Colors

Western’s brand colors are alive and vibrant, playful and impactful. They reflect Bellingham and the Pacific Northwest’s diverse geography and culture, with hues that harken to the ocean and the mountains.

Brand Colors

These are the “go to” colors when designing or building communications for Western’s audiences. They should be the most prominent color in designs.

Neutral Colors

These are the neutral tones that are complementary to the brand colors.

Special Use Colors

Use of these colors should be limited to warnings, cautions, alerts, and other cases where special attention is needed. They can also be used sparingly as secondary or accent colors.

Brand Tints & Shades

You may also use tints and shades of the brand colors and gray. These should be used as accent colors only, when one more more of the brand colors are also in use as the most prominent color(s). The tints and shades shown here are in 20% increments for web use, but you are not limited to these options for print. Any tint or shade of a brand or neutral (mixing pure white or black) is acceptable for print.

Western marketing and promotional communication pieces should use brand colors to identify them as coming from Western. The majority (90%) of all colors used on all communications should be primary brand colors, with the majority within that group consisting of the two Western blues. White/paper is the color of choice for type, as it presents good contrast with Western's primary blues. Additional colors should be complementary and used sparingly. Color usage is not limited in photography and colorful photos are encouraged. When in doubt about color composition in a designed communication, reach out to creative@wwu.edu for review.