Color can play a powerful role in design by drawing attention, setting the tone for a message and guiding the direction of the viewer. Duke’s color palette was designed to support the brand identity and provide visual cohesion across channels and publications throughout the university. It was updated in 2018 to include Hex codes for web design and an accessibility guide to help Duke materials meet the needs of all viewers.

Communicator Toolkit

Find the resources and best-practices you need to successfully apply the Duke visual brand identity to your project.

Communicator Toolkit

Inside this resource:

Official Duke Blue

The official Duke blue is a shade of navy blue that has been in use for decades. Called “Duke Navy Blue” in our palette, it is sometimes referred to as “Academic Blue.” The Pantone color for print materials is PMS 280 U / C and the Hex color for web design is #012169.

“Duke Royal Blue” is the other shade of blue in the palette and has been in use since 2009 for athletics, apparel and promotional materials. The Pantone color for Duke Royal Blue is 287 U / C and the Hex color for web design is #00539B.

Both shades of blue represent the Duke brand and at least one of them should be used somewhere in any project. Any adjustment to the opacity or saturation of these colors is prohibited, and projects must adhere to accessibility standard regarding contrast ratios with these colors.

A pair os student marshals wait next to a gonfalon for Trinity College
 
Duke Navy Blue
PMS 280 U / C
HEX #012169
RGB 1, 33, 105
CMYK 100, 85, 5, 22
The Duke University Marching Band walks through campus in advance of a football game
 
Duke Royal Blue
PMS 287 U / C
HEX #00539B
RGB 0, 83, 155
CMYK 100, 53, 2, 16

Extended Palette

The colors in Duke’s extended palette are intended for use as secondary and tertiary colors in design projects. They were selected to complement Duke Navy Blue and should be used for a range of elements including graphic accents, typography, backgrounds, call-to-action buttons and more.

 
Copper PMS 166 U / C Hex #C84E00 CMYK 0, 76, 100, 0 RGB 200, 78, 0
 
Persimmon PMS 1375 U / C Hex #E89923 CMYK 0, 45, 95, 0 RGB 232, 153, 35
 
Dandelion PMS 114 U / 121 C Hex #FFD960 CMYK 0, 8, 70, 0 RGB 255, 217, 96
 
Piedmont PMS 382 U / 376 C Hex #A1B70D CMYK 54, 0, 100, 0 RGB 161, 183, 13
 
Eno PMS 3262 U / 326 C Hex #339898 CMYK 81, 0, 39, 0 RGB 51, 152, 152
 
Magnolia PMS 328 U / 323 C Hex #1D6363 CMYK 96, 16, 42, 57 RGB 29, 99, 99
 
Prussian Blue PMS 301 U / 7692 C Hex #005587 CMYK 100, 45, 0, 45 RGB 0, 85, 135
 
Shale Blue PMS Pantone Process Blue U
/ 7461 C
Hex #0577B1 CMYK 100, 0, 1, 3 RGB 5, 119, 177
 
Ironweed PMS Pantone Purple U
/ 248 C
Hex #993399 CMYK 35, 95, 0, 0 RGB 153, 51, 153
 
Hatteras PMS 649 U / 656 C Hex #E2E6ED CMYK 10, 2, 0, 0 RGB 226, 230, 237
 
Whisper Gray PMS Cool Gray 1 U / C Hex #F3F2F1 CMYK 4, 2, 4, 8 RGB 243, 242, 241
 
Ginger Beer PMS 9060 U / C Hex #FCF7E5 CMYK 0, 2, 15, 0 RGB 252, 247, 229
 
Dogwood PMS 7530 U / C Hex #988675 CMYK 10, 18, 25, 32 RGB 152, 134, 117
 
Shackleford PMS 7527 U / 2527 C Hex #DAD0C6 CMYK 3, 4, 14, 8 RGB 218, 208, 198
 
Cast Iron PMS Black 3 U / C Hex #262626 CMYK 67, 44, 67, 95 RGB 38, 38, 38
 
Graphite PMS Cool Gray 10 U / C Hex #666666 CMYK 40, 30, 20, 66 RGB 102, 102, 102
 
Granite PMS 421 U / C Hex #B5B5B5 CMYK 13, 8, 11, 26 RGB 181, 181, 181
 
Limestone PMS Cool Gray 2 U / C Hex #E5E5E5 CMYK 5, 3, 5, 11 RGB 229, 229, 229

Text Accessibility

Duke is committed to meeting WCAG 2.0 AA accessibility guidelines. Please use our Color Accessibility Guide to identify color combinations that are compliant.