Bethany Stewart Module 3-3
Color Research: Ultramarine Blue
Blue is a color we see every day in modern times. From web design to fashion and art, it's a hue favored by creators across the world. Even though color association is highly individual from person to person, today blue is largely seen as a color that represents dependability, honesty, loyalty, and peace. Blue is also long associated with power and wealth, especially historically. In the past blue was only available from natural materials before today's modern methods of color creation. Historically the color blue, especially ultramarine blue, was a prized and expensive rarity for the creators bore the creation of today's synthetic blues and the use of digital colors.
Why so costly?
Originally, ultramarine blue was created from the semi-precious stone lapis lazuli. For centuries the semi-precious stone was sourced solely in the northern Afghanistan. Due to this single sourcing of the material, the color pigment was once more costly than gold. The high price that ultramarine commanded caused it to be used sparingly in works of art except by those who'se patrons could afford the costly price. It was epecially associated with paintings of the Virgin Mary.
Modern Ultramarine
While ultramarine is still made from lapis today, it is still very expensive. Thankfully there is now a synthetic version of the costly color. Today's synthetic version of ultramarine blue is attributed to an 1824 contest held by the London Royal College of Art. The contest offered a prize of 6,000 francs for the creation of a synthetic version of ultramarine. Eventually, in 1828 the French chemist Jean-Baptiste Guimet was awarded the prize after a heated contestation between Guimet and German professor Christian Gmelin. After Guimet was awarded the prize, the synthetic ultramarine was dubbed "French Ultramarine."
Power and Technology
As mentioned above, blue in modern times is still considered a power color today. Take company logos for example. Heavy hitting industry names like Facebook, LinkedIn, IBM, Ford, Dell, Visa, etc., all use blue for their company logos to showcase the dependability and status that the color blue offeres. The same goes for the use of blue in website design. According to Figma, not only is blue a color that conveys trust, pairs well with other colors, it has a wide range of variations to easily create color hieracheries for easy navigation within a website. Blue is also highly relevant in website design as a color choice as it is considered a highly accessible color.
Past and Present Examples
Below are some well known historical works of art that utilize the costly ultramarine blue, as well as today's modern equivelent of the power color showcased in company logos.
1665 Girl with A Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer
The Virgin in Prayer by Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato
