Color palette

Things to consider when using the ASU color palette:

• ASU Maroon and ASU Gold are recognizable as brand-specific colors and should be first choice considerations when selecting color elements for your project. 
• ASU Rich Black and White serve as foundational contrast colors that allow maroon and gold to shine.
  • Unless printing in one color (black ink), black and white should not be used without a primary brand color — ASU Maroon or ASU Gold — to represent the brand.
• ASU Green, Blue, Orange, Copper, Turquoise, Pink and Gray are considered secondary colors for the ASU brand.
  • They may not be used without ASU Maroon or ASU Gold to represent the brand and they may not overpower (appear in larger quantities than) the primary brand colors. They should be used as accent colors.
• ASU grayscale is a scale of seven grays that can be used when lighter and darker gray values are needed for designs, beyond ASU Gray. ASU Gray should always be the primary gray in use.
• Use the correct color formula for your project, whether digital, print or web, to ensure colors are accurately represented.
  
  See Understanding which color build to use for your project.
• For all colors, be aware of accessibility when selecting background and text color combinations. Without strong contrast, many sighted readers will struggle to read your text — or worse, they may choose not to. 
  • Test the contrast of your text and background color pairings, using Hex code or HTML values. Color combinations should meet or exceed AA level.
  • Common pairings to avoid include: 
    • Gold text on white background, white text on a gold background 
    • Maroon text on a black background and black text on a maroon background

ASU primary colors

ASU Maroon and Gold, Rich Black and White are ASU's primary colors. Over many years, ASU has built brand equity in maroon and gold. These two colors define who we are as an educational institution and all digital and multicolor print designs should lead with the primary brand colors.

ASU secondary colors

• The use of secondary colors should be done sparingly and with the intention, ideally adding meaning or clarity to the creative item. They should complement the primary brand color palette.
• These colors are not to be used in a dominant way or in lieu of the primary colors. If ASU Maroon, Gold, Rich Black and White have already been used in a project, the secondary palette may be useful when used in limited ways. 
• The secondary palette is helpful when building complex data visualizations such as charts, graphs and maps that may require several colors for clearer reading and comprehension.

In 2022, ASU Copper, Turquoise and Pink were added to the secondary color palette after a rigorous process involving in-depth color research and a series of community design studios to understand the needs and challenges of those using the ASU color palette in their daily communications work. The new colors were chosen as a reference to honor our sense of place. These new colors connect to Arizona — our ecology, geology, people, communities and history:

• Turquoise is native to the geology of our state and has commonly been used by our Indigenous communities to create art.
• Copper — via mining — is one of the original 5 C’s, commerce drivers, for Arizona as it is abundant in our geology.
• Pink native cacti flowers and the vivid colorful sunsets of the Sonoran Desert surround us in Arizona.