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Colour palette

Updated brand guidance 

UCL is undertaking insight into our brand and will be launching a refreshed visual identity from January 2025.

New guidelines

The new colour palette below has been created after work by UCL's Brand, Digital Experience and Accessibility teams to streamline our use of colour and ensure accessibility and consistency across all our collateral in the digital and physical world. 

As these changes are an interim measure while the Brand Refresh Project is ongoing, we strongly advise departments to hold off on commissioning a lot of new materials until the refreshed visual identity from January 2025, as future changes are anticipated.

Websites

Starting in 2024, all UCL websites will be migrated to the new version of our Content Management System (CMS - Drupal 9) which includes updated templates created using the revised colour palette. Until then, no changes will be made to our current templates. As the content is migrated, the new templates and colours will come into effect. 

New colours

Eight colour core palette

The palette has been streamlined to eight core colours - six from the full palette (below) plus black and white. These are for:

  • everyday assets and resources - such as standard documents (Word), presentations (PowerPoint)
  • social media icons
  • research posters
  • merchandise (excluding tote bags), etc.

Our branded templates have been updated to use the eight core colours. You can download these from Imagestore.

Video bookends and watermarks will only be available in black or white versions. Revised guidance is available under brand essentials, templates and toolkits.

Vibrant Purple R80G7B120
Purple / Vibrant
HEX: #500778
RGB: 80/7/120
CMYK: 87/100/18/6
Vibrant Green R82G193B82
Green / Vibrant
HEX: #52C152
RGB: 82/193/82
CMYK: 62/0/83/0
Vibrant Blue R52G198B198
Blue / Vibrant
HEX: #34C6C6
RGB: 52/198/198
CMYK: 66/0/29/0
Vibrant Yellow R255G202B54
Yellow / Vibrant
HEX: #FFCA36
RGB: 255/202/54
CMYK: 0/23/84/0
Vibrant Pink R172G20B90
Pink / Vibrant
HEX: #AC145A
RGB: 172/20/90
CMYK: 24/99/31/15
Dark Blue R0G34B72
Blue / Dark
HEX: #002248
RGB: 0/34/72
CMYK: 100/87/43/46
Black R0G0B0
Black
HEX: #000000
RGB: 0/0/0
White R255G255B255
White
HEX: #FFFFFF
RGB: 255/255/255

Full colour palette for external facing campaign work

The remaining nine colours in the full palette (plus the shades in the monotone palette) are regarded as secondary colours and should only be used for external-facing campaign/creative work by UCL designers or commissioned designers. NB - please use only the exact colours on the palette shown below. No tint variation of any colour is allowed.

The palette comprises Dark, Vibrant and Muted tones - available below with CMYK, RGB and HEX references.

If you need the Pantone™ reference in particular for printing (coated and uncoated), please contact the Brand team. 

  • CMYK are the values for print.
  • RGB should be used these for online display and in Office documents to get the exact colour you need. 
  • HEX values are an alternative way of expressing RGB values in a shortened form. HEX values can be used in CSS and HTML.

Accessible colour pairings

Where the full range of colours is used digitally or in creative design work, care must be taken to ensure all colour pairings are accessible and comply with WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines), e.g. you should aim for a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1.

Further information on creating accessible content and the use of colour can be found in the Digital Accessibility pages. We have also created clear guidance showing the correct colour pairing combinations, which is available as a Figma file: Figma file for accessible pairings. You can also download these pairings as a pdf.

 

Dark Purple R44G4B66
Purple / Dark
HEX: #2C0442
RGB: 44/4/66
CMYK: 94/100/36/48
Dark Green R17G59B58
Green / Dark
HEX: #113B3A
RGB: 17/59/58
CMYK: 88/49/59/60
Dark Blue R0G34B72
Blue / Dark
HEX: #002248
RGB: 0/34/72
CMYK: 100/87/43/46
Dark Yellow R80G77B72
Yellow / Dark
HEX: #504D48
RGB: 80/77/72
CMYK: 59/51/54/50
Dark Pink R75G10B50
Pink / Dark
HEX: #4B0A42
RGB: 75/10/50
CMYK: 57/100/36/60
Vibrant Purple R80G7B120
Purple / Vibrant
HEX: #500778
RGB: 80/7/120
CMYK: 87/100/18/6
Vibrant Green R82G193B82
Green / Vibrant
HEX: #52C152
RGB: 82/193/82
CMYK: 62/0/83/0
Vibrant Blue R52G198B198
Blue / Vibrant
HEX: #34C6C6
RGB: 52/198/198
CMYK: 66/0/29/0
Vibrant Yellow R255G202B54
Yellow / Vibrant
HEX: #FFCA36
RGB: 255/202/54
CMYK: 0/23/84/0
Vibrant Pink R172G20B90
Pink / Vibrant
HEX: #AC145A
RGB: 172/20/90
CMYK: 24/99/31/15
Muted Purple R198G176B188
Purple / Muted
HEX: #C6B0BC
RGB: 198/176/188
CMYK: 25/33/18/2
Muted Green R201G209B168
Green / Muted
HEX: #C9D1A8
RGB: 201/209/168
CMYK: 27/10/41/1
Muted Blue R182G220B229
Blue / Muted
HEX: #B6DCE5
RGB: 182/220/229
CMYK: 33/2/11/0
Muted Yellow R218G214B202
Yellow / Muted
HEX: #DAD6CA
RGB: 218/214/202
CMYK: 17/13/22/1
Muted Pink R222G184B195
Pink / Muted
HEX: #DEB8C3
RGB: 222/184/195
CMYK: 13/33/15/1

Monotone palette

A range of 10 monotone shades from Black to White are also available as shown below.

Black R0G0B0
Black
HEX: #000000
RGB: 0/0/0
Black 90 R26G26B26
Black 90
HEX: #1A1A1A
RGB: 26/26/26
Black 80 R51G51B51
Black 80
HEX: #333333
RGB: 51/51/51
Black 60 R102G102B102
Black 60
HEX: #666666
RGB: 102/102/102
Black 40 R153G153B153
Black 40
HEX: #999999
RGB: 153/153/153
Black 20 R204G204B204
Black 20
HEX: #CCCCCC
RGB: 204/204/204
Black 15 R217G217B217
Black 15
HEX: #D9D9D9
RGB: 217/217/217
Black 10 R230G230B230
Black 10
HEX: #E6E6E6
RGB: 230/230/230
Black 5 R242G242B242
Black 5
HEX: #F2F2F2
RGB: 242/242/242
White R255G255B255
White
HEX: #FFFFFF
RGB: 255/255/255