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DSM's color palette

Brand identity fundamentals

The key word is bright!

At DSM we’re all about brighter living... so our color palette, consisting of twelve colors, is as bright as possible!

Our palette

Blue

RGB: R0 G52 B120

CMYK: C100 M72 Y0 K18

HEX: #003478

Pantone®: 280

RAL: 5002

Mid-Blue

RGB: R0 G112 B186

CMYK: C100 M44 Y0 K0

HEX: #0070ba

Pantone®: 300

RAL: 5005

Cyan

RGB: R0 G159 B227

CMYK: C100 M0 Y0 K0

HEX: #009fe3

Pantone®: Process Cyan

RAL: 5015

Dark Green

RGB: R0 G126 B75

CMYK: C98 M10 Y84 K18

HEX: #007e4b

Pantone®: 3415

RAL: 6026

Ocean Green

RGB: R0 G155 B151

CMYK: C99 M0 Y48 K0

HEX: #009b97

Pantone®: 3272

RAL: 5021

Lime Green

RGB: R69 G172 B52

CMYK: C73 M0 Y100 K0

HEX: #45ac34

Pantone®: 362

RAL: 6018

Purple

RGB: R82 G27 B101

CMYK: C75 M100 Y5 K28

HEX: #521b65

Pantone®: 2623

RAL: 4007

Plum

RGB: R123 G31 B98

CMYK: C44 M95 Y7 K32

HEX: #7b1f62

Pantone®: 249

RAL: 4006

Cerise

RGB: R189 G10 B121

CMYK: C19 M99 Y0 K8

HEX: #bd0a79

Pantone®: 223

RAL: 4010

Burgundy

RGB: R151 G13 B52

CMYK: C10 M100 Y55 K39

HEX: #970d34

Pantone®: 194

RAL: 4002

Red

RGB: R229 G31 B34

CMYK: C0 M96 Y90 K0

HEX: #e51f22

Pantone®: Red 032

RAL: 3020

Orange

RGB: R238 G114 B3

CMYK: C0 M65 Y100 K0

HEX: #ee7203

Pantone®: Orange 021

RAL: 2004

Ideally you should print in four-color process (CMYK). Full-color printed material is based on the four inks most commonly used in printing: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (Key).

Occasionally you might need to print in special colors (PANTONE®). This is usually when one or two specific colors are needed; or for more complex printing jobs like gifts and premiums. We use Madeia colors for printing on textiles.

We also provide RGB (Red, Green, Blue) breakdowns and Hex (websafe) for online/on-screen usage.

Body copy (text) is usually set in black.

For block colors (used in layouts, diagrams, charts, graphs etc.) you can use the tints of the twelve colors in the palette as shown above, plus the DSM support colors and tints of the support colors as shown below.

Support colors

Dark Grey

RGB: R128 G128 B128

CMYK: C49 M38 Y38 K20

HEX: #808080

Pantone®: Cool Grey 9

RAL: N/A

Grey

RGB: R224 G224 B224

CMYK: C15 M10 Y12 K0

HEX: #e0e0e0

Pantone®: Cool Grey 1

RAL: N/A

Light Grey

RGB: R240 G240 B240

CMYK: C7 M5 Y6 K0

HEX: #f0f0f0

Pantone®: N/A

RAL: N/A

Yellow

RGB: R255 G205 B0

CMYK: C0 M14 Y100 K0

HEX: #ffcd00

Pantone®: 116

RAL: N/A

Bright Green

RGB: R168 G173 B0

CMYK: C29 M1 Y100 K18

HEX: #a8ad00

Pantone®: 383

RAL: N/A

Apple Green

RGB: R208 G223 B0

CMYK: C21 M0 Y85 K0

HEX: #d0df00

Pantone®: 389

RAL: N/A

Applying the DSM colors

To make sure you pass with flying colors and avoid unsightly clashes, always select from the color palette per application, slide, or (web) page.

Use a maximum of three tints from each color range, taken from the DSM color palette. For example, DSM Dark Green, DSM Lime Green and DSM Ocean Green from the green color range. We use these colors for headings, subheadings,  graphic elements like buttons, links and gradients, diagrams and illustrations.

For dsm.com we use one color range for every main section as shown below, but smaller websites can often work well with one color range throughout:

Home

H1: White (banner)

H2: Cyan (default)

H3: Blue

Buttons (no image): Mid-Blue (default)

In-text links: Cyan (default)

About

H1: White (banner)

H2: Cyan (default)

H3: Blue

Buttons (no image): Mid-Blue (default)

In-text links: Cyan (default)

Markets

H1: White (banner)

H2: Ocean-Green

H3: Lime-Green

Buttons (no image): Dark-Green

In-text links: Lime-Green

Science

H1: White (banner)

H2: Cerise

H3: Purple

Buttons (no image): Plum

In-text links: Cerise

Sustainability

H1: White (banner)

H2: Lime-Green

H3: Dark Green

Buttons (no image): Ocean-Green

In-text links: Ocean-Green

News

H1: White (banner)

H2: Orange

H3: Burgundy

Buttons (no image): Red (default)

In-text links: Orange

Investors

H1: White (banner)

H2: Cyan (default)

H3: Mid-Blue

Buttons (no image): Blue

In-text links: Cyan (default)

Careers:

H1: White (banner)

H2: Cerise

H3: Plum

Buttons (no image): Purple

In-text links: Cerise

  1. Two tints is often enough to create a colorful layout.
  2. The colors can always be combined with the support colors or with our default colors: DSM Cyan and DSM Mid Blue.
  3. Blocks and backdrops are always set in the DSM support colors. We don’t use colored frames and dropshadows.
  4. For color gradients (used on images with text such as the above banner) you can use any color combination.1

Colors applied on PowerPoint slides

Here's some do's and don'ts for Powerpoint.

Color gradients

The DSM color gradients give our images an extra color boost, making them easier to identify.

The color gradients can bring real harmony or energy to your layout, depending on the image you choose; for example they’re a perfect base for headings set in white (reversed).

We use the color gradients as much as possible – on websites, in advertising, on posters, and on front covers or key images in brochures.

The color gradients are based on the DSM color palette, with the exception of the DSM support colors.

Although the angle and transparency settings are set, you can adjust them depending on the colors and contrast of the image.

Web-only

A final few simple reminders:

  1. We always apply the color gradient to images with text, which means...
  2. On images without text we don’t apply the color gradient.
  3. We recommend choosing the color gradient best suited to the image and not the color theme.

ATTENTION: If you use images, footage, music or any other copyrighted material, always check whether they are rights-free. If not, you need to get usage approval and make payment in advance if necessary.

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