Color unifies our marketing and embraces the Mizzou brand to ensure a cohesive message. Our official primary colors are black and MU gold. A supporting color palette was designed to complement our primary colors. Supporting colors should be used as accents within your design, but should never become the main colors used.

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Definitions & Tips | Primary Colors | Secondary Colors | Accessibility & Color

Definitions & Tips:

• CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) is the 4-color build for printing.
• RGB (red, green, blue) and HEX (hexadecimal) codes are for screens and websites.
• The CMYK, RGB and HEX values for MU gold differ from the defaults in most design programs. It is necessary to create these formulas within your document rather than relying on the program’s built-in conversion from spot color to process color.
• Tints of our secondary colors are useful when designing charts, graphs and diagrams.
• MU gold on white and white on MU gold has a low visual contrast and may be hard for people to see and/or read.

Primary Color Palette

Metallics and Foils

When your budget allows, you may want to incorporate metallic inks or foils. Pantone® 10123C (a premium metallic) is preferred, but 871C is acceptable when 10123C is unavailable. When using metallic foils, the closest available match to MU Gold should be selected.

Secondary Color Palette

Keep the following guidelines in mind when using the secondary color palette:

• All pieces should include black and gold as the dominant colors.
• Limit the number of secondary colors used in a single piece so it does not break from the Mizzou brand.
• Be mindful of color combinations that represent other universities.

Accessibility & Color

Color Contrast Chart

These charts show the contrast between backgrounds and text using the Mizzou brand colors. When developing digital materials and websites, make sure to review the Accessible Text & Color guidelines.

Contrast Ratios

Is it compliant?