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There’s no need to be bored of your school’s brand colours
March 17, 2021

How common are your school's brand colours?

 

How common are your school's brand colours?

 
 
In our survey of the 500 largest independent schools in the UK we studied the hues, shades, pigments and tints that form the visual landscape of our sector.
 
 

Strawberry, plum, coral, lime, sage, duck egg, gold – as you’ll see, we’re not short on variety, but with a prevalence of subdued blues it’s not surprising to see many schools use a secondary palette to add some vibrancy to their brand.

Navy is predictably the most seen shade in both co-educational and boys schools, with ocean blue (just a couple of shades lighter) most seen in girls’ schools. Gold is the most used accent colour – especially amongst prep schools – followed by orange and yellow tones. Explore the graphic and data to find out just how common your school colours are.

If you’re bored of your colour palette [read this article] you’re certainly not alone, but the most important thing to know is that your visual identity is not defined by your colours. Navy can be dynamic, burgundy can scream progressiveness, and fuchsia can be sophisticated – it’s how you use your palette that counts. There really is no such thing as a boring colour.

 
 
The data
The graphic below shows the most commonly used primary colours in the UK's 500 largest independent schools.
 
 
 
 
The shades
The table below shows the number of schools who use each shade as their primary marketing colour on their website.
 
 
6
Amethyst
7
Ash
3
Aubergine
9
Azure
4
Black
14
Burgundy
6
Canary
4
Carrot
3
Channel
20
Charcoal
11
Chilli
1
Chocolate
14
Cool
1
Coral
23
Crimson
5
Duck egg
4
Dumbo
6
Dusk
23
Emerald
9
Forest
2
Fuchsia
19
Gold
1
Grape
2
Grass
8
Jade
1
Lime
7
Magenta
18
Maroon
1
Mauve
15
Midnight
1
Mustard
71
Navy
68
Ocean
1
Olive
2
Pea
2
Pearl
16
Plum
3
Rose
2
Rust
3
Sage
8
Scarlet
4
Sky
9
Slate
1
Stone
2
Strawberry
9
Teal
3
Turquoise
8
Violet
4
Wine
36
Yale
 
 
Colour key
 
 
 
 

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Design and marketing insights for independent schools