VU Amsterdam’s colour system changed in 2021. The sender-oriented colour coding, where each faculty had its own colour, has been replaced by an organisation-wide colour palette. The colour palette consists of blue, orange-red, green and purple. Blue is a recognisable house style colour for VU Amsterdam. The other colours support and create a warmer look.
Please note that due to WCAG 2.1 guidelines, the colour composition of VU blue in the layout of communications is different from the VU logo.
CMYK
RGB
HEX
RAL
100/30/0/0
0/119/179
0077B3
5015
CMYK
RGB
HEX
RAL
14/84/104
204/65/0
CC4100
2001
CMYK
RGB
HEX
RAL
86/24/79/10
0/128/83
008053
6029
CMYK
RGB
HEX
RAL
95/100/18/6
59/33/113
3B2171
5002
CMYK
RGB
HEX
61/16/9/0
102/175/202
66AFD4
CMYK
RGB
HEX
3/6987/0
232/105/45
E8692D
CMYK
RGB
HEX
70/0/89/0
79/175/72
4FAF48
CMYK
RGB
HEX
55/78/0/0
142/77/164
8E4DA4
CMYK
RGB
HEX
15/0/0/0
223/242/253
DFF2FD
CMYK
RGB
HEX
0/22/30/0
252/211/182
FCD3B6
CMYK
RGB
HEX
11/0/30/50
235/240/198
EBF0C6
CMYK
RGB
HEX
16/27/0/0
221/198/238
DDC6EE
CMYK
RGB
HEX
5/5/5/00
250/247/245
FAF7F5
CMYK
RGB
HEX
10/10/11/00
242/239/237
F2EFED
CMYK
RGB
HEX
18/16/17/0
216/211/208
D8D3D0
CMYK
RGB
HEX
69/60/56/66
255, 255, 255
333333
Dark blue is an additional colour for student recruitment.
Use yellow only in images: illustrations, infographics and graphs. Never use yellow as a text colour.
CMYK
RGB
HEX
100/55/0/18
0/86/152
005698
CMYK
RGB
HEX
5/29/0/87
242/186/47
F2BA2F
Use of colour and accessibility guidelines
We aim to comply with accessibility guidelines (WCAG 2.1 guidelines) as much as possible in our house style.
There are four primary colours: blue, orange-red, green and purple. According to WCAG 2.1 guidelines, these colours are also suitable as background colours with white text on the foreground or as text colours on a white background.
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Fixed elements, such as help and action buttons on the website, are always in blue.
For subheadings and quotes, use primary colours. Subheadings are alternately in a different primary VU colour and in a fixed order: blue, orange-red, green and purple. Blue is always the starting point for the colour sequence system. You can use black for titles and body text.
Secondary colours are lighter versions of primary colours. You can use these colours in the background and in tables and graphics. If you use the secondary colours as background for white or coloured text, check the contrast first for good readability according to WCAG 2.1 guidelines. Colour checker
Combine the tertiary colours with the primary colours of the same colour range. For example, the dark primary VU colour purple is combined with the light tertiary VU purple.
Light neutral colours are background colours. For example, to indicate lines and/or columns in tables. The text colour is dark grey and or black.
For tables and charts, use secondary colours, neutral colours and yellow.
The following colours apply to tables and graphs. In order: blue, green, orange-red, purple, yellow, light grey and dark grey, dark blue.
Place numbers and text outside colour areas to comply with WCAG 2.1 guidelines.
CMYK 100/30/0/0
RGB 0/119/179
HEX 0077B3
CMYK 70/0/89/0
RGB 79/175/72
HEX 4FAF48
CMYK 3/69/87/0
RGB 232/105/45
HEX E8692D
CMYK 55/78/0/0
RGB 142/77/164
HEC 8E4DA4
CMYK 5/29/0/87
RGB 242/186/47
HEX F2BA2F
CMYK 20/20/20/0
RGB 212/202/200
HEX D4CAC8
CMYK 0/0/0/8
RGB 87/87/86
HEX 575756
CMYK 100/55/0/18
RGB 0/86/152
HEX 003F6C