We are a vibrant campus and our color palette reflects this. Bold swatches of color are a common element in our designs. We very rarely use tints or screens of our colors.
Primary Colors
The UC Santa Cruz primary colors are blue and gold. These two colors are unifying elements for all 10 of the UC campuses and an important part of the UC Santa Cruz brand. The UC Santa Cruz blue and gold are the colors we use the most.
Primary Blue Coated
PMS: 541C
CMYK: 100C 57M 0Y 38K
UnCoated
PMS: 2945U
CMYK: 100C 45M 0Y 14K
RGB: R0 G60 B108
HEX: #003c6c
Primary Yellow Coated
PMS: 116
CMYK: 0C 16M 100Y 0K
UnCoated
PMS: 109U
CMYK: 0C 10M 100Y 0K
RGB: R253 G199 B0
HEX: #fdc700
Secondary Colors
Correctly utilizing a secondary color palette, one that compliments our blue and gold, is way to make a design more distinctive while still bringing consistency that is so essential to building brand recognition.
Coated PMS: 300C CMYK: 91C 57M 5Y 0K UnCoated PMS: 3005U CMYK: 86C 47M 0Y 0K RGB: R0 G106 B173 HEX: #006aad
Coated PMS: 299C CMYK: 69C 10M 0Y 0K UnCoated PMS: 2995U CMYK: 90C 11M 0Y 0K RGB: R19 G165 B220 HEX: #13a5dc
Coated PMS: 3145C CMYK: 100C 10M 29Y 20K UnCoated PMS: 3145U CMYK: 100C 10M 29Y 20K RGB: R0 G121 B136 HEX: #007988
Coated PMS: 1375C CMYK: 0C 40M 100Y 0K UnCoated PMS: 137U CMYK: 0C 35M 100Y 0K RGB: R242 G152 B19 HEX: #f29813
Coated PMS: 1235C CMYK: 0C 25M 100Y 0K UnCoated PMS: 116U CMYK: 0C 16M 100Y 0K RGB: R255 G191 B0 HEX: #ffbf00
Coated PMS: 390C CMYK: 0C 25M 100Y 0K UnCoated PMS: 381U CMYK: 20C 0M 91Y 0K RGB: R253 G199 B0 HEX: #93c02d
Rubine Red Coated PMS: Rubine RedC CMYK: 0C 100M 15Y 4K UnCoated PMS: Rubine RedU CMYK: 0C 100M 15Y 4K RGB: R218 G33 B109 HEX: #da216d
Check your contrast
When the colors from the primary or secondary palette are used on the Web as background or foreground (text) colors, sufficient contrast between the foreground and background colors must be present. This may require additional lightening or darkening of your selected color.
To check for sufficient contrast, use the WebAIM Color Contrast Checker.
Download color palettes for Creative Cloud
White Space
We like white space! It allows color to pop and type to breath. It can bring relief (contrast) to a colorful photo or a dynamic spread.