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Redeem nowInspiration in the color copper.
Learn the history and meaning of the color copper, a hue with the dual power of providing comfort and inspiring industrial might.
How to use the color copper.
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Tap into the psychology of the color copper.
Copper color shares much of its meaning with brown, including its grounding stability and natural intuition. With the red-orange heat mixed in, the color copper evokes an energy that’s made more dazzling when copper color is in its metallic form.
Copper color in nature.
Look to nature for inspiration in the color copper, both in its metallic and non-metallic forms. The Copperhead Snake has a glittering copper color between its eyes. The Copper Color Restrepia is an orchid found in Colombia. Many tropical birds, too, have shimmering copper color plumage in their chroma.
Add warmth with the color copper.
The color copper is a metallic color, meaning it has a brilliant version and a matte version. Metallic copper color positively glitters with warmth, adding pleasant heat to everything it touches. The non-metallic color copper adds a different kind of warmth reminiscent of a cozy refuge against the cold outside.
Combine copper with other colors.
Heavy use of the color copper can look antique — for better or worse. Paired with white, though, copper color looks fresh and grounded. Next to pink, the color copper shows its trendy side. Copper color with turquoise, teal, or jade brings it back to antique-esque Victorianism. Combined with black, the color copper becomes dramatic and industrial.
Information about copper color.
The copper HEX code picker is #B87333. This is the dark brown-red-orange of aged, unpolished copper metal.
The color copper can be achieved in a RGB space with 184 red, 115 green, and 51 blue. Copper color can be achieved in a CMYK color space with 0% cyan, 38% magenta, 72% yellow, and 28% black.
The history of copper color.
The many shades of the color copper.
Copper color was named after the native metal. Copper metal displays in different colors based on its treatment and age, but the color copper harkens to the medium-dark red-brown of aged copper. When new and polished, copper is a brilliant and metallic yellow-orange. Over time, copper color shows brown tones that enrich its hue. Copper has been in use since around 9000 B.C.E. It was alloyed with tin at the start of the Bronze Age.
Copper color became something beyond metallurgy.
The color copper was first recorded as a color adjective in English in 1594. Copper color was thought to be the epitome of anything reddish brown, even if it didn’t have the metallic sheen of its namesake. In contemporary application in art and design, copper color is sometimes mixed with a creamy off-white to give it the “luster” of copper alloy.
Copper color crayons by Crayola.
A pale shade of copper color was added to the Crayola crayon box in 1903. Called “copper rose,” the tone was almost salmon color and was removed from the crayon box 12 years later. Copper rose was reintroduced in 1958. In 1990, Crayola added another copper crayon called “copper penny,” a shade much closer to the color copper that was defined in A Dictionary of Color by Maerz and Paul in 1928.
The color copper across different cultures.
Copper color in the Victorian period.
The end of the Industrial Revolution overlapped with the start of the Victorian era, making fertile ground for the color copper to root in the latter as a symbol of time and hope. Copper found another new and exciting use in electrical wires that century. The presence of copper in recent history and on the horizon of what was to come made copper color simultaneously a symbol of nostalgia and importance.
The color copper in coinage.
Copper has been used as currency as far back as Ancient Rome when lumps of copper were exchanged for their weighted value. Modern coinage uses copper as a feature of low-value currency, such as the American penny. This has moved the color copper away from its Victorian association of extravagance. Today, it brings a sense of comfort, warmth, accessibility, and tradition.
Copper color in sports.
The color copper is rarely used as an official color by institutions, and that makes it stand out more when it is employed. The Arizona State University team unveiled a new official copper color in 2014. The Zambia national football team is even nicknamed “copper bullets” (chipolopolo) because they feature copper color in their uniforms.