The meaning behind cadet blue
About the color
Cadet blue gets its color name from a type of blue that is often used for uniforms for cadets in various institutions. In most English-speaking countries, a cadet is either an officer trainee, a junior rank, or someone who is a student preparing for a career in the military or armed forces. Cadet uniforms come in various colors and appearances, but this light bluish-green with subtle grey undertones is a color often associated with this particular rank or station. The cadet blue code is #5F9EA0.
Cadet blue has a significant amount of green in it, which is analogous to the young or trainee status that is typical of a cadet. The use of cadet blue as a color name dates back as far as 1892. It is also one of the many different shades of cyan. The word “cadet” descended from the Gascon word capdet, which in turn comes from the medieval Latin word capitellum, which translates to “little chief” or “little head.” One definition of cadet is also the “youngest son or brother.”
If you use the cadet blue color code for your design, you have several themes to go with as a color meaning. Thanks to its military origin, some common themes for cadet blue include strength, order, loyalty, discipline, and honor. The green undertones also convey a sense of energy, vitality, training, and adolescence. Due to a definition that references sons and brothers, a cadet blue palette is also appropriate for masculinity and brotherhood.
| Type | Value |
|---|---|
| HEX | #5f9ea0 |
| RGB | 95, 158, 160 |
| CMYK | 0.41, 0.01, 0, 0.37 |
Application in design
It’s important to distinguish the color that you or a client has in mind if a request is specifically made for a cadet-inspired theme. For example, the Pantone Institute identifies a purplish-gray color as “cadet.” Cadet blue should not be confused with cadet grey, a grayish-blue, or space cadet, a dark blue tone. Cadet blue is a web color, and when written as one word, you can specify it in HTML, especially helpful if you sometimes mistype a hexadecimal code.
The complementary shade for cadet blue is a medium reddish-brown tone. Cadet blue pairs especially well with pinks, oranges, reds, purples, and other blues. If you’re doing a design project related to a college or university, fraternity, or athletic team, cadet blue is a good choice as a foreground or background color. A scheme based on a combination of cadet blue, grey, and white, or one based on cadet blue, orange, and white will look great for this application.
Because cadet blue combines military-level discipline with adolescence, it is a great basis for a project related to service and volunteerism. If you’re working on a project that is not affiliated with an organization that already has a logo and brand identity, consider using cadet blue as a base color for a logo and website or social media branding.
