[GH-ISSUE #1382] Wrong color of french flag and all it's childens #613

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opened 2026-03-03 14:39:45 +03:00 by kerem · 3 comments

kerem commented

2026-03-03 14:39:45 +03:00

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Originally created by @Fryzhen on GitHub (Jun 17, 2025).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/lipis/flag-icons/issues/1382

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drapeau_de_la_France#Couleurs

The wikipedia article is in french but it says that since 2018 and the gouvernement of the new president the old flag with a darker blue is now preferred

Originally created by @Fryzhen on GitHub (Jun 17, 2025). Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/lipis/flag-icons/issues/1382 ![Image](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/256dec8d-d298-49fd-af20-0c895486c649) https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drapeau_de_la_France#Couleurs The wikipedia article is in french but it says that since 2018 and the gouvernement of the new president the old flag with a darker blue is now preferred

kerem commented

2026-03-03 14:39:45 +03:00

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@malvese commented on GitHub (Jun 18, 2025):

Ha, I stumbled upon this great repo today and immediately wanted to raise this issue :D I will check if I could make a PR.

@malvese commented on GitHub (Jun 18, 2025): Ha, I stumbled upon this great repo today and immediately wanted to raise this issue :D I will check if I could make a PR.

kerem commented

2026-03-03 14:39:46 +03:00

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@malvese commented on GitHub (Aug 19, 2025):

This is not an easy one. The Wikipedia article says the colors have never been specified precisely. French constitution only mentions "blue, white, red".
From 1976 to 2020 a lighter blue and red have been used mainly for presidential addresses on TV, with a blue closer to the European flag, but have actually been used on many official buildings. Since 2018 president Macron uses the original darker colors in all his speeches, and it seems they are also used on most buildings (I live in Paris, France).

The French Navy used the original colors all along. Blue is according to them "approximately Pantone 282C or CMJN 100-70-0-50", which in hex is #041E42. Red is Pantone 186 C, so #c8102e. It looks like this:

Wikipedia uses slightly different colors, which may be slightly more screen friendly:

TL;DR There are no definitive colors, but IMHO the darker flag should be used instead of the lighter one, and I would favor the Navy one.

@malvese commented on GitHub (Aug 19, 2025): This is not an easy one. The Wikipedia article says the colors have never been specified precisely. French constitution only mentions "blue, white, red". From 1976 to 2020 a lighter blue and red have been used mainly for presidential addresses on TV, with a blue closer to the European flag, but have actually been used on many official buildings. Since 2018 president Macron uses the original darker colors in all his speeches, and it seems they are also used on most buildings (I live in Paris, France). The French Navy used the original colors all along. Blue is according to them "approximately Pantone 282C or CMJN 100-70-0-50", which in hex is #041E42. Red is Pantone 186 C, so #c8102e. It looks like this: ![Image](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/aa8b08d8-eb27-4795-b491-aebe04526c8e) Wikipedia uses slightly different colors, which may be slightly more screen friendly: ![Image](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/4475c883-4d36-4121-bdc1-cc6c76c90ac4) TL;DR There are no definitive colors, but IMHO the darker flag should be used instead of the lighter one, and I would favor the Navy one.

kerem commented

2026-03-03 14:39:46 +03:00

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@malvese commented on GitHub (Aug 19, 2025):

A PR in this repo in 2023 changed the colors from the original to the lighter ones. That was a mistake. There was a link to https://www.info.gouv.fr/marque-de-letat/les-couleurs as a source of information, but the image at the top of that page is very misleading. It doesn't show new official colors of the flag, it just details the main three colors for the design system, which are blue, white and red.
It is more obvious when you click to zoom the image, there are dotted lines between the color patches:

These are meant to be used in French gov communication, like websites, letterheads, not on the flag.

Before that PR, Wikipedia colors were used here.

@malvese commented on GitHub (Aug 19, 2025): A PR in this repo in 2023 changed the colors from the original to the lighter ones. That was a mistake. There was a link to https://www.info.gouv.fr/marque-de-letat/les-couleurs as a source of information, but the image at the top of that page is very misleading. It doesn't show new official colors of the flag, it just details the main three colors for the design system, which are blue, white and red. It is more obvious when you click to zoom the image, there are dotted lines between the color patches: <img width="2533" height="1402" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/a63d115b-a8e4-4346-9f2b-664e8b64ee1b" /> These are meant to be used in French gov communication, like websites, letterheads, not on the flag. Before that PR, Wikipedia colors were used here.