Color Guidelines

The Media and Design group uses colors derived from Stanford University brand colors, Stanford Graduate School of Business brand colors, and our own unique selection of custom colors. These colors are the building blocks we use to craft a range of assets, beginning with Theme Color Palettes.

Primary Colors

Cardinal Red

RGB: 140 | 21 | 21
HEX:  #8C1515

White

RGB: 255 | 255 | 255
HEX:  #FFFFF

Black

RGB: 0 | 0 | 0
HEX:  #000000

Cool Grey

RGB: 77 | 79 | 83
HEX:  #4D4F53

Secondary Colors

Charcoal

RGB: 35 | 31 | 32
HEX: #231F20

Driftwood

RGB: 182 | 177 | 169
HEX: #B6B1A9

Stone

RGB: 127 | 119 | 118
HEX: #7F7776

Sand

RGB: 210 | 186 | 146
HEX: #D2BA92

Stanford Accent Colors

Olive

RGB: 143 | 153 | 62
HEX: #8F993E

Sky

RGB: 66 | 152 | 181
HEX: #0098DB

Spirited

RGB: 224 | 79 | 57
HEX: #E04F39

Illuminating

RGB: 254 | 221 | 92
HEX: #FEDD5C

Plum

RGB: 98 | 0 | 89
HEX: #620059

Archway

RGB: 93 | 75 | 60
HEX: #5D4B3C

Fog

RGB: 218 | 215 | 203
HEX: #DAD7CB

Stanford Graduate School of Business Accent Colors

Purple/Buckeye

RGB: : 83 | 40 | 79
HEX: #53284F

Brick

RGB: 101 | 28 | 50
HEX: #651C32

Bay

RGB: 111 | 162 | 135
HEX: #6FA287

Lagunita

RGB: 0 | 124 | 146
HEX: #007C92

Palo Alto

RGB: 23 | 94 | 84
HEX: #175E54

Palo Verde

RGB: 39 | 153 | 137
HEX: #279989

New Sky

RGB: 92 | 157 | 174
HEX: #5C9DAE

Poppy

RGB: 233 | 131 | 0
HEX: #E98300

Autumn Ginko

RGB: 248 | 201 | 21
HEX: #FFC915

MacDonald

RGB: 186 | 196 | 5
HEX: #BAC405

Additional Accent Colors

Sun

RGB: 234 | 171 | 0
HEX: #EAAB00

Teal

RGB: 0 | 80 | 92
HEX: #00505C

Grass

RGB: 95 | 150 | 65
HEX: #5F9641

Berry

RGB: 194 | 31 | 112
HEX: #C21F70

Navy

RGB: 14 | 59 | 69
HEX: #0E3B4F

Web Only Colors

Digital Red

RGB: 177 | 4 | 14
HEX: #B1040E

Digital Blue

RGB: 0 | 108 | 184
HEX: #006CB8

Digital Pink

RGB: 230 | 64 | 151
HEX: #E64097

Digital Green

RGB: 0 | 155 | 118
HEX: #008566

Mist

RGB: 233 | 244 | 244
HEX: #F4F4F4

Accessibility

WCAG 2.0 level AA requires a contrast ratio of 4.5 for normal text (below 18 point) and 3 for large text (above 18 point). The text label colors (black or white) accommodate the contrast ratio requirements and are the recommended text/background color pairings.

Learn how to make more accessible color use decisions from Stanford’s Office of Digital Accessibility, and use their color contrast checking tool.