Stanford
The Stanford University brand palette as published in Stanford's Identity Guide. The primary palette is Cardinal red, white, black (#2E2D29 — a warm near-black), and Cool Grey. A digital accent palette adds Digital Red, Digital Blue (links only), and Digital Green (form validation). Black tints in 10% increments expand the neutral ramp. The Identity Guide is emphatic that Cardinal Red is the institutional colour and Digital Red is an accent — not a replacement.
17 swatches 17 light roles 17 dark roles
Swatches
cardinal-red
#8C1515
Stanford's institutional cardinal — primary brand colour.
cardinal-red-light
#B83A4B
Light tint of Cardinal Red for surface accents.
cardinal-red-dark
#820000
Deep Cardinal — pressed / active variant.
white
#FFFFFF
Primary canvas in light mode.
black
#2E2D29
Warm near-black — primary text on light surfaces.
cool-grey
#53565A
Secondary text / supporting neutral.
black-90
#43423E
90% black tint — deep text on lighter surfaces.
black-10
#EAEAEA
10% black tint — soft surface / divider.
digital-red
#B1040E
Digital accent red — emphasis only, not a replacement for Cardinal.
digital-red-light
#E50808
Light digital red — interactive emphasis.
digital-red-dark
#820000
Dark digital red — pressed state.
digital-blue
#006CB8
Reserved for links on digital surfaces.
digital-blue-light
#6FC3FF
Hover / focus link variant.
digital-blue-dark
#00548F
Visited / active link variant.
digital-green
#008566
Form-validation success.
digital-green-light
#1AECBA
Light validation green — confirmation surfaces.
digital-green-dark
#006F54
Dark validation green — pressed state.
Mode role mappings
Light mode (17 roles)
accent
→ digital-red accent-hover
→ digital-red-dark background
→ white border
→ black-10 error
→ digital-red link
→ digital-blue link-hover
→ digital-blue-dark primary
→ cardinal-red primary-hover
→ cardinal-red-dark success
→ digital-green surface
→ black-10 surface-elevated
→ white text-primary
→ black text-secondary
→ cool-grey text-tertiary
→ black-90 warning
→ digital-red warning-hover
→ digital-red-dark Dark mode (17 roles)
accent
→ digital-red-light accent-hover
→ digital-red background
→ black border
→ cool-grey error
→ digital-red-light link
→ digital-blue-light link-hover
→ digital-blue primary
→ cardinal-red-light primary-hover
→ cardinal-red success
→ digital-green-light surface
→ black-90 surface-elevated
→ cool-grey text-primary
→ white text-secondary
→ black-10 text-tertiary
→ cool-grey warning
→ digital-red-light warning-hover
→ digital-red Provenance
- Source
- https://identity.stanford.edu/design-elements/color/primary-colors/
- License
Proprietary — All Rights Reserved (Stanford trademarks)- Attribution
- The Board of Trustees of The Leland Stanford Junior University — palette captured from the Stanford Identity Guide (identity.stanford.edu). "Stanford," the Stanford block-S mark, the Stanford wordmark, and the Stanford tree are registered trademarks of the Board of Trustees.
- Imported
-
2026-05-19 - Notes
- Stanford's Identity Guide notes "The colors on this website are not intended to match Pantone color standards." Hex values captured here are the documented digital specifications from the primary-colors and web/digital pages. Cardinal Red has been Stanford's official colour since the university's founding; Digital Blue is reserved for links and Digital Green for form validation.