Consistent use of South Dakota State University's official colors is critical to building brand consistency and awareness in the marketplace. Many well-known brands use color as a primary visual identifier; UPS brown and Coca-Cola red are excellent examples of this concept.
The South Dakota State University brand color palette consists of primary, secondary and accent colors.
Primary Colors
The university’s primary colors are SDSU Yellow and Blue, which must be a prominent and integral part of all university communications produced in color.
SDSU Yellow | SDSU Blue |
Secondary Colors
The university’s secondary colors are SDSU Campanile Blue, SDSU Navy, SDSU Dark Yellow, SDSU Light Yellow and SDSU Light Blue. These do not have to appear on every communication containing color, but their use is strongly encouraged. However, with the exception of campanile blue, these colors should not be used as the dominant colors of a publication.
SDSU Navy | SDSU Campanile Blue | SDSU Dark Yellow | SDSU Light Yellow | SDSU Light Blue |
The university’s graphic standards provide a number of accent colors to augment SDSU Blue and Yellow. This range of colors may be used in limited quantities and should never appear as the dominant color in any communication vehicle. The intended use of the accent colors is to provide highlight options for text and graphics.
| PMS 1795 0c 96m 93y 2k 210r 38g 48b #D22630 | PMS 185 0c 93m 79y 0k 228r 0g 43b #E4002B | PMS 186 (PRT) 2c 100m 85y 6k 200r 16g 46b #C8102E | PMS 200 (USD) 3c 100m 70y 12k 186r 12g 47b #BA0C2F | PMS 416 28c 18m 29y 51k 126r 127g 116b #7E7F74 |
| PMS 430 33c 18m 13y 40k 124r 135g 142b #7C878E | PMS 444 45c 16m 25y 50k 113r 124g 125b #717C7D | PMS 542 60c 19m 1y 4k 123r 175g 212b #7BAFD4 | PMS 549 56c 8m 9y 21k 107r 164g 184b #6BA4B8 | PMS 5493 47c 4m 16y 16k 127r 169g 174b #7FA9AE |
| PMS 123 0c 19m 89y 0k 255r 199g 44b #FFC72C | PMS 012 0c 2m 98y 0k 225r 215g 0b #FFD700 | PMS 118 7c 28m 100y 30k 172r 132g 0b #AC8400 | PMS 137 0c 41m 100y 0k 255r 163g 0b #FFA300 | PMS 110 2c 22m 100y 8k 218r 170g 0b #DAAA00 |
| PMS 335 97c 6m 69y 18k 0r 123g 95b #007B5F | PMS 347 (4-H) 100c 0m 86y 3k 0r 161g 96b #00A160 | PMS 348 96c 2m 100y 12k 0r 132g 61b #00843D | PMS 349 90c 12m 95y 40k 4r 106g 56b #046A38 | PMS 359 40c 0m 50y 0k 161r 216g 132b #A1D884 |
| PMS 376 54c 0m 100y 0k 132r 189g 0b #84BD00 | PMS 377 50c 1m 100y 20k 122r 154g 1b #7A9A01 | PMS 383 29c 1m 100y 18k 168r 173g 0b #A8AD00 | PMS 389 21c 0m 85y 0k 208r 223g 0b #D0DF00 | PMS 575 55c 9m 95y 45k 103r 130g 58b #67823A |
| PMS 7494 35c 5m 42y 14k 156r 175g 136b #9CAF88 | PMS 462 28c 48m 71y 73k 92r 70g 43b #5C462B | PMS 464 11c 53m 94y 53k 139r 91g 41b #8B5B29 | PMS 471 5c 71m 100y 23k 184r 97g 37b #B86125 | PMS 513 53c 99m 0y 0k 147r 50g 142b #93328E |
| PMS 520 67c 95m 4y 16k 100r 47g 108b #642F6C | PMS 525 69c 100m 4y 45k 87r 44g 95b #572C5F | PMS 526 73c 100m 0y 0k 112r 47g 138b #702F8A | PMS 527 69c 99m 0y 0k 128r 49g 167b #8031A7 |
The university’s official logos should always maintain maximum visibility over any background color or image. Where the color contrast is not high enough to distinguish the logo clearly, use the outline version of any logo.
- Avoid the use of color combinations that are commonly identified with other colleges and universities such as black and yellow, blue and orange, etc.
- Red is to be used extremely sparingly.
- Trademarked verbiage (South Dakota State University, SDState, SDSU, Jackrabbits, etc.) should always be used in appropriate brand colors, white, black. Trademarked verbiage should never appear in red, green, purple, etc.
- Use the SDSU brand colors only according to the formulas provided in this manual.
- For printed documents, never rely on the output produced by a desktop color printer or by the appearance of colors on a computer monitor for true color accuracy.
- Pantone matching system colors should be used whenever possible.
- Lighting conditions in offices in addition to printer and monitor calibration typically do not match the Pantone matching system colors used by offset printers.
- When printing projects in full color (i.e. four-color printing using CMYK process colors) it is strongly recommended to add a fifth color and use PMS 286 or 287 rather than build it through the CMYK process.
- CMYK process blue should never be screened to a percentage less than 100 percent. If a screened background of the university blue is necessary, PMS 286 is the best option.