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Colour palette
The SFU colour palette is inspired by the red within our logo, and is designed to create a bold, unified and memorable look.
SFU brand colours
Light red - primary
Used for dominant background fields, headers, call-outs and graphic elements
Spot colour printing: PMS 199C
Full colour printing: CMYK C0 / M100 / Y82 / K0*
Digital applications: HTML#CC0633* or RGB R204/G6/B51*
*CMYK, RGB and HEX have been customized to achieve best representation of PMS 199.
Dark red
Used in our insitutional logo, subheads, call-outs, secondary background fields and graphic elements
Spot colour printing: PMS 187C
Full colour printing: CMYK C7 / M100 / Y82 / K26
Digital applications: HTML#A6192E or RGB R166/G25/B46
Dark grey
Used in our academic unit and extension logos, in subheads and graphic elements
Spot colour printing: PMS 425C
Full colour printing: CMYK C0 / M0 / Y0 / K80
Digital applications: HTML#54585A or RGB R84/G88/B90
Black
Used in body copy
Spot colour printing: Pantone Process Black
Full colour printing: CMYK C0 / M0 / Y0 / K100
Digital applications: HTML#000000 or RGB R0/G0/B0
Guidelines
SFU light red is our primary colour, to be used as the dominant colour in all applications. It is supported by SFU dark red which is the colour used in the institutional logo. These two reds are designed to work well together, creating a distinctive tone-on-tone effect.
SFU dark grey is simply used in the text portion of our academic unit and extension logos, and can be applied to subheads and graphic elements. Black is used for body copy.
We also use any percentage of black (grey tones) as demonstrated with the gradient of greyscale colour swatches above. These are useful when designing complex charts and diagrams that require contrast between numerous variables. If these grey tones are not sufficient, screens of the two reds can be used, but only when designing more complex charts and diagrams. On occasion, we use 5 per cent black as a background to highlight and define areas of copy, like sidebars.
Usage
To demonstrate the use, proportion, and flexibility of our colour palette, this page shows how colour is used in the design of a few spreads from a multi-page brochure.
The dominant use of red is an important part of what makes our brand distinctive, and is reflective of our brand attributes.
Printing the SFU colours
Document Solutions can provide a swatch card printed on different paper stock for reference. Work together to produce accurate colour, as poorly matched colours will weaken impact and reduce the effectiveness of the brand. Please contact docsol@sfu.ca.