# Harvard

> `harvard@1.0.0`

Harvard University — the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States, whose institutional voice has rested on Crimson since the Class of 1858 adopted the colour. Harvard's central brand pairs Crimson (#A51C30) with black on a white canvas; a supporting core palette of saturated reds, greens, blues, yellows, turquoises, and purples carries editorial and data-visualization work without competing with the institutional crimson. The voice is restrained, scholarly, and protective of the wordmark and shield.


**Tags:** `harvard`, `university`, `education`, `crimson`, `conservative-institutional`, `light-first`

## Atoms

### Palette

**Harvard** · `harvard@1.0.0` · Proprietary — All Rights Reserved (Harvard trademarks)

> The Harvard University brand palette as published in the Harvard SEAS brand style guide (the most accessible authoritative source for Harvard's core institutional Crimson and supporting palette). Crimson (#A51C30) is the dominant institutional colour; the core palette adds saturated reds, greens, blues, yellows, turquoises, and purples that pair with Crimson and Black to produce the editorial voice across Harvard's many surfaces. 

### Fonts

| Role | Font | License | Classification |
|------|------|---------|----------------|
| `heading` | **Lora** `(lora@1.0.0)` | OFL-1.1 | serif |
| `body` | **Inter** `(inter@1.0.0)` | OFL-1.1 | sans-serif |
| `serif` | **Lora** `(lora@1.0.0)` | OFL-1.1 | serif |
| `mono` | **JetBrainsMono Nerd Font** `(jetbrainsmono-nerdfont@1.0.0)` | OFL-1.1 | monospace |

## Swatches

| ID | Name | Value |
|----|------|-------|
| `crimson` | Crimson | `#A51C30` |
| `black` | Black | `#1E1E1E` |
| `white` | White | `#FFFFFF` |
| `grey` | Grey | `#93A1AD` |
| `red` | Red | `#ED1B34` |
| `salmon` | Salmon | `#EC8F9C` |
| `green` | Green | `#4DB848` |
| `lime-green` | Lime Green | `#CBDB2A` |
| `blue` | Blue | `#4E88C7` |
| `sky-blue` | Sky Blue | `#95B5DF` |
| `warm-yellow` | Warm Yellow | `#FCB315` |
| `yellow` | Yellow | `#FFDE2D` |
| `turquoise` | Turquoise | `#00AAAD` |
| `aquamarine` | Aquamarine | `#77CED9` |
| `purple` | Purple | `#946EB7` |
| `lavender` | Lavender | `#BB89CA` |

## Mode role mappings

### Light mode

| Role | Swatch | Hex |
|------|--------|-----|
| `background` | `white` | `#FFFFFF` |
| `surface` | `grey` | `#93A1AD` |
| `surface-elevated` | `white` | `#FFFFFF` |
| `text-primary` | `black` | `#1E1E1E` |
| `text-secondary` | `black` | `#1E1E1E` |
| `text-tertiary` | `grey` | `#93A1AD` |
| `primary` | `crimson` | `#A51C30` |
| `primary-hover` | `red` | `#ED1B34` |
| `accent` | `crimson` | `#A51C30` |
| `accent-hover` | `red` | `#ED1B34` |
| `link` | `blue` | `#4E88C7` |
| `link-hover` | `crimson` | `#A51C30` |
| `warning` | `warm-yellow` | `#FCB315` |
| `warning-hover` | `yellow` | `#FFDE2D` |
| `error` | `red` | `#ED1B34` |
| `success` | `green` | `#4DB848` |
| `border` | `grey` | `#93A1AD` |

### Dark mode

| Role | Swatch | Hex |
|------|--------|-----|
| `background` | `black` | `#1E1E1E` |
| `surface` | `grey` | `#93A1AD` |
| `surface-elevated` | `grey` | `#93A1AD` |
| `text-primary` | `white` | `#FFFFFF` |
| `text-secondary` | `grey` | `#93A1AD` |
| `text-tertiary` | `grey` | `#93A1AD` |
| `primary` | `crimson` | `#A51C30` |
| `primary-hover` | `red` | `#ED1B34` |
| `accent` | `salmon` | `#EC8F9C` |
| `accent-hover` | `crimson` | `#A51C30` |
| `link` | `sky-blue` | `#95B5DF` |
| `link-hover` | `blue` | `#4E88C7` |
| `warning` | `warm-yellow` | `#FCB315` |
| `warning-hover` | `yellow` | `#FFDE2D` |
| `error` | `red` | `#ED1B34` |
| `success` | `lime-green` | `#CBDB2A` |
| `border` | `grey` | `#93A1AD` |

## Brand semantic roles

### Colors

| Role | Swatch | Hex |
|------|--------|-----|
| `identity` | `white` | `#FFFFFF` |
| `on-identity` | `black` | `#1E1E1E` |
| `primary` | `crimson` | `#A51C30` |
| `primary-hover` | `red` | `#ED1B34` |
| `accent` | `crimson` | `#A51C30` |
| `accent-hover` | `red` | `#ED1B34` |
| `mark` | `crimson` | `#A51C30` |
| `success` | `green` | `#4DB848` |
| `warning` | `warm-yellow` | `#FCB315` |
| `error` | `red` | `#ED1B34` |
| `text-primary-light` | `black` | `#1E1E1E` |
| `text-primary-dark` | `white` | `#FFFFFF` |
| `background-light` | `white` | `#FFFFFF` |
| `background-dark` | `black` | `#1E1E1E` |
| `surface-light` | `grey` | `#93A1AD` |
| `surface-dark` | `grey` | `#93A1AD` |
| `text-secondary-light` | `black` | `#1E1E1E` |
| `text-tertiary-light` | `grey` | `#93A1AD` |
| `border-light` | `grey` | `#93A1AD` |

