →RAL 280 40 20 — Starry sky blueView RAL 280 40 20 →RAL 280 40 25 — Indigo navy blueView RAL 280 40 25 →RAL 280 40 30 — Evening blueView RAL 280 40 30 →RAL 280 40 35 — Portuguese blueView RAL 280 40 35 →RAL 280 40 40 — Neptune blueView RAL 280 40 40 →RAL 280 40 45 — Hyacinth blueView RAL 280 40 45 →RAL 280 50 05 — Noble greyView RAL 280 50 05 →RAL 280 50 10 — Ice blue greyView RAL 280 50 10 →RAL 280 50 15 — Granite blueView RAL 280 50 15 →RAL 280 50 20 — Lavender mauveView RAL 280 50 20 →RAL 280 50 25 — Costume blueView RAL 280 50 25 →RAL 280 50 30 — Light mauveView RAL 280 50 30 →RAL 280 50 35 — Sapphire shimmer blueView RAL 280 50 35 →RAL 280 50 40 — Diva violetView RAL 280 50 40 →RAL 280 60 05 — Tulle greyView RAL 280 60 05 →RAL 280 60 10 — Sweet lavenderView RAL 280 60 10 →RAL 280 60 15 — Marble blueView RAL 280 60 15 →RAL 280 60 20 — Misty violetView RAL 280 60 20 →RAL 280 60 25 — Opal violetView RAL 280 60 25 →RAL 280 60 30 — Persian violetView RAL 280 60 30 →RAL 280 60 35 — Organza violetView RAL 280 60 35 →RAL 280 70 05 — Taupe greyView RAL 280 70 05 →RAL 280 70 10 — Tulle violetView RAL 280 70 10 →RAL 280 70 15 — Foxflower violaView RAL 280 70 15 →RAL 280 70 20 — Lilac scent soft blueView RAL 280 70 20 →RAL 280 70 25 — Aster flower blueView RAL 280 70 25 →RAL 280 80 05 — Viola ice greyView RAL 280 80 05 →RAL 280 80 10 — Hyacinth white soft blueView RAL 280 80 10 →RAL 280 80 15 — Violet scent soft blueView RAL 280 80 15 →RAL 280 85 05 — Pebble soft blue whiteView RAL 280 85 05 →RAL 280 85 10 — Jewellery whiteView RAL 280 85 10 →RAL 280 90 05 — Mauve whiteView RAL 280 90 05 →RAL 280 93 05 — Porcelain whiteView RAL 280 93 05 →

More about hue 280

At the same time that is risky. A grey with a minute colour direction tips over in perception as soon as its surroundings change. Next to warm oak, a shade from 280 reads distinctly bluer than it does on the sample; under warm artificial light the blue-violet direction largely drops out and what remains is a flat grey. So always assess this hue under the light of the final situation.

On the weight scale this is the lightest part of the circle. Heaviness in colour is determined mainly by lightness, but the hue modulates it: yellow-green feels heaviest, blue-violet lightest. A shade from 280 therefore weighs less than a green or a brown of the same lightness.

That makes the dark shades here particularly usable. RAL Design 280 20 20 is called Manganese black and RAL Design 280 30 10 Meteorite black blue: colours with the light reflectance value of near-black — 6.4 and 10.0 respectively — which press down less on a large surface than a neutral dark grey. For ceilings in a dark finish, for machine enclosures and for dark wall surfaces in retail that is exactly the difference you need.

50 shades, from L\* 20 to L\* 93 and from C\* 05 to C\* 45. The saturation therefore gets no further than the middle of the scale; in the red and yellow part of the circle the system goes above C\* 80. The most strongly saturated shade is RAL Design 280 40 45, Hyacinth blue, and that lies in the dark middle area — not at the light end. At the light end the range is accordingly mostly muted: at L\* 93 what remains is RAL Design 280 93 05, Porcelain white, with a light reflectance value of 82.4.

Technical data

Hue: 280 · Shades: 50 · Lightness: L\* 20–93 · Saturation: C\* 05–45 · Lab values: per shade on the colour page · LRV: 6.4 to 82.4 · 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 270, RAL Design 290

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