Corporate Colors

Expressing diversity and change

In every communication material one of the six corporate colors is to be used respectively as the prominent color. A different corporate color should be displayed in a variety of communication materials. The colors have no designated meaning or order. Every color is equally usable.

Usage

Colors and their use with the logo

Color is not part of the BASF logo. The BASF logo is always black or white and it is placed on a background in one of our corporate colors, e. g. in the logobar design or when appearing with other brands.

Usage – flexibility and freedom in design

Our corporate colors are expressing diversity and change. Our corporate colors are used as:

Note:
In all communication materials, one of the corporate colors is to be used as the prominent color.

All other corporate colors can be used as supporting colors, e.g. for bullet points, separating lines etc. Please always ensure that the overall effect of the media is homogeneous and does not appear randomly colorful.

The corporate colors are used only in media, in market and corporate communication material. In applications that fulfill a purely functional or informational purpose and do not serve in market and corporate communications, we have consciously chosen not to use a color (e.g. internal signage or building signs).

Use of colors

Use only one corporate color per communication material whenever possible. Additional corporate colors are only used for the effective differentiation of respective contents.

You can use all gradations of a single corporate color, as long as the differences between the gradations are clearly visible (no gradient).
If you require a second corporate color to support your message, please use a color from the color pair.
You may also supplement the color pair by using gray gradations.

Color definition
Brilliant colors in all media

In order to ensure a uniform appearance of all colors in all media, we have defined the color values for various color systems.

We recommend four-color printing (CMYK) for printing on paper. Printing with a spot color (e. g. one spot color and black) should only be done when four-color printing is not cost-effective.

Four-color printing (CMYK) is the reference color system for establishing the BASF corporate colors. The most similar colors possible for other color systems have been determined. Due to the limited selection in other color systems, these colors will never match the original CMYK colors perfectly.

Note:
The defined color value of the respective corporate color is used for the logo bar.

For printing on paper, we reommend to use the four-color printing (CMYK). On digital touchpoints, RGB and Hexadecimal are the prefered color systems. Read more about the different color systems below on this page.

The definition of the corporate colors is based on CMYK as most communication materials are produced in four-colour printing.

Other color systems merely allow approximations of these colors.

* Slight difference from CMYK color.

** Some difference from CMYK color.

*** Significant difference from CMYK color.

Brand colors

BASF light blue
CMYK coated, uncoated	87/24/0/0
sRGB decimal	33/160/210
Hexadecimal	#21A0D2
PANTONE coated PANTONE uncoated	2925 C * 2995 U *
RAL	RAL 5012 Light blue
HKS 3000 coated HKS 3000 uncoated	47 K-70-30 ** 47 N-90-0 *
NCS	S 1560-R90B

BASF dark blue
CMYK coated, uncoated	100/75/0/5
sRGB dezimal	0/74/150
Hexadezimal	#004A96
PANTONE coated PANTONE uncoated	Reflex Blue C * Reflex Blue U *
RAL	RAL 5002 Ultramarine blue
HKS 3000 coated HKS 3000 uncoated	42 K-80-30 * 42 N-100-10 *
NCS	S 4055-R70B

BASF light green
CMYK coated, uncoated	70/0/100/5
sRGB decimal	101/172/30
Hexadecimal	#65AC1E
PANTONE coated PANTONE uncoated	369 C 376 U *
RAL	RAL 6018 Yellow green
HKS 3000 coated HKS 3000 uncoated	67 K-100-30 * 67 N-100-1 *
NCS	S 2075-G30Y

BASF dark green
CMYK coated, uncoated	100/0/91/28
sRGB decimal	0/121/58
Hexadecimal	#00793A
PANTONE coated PANTONE uncoated	356 C * 355 U **
RAL	RAL 6032 Signal green
HKS 3000 coated HKS 3000 uncoated	57 K-90-30 * 57 N-90-10 *
NCS	S 3065-G10Y

BASF orange
CMYK coated, uncoated	0/47/100/0
sRGB decimal	243/149/0
Hexadecimal	#F39500
PANTONE coated PANTONE uncoated	144 C 144 U
RAL	RAL 1007 Daffodil yellow
HKS 3000 coated HKS 3000 uncoated	6 K-80-10 * 6 N-80-10 *
NCS	S 1080-Y30R

BASF red
CMYK coated, uncoated	0/100/80/20
sRGB decimal	197/0/34
Hexadecimal	#C50022
PANTONE coated PANTONE uncoated	187 C 1797 U *
RAL	RAL 3031 Orient red
HKS 3000 coated HKS 3000 uncoated	15 K-100-10 * 15 N-100-10 *
NCS	S 1580-Y90R

Color Shades

Below, you'll find the codes for the most commonly used color shades of each of our 6 corporate colors. These shades are suggested to facilitate your choice of corporate color shades while creating communication materials. However, they are not mandatory. You can use any shade of each corporate color, as long as the differences between the gradations are clearly visible (no gradient).

Skin and Hair Colors

The picture shows only some possible color combinations. All skin and hair colors can be combined with each other as desired.

Skin Tones

#602406
RGB 96/36/6
CMYK 38/84/96/58

#C05739
RGB 192/87/57
CMYK 19/74/79/8

#A9673A
RGB 196/103/58
CMYK 26/60/79/19

#FCBF92
RGB 252/191/146
CMYK 0/32/45/0

Hair Colors

#EDAB18
RGB 237/171/24
CMYK 6/36/94/0

#A9673A
RGB 196/103/58
CMYK 26/60/79/19

#A3A3A3
RGB 163/163/163
CMYK 38/29/30/8

#3F3F3F
RGB 63/63/63
CMYK 66/56/53/58

#602406
RGB 96/36/6
CMYK 38/84/96/58

#C05739
RGB 192/87/57
CMYK 19/74/79/8

Don'ts

In general only one prominent corporate color should be used. This means we avoid the random combination of colors in our design.

Definition

CMYK

The color system used as a reference for the BASF corporate colors is four color print (ISO coated). The values are given in percent values of cyan, magenta, yellow and black.

PANTONE

PANTONE^® is a registered trademark of Pantone Inc.

HKS 3000

HKS 3000 is based on defined HKS colors (e. g. “6 K-80-10” is 80% HKS 6 K and 10% black). HKS® is a registered trademark of HKS Warenzeichenverband e. V. (Hostmann-Steinberg, K+E, Schmincke), Stuttgart, Germany.

Plastics, Ceramics, Textiles

The colors have been established for printing on paper. For other materials, e. g. plastics, ceramics or textiles, as well as for other production processes, the colors must be adjusted in the print shop to ensure the best possible reproduction of the corporate colors.

Black and White Print

Black and white printing is permissible only if the corporate colors cannot be used for budget reasons or if no corporate colors have been defined for that particular media (e. g. business letter papers).

sRGB

Monitor values are given in sRGB values.

sRGB is the standard color system for computer monitors, color and photo printers for home and office use, Microsoft Windows, Office programs and W3C web standards.

RAL and NCS

The RAL Classic and NCS color systems do not have enough shades to correctly produce the square components of the BASF logo and the color bar of the banderole. The correct colors are achieved by mixing the full-tone color with pure white.