color – University Marketing

One of our greatest assets at Oregon State is our primary color. Beaver Orange is vibrant, distinct and provides a solid base for the larger color palette. Through the years we have worked to present a consistent color no matter the channel or medium you are working with. In conjunction with the Oregon State logo, this is the best way to present a unified visual identity to the marketplace.

To do this we provide different color builds for various uses.

Pantone 1665 for print jobs here on campus, through Printing and Mailing Services.
CMYK for off-set print jobs done through an outside vendor (bid through Printing and Mailing Services).
RGB for digital signage, presentations and as a fall back for less advanced design software (word, powerpoint, etc…)
Hex is used only for websites, applications and mobile applications.

This guide applies to our entire color palette. If you ever have a question don’t be afraid to toss it out to the OSU Communicators slack community or email University Marketing directly.

You can find our color palette in the OSU Brand Guide.

Update to RGB and Hex

Since the launch of our updated color palette, in April of 2017, we have lived with a very narrow scope for how we are able to use Beaver Orange on websites. Because we strive (and are required) to meet WCAG AA guidelines for accessibility we were unable to use orange and white together for text/background colors.

This greatly limited our creative and design staff across the university. To address this we made a very slight tweak to the Hex of Beaver Orange. Visually the change is nearly imperceptible but provides enough contrast to use orange, white and black combinations. For centrally administered web properties (through Web and Mobile Services) the colors have been updated automatically. We have been working with our decentralized partners to make sure they have anything needed to adjust to this change. If you need assistance or have questions please connect with Kegan Sims on Slack or by contacting University Marketing via email.

As a result of the update to the Hex, it made sense to update RGB as well. RGB is primarily used for material displayed digitally (signboards, email, presentations, etc..) but also in print if you are using basic programs such as Microsoft Word or Powerpoint for design. On rare occasions, graphics made using RGB colors end up on websites. In order to maintain as much consistency as possible, both the Hex and RGB were tweaked together. These changes are subtle and we don’t expect you to rush out and update your materials. As you update content or create new versions of your digital collateral that is a good time to make a change.

Many of our Microsoft templates include the Oregon State color palette, but there are other ways to import the colors if you’re starting without one. This video shows how to insert the colors yourself.

Microsoft Office programs like Word and Powerpoint give you the option of choosing custom color palettes. Most of Oregon State’s templates have our color palette saved automatically, but there are a couple different ways to add the colors if you’re starting without one.

The first way is to download the .xml file from our downloads and save it in a specific folder on your computer. That location is shown in the readme, and is different for Macs and PCs.

The second way is to add the colors yourself. In Microsoft Powerpoint, Go to View> Slide master and on the color drop-down, select ‘Customize Colors’. I usually like to leave the first two as black and white, and change the rest to 10 of the University’s 19 colors. Click one of the colors and select ‘More Colors’ and the Custom Tab lets you add the RGB formula of any color.

From the Universy Brand website, you can find the formulas for any of our colors. Select OK, and when you’re done selecting your colors, you can name it and Save.

From Microsoft Word, go to the Design tab to find the Colors drop down, where you can select and customize your theme colors.

Thank you, and good luck.