Color
Color is one of the most recognizable elements of our brand. By extracting hues from NC State’s history and from the people, places and things on our modern campus, we’ve created a large palette that resonates visually and reflects exactly who we are.
Our Core Palette
NC State’s core palette consists of three colors: Wolfpack Red, Wolfpack White and Wolfpack Black. These colors should feature more prominently than any others in NC State communications. In all communications using color, Wolfpack Red should dominate. We are, always, the Red and White of NC State.
Wolfpack Red reinforces the brand around campus.
Wolfpack Red
HEX #CC0000
RGB 204 0 0
CMYK 0 100 81 4
PMS 186 C
Wolfpack Black
HEX #000000
RGB 0 0 0
CMYK 0 0 0 100
Wolfpack White
HEX #FFFFFF
RGB 255 255 255
CMYK 0 0 0 0
Our Expanded Palette
Our expanded palette features seven colors that complement each other and, more importantly, complement Wolfpack Red, Black and White.
The expanded palette was used throughout the institutional message.
Reynolds Red
HEX #990000
RGB 153 0 0
CMYK 24 100 100 24
PMS 7622C
Pyroman Flame
HEX #D14905
RGB 209 73 5
CMYK 0 76 100 0
PMS 166C
Hunt Yellow
HEX #FAC800
RGB 250 200 0
CMYK 0 20 100 2
PMS 7408 C
Genomic Green
HEX #6F7D1C
RGB 111 125 28
CMYK 46 6 100 42
PMS 7496C
Carmichael Aqua
HEX #008473
RGB 0 132 115
CMYK 87 34 51 11
PMS 3282 C
Innovation Blue
HEX #427E93
RGB 66 126 147
CMYK 75 38 26 1
PMS 7697C
Bio-indigo
HEX #4156A1
RGB 65 86 161
CMYK 86 78 5 0
PMS 2726 C
Do not use white type on Hunt Yellow because there is not enough contrast between the colors to ensure accessibility and legibility. Use black type instead.
When using white type on colors from the expanded palette, make sure that all text is at least 18 pt size for roman type or 14 pt size for bold type.
A range of tints and shades area available for each brand color. These can be used to create single-color design and illustration work with a range of values. PDF guides can be found in the color section of the Assets page.
If you use the expanded palette, use at least two of the colors throughout your website or publication. Varying secondary colors reduces their prominence and keeps them subordinate to Wolfpack Red, Black and White.
Red, for Starters (and Finishers)
As the dominant color in our core palette, Wolfpack Red should be the entry and exit point of your communications. That means generous splashes of red on front and back covers of printed documents, red title and closing slides on videos, red in the header and footer on websites.
Enter and Exit on Red
The 2013 Chancellor’s Report puts our core and secondary palettes to good use. In photos and page designs, it presents the wide array of hues available under our brand and bookends them with Wolfpack Red on the front and back covers.
Downloadable Palettes
We’ve created swatches that take the work out of getting our colors into the Adobe Creative Suite. To use the files, open the Swatches palette in your program and click on the top right menu. Select "Open Swatch Library" and then select “Other Library.” Navigate to where the downloaded swatch file is located on your computer.