### Typography

| Role | Font role key |
|------|---------------|
| `display` | `heading` |
| `prose` | `body` |
| `code` | `mono` |

## Rules

### 🛑 error (6)

#### `colorChoice` → `roles.colors.primary`

- **allowed:** crimson
- **forbidden:** red, salmon, blue, green, purple, turquoise, warm-yellow, yellow

> Crimson (#A51C30) is Harvard's institutional colour and the only swatch permitted to act as the primary brand anchor. The Harvard brand-style guidance places Crimson as the dominant colour for materials, with the core palette providing accents — not substitutes. 

#### `colorChoice` → `roles.colors.mark`

- **allowed:** crimson, black, white
- **forbidden:** red, salmon, blue, green, purple, turquoise

> The Harvard wordmark and shield are reproduced in Crimson, solid black, or solid white (reversed) only. Accent palette colours MUST NOT be used to colorize the institutional mark. 

#### `contrastRatio` → `text-primary`

- **against:** `background`
- **minRatio:** `7`
- **standard:** `WCAG-AAA`

> Harvard Black (#1E1E1E) on white gives ~17:1 — clears AAA. As a research university with extensive scholarly content and obligations under Section 504 / ADA to its student body and the public, Harvard's core text-on-canvas pairs target the enhanced 7:1 floor. 

#### `forbiddenTreatment` → `logo`

- **treatments:** stretched, rotated, recolored, drop-shadow, outlined, gradient-fill, on-busy-photo, tilted, cropped

> Harvard's trademark guidance prohibits stretching, rotating, recolouring, outlining, applying drop-shadow or gradient fills, or placing the wordmark or shield on busy photographic backgrounds. Marks render only in approved colourways with documented clear-space. 

#### `fontPairing` → `typography.display`

- **requires:** `prose`
- **minSizeRatio:** `1.5`

> Harvard's editorial hierarchy pairs a large serif display with body text at a minimum 1.5× ratio. The scholarly voice the institution projects depends on that explicit hierarchy between display and prose. 

#### `contextRestriction` → `roles.colors.error`

- **forbiddenContexts:** confirmation, completion, data-viz-positive
- **allowedContexts:** error-state, destructive-action, validation-failure

> Red (#ED1B34) is Harvard's saturated digital accent and the documented error / destructive-action signal. Reusing it for confirmation or positive data-viz inverts the established semantic role and conflicts with Crimson sitting beside it on Harvard surfaces. 

### ⚠️ warning (2)

#### `enumMembership` → `typography.heading.fontWeight`

- **allowed:** 400, 500, 600, 700

> Harvard's editorial system uses Regular (400), Medium (500), SemiBold (600), and Bold (700) weights across surfaces. Display ultra-heavy cuts (800/900) are not part of the documented institutional ramp. 

#### `accessibilityRequirement` → `*`

- **standard:** `WCAG-AAA`
- **criterion:** `1.4.6`

> WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.4.6 (Contrast Enhanced) — Level AAA. Harvard's scholarly posture and its obligations to a diverse academic community justify the enhanced 7:1 target on core text-on-background pairs. 

### 💡 recommendation (1)

#### `compositionConstraint` → `roles.colors.primary`

- **pairsWith:** white, black, grey
- **doesNotPairWith:** red, salmon, purple

> Crimson reads cleanest on white, near-black, or the cool Harvard grey. Adjacent to the saturated accent Red the two hues vibrate without resolving into hierarchy; adjacent to Salmon or Purple the editorial accents compete with the institutional crimson for attention. 

## Provenance

- **Source:** <https://seas.harvard.edu/office-communications/brand-style-guide/color-palette>
- **License:** `Proprietary — All Rights Reserved (Harvard trademarks)`
- **Attribution:** The President and Fellows of Harvard College — visual identity captured from the Harvard SEAS brand style guide, which publishes the canonical institutional Crimson (#A51C30) consistent with Harvard's central trademark guidance. "Harvard," "Veritas," the Harvard shield, and the Harvard wordmark are registered trademarks of the President and Fellows of Harvard College. 
- **Imported:** `2026-05-19`
- **Notes:** trademark.harvard.edu (the central reference URL named in the task brief) returned HTTP 403 / Forbidden on WebFetch. The Harvard SEAS brand-style page is the most accessible authoritative source for the institutional Crimson hex value (#A51C30) and the core supporting palette. This atom is scoped to the parent institution only — the individual Harvard schools (HBS, HMS, GSE, SEAS, HLS, GSAS, the Library) each publish their own atom-eligible identity variants but are out of scope for this brand atom. Harvard's serifed institutional voice is supported by lora@1 as the catalogue substitute for proprietary serif faces, inter@1 as the sans, and jetbrainsmono-nerdfont@1 for code. Assets are kept empty per trademark policy. 

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*Generated by the brand-atoms converter. Source: `harvard@1.0.0` from the encyclopedia.*