Color

Primary Colors

Our designs are largely composed of colors in our primary palette—especially Cardinal red, which has been Stanford’s official color since the university’s earliest days.

Cardinal Red

PMS 201 C (coated paper) | 201 U (uncoated)

CMYK 0, 100, 65, 34 (coated paper)

RGB 140, 21, 21

HEX #8C1515

Black

PMS Process Black

CMYK 0, 0, 0, 100

RGB 46, 45, 41

HEX #2E2D29

White

PMS N/A

CMYK N/A

RGB 255, 255, 255

HEX #FFFFFF

Digital Red

PMS

CMYK 20, 100, 100, 14

RGB 177, 4, 14

HEX #B1040E

Cardinal Dark

PMS

CMYK 0, 100, 100, 55

RGB 130, 0, 0

HEX #7A0000

Alumni Black

PMS

CMYK

RGB

HEX #181D1C

Accent Colors

Although our primary palette should drive most SAA communication materials, other colors can be added as appropriate. Accent colors are intended to complement our primary colors.

Palo Verde

PMS 7473 C

CMYK 76, 6, 44, 8

RGB 39, 153, 137

HEX #279989

Lagunita Light

PMS

CMYK 80, 21, 24, 0

RGB 0, 154, 180

HEX #009AB4

Plum

PMS 260 C

CMYK 60, 100, 0, 22

RGB 98, 0, 89

HEX #620059

Electric Blue

PMS

CMYK 77, 65, 0, 0

RGB 80, 94, 236

HEX #505EEC

Poppy

PMS 144 C

CMYK 0, 49, 100, 0

RGB 233, 131, 0

HEX #E98300

Black 90%

PMS

CMYK 61, 54, 59, 57

RGB 67, 66, 62

HEX #43423E

Black 30%

PMS

CMYK

RGB

HEX #C0C0BF

Fog Light

PMS

CMYK 5, 4, 4, 0

RGB 244, 244, 244

HEX #F4F4F4

Web Interactive Colors

All Stanford websites should meet WCAG AA color contrast standards of a minimum 3.0 color contrast ratio for headings/bold text and a 4.5 color contrast ratio for paragraph text. To use colors in an accessible way, pair light text on dark backgrounds or dark text on light backgrounds.