Visual Style

Color

Gettysburg’s orange and blue are deeply ingrained in the culture of the College, is seen daily all over campus, and has served as a key institutional element since 1889. They are always the dominant colors for projects originating from the College. Secondary colors are also listed below for use as accents or as needed for other aesthetic reasons. Designers, printers, and other related third-parties should refer below for ink formulation and color matching information. 

Whenever budget and production equipment allows, our Pantone spot colors should be used. If using spot colors is not feasible then please print all materials using our custom 4-color process mix listed below.

Note: Color swatches on this page may appear inaccurately when viewed on different computer screens, and color printouts from this page will not be accurate. For accurate color matching, please refer to the official specifications below.

Core colors

Secondary colors

Our extensive web color palette is listed here, in its entirety. The selection and use of these colors within all digital applications help to further strengthen the Gettysburg College brand. These colors have been carefully selected to meet WCAG 2.0 AA compliance for color contrast throughout the site. Much of the site already accounts for appropriate color pairings, but as new content is added, it’s important to make sure contrast is sufficient by first using a tool like WebAIM’s Contrast Checker. As of this time, the contrast ratio must be 4.5:1 or greater for color accessibility.

Typography

Print

Our primary print typefaces, Univers LT and Adobe Garamond Pro, help to make our communications legible and visually classic. Each family is used in various weights and styles, depending on the needs of the layout. By using these fonts, you will ensure that your communications align to others across the College.

Univers was designed by Adrian Frutiger on Swiss principles, in 1957. Adobe Garamond is a digital interpretation of the roman types of Claude Garamond and the italic types of Robert Granjon. Both typefaces are classics in their own right and revered within the design community for their legibility and style.

Univers is typically used to set headlines or display lines of copy within a print piece, whereas Garamond is suited extremely well for smaller body copy. However, there are times that their uses could be swapped to create visual interest. When in doubt please contact a member of the Design team for a consultation.

Univers and Garamond are available only to Gettysburg College employees who are directly involved in the creation of marketing and communication materials. If you are non-marketing staff or an external consultant, you may purchase these fonts directly from MyFonts website.

When Univers and Garamond are not available or practical (such as when sharing a live document from Microsoft Word or PowerPoint for example), substitute Univers with Arial and Garamond with Georgia respectively. Arial and Georgia should be available on all Mac and Windows based computers.

Digital

For digital applications, ITC Avant Garde and Mrs. Eaves are our brand’s webfonts and are used exclusively on gettysburg.edu and in some social media graphics.

ITC Avant Garde is a sans serif face that is used for headings, and Mrs. Eaves is a serif face that is used for body copy. For more information, see our digital style guide.

When ITC Avant Garde and Mrs. Eaves are not available, the following typefaces are our fallbacks. Helvetica Bold, Arial Bold, or “sans serif” in place of ITC Avant Garde, and Georgia or “serif” in place of Mrs. Eaves.

Photography

Photography allows us to showcase our community including its high-caliber students and faculty, thought-provoking events and the institution’s initiatives. Highlighting these moments is a crucial part of our Gettysburg College story, when paired with thoughtful design or on their own. While individual students, alumni, faculty and staff are incredibly important to our storytelling, it's meaningful to show their interaction with others to reinforce the sense of collaboration and community. Throughout, we have the opportunity to capture stories that convey our energy, purpose, and inspiration. These are the pictures we strive to take and share with the world.

Gettysburg College is a strong, authentic community. Our photos should be just as impactful and authentic. Always use our images, not generic stock photos. To fulfill your image needs, you can find our galleries on Flickr.

Videography

Video provides us an opportunity for storytelling in a different type of engaging and emotional way. Building upon photography’s direction, we can produce compelling videos of people, ideas, events and places across our community. Our videos should create a visual narrative and help advance the reputation of the College.

If you are in need of photography or videography help, please contact us via our photo/video request form.