Colors

Overview

UCLA Health'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 and academic health systems. Lavish use of white in layouts enhances the brilliance of the 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.

Color is more than an aesthetic choice. Official colors are recognized in trademark case law because they communicate identity. Colors are also the building blocks of accessibility. The standardized UCLA color palette provides for good contrast in the interest of legibility.

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

The Colors are a REQUIRED brand element. Follow the specifications in this section. Do not use other versions of blue and gold in publications or online.

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

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

Secondary Brand Colors

Lightest Blue
PANTONE 2707C
PANTONE 2707U
CMYK 20 6 0 0
RGB 195 215 238
HEX #C3D7EE

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

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

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

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

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

To promote inclusivity

As noted in the UCLA Health brand guidelines, our brand color palette is powered by the warm blues and yellows that convey the ocean, sky and sun of Southern California. To honor our dynamism, dimensionality and diversity, we are broadening our digital color palette to include blue and yellow hues ever-so-slightly beyond our existing palette. A fresh, hopeful blue has been added to the secondary color palette.

Hopeful Blue
PANTONE 7702C
CMYK 61 13 0 23
RGB 76 171 196
HEX #4CABC4

Brand Gradient

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 over printing the gradient with type, you need to make sure the resulting contrast ratio meets accessibility standards. See the UCLA Campus brand guidelines color combination chart.

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

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

Lighter Blue
PANTONE 278C
PANTONE 278U
CMYK 45 14 9 9
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, there are multiple resources available on the UCLA Campus brand guidelines website for measuring 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 on the UCLA Campus brand guidelines website for reference PDFs.