Colors

At a Glance

Main Color

RUB Blau (blue) is the foundation of our visual identity. It shapes our communication and creates brand recognition. We rely on white space and a spacious design. We prefer to avoid gray areas.

Complementary Colors

In addition to RUB Blau (blue), we use complementary colors. These consist of six colors groups. Each colors. group includes a bold solid colors. and a corresponding lighter shade.

No exclusive colors: We deliberately do not use colors. coding (e.g., orange to represent Faculty XY). Anyone can use the colors depending on the design context.

For Designers

One color group per medium (page / social media post)

The color group can be chosen freely, depending on your needs, theme, and the desired effect. For example, the light blue color scheme creates a calm, understated design, while orange and yellow have a more energizing effect. However, the colors can also be used freely at your own discretion. The important thing is that the overall effect remains diverse and vibrant.

Important: We use only one color group per medium.

Accessible Text Colors

We generally use RUB Blau (blue) for text on all color groups. The exception is white text on a RUB Blau (blue) background.

Accessibility: To ensure that our content is easy for everyone to read, we make sure there is sufficient contrast between the text and the background. The defined color combinations meet the requirements of the WCAG guidelines for accessible communication. By adhering to the specified text colors and color shades, we ensure that our communication remains accessible.

Although the WCAG guidelines apply only to digital applications, they also provide useful guidance for print media. (For example, yellow text is not easily readable in either digital or print formats.)

We define large text as text that is 24 px or larger (or 19 px or larger for bold text). Anything smaller than that is considered small text. Small text is subject to stricter contrast requirements than large text. If we adhere to the specified text colors and color shades, our communication will remain accessible.

To ensure sufficient contrast, we follow this rule: In digital media, we use only large font sizes on solid colors (100). Smaller font sizes may also be used on lighter shades (50). This ensures that the text remains clearly legible in both digital and print media.

Colors for Infographics

We have defined a separate color palette for infographics and data visualizations. The reason: Our complementary colors are optimized for layouts and design areas, but do not always provide sufficient contrast to be reliably distinguished in charts or diagrams.

The colors used in the infographics meet a minimum contrast ratio of 3:1 on a white background. In addition, they were chosen so that even people with color vision deficiencies can distinguish them from one another as easily as possible. By using this color palette, we ensure that our infographics are understandable to as many people as possible.