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UCLA’s colors evoke the blue of sea and sky and the gold of the sun and wildflowers, especially the California poppy. There’s a brightness to UCLA Blue and UCLA Gold that’s especially appropriate to Southern California, and different from other University of California campuses.

Usage

Color Usage

Color is more than an aesthetic choice. Official colors are recognized and protected in trademark case law because they communicate identity.

Colors are also the building blocks of accessibility. After a long exploration, the standardized UCLA color palette was created to achieve good contrast in the interest of legibility across all channels and media.

Follow the specifications on this page to use the colors as a required brand element. Do not use other shades of blue and gold in publications or online.

When it comes to merchandise, textile and vinyl colors present special challenges. UCLA Athletics and UCLA Trademarks and Licensing establish standards in this area. By using a licensed UCLA vendor, you are assured of following these standards.

The Palette

The primary UCLA Blue and Gold are supplemented by secondary blues and golds and vibrant tertiary colors. This full range of color provides a great deal of flexibility; please stay within these established hues. For the sake of accessibility, restrict use of tertiary colors to graphics rather than text. A blue gradient can be used to enliven fields of color. The palette includes specs for spot color (Pantone coated and uncoated), CMYK (process printing), RGB (video and online), and HEX (computer applications).

Primary Brand Colors

Over the years the blue color has always been more important than the gold. A field of blue with a gold accent says “UCLA.” A field of gold with a blue accent does not. Lavish use of white in layouts enhances the brilliance of the colors.

UCLA Blue

  • PANTONE 2383C
  • PANTONE 3553U
  • CMYK 83 40 3 6
  • RGB 39 116 174
  • HEX #2774AE

UCLA Gold

  • PANTONE 109C
  • PANTONE 114U
  • CMYK 0 9 100 0
  • RGB 255 209 0
  • HEX #FFD100

White

  • CMYK 0 0 0 0
  • RGB 255 255 255
  • HEX #FFFFFF

Secondary Brand Colors

A secondary palette has been developed to respect and complement the tradition of blue and gold while adding an additional level of brightness or darkness to the palette.

Blue Tones

Darkest Blue

  • PANTONE 302C
  • PANTONE 2955U
  • CMYK 100 48 12 58
  • RGB 0 59 92
  • HEX #003B5C

Darker Blue

  • PANTONE 7692C
  • PANTONE 2186U
  • CMYK 100 45 0 45
  • RGB 0 85 135
  • HEX #005587

Lighter Blue

  • PANTONE 278C
  • PANTONE 278U
  • CMYK 45 14 9 9
  • RGB 139 184 232
  • HEX #8BB8E8

Lightest Blue

  • PANTONE 2707C
  • PANTONE 2707U
  • CMYK 20 6 0 0
  • RGB 218 235 254
  • HEX #DAEBFE

Gold Tones

Darkest Gold

  • PANTONE 1235C
  • PANTONE 121U
  • CMYK 0 31 98 0
  • RGB 255 184 28
  • HEX #FFB81C

Darker Gold

  • PANTONE 123C
  • PANTONE 115U
  • CMYK 0 19 89 0
  • RGB 255 199 44
  • HEX #FFC72C

Tertiary Brand Colors

A tertiary palette has been developed for use as an accent to the primary and secondary colors.


Please note that in order to maintain maximum vibrancy of these colors, they will appear slightly different between screen and print. Due to printing limitations, the CMYK values are slightly duller than ideal. If your budget allows, select one tertiary color from the palette to include in your project and print it as a spot to bring the vibrancy fully to life in print. For the sake of accessibility, restrict use of tertiary colors to graphics only.

