Colour

Our brand colours

Our colour palette helps us to stand out and makes sure our communications all have a Cambridge feel. Our core palette leads with blue and purple, supported by a varied secondary palette. Our core palette includes Cambridge Blue – the iconic colour we share with our University.

Core palette

Our core palette brings recognition and familiarity to our brand. Below are the exact values of each colour. For consistency in our brand, these values must be applied across all of our communications and designs.

Cambridge Dark Blue HEX ‣ #133844 RGB ‣ 19 56 68 CMYK ‣ 100 47 40 68 Pantone ‣ 547

Cambridge Blue HEX ‣ #00BDB6 RGB ‣ 0 189 182 CMYK ‣ 69 0 34 0 Pantone ‣ 326

Cambridge Warm Blue HEX ‣ #8EE8D8 RGB ‣ 142 232 216 CMYK ‣ 48 0 27 0 Pantone ‣ 7471

Cambridge Light Blue HEX ‣ #D7FDF5 RGB ‣ 215 253 245 CMYK ‣ 21 0 12 0 Pantone ‣ 9480

Dark Purple HEX ‣ #3C1366 RGB ‣ 60 19 102 CMYK ‣ 93 100 26 11 Pantone ‣ 2627

Bright Purple HEX ‣ #8128E7 RGB ‣ 129 40 231 CMYK ‣ 76 86 0 0 Pantone ‣ 266

Warm Purple HEX ‣ #9E69F2 RGB ‣ 158 105 242 CMYK ‣ 55 61 0 0 Pantone ‣ 265

Light Purple HEX ‣ #D4ADFF RGB ‣ 212 173 255 CMYK ‣ 24 34 0 0 Pantone ‣ 2085

Core palette in application

The core palette helps us maintain recognition in all we create, but can be combined in different ways giving us flexibility to create varied experiences. These examples show a variety of ways that colour can be used to turn up and down the ‘volume’ of our brand expression.

Creating core brand recognition For day-to-day applications, where we need structure, consistency and clarity. The dark core colours and white are our canvas background. With the core bright colours supplementing and helping highlight content and information, which draws attention to the moments that matter.

Creating calm To create calmer brand moments we can use the core warm and light colours with or without white for a subtle approach.

Creating energy For richer, more dynamic moments of the brand. Here, bright colours of the core palette are used in a more even ratio to the dark core colours. It creates more impact and energy and we allow colour to take over more of the communication. Always aim for balance, and use colour to create space within a layout, which doesn't overpower the message.

Improper use

The examples below show a variety of ways that our brand colours should not be used. See below for our guide to successful colour combinations for typography.

Avoid mixing the two dark core colours.

Avoid mixing the two bright core colours.

Aim to create balance and avoid overpowering visuals with colour.

Secondary palette

Our secondary palette creates flexibility and relevance.

Dark Blue HEX ‣ #082663 RGB ‣ 8 38 99 CMYK ‣ 100 88 10 21 Pantone ‣ 662

Bright Blue HEX ‣ #5465F8 RGB ‣ 84 101 248 CMYK ‣ 84 58 0 0 Pantone ‣ 2728

Warm Blue HEX ‣ #A9A3FF RGB ‣ 169 163 255 CMYK ‣ 56 46 0 0 Pantone ‣ 7452

Light Blue HEX ‣ #E1E1FF RGB ‣ 225 225 255 CMYK ‣ 16 13 0 0 Pantone ‣ 2706

Dark Pink HEX ‣ #5E0A4F RGB ‣ 94 10 79 CMYK ‣ 62 100 30 32 Pantone ‣ 690

Bright Pink HEX ‣ #E94DC2 RGB ‣ 233 77 194 CMYK ‣ 24 90 0 0 Pantone ‣ 2450

Warm Pink HEX ‣ #F984DC RGB ‣ 249 132 220 CMYK ‣ 26 74 0 0 Pantone ‣ 674

Light Pink HEX ‣ #F9B4EC RGB ‣ 249 180 236 CMYK ‣ 10 27 0 0 Pantone ‣ 9321

Dark Red HEX ‣ #7F091D RGB ‣ 127 9 29 CMYK ‣ 28 100 82 40 Pantone ‣ 7427

Bright Red HEX ‣ #F66173 RGB ‣ 246 97 115 CMYK ‣ 0 85 51 0 Pantone ‣ 1785

Warm Red HEX ‣ #FF9EAA RGB ‣ 255 158 170 CMYK ‣ 0 59 27 0 Pantone ‣ 2029

Light Red HEX ‣ #FFBED1 RGB ‣ 255 190 209 CMYK ‣ 0 26 6 0 Pantone ‣ 9300

Dark Orange HEX ‣ #AF3404 RGB ‣ 175 52 4 CMYK ‣ 22 88 100 14 Pantone ‣ 718

Bright Orange HEX ‣ #FF6638 RGB ‣ 255 102 56 CMYK ‣ 0 73 77 0 Pantone ‣ 2018

Warm Orange HEX ‣ #FFA176 RGB ‣ 255 161 118 CMYK ‣ 0 58 66 0 Pantone ‣ 2016

Light Orange HEX ‣ #FFC0B6 RGB ‣ 255 192 182 CMYK ‣ 0 40 37 0 Pantone ‣ 2015

Dark Yellow HEX ‣ #F49E06 RGB ‣ 244 158 6 CMYK ‣ 0 47 95 0 Pantone ‣ 130

Bright Yellow HEX ‣ #FACB2E RGB ‣ 250 203 46 CMYK ‣ 2 20 86 0 Pantone ‣ 7405

Warm Yellow HEX ‣ #F9DC4E RGB ‣ 249 220 78 CMYK ‣ 0 10 77 0 Pantone ‣ 101

Light Yellow HEX ‣ #F7EBBC RGB ‣ 247 235 188 CMYK ‣ 0 2 18 0 Pantone ‣ 9140

Secondary palette in application

The secondary palette provides contrasting colours to use within graphic elements such as charts, calls to action, infographics, user interfaces, and illustrations.

Illustration

Infographics

Greyscale palette

Our neutral greyscale palette contains neutral colours that are used for background elements and text colours. It can be used as a background colour for text, graphic.

Black HEX ‣ #212529 RGB ‣ 33 37 41 CMYK ‣ 30 30 30 100 Pantone ‣ Black 6

White HEX ‣ #FFFFFF RGB ‣ 255 255 255

Grey 1 HEX ‣ #4B5057 RGB ‣ 75 80 87 CMYK ‣ 67 54 46 41 Pantone ‣ 425

Grey 2 HEX ‣ #AFB4BB RGB ‣ 175 180 187 CMYK ‣ 35 24 21 8 Pantone ‣ 429

Grey 3 HEX ‣ #E8EDED RGB ‣ 232 237 237 CMYK ‣ 11 4 7 2 Pantone ‣ Cool Gray 3

Grey 4 HEX ‣ #F7FAFA RGB ‣ 247 250 250 CMYK ‣ 1 1 0 2

Accessible typography

It is crucial we maintain legibility within our brand communications and that our websites meet WCAG AA standards. Adhere to these colour combinations when using text in our core colour palette.

*large text: 18px/24px *normal text: 12pt/16px