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.

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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

 

Secondary Brand Colors

 

 

 

Tertiary Brand Colors

 

 

 

 

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.

 

Do Not