CMYK
RGB

Yellow

  • PANTONE 803C
  • PANTONE 803U
  • CMYK 0 3 97 0
  • RGB 255 255 0
  • HEX #FFFF00
CMYK
RGB

Green

  • PANTONE 802C
  • PANTONE 802U
  • CMYK 75 0 90 0
  • RGB 0 255 135
  • HEX #00FF87
CMYK
RGB

Magenta

  • PANTONE 806C
  • PANTONE 806U
  • CMYK 0 100 0 0
  • RGB 255 0 165
  • HEX #FF00A5
CMYK
RGB

Cyan

  • PANTONE 801C
  • PANTONE 801U
  • CMYK 65 0 0 0
  • RGB 0 255 255
  • HEX #00FFFF
CMYK
RGB

Purple

  • PANTONE 814C
  • PANTONE 814U
  • CMYK 70 75 0 0
  • RGB 130 55 255
  • HEX #8237FF
CMYK
RGB

Black

  • PANTONE Black C
  • PANTONE Black U
  • CMYK 0 0 0 100
  • RGB 0 0 0
  • HEX #000000

Brand Gradient

A blue gradient can be used to enliven fields of color. If the gradient is used strictly as a background — for instance, under an overlay box — you can use the complete color range. If you are overprinting the gradient with type, you need to make sure the resulting contrast ratio meets accessibility standards. See the color combination chart.

Darker Blue

  • CMYK 100 45 0 45
  • RGB 0 85 135
  • HEX #005587

UCLA Blue

  • CMYK 83 40 3 6
  • RGB 39 116 174
  • HEX #2774AE

Lighter Blue

  • CMYK 45 14 0 0
  • RGB 139 184 232
  • HEX #8BB8E8

Accessibility (Color Contrast)

Color contrast is very important to legibility. To meet current accessibility standards, use only approved color combinations. For websites and other online uses, WebAim Color Contrast Checker is a good tool to measure contrast. For printed materials, the standards are not as easy to measure. Be sure to take special care with reverse type and type overlays, especially if your audience tends to be middle-aged or older.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) require a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text to achieve Level AA compliance. To achieve Level AAA compliance requires a contrast ratio of at least 7:1 for normal text and 4.5:1 for large text. Large text is defined as 14 point (typically 18.66px) and bold or larger, or 18 point (typically 24px) or larger.

See Downloads for reference PDFs of both charts.

Chart of approved color combinations within the UCLA brand
This chart "grades" various combinations of UCLA brand colors. UCLA's goal is to achieve Level AA or AAA compliance. The red "DNP" tags means a particular combination Does Not Pass — don't use those combinations.

Do Not

Don't use red, spelled out in red type

Do not routinely use red for type. Appropriate uses of red are limited to error messages and emergency alerts.

Don't tint any of the colors, spelled out in pale blue

Do not use tints of the brand colors — colors diluted with white.

Don't set type in non-ADA-compliant colors, spelled out in gold

Use color type with care, avoiding non-ADA-compliant colors.

Don't compromise legibility, spelled out in gray on gold

Do not compromise legibility by choosing low-contrast color combinations.

Don't use gold type on the darkest blue, spelled out in gold on navy

Do not use gold type on the darkest blue.

Don't make your overall layout too dark, spelled out in white on navy

Do not make your overall layout too dark. The UCLA palette is bright.

Don't use gold type on the darkest blue, spelled out in gold on navy

Do not create your own swatches.

Don't make your overall layout too dark, spelled out in white on navy

Do not create your own gradients.

Download

UCLA Brand Colors (PDF) is a useful reference because it includes the specifications for the full palette and the color contrast accessibility chart. Please do not use it for visual matching — it will only be as accurate as your color printer. We recommend purchasing Pantone color swatches for the most accurate visual matching. You should avoid using the eyedropper tool to pick out colors on the screen. Use accurate colors by entering the values instead.

For color swatches to use with Adobe applications, you can download ASE (Adobe Swatch Exchange) files and GRD files for gradients. If you prefer to build your own gradients, follow the Gradient Specifications PDF.

Included in your download:

  • UCLA Brand Colors (PDF)
  • UCLA Color Swatches (ASE and GRD)