The meaning behind dark green
About the color
Strangely, with all of nature’s bounty around us, dark green wasn’t an easy color for the first artists and dyers to replicate. The Neolithic people of northern Europe made a “dark green” from birch tree leaves, but it was more of a sludgy brown. Egyptians got closer, using ground malachite, but it was costly and tended to turn black.
Medieval European dyers also struggled to make dark green using buckthorn berries, ash leaves, the juice of nettles and leeks, and alder bark. Still, it faded or changed color when washed or exposed to sunlight.
Thanks to this unstable nature of the dyes, the dark green color was considered deceptive. It became associated with games of chance (which is why card and snooker tables are still traditionally covered with green baize today).
Not coincidentally, Judas, who betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, is often depicted wearing dark green. At the same time, it was considered a solidly prosperous color worn by merchants, bankers, and the Mona Lisa. The dark green hex code is #006400.
| Type | Value |
|---|---|
| HEX | #006400 |
| RGB | 0, 100, 0 |
| CMYK | 1, 0, 1, 0.61 |
Application in design
Dark green is used by many ‘wild’ and eco-friendly brands like LandRover and AnimalPlane, but not all green looks the same.
While lighter yellowish-green symbolizes freshness, a dark pine green feels traditional and unchanging. That’s why many well-known companies in the financial sector like Fidelity and BNP Paribas also use dark green logos.
Combining darker green shades with contrasting red is an excellent way to create designs that pop out the screen